83rd street.

Quick sketch from the car on the way from the store, where I was choosing decorative pillows. What a nice house, I wanted to go there again and do a serious detailed study. Ink.

Sketch party.

Went to sketch party to draw costumed models. Lots of fun. Used different materials. Soft pencils, ink, Ecoline brush pens.

Here I used ink. We had live jazz music, piano, it was really awesome to sketch and listen to music, my favorite things to do.

Pretty hard to sketch two models at once.

I like these Ecoline markers, colors a bit too bold, but water works with it.  I used Stillman and Birn sketchbook, it took washes nicely, very good paper. I really enjoyed it and since that went to a few different events.

Sketch with ink and some sparkly inks.

Sketch after breakfast while waiting in my new Venezia Art Book by Fabriano. I added more sparkling inks a bit later, plus shimmer is not readable by the scanner.
I am losing my head over inks. Getting so many interesting inks from all over the world: Poland, France, England, Germany. Many with metal particles, interesting colors and organic smells.
 This little sketch goes home to England.

Early morning sketch Upstate.

Was exploring shades of white and had fun mixing my pens and pencils early in the morning, around 6 am.

I used Wink of Stella pen by Kuretake, so the white is sparkling, but photo doesn't show it.

Sketching Upstate.

The weekend Upstate turned into learning and reading sessions. Had to be quick, before the dusk made everything black. Used this flat brush the most. Paper allows lots of water, but drying makes me impatient. 

I drew from the car, because I forgot the chair home. Was not sure that it is not private property. The farm, which we call "Children of the corn farm", after a scary movie, was across the road.

Far away young cattle was relaxing, black cows, but one young bull kept coming towards me and yelling, scaring me and echo was even more threatening. I was trying to capture big relationships of sky, ground and water, and different greens. Funny, I always include so much in composition, that it is hard to get to details and still I can't be satisfied with the result, I want it more simple or something more detailed. May be this why I felt the need to use a pen. 

Interesting, that this watercolor had a big respond on Facebook. Next time I want to paint sky wet-on-wet and be braver with it.

Sketching with Rembrandt watercolors.

Trying not to get lost in detailing, but keep big relationships alive. Hard, I think, I cover too much of a previous layer. Need more thinking and control.

Here worked mostly with 2 flat brushes, but, I guess, the subject was not right, should look for open landscape next time. It was a good time spent, wine, listening to music on Pandora,  conversation with the friend, good food, but my drawing suffered. I used Zeta sketchbook and felt like I am not using it to the full potential, leaving more paper exposed and not enough experimenting. 

Sketching in Morikami Japanese garden in Delray Beach, Florida, with 2 flat brushes and Rembrandt watercolor.

I finally got to try this 2 flat brushes, I wanted for a long time. Synthetic Da Vinci wash brushes. I used vintage Rembrandt watercolor in Zeta sketchbook, which was my companion on my trip to Florida.
Japanese garden was perfect place for it, every corner looked beautiful, I think, I could spend a month there sketching non-stop and learning.

Bamboo trees, small bridges, lake, waterfalls, rocks.

It takes around 2 hours to walk around, to look at the museum with clothes and examples of a life style from Japan at the beginning of the century.

Quick sketch in Zeta sketchbook, with beer and old squirrel brush.

Quick sketch before the dusk. Used big old flat squirrel brush in Zeta sketchbook, it got dark momentarily, but at least I didn't finish my beer with lemon and and a friend was still singing and playing guitar near the fire.

Another one from my daughter's balcony, also using this big brush and a bit of an outliner from my last butch of pens from JetPens. Mountains different every time I look at them. Magic.

Sketching table with vintage Rembrandt watercolor in Zeta sketchbook.

It was no time to go anywhere, so I looked at one of my favorite spots, wooden table in a shadow, where we had so many memorable breakfasts with friends and family. I used Zeta sketchbook by Stillman & Birn, paper is so strong and takes a lot of washes. It was wonderful to use real brushes: mop brush, Da Vinci Kolinsky, another tiny Da Vinci travel brush. The assignment I gave to myself was to start from big washes and layer it leaving some parts untouched, getting only big shapes. Also I was trying to use Marc Taro's advice to spend more time on drawing.

