Rose Room colors

You saw the ink scribble, now here it is done up in Photoshop color. Photoshop in its greatness features a "transparent" paint simulation as if this were watercolor. I did a fair imitation of the curtain with the "toile" pattern on it. Ever wondered what a "toile" is? Didn't think so. "Toile" is a repeating, drawing-like scene printed on cloth. The scene is usually an idealized view of peasants and shepherdesses and old farm buildings. It was popular in the 19th century for "Victorian" decor. The window faces out into the lush vegetation of the yard. There was an air conditioner in my room but since I don't like AC very much, I opened the window and authentic mosquitoes flew in.

Black tech pen on sketchbook page, colored in Photoshop, 4" x 4", June 2019.

Art Model Skye Power again 1975

Here we are again with the chic and elegant Skye Power, model for our drawing group in 1975. She is draped over the couch in the Episcopal upper room. I did quite a lot of restoration on this sketch before I posted it, but most of it is still 1975. I wonder what became of Skye. Google searches are usually misdirected toward "skies" or "power." Just think, back in 1975 only scientific or military professionals had computers or Internet. At least I knew of computers as there was one at Brandeis which took up a whole air-conditioned room. I didn't get to draw it though, that was inconceivable and it is only now too many years later that I have thought of it. My smartphone has the computing power of that room-size computer. Shall I get an iPad Pro?

Pencil on sketchbook page, 5" x 7", 1975.

Poplar Hill Window and Curtain

I couldn't decide whether to draw anything, since I was on vacation and didn't want to do art work. So I just did one little space filler in my sketchbook journal, this one. It is room elements: a curtain pulled back with a sash, a window, and a wooden finial from a tall mirror not in the picture. My "Rose Room" is decorated with "Victorian" style furniture and textiles, all in tones of beige and dark rose-red. You'll see it when I color it in.

Black tech pen on sketchbook page, 4" x 4", June 25, 2019.

Poplar Hill Porch

Once again I'm back from my mini vacation. This porch is at the Inn where I stay. It's the "Inn on Poplar Hill" in Orange, Virginia, an old industrial town in the center part of the state. The Inn is an old turn-of-the-twentieth-century farmhouse in a lush garden and forest with natural meadows and pathways on the estate. The birdwatching is excellent and we guests are fed colorful fresh food. The owners drive you around in a van to tour wineries so you don't have to worry about wining and driving. There are cats who are friendly to people. If you like this type of genteel experience and hummingbirds sipping nectar from hanging basket pink petunias, you should go here. And the bedding is so...very...soft. I've gone there for stays since 2009, when I came across Poplar Hill by serendipity. Now I am ten years loyal not mentioning last year when I didn't go for unfortunate reasons of health.

Art Model in Sunlight 1975

Some of my drawings were done in a softer pencil which yielded a darker line and also were prone to smudging. This one here's an example although the lines have faded and the paper has darkened. That sounds kind of poetic doesn't it, the non-persistence of material memory.

There will be a break in By-Product Postings while I take a short vacation in wine country with birding options.

"Art Model" is pencil on sketchbook page, 7" x 4", 1975.

Woman Writing with Actual Pen

Sometimes people actually write with a pen or pencil. This coffee-house customer appears to be doing this archaic activity. Computer styli don't count. She is probably highlighting her study book; is that writing or is it another form of information management. I wonder what the round little stand-up mirror is near her writing hand. Maybe it's reflecting backwards like Leonardo Da Vinci's mirror writing. Maybe she's the Mona Lisa with a different hairdo and glasses.

Sepia brown tech pen on sketchbook page, 5" x 5", June 21, 2019.

Drapescape 2

If you "de-abstractify" this drawing you will see that it is an attempt to portray the complex crumpled shapes of bedsheets and a blanket. The dates are from my sketchbook journal. The sheets are actually a lovely shade of sky blue but I am not coloring it in. The drawing was done on June 20. It might make more sense if I colored it in, and added some highlights, but this one is finished so onward, my handful of blog abstractifiers.

Black tech pen finished in Photoshop digital drawing, 3" x 4 1/2", June 20, 2019.

Jan Sandberg at Brandeis 1975

Here you go, Jan, this is a picture I drew of you in 1975, the year I graduated from Brandeis. In those days I used to draw portraits of my friends and classmates and even the attendees at lectures or concerts. It's easier to draw people if they stay still. Nowadays they are stuck in front of their computer or smartphone so I can sketch away.

Pencil on sketchbook page, about 7" x 4", 1975.

Red Geom

I've been busy these days, finishing up the contents of "Virginia Under Vine." And in the world of bloggery I'm filling spaces in my sketchbook journal. Here's one, Photoshopped from hand-drawn marker work, and "mounted" on a blue-to-black blend. I just call this one "Red Geom" because it is a Geometrikon. For some reason this composition appears to be 3-D but it isn't at all, just another colorful drawing on paper.

