Final day of summer... first day to a world of new beginnings...

Melodramatic title I know.  But though this summer was one worth remembering, I'm practically chomping at the bit to get back to work.  Knowledge is addicting.  The more I know, the more I want to learn.

This summer was busy.  Spent a great deal of time re-connecting with my family and over the past 3 months, I really had a chance to form a special bond with my son.  I remember the turning point vividly.  It was when I had left for San Luis Obispo for the weekend and when I returned, I hadn't seen Grey for 3 days.  When he saw me, he got more excited than I had ever seen him.  Shouting, laughing, dancing around the couch before he finally came rushing over to give me a huge hug.  Knowing how much he had missed me was an experience I can barely describe.

I will miss these days that we spent together but even the little time that I had to fill my BFA sketchbook was enough to keep pushing me forward.  I learned a great deal in the 96 pages I filled and every mark and stroke I made was pure enjoyment.  I can't wait to get back in the saddle and work my ass off this year.

Spent my final day of summer with Grey and Char.  Took Grey to the park and a good friend came out to meet him for the first time. He was his usual charming (translate: serious face) self and went into his silent strong mode instead of his chatty McJibberJabber silly self.  He did summon up the courage to give her a kiss on the cheek and hand before we left and then napped in the car before we headed to Valley Fair and he played some more before we went to get his favorite junk food, corn dogs!

We went home and Char had finished work so I got a chance to sneak in an hour nap before we packed up the bikes and took a trip out to Yogurtland where we had dinner and then picked him up a Badtzmaru spoon (Yogurtland's having a promotion with Sanrio and has these cute character spoons).  He also drank a good amount of tea so he was bouncing off the walls a little before finally crashing and going to bed.

We turned in our sketchbooks this past Monday and I was sad to see it go.  We'll get it back soon enough and in the meantime I have my two new sketchbooks to start filling.  I decided to splurge a bit and picked up a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook and a Strathmore book filled with tone paper.

I'm trying out gouache for the first time and finding it really fun.  It's so true.  Once you learn to draw, any medium is just that. Drawing. ^_^

I let Grey have some fun with my junky brushes and my watercolors on one of the pages.  I then went over with some ink to bring out any shapes I saw. =)

BFA sketchbook cover (illustration board cutout; I wanted to try and mesh the gears of my mind with my love of trees and things that brought me joy this summer).

New sketchbooks!  Love ^_^

Seeing w/o Limits

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.” 

― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

It's interesting, the path of learning to draw.  Drawing after all is really learning how to see.  

We start off, doodling the care-free whimsy that is a child's mind.  The ability to create as a child is magnificent; kids see the world in such a myriad of ways and colors, but are unfocused.  When we start taking direction through art classes, we're taught how to draw what we see.  Utilizing reference as a powerful tool to better know what we want to draw.  First it's reference in the manner of photographs, translating 2d images into 2d images.  When we grow some more, we start drawing from life.  Seeing the world in 3d and reproducing them into flat form.  We grow again and that's when we learn that our eyes can only tell us so much.  A deeper understanding of the form and physiology of our subjects and its environs allows us to push what we draw beyond what we merely can see, into a realm touched only by our imagination and dreams.  

Only one more week til the BFA sketchbook is due.  Got my new sketchbook all picked out and ready to go. ^_^

Spent the day in SF today along the Embarcadero with a bunch of A/I buddies.  Enjoyed possibly the best milkshake I've had ever, a vanilla shake with chocolate syrup swirled in.  Delish!  Was a gorgeous day, think I got a little sunburned though. :-D

Sketches:

The Collision of Dreams w/Reality

My friend posted this pic she found and being an aspiring animator/illustrator, it really spoke to me.

I wonder about the creator of this image; whether they never experienced a dream coming true or seeing a vision fulfilled.  I feel blessed to be an artist, where daily I take my pen to paper and touch my dreams to reality.  It's the one place where I can live the fairytale, and when I return to real life, I'll have brought a small memento with me.

Sketching has taken on a new life recently; now that the first 80 pages are done and over with, I finally feel free.  Having more fun with it and pushing myself further; I really should've been doing that in the beginning I think.  But looking at my progress over the last 90 pages, there definitely has been!

I spent a page with my 13 year old niece who is looking to get into an art centered high school in SF.   Spoke to her about perspective and shadow shapes and the three rules that I put into practice in ever piece I do.  Squint, Contrast is the meaning of life, and REFERENCE.   I hope I wasn't too real with her about the work it takes to become successful in the art field; she's just a kid and should enjoy being one still.

Spent a Monday at the Winchester Mystery House and Santana Row.  That was an awesome day to say the least. I need to go back.  The house is just absolutely massive and a joy to draw in perspective. =)  And as a place to draw people... it's hard to beat Santana Row.  Sat outside Pinkberry and just stared and sketched for a good 3 hours.  Oh and ate yogurt.  Can't forget that.

