Mural in 3 days.

I had a task to complete mural in 3 days. Day 1.

In front will be furniture and on the sides bookcase and another hutch on the left.

Detail. The panoramic picture doesn't show the true color. Everyone is happy except me. I would still continue to work on it, but can't.

Musicante.

I guess, I forgot to post it, when finished. Scanning and etc. became not interesting, or may be too much to do or no energy for it. Sometimes simple things become to overwhelming. Ink and Kuretake. Subway musician.

This how we do it.

 Lucy and I. Working progress.

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.

Andy for my friend.

I did this for my friend, who lost her beloved dog, a member of the family. I used ink and Kuretake.

 For me it was also a little bit coming back to myself. Somehow I didn't notice, how I am going further from the life around me, may be because it is hard to agree with something being so far from perfect. May be because I can't find an explanation for the happening in Ukraine, where regular people and their children dying in horrible deaths.  May be because I got into animal rescues, by befriending people who do it every day, and by adopting a little cat from Moscow (yes, she flew to me from Russia), who was in a death row, saved and terribly injured in a pot of boiling water and than nurtured back to life by a very brave woman, who became my friend?

Sample with metallic glazes.

Did few samples, among them this one, with metallic glazes, hopefully I will get to paint oriental motif there, in the show room.

In this studio, not mine, borrowed for a day. Its nice there.  Will have to use it for another 4 compositions, as soon as I will prepare it.

Very rainy but not a bad day.

Today, April 30 , was my Birthday, and I was planning to draw, but spent only five minutes on outlining greek sausage in pita and the rest of the day listening to rain, virtual communication, overeating cake and thinking about composition with horses. 

Night job: glazed wall and placing letters on it.

Letters attached, half a job done.

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.

Carrousel Sin Fin.

Carrousel Sin Fin... My interpretation of one of my favorite songs by Federico Aubele " Carrousel Sin Fin". I have been carrying this image in my head for a long time, since the concert, it was on my to do list. I didn't know the lyrics, couldn't find translation online, so just obeyed the feelings from this song, just trusted the melody.

Here is the actual song. Carrousel Sin Fin.
May be someone, who understand Spanish, will tell what this song is about? I used ink, bits of gold paint, didn't scan well, few Kuretake pens. We should always do what we planned, even if t is not coming out the way see it in our heads. I feel better now, even it is not exactly what I was dreaming about.