"Red Geom" is markers and Photoshop, 7" x 2 1/2", June 2019.

Skye Power Models 1975

Two more years of Brandeis University and I am in senior year, and I'm still sketching at my mother's life drawing group. The model this time was a heroic character with the thrilling (and real) name of "Skye Power." She was great-looking: tall and athletic, with the strength and ability to take action poses, and she had close-cropped hair, way ahead of her time now when people are experimenting with their hair. I have quite a lot of Skye poses, but don't worry, I'll only show you the best ones.

Pencil on sketchbook page, about 5" x 7", 1975.

Springy Colors

This is where you put the springy colors in: late April. I do a lot of them from memory. When it comes to earth and plant colors, these are my favorites. And it's great in digital where you can blend all you want without getting stuck in texture or scrubby paper. I wouldn't call this a Geometrikon despite all the straight lines, because it has leaf forms. So I'll call it a "Leaf-o-metrikon."

Marker wireframe, colored in Photoshop, about 7" x 2 1/2", June 2019 referring back to an April drawing in the 2019 sketchbook. 

Backlit Art Model 1972

I got more confident with the colored pencils as I continued life drawing. This image shows the model backlit with light from a big window behind the Posing Sofa. I was as interested in the roof architecture seen through the window as I was with the drawing process. The roof was clad in copper and it had rusted to a pretty shade of blue-green which you can see a little of here.

I'd love to do life drawing again. Coffee house people hunched over their computers just aren't arty enough. At one point to my delight my local art association did have a series of models posing which I joined but unfortunately not enough people showed up to draw and it was canceled. 

This backlit model is one of the last images in my 1972 sketchbook so this concludes the 1972 era of my artistic output.

Colored pencil on sketchbook page, 5" x 8 1/2", 1972.

Coffee House Moderne

I did something shocking while creating this "urban sketch." I used a straightedge (a paper envelope) on some of these lines. Traditional urban sketching is done only freehand. I also re-arranged objects to get a better composition. My supply and sketch bag sits at the table as if awaiting coffee. No worries about the perspective or arrangement where something seems to be floating in air. It's modern you know.

Sepia brown tech pen on sketchbook page, 5" x 7", June 14, 2019.

Art Model with Face 1972

Finally...here's a model with a face. She posed long enough for me to get a clear view of her. This sketch looks, uh, sketchy because it is not complete and also, you can see the drawing on the other side where the scanner's light showed through the paper. How did I know I was going to put a life drawing in a private art class through a scanner in futuristic 2019? And yet the electronic music technology that I used in 1972 was better than the impoverished software emulations we must put up with nowadays. At least I got the face right.

Pencil on sketchbook page, 5" x 7", 1972.

Under Vine Back Cover

You've seen this before but here it is with all the writing on it. I re-wrote and removed some of the text because it was irrelevant for a second edition. The text also has to fit with the rest of the book. The art is a Shenandoah Valley scene in colored pencil with some Photoshop enhancements, done from memory. I'm almost done, all I need to do is the front cover, title logo, and counting and numbering the pages after putting them in order.

Photoshop composite, 8 1/2" x 11", June 2019. 

Gravity Modeldrawing

It's part of traditional art training: drawing a floppy, drooping art model posing on cushions. If you look closely (not at these drawings though) you will see a watch that tells the model how long she has posed for. During the breaks in the session she puts on a bathrobe. I always thought art models were caught on a planet with stronger gravity than our Earth. They looked like that to me although the reality was just that the model was tired of posing fighting against ordinary gravity.

Pencil on sketchbook page, 10" x 8", 1972.

Colorforms Foursquare

It looks rather like a game board of some kind, and Colorforms is a game of sorts. Four colors, four shapes, four sizes, four elements. And something different each time. I tried to connect these shapes with the traditional playing card suits (spades, clubs, diamonds, hearts) but it just isn't that close. These elemental shapes are used by occultists who prefer a visual code for their magical workings. 

Photoshop, 5" x 5", June 11, 2019.

Man Model and Face 1972

This Man Model comes from another of our drawing sessions in the church. He is kind of abstractified but the proportions are all right. I wanted to draw his head but I ran out of room so I drew another rendering of his face. At lower right is Loukas, a Byzantine monk who was one of my fantasy characters.

Pencil on sketchbook page, 8" x 5", 1972.

Red Wine Filler Page

This page has no text words yet and it may not ever have them. It's meant to fill a space behind a book feature since I want most of the "important" pages like season announcements to be on the right side of the page spread when the book is opened. In color this is a homage to red wine along with my motto "Prosperity and Sweetness." Since it is a filler page, you may fill with red wine any time, as long as I get on the resort bus back home.