78... 79... 80!!! and beyond. =)

Oakland zoo again this past Monday where I hit the required page number for our BFA sketchbooks.  I must say, it did feel really good. =)

Unfortunately, I had my page 80 built up in my head that it needed to be something epic and it really fell short.  Probably just trying too hard. Ahh well.  And to top it off, once I hit that page on Monday, my lust for drawing kind of faltered for a few days.  But picked up my tools today and hit the Hakone Gardens in Saratoga with a good friend and thoroughly enjoyed myself there.  Just wish it wasn't so dang gum hot.

Finished my day with a quick mountain bike ride up at Saratoga Gap. I had put a new tire (Kenda Nevegal) on the front of the Superlight and mmmmm... I am very happy with it.  Much bitier than the Mavic Crossmarks (race XC tire) that came stock with the bike and fully restored my confidence in riding again.  I had gotten kind of gun-shy after my front end washed out in some sand at Skeggs a couple of weeks ago.  Sun was setting on me fast though so no chance to pull the sketchbook out but I got some fun photos I intend on working from in the future.

Picked up Grey after the ride and had a fun evening with him.  He apparently likes to sit on my tummy and jump up and down while I do sit-ups.  Kind of like a goofy laughing medicine ball I guess. :-D

He's been getting chattier and chattier every day and his vocabulary never fails to astound me.  I have to kind of watch my language now because he is fully able to mimic anything I say now.  A personal favorite of his is Oh DANG.  At I got him off Oh crap!  Thank goodness that was short-lived.  I hope....

Anyways, here's pages 78, 79, and 80!  and a few beyond. Hoping to reach 120 by the end of the next 3 weeks:

Counting down... home stretch!

77 out of 80 required with 3.5 weeks to go.  Sketchbook is about half done, I put 80 pages in there so 160 pages front/back.  We'll see how far I get!  Hoping I can get 2/3's through. ^_^

Recent sketches were from the wineries and Firestone brewery in Paso Robles and some trees from around my house and at the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Jose.  Really nice place to sit and draw; never even knew it was there!

Did some gestures of the women's inline hockey team, Pandemonium (yellow) on which one of my really good friends plays.  I need to get back to doing those to stay in practice.

Think for the rest of the summer I'm going to focus on perspective and people. =)

Recent sketches:

Coffee Shops and Life on the Coast

Visiting one of my high school friends down in San Luis Obispo with a few of my other high school friends and having a great time. This morning a few of us went out to Morro Bay to kayak but since I get seasick and one of my friends can't swim, he kept me company on a pier reading while I got some painting done of the bay.  We then went to the Cracked Crab in Pismo and fiended on well... crab :-D
Finished it off with the Dark Knight Rises and.... oh jeebus, that movie was ridiculously good.  It was pretty much everything I had hoped the end of the trilogy to be.  I can't wait to see it again soon. ^_^

Sketches from a coffee shop midweek with a good friend and from today:

Sketching on the trail ^_^

Took the mountain bike and sketchbook up to Saratoga Gap today.  My sore knee from yesterday kinda bugged but soon as I got moving and the blood flowing, it loosened up nicely.

Was colder than I expected and wanted to stay longer but the afternoon chill got the better of me and I took off before the evening set in.  Got some fun sketches in though; I need to pick up a small portable stool that I can pack along with my camelbak so I can just stop on the side of the trail and not have to worry about bugs or poison oak on my bum. ^_^

Perfect place to paint forest scenes, I definitely need to go back soon.  Took a bunch of pics but after painting from life so much... they really don't do the scene justice and you lose so much detail in a photo.

Sketches from today and a few days ago:

Little artists... so inspiring!

59 out of 80 required pages so far.  Keeping it going! ^_^

Cutest thing happened at the Oakland Zoo this past Monday.  Aaron and I were camped out in front of the alligator pen and sketching and this little guy (couldn't have been more than 8 or 9) comes running up with his own pad of paper and pencil, plops down, and starts drawing too.  I peer at him curiously and watch for a few moments, look up and see his mother standing behind him.  She smiles and says, "yeah, that's just his thing".  Was really awesome to watch.

Enjoying watercolors more and more; think I might unbind my sketchbook and replace the remaining pages with watercolor paper.

Anyways, sketches over the past couple of days below.

4th of July Fireworks, Egyptians and Oracle towers

Just some more sketches from the week.  4th of July was a lot of fun; my sister is in town with her family and we lit some small fireworks before heading out to see the big ones.  Did some tree studies in my parents backyard during the bbq as well.

Thurs, Andy, Taylor, Jon and I hit the Egyptian museum in San Jose.  It's gorgeous there and tons of stuff to draw.  Definitely going to have to return.  I didn't actually draw/paint anything on the grounds but there was a beautiful building across the street which happened to be a junior high school that I had to paint. =)

Today I started a sketch of Grey sleeping but he woke up midway.  Had an opportunity to do quick landscape of the Oracle buildings too as I was parked at the farmers market near my parents house. ^_^

Another kinda cool thing was the quick watercolor I did of the Silver Creek Sportsplex.  They liked it so much they asked to use it as their cover for their facebook page. ^_^
You can see it here: http://www.facebook.com/GoToPlex

Sketches of the week below: