Gordon's wine bar

Last March/April I was in London & Berlin for my birthday. Once we retured to London from being in Berlin for 4 days (not long enough!!), we were taken to easily the coolest bar I've ever been to - Gordon's Wine Bar.
You walk down the very steep steps to get down into the bar & head to the cellar area to grab a table & you have to stoop over in order to walk around. It is lit by candle light & the walls/ceilings are all arched like the cellar that it is. Super cool. They only serve wine, sherry & port - in other words, if you want to grab a pint of Guinness, you'll have to stumble upon another pub - and there are many in the area. There is a limited selection of food here as well (so you don't get too noodled) but is served more in a cafeteria style.
There was this elderly lady there when we were there who I thought was a patron but who actually worked there - she must be the owner! She was so short, she could actually walk standing upright while she cleared the tables. She was very sweet when we spoke with her.

I had my camera with me - thank goodness!! Photos initially were challenging then I managed to play with enough settings to get some decent shots. This one is of the person I was travelling with. I really like this photo & have printed it off so I can either draw or paint it. Since it's so dark, I always thought a medium other than pencil would be best. Today I saw it & decided to try marker. It is ok considering it's marker.

Here's the photograph I took:

And here's my marker rendition:

Here's another of the cellar area (it's NOT a big place):

negative

I took a photograph at that farm house of the exterior faucet & at the time I did it, there was this large mound of ice below it where the faucet was dripping. The first shot I took was clearly overexposed but I kept is anyway since I saw that it almost looked like a negative somehow. I could only see the dark bits & a bit of the blue from the hard water leaking out - similar to the faucet inside.

I used markers again. I made one really bad line but it is where it is & I couldn't really 'use' it so there it sits. The ice was basically attached to the faucet so the roundness of the faucet ends where the ice would have been. Let me say this, when I was back there on Thursday, the mound of ice was gone! Amazing what one week can do in Calgary. (:

gloves

I have to meet a fellow who makes these great belts & pay him for the belts he's made for me & a girl friend. I met him initially at the Art Market Craft Sale that is held every November at the Telus Convention Centre. I purchased a couple belts in the past but he has this new leather which will be a nice addition to my belt collection. The belt buckles are flat which why they're so appealing & the quality of the leather is outstanding.

I am paying him cash so I had it laying on the counter so I don't forget it. I put it between my gloves & thought it would be interesting to draw. I ended up taking the money out & putting the gloves away once I did sketch it. I also drew my hand grasping the cash which I almost like better. More the image I was imagining.

Churchill, MB

I decided today to add more photos of Churchill on Flickr. I was going through the shots I took & deleted the total crap & kept the rest. I'm sure there are more to go at a later date.
I was in Churchill in October & saw my first polar bears. Pretty cool all around. I realize some of this is repeat from another post but I really just posted the polar bears last time. Here are a few from there that aren't all about the bears.

There are more shots of the bears on Flickr so if you want to see bears, take a peek! Ok, here's one bear shot!!

menu

As I mentioned earlier, I had a lunch meeting with a friend of mine today. I was early & he was a wee bit late & luckily I had my small sketch book with me. I drew the front of the menu at Broken Plate in Willow Park SW.

I want to go to Greece some day (soon!) and seeing their menu makes me want to go now! I love the colours of Greek buildings. I did not finish this drawing since my friend showed up & it was close enough to done for me. I thought of colouring it tonight but then I thought of it like colouring in a colouring book & decided not to. It is as it is. (:

The actual sketch is slightly darker.

I had to!

Today is January 27, 2011 & it was +13˚C in Calgary, AB Canada. I need to stress where I live!

I drive a Mercedes Benz CLK350 which I call Bennie. Jeeves is his servant in the car who passes the seat belt to you when you close the door. I have wanted a Benz for a number of years & finally bought this one in the summer of 2009. I remember being at OJ's in Kensington one warm summer afternoon when I first moved to Calgary (so around 8+ years ago) & watched a lady get into her SLK - hard top convertible - & loved how the roof was totally hidden in the trunk, well the production of how it got there too. The whole thing made me want a car like that. So I'm quite close with what I have now. Next car needs to have a hard-top instead of soft-top - oh, & all wheel drive would be ideal too & a heated searing wheel (miss that from my Nissan)!

Yesterday I was driving down Shaganappi Trail NW & a Mustang drove by me with it's roof down. I finally followed suit today after thinking about it for a few days! I left my house (roof up), did a quick wash of my car & headed to my lunch meeting letting the car dry. Once I left there, it was at the heat of the day (2p) and it was time to put the roof down! It was funny initially. I was leaving the parking lot in Willow Park SW & felt like everyone was watching me! So silly. As though someone was going to come up to me & tell me I had to put the roof back up. Hey wait a minute, it's my car! Funny, it's all about looking good in life (for all of us!). I almost felt nervous.
I got over it pretty fast. I drove to my next task & the car was filthy by the time I got there - which is where I took the photos. Too bad! The roads are extremely wet - which is why it took me so long to decide to go 'top down' in January. I drove primarily with the windows up (it is warmer) mostly to ensure I did stayed dry in the car.