Photoshop composite, 8 1/2" x 11", June 2019.

Bazaar Lantern

This drawing depicts an "Orientalizing" lantern, worthy of a South Asian bazaar or perfumed party palace with belly dancers. But it isn't, it was made in the USA by a craftsman in West Virginia. And it doesn't light up, although it should. It hangs from the ceiling of a cafe in Falls Church, Virginia along with other similar structures. The name of the cafe is an entertaining "Happy Tart" and all their pastries and sweets are gluten-free.

Sepia brown tech pen on sketchbook page, 4" x 8", June 7, 2019.

Hair Salon Containers

I am once again at "Capelli" hair salon getting my hair updated. I always take my sketchbook with me so I'm drawing at the salon waiting for the hair dye to kick in. What should I draw? I've already drawn most of the things in the salon, including the people, so what's left? Let's see: In accordance with the still life theme, I'll draw containers. At top: spray bottle of sterilizing liquid. Left: a water glass with some drinking water in it. Right: twin bottles of conditioner. Bottom: a moisturizer pump-action. Sizes are not accurately portrayed. There's always something to draw.

Sepia brown tech pen on sketchbook page, 5" x 5 1/2", June 6, 2019.

Art Models Colored Pencils 1972

Here are two more life drawing colored pencil experiments. I used the same pose, which means that I divided up an hour's posing time into two drawings. As you can see in this set I wasn't as concerned with accurate figure drawing as with color, texture, and light. I have hundreds of these drawings and I'm bringing you only the better ones. The blue stripes are tests for various shades of light blue.

Colored pencils on sketchbook page, 8" x 9", 1972.

Digital Atlantis

You never know what you're gonna get when you start doing a Photoshop Doodle. I started with a simple color gradient, dark blue to light blue, and then picked some "brush" patterns to add texture. The sparkles and the reflecting towers came later. Not too bad, and the light blue here is one of my favorite colors. I'm expecting Aquaman to come swimming into the picture, but maybe not.

Photoshop, 5" x 5", June 5, 2019.

Baseball Sketches 1972

I went to a baseball game at Fenway Park, in 1972. I take my sketchbook wherever I go, so I took it to the game, too. Fenway is small enough so that you can see the players and other participants on the field, so I drew what I saw. Many of the heroes of the tragic Red Sox World Series of 1975 were already there, like Carleton Fisk of the famous home run (upper left). I also emulated Leonardo da Vinci and sketched an elderly character with a large wen on his forehead. The Red Sox played the Milwaukee Brewers that evening but I don't remember whether they won or lost.

Pencil on sketchbook page, 10" x 8 1/2", summer 1972. Click for a larger view.

Thoughtful Coffee Drinker

This is one of my more unusual sketch concepts. It contains material from two places, the familiar coffee shops Amouri and Starbucks. I was interrupted at Amouri while drawing the background doorway, and didn't go back to it, so I was left with an open doorway with no one  in it. Today with the deadline of Posting Every Day upon me I decided to go back to Starbucks and finish the drawing with their details. So you see a combination of coffee house sights, including a drinker with his water bottle, coffee, headphones, and biking gloves. I don't like to show the people their portraits, and I make them not too accurate, so they won't be embarrassed.

OK then, under the wire for this one to continue the Everyday By-Product.

Sepia brown tech pen on sketchbook page, 5" x 6", June 3, 2019.

In a Land called Honah Lee

"Puff the Magic Dragon" is in WineWorld now. This is the "Under Vine" page I prepared for the book. I've visited Honah Lee Winery and Vineyard many times and sampled their wine which has a dragon/wineglass logo. The view from their viney hills is wonderful, stretching into the distance for miles. They also have a little farm market from their own gardens once the fruit is ready. 

You may notice that I am imitating the Notorious Thomas Kinkade "Painter of Light" and that's what I wanted. The image is a combination of traditional pencils and ink, and digital. You can see where I'm putting the writing but I think this version needs to be worked so that the writing is smaller. Otherwise it's hard to read against the background. This image, with the "Under Vine" logo, will be the cover of the book.

Photoshop composite, 8 1/2" x 11", May-June, 2019.

Modernist House, Des Moines

Every so often I'll like a piece of architecture so much that I will copy it from my resource book into my sketchbook journal. This is one of those structures. It is the "Butler House" in Des Moines, Iowa, built in 1934-36. The architects are listed as "Kraetsch and Kraetsch". The building is from the height of the Art Deco era. I adapted this design for a fantasy building which I blogged here many years ago. The real house still exists and has been turned into a luxury bed-and-breakfast. 

I apologize for the mess on the left side of the drawing. I couldn't get the sketchbook to lie flat on the scanner. A perpetual graphic design problem.

Black tech pen on sketchbook page, 7 1/2" x 3 1/2", May 29, 2003.