Scanner ate up blues, so it is more bold than in reality. It is time to get a new scanner, but I have other priorities now.
I love learning, so this conversations with myself, involving pencil and watercolor (in this case vintage Rembrandt, I got on UK Ebay), following particular decision, makes me happy and takes my mind off everyday's problems. I still overdid it, I should've finish more foliage on the top. I am totally avoiding to do a "pretty" picture, only following my own instruction.

Forth of July weekend.

I felt I overworked it a bit. Zeta sketchbook by Stillman & Birn, vintage Rembrandt watercolors, hot weather, Hunter Lake.

Flowers.

Wonderful day.

I miss drawing so much, that managed to draw in traffic coming back from the country. Just to hold the pencil is a happy moment.

A day Upstate.

Near the stream, accommodated by a friend.

Was trying to control myself not to slip into drawing details, but following the Artist's advice, Marc Holmes.
I was right, saving Stillman & Birn sketchbook for watercolor sketches, paper deserve to be used for more serious studies.

Was completely spoiled by my friend. :)

Sketches on NY Subway, few new tools and very uneasy day.

I was lucky to have a seat, so was able to relax unnoticed. This sketchbook is not laying as flat, as my previous one.

3 women, 3 different personalities. Even pencil felt it.

Awesome to have such different characteristics, not only ethnically, but different mood too. This is New York!

Here is my new tools from JetPens (the best shop in the world!), I decided to spoil myself, in secrecy, and got few amazing things, like sparkly brush pen "Wink of Stella", acrylic based watercolor by Rohrer & Klingner, few white pens, interlocking pencil caps, 2 mm lead sharpener, very thin black ink pen. All laying on the top of my drawing of a Subway musician, which is still in a process.

Few sketches in April in deteriorating sketchbook with brown paper.

I can't wait to get rid of this sketchbook, even I really like the paper. Hard to look back at filled pages, everything seems irritating and no good. This people I met here and there, touched me and gone. Again pencil and white gel pen.

This woman I met by the dentist, first I was hungry for drawing, than we start talking and she was pretty cool telling me stories from the life of Manhattaner. She knew my dentist for 40 years. Interesting that my dentist has such wrong opinion about me, I am not correcting.

Yellow sunrise and pencil sketch.

Getting inspired by completely different palette of the sky every morning (I don't know how it is possible, such an amazing variety). In my mind I am painting it with the big flat brush. In reality...

Sketch at the doctor's office. Drawing with "perfect pencil" Faber-Castell, I like it dry lines, reserved touch, matching with my own today's feelings, to close tighter endings of my shell.

Sunrise and sketch with "perfect" pencil.

Beautiful morning.

This freezing weather keeps me mostly indoors, but sometimes I can't keep my pencil still. On one occasion I spoiled myself with sushi, my favorites, with eel, and drew a guy, while waiting for the order, and at home. Would be so nice to go to eat with someone, very patient friend, and sketch there, for longer...

Subway sketches today on Q train, in pencil.

Today is a little bit warmer day, so I traveled Uptown Manhattan and sketched few people on the way.

For some reason people kept leaving too fast for me to finish sketch, so I had to discipline myself by grabbing few characteristic lines for the whole figure before clarifying some details.

I was lucky that most people were so self absorbed that no one bothered me with glances, and I was trying to look in different directions to hide what I do.  I used "perfect pencil" by Faber-Castell, the green plastic one, it is a bit hard, even marked grade B, but it was nice to have a tight lines, almost like driving BMW. It was a good training.

Crazy day in emergency room and few scribbles  managed.

Pencil sketches in same sketchbook.

Some of the sketches in Florida.

Back to NY, sketches on Subway. People are so different there, in Florida, they seems more human, they smile much more and look happier. In NY characters more amusing and unique, but you can feel the stress like a dark cloud over them... I had to slow my speed in Florida, love it there, closer to earth.

Orange juice or getting back to myself.

Orange juice on the plane. Watercolor in Beta sketchbook.

3 min sketch in South Florida.

Kilwins ice cream in Delray Beach.

Subway sketches on the way to Manhattan.

Sleeping man, he was so broken to pieces, but still presentable. I was glad he didn't look at me once.

It was a rainy day and boring things I had to do in the City, but sketching made my day happier, especially when I switch pencils. I used a little bit of oil based Faber-Castell.

Amazing to look at people, trying to feel their mood, hiding mine, switching stare, when they look at me. What is uniting them is silence, but everyone's silence is so different.

Here is another glass and I finished Chanukah, will take picture later.