Here is my proof. These photos are NOT great; I took them with my iPhone 3GS. I took the second shot with the snow in the background. Seemed fitting.

So first day in 2011 with top down - January 27! How cool is that?!?

lighthouse

Last night I decided to play with watercolours. I like watercolours but lack the patience I need at times. Yesterday I let it dry & everything!
I started with a blue wash (wet on wet) and let it dry. I had no idea what I was really creating so I let it evolve on it's own. Next I did the land, then trees & at the end added a lighthouse since it seemed to fit.
This is a fictitious place which allowed me to just try the paint. It was a good albeit quick exercise.



The sky is actually blue even though it really does not show well on this scan.

fob

I returned home after my Landmark Education seminar last night & still needed to draw something. I noticed my key fob in my hand as I was walking up to unlock my door & thought, why not? I had started drawing my boots before the seminar but the drawing was crap so I actually put a line through it & wrote TRY AGAIN across it - which I did not in the end since I had to leave.

This is a bit larger than life but all around it's ok (aside from the actual key ring attaching my house key).

new media

I will admit that I saw this photograph in a book I have out from the library & copied it (more or less). I want to also take this type of photo so I will be trying this with photography once I get a softbox (or make one). I may head to The Camera Store this week to ask about softboxes & what I can do with them aside from this type of image. I wonder if softboxes collapse for storage somehow; they must.

I dug out the oil pastels yesterday & found the colour is great but the accuracy is poor - likely due to basically drawing with the end of your finger. I really wanted to do this with paint but I couldn't remember the colours that produce a proper black (I don't have black remember?). I still need to purchase another colour but am trying to not buy black at this point.
This scan is a bit blurry on the left side - I must not have held the sketch book down hard enough to the scanner. Mind you, all this does is make it look as though my depth of field is shallow - which is ok!
I'm happy with this drawing & look forward to painting this image & photographing in this way. May use the Diana F+ too!

last minute

I was sitting around on Saturday night after seeing The King's Speech & was looking for something to draw - which is often the story. I decided to draw the Spanish book I had sitting beside me. The book turned out well enough but then I decided to draw the remote for the TV and that's where it spiralled down. I guess I could have cropped it out when I scanned it in but the objects are too close together that I just left it in.

The problem is that the remote doesn't look as though it's laying down even though the book does. Need to work on that.

circle

I received this circle of friends from a former colleague when I left Winnipeg. It moves around my house since it isn't exactly small so I really don't have a home for it. It is also purple (likely cuz that's my favourite colour). It is currently in my bedroom & it really doesn't belong there. I generally don't have a circle of friends in my bedroom so it seems out of place.

This was a quick sketch again. There is no rhyme or reason to why I draw fast or slow. All I know is when I do slow down, I'm generally happier with the result.

In the centre of the friends is a 'bowl' where you would put a candle.

enter Diana F+

I finally used my Diana yesterday. I loaded some black & white film & took some photos.

I had my 7D with me too since I went to that farm house again. I wanted to take more shots of the faucet - which I have not uploaded yet. Let me say this about the digital SLR camera for just a moment: I 'get' the depth of field button, finally. I always understood what it was for but never could see it really show me what was in the depth of field until yesterday. Yay!

Ok, back to the Diana. I did not finish the roll of film & while using the Diana, I kept forgetting if I had advanced the film. Amazing what you forget to do when you stop using a film SLR or everything is not automated! So I'm certain there will be some interesting double exposures which I did not intend to take AND perhaps an empty frame where I advanced the film but photographed nothing.

The photos are clearly not developed yet so I decided to draw the camera & a couple lenses since I purchased the deluxe kit. I started yesterday with the line drawing (on marker paper) but didn't finish it - trying to take more time to draw. I finished the drawing today & added colour with marker also. I really enjoy using markers even though I have little to no control with them.

The spherical item on the top of the camera is the viewfinder for the fisheye lens. There is an attachment so you can use this viewfinder.

The markers really do stink though.

empty

Another night & another quick drawing but this time left handed. It started as a contour drawing & ended up being a line drawing. The stem of the glass is a bit wonky but I like the drawing.

note to self: add wine (:

mini castle

I purchased this sandstone castle in Victoria the first time I went there - so maybe 1993?? I really don't remember. It sits on my dresser & I have thought of drawing it many times but since there are so many intricate levels to it, I have walked past it.

Today, I wanted to use watercolour & what colour do I use again? Brown. Not sure why I do that. In any case here it is:

I did add a tint of blue for the 'sky' but other than that, brown.

So what I'm finding during most of my 365 journey is that I'm in a bit of a rush. My drawings (not all) don't turn out the way I know I can do them. I really don't want to give more than an hour per evening since we all know how little time we have after work. What I should do is commit to more 2 day drawings so I can be more accurate with them. Perhaps that's not all I want to do though. I used to do abstracts when I was young so maybe that may be another avenue to explore.

2 of 2

I'm almost always sitting on my sofa when I'm sketching & today was no different. Last night I was going to draw my calculator & just didn't do anything in the end.

It certainly isn't my finest work. The glass beside the notebook is way off for size. It could almost be a tall shot glass.

1 of 2

Last night I got home from the airport to quickly change my clothes to go straight to an event at the Glenbow museum with some friends. Needless to say, I was drained from a great day/evening & all I wanted to do was relax. Due to this decision, today I need to do two drawings instead of one.
Here is the first one:

My sister sent me two photographs of her with her daughter (obviously, my niece). I have this one in my kitchen in a frame which allows it to just float in the glass. It caught my eye today & I decided to do a line drawing with ink. I feel like I should have added colour just for my niece's hair cuz it's green in the photo! Purposely.
My niece's eyes aren't quite the correct size & there are a few other oddities (like they both have terrible teeth!) but it was fun to draw regardless.

sometimes...

photos count in my 365 creations!

These are a couple of my mother's cat Solitaire's kittens. They are SO adorable. They are only 7 weeks old - too young to leave mommy yet. They're crazy little kitties fighting each other & jumping all over the place. They are a cross between a purebred ragdoll (Parker - the male) and tortoiseshell (Solitaire - the female).

Torties have such great colours to their fur & these kittens are really soft due to the ragdoll genes. I always associate tortie cats with the dark/black fur with the orange & cream accents but they actually come in many colours. This colouring is also predominately found in female cats.

Ragdolls have to be the softest kitties out there. They are so friendly & cuddly - at least Parker is.

All around they make some great kittens! If you want a kitten or know anyone who does, let me know & my mom can let me know when they are ready to leave their mother. There is only one which is black like below & the rest are either shades of grey, cream, almost white.... tough to describe the multiple colours! Six kittens total.

This is my favorite kitty:

Although still another cutie! (photo a bit dark)

dead?

I was at my mom's this past half week - returned last night. I drew their dog the first night I was there since he was laying on the sofa nuzzled up to my sister's leg. This drawing makes it look like he's almost dead, but of course his eye is open & he's not!

The dog's name is Levi. He's really cute & always wants to play - which my sister often did with him by tossing his ball or toy around outside. Levi is a dachshund longhair. A girlfriend of mine also has a dachshund but the shorthaired variety.

Below is a slightly blurry photo I took of Levi. Sometimes I just need my tripod.

los huevos

I needed to draw something simple today & I thought of a carton of eggs. This one is not full. I always take them out starting in the middle in a diagonal way so the carton is not weighted on one side & not the other. Once I'm at 6 eggs or less, I continue from the outside & work my way towards the centre for the same reason. May sound crazy but I'm not surprised by the weight when I grab them out of the fridge!

If I coloured them, they'd be like Easter eggs!

this little piggy...

I received this stuffed piggy from an ex-boyfriend many moons ago. It was the first time I went to the Stampede grounds. I was living in Edmonton & he was living in Calgary. Crazy fun that trip. We hit the rides - which I don't normally do - and I recall going on the drop of doom (is that the name?). I could not stop laughing when I got to the bottom & off the ride. What a sensation! I think we were all giggly.

This has no sentimental value whatsoever, I just think it's cute. It's not one of those HARD exhibition stuffed toys that have that "made in China" cheap feeling; it's actually soft. It hangs out in my bathroom cabinet so I see it when I open the door. Not sure why it's home ended up there but there it sits.

I drew in a bit of the background since I brought it upstairs to draw. It looks as though there's a jungle behind it but it was actually sitting on a book with my plant behind. It also looks like I punched it in the nose. Poor thing!

fred

I recieved these silicone 'hot heads' from a girl friend of mine who lives in Edmonton. I received the orange dog first I believe (not 100% sure) & then I think I bought the other one in Edmonton when I was visiting her. They're silly little things & I keep them on top of my range backsplash. There is a whole line of products by fred.
They work quite well unless you're holding something hot for longer than normal - then they are truly are hot heads! I do like that I can have damp hands & use these to grab something out of the oven quickly. My regular oven mitts don't allow me to do that since they're cloth.

I did not colour them since I had a seminar last night & I was a bit rushed. I also did not use a very big sketch book so that's why the frog is only partially drawn.

cold hard cash

I must be desperate to find something to draw when I draw coins. I saw a scan of the 'heads' side of a Canadian nickel on a site I visited earlier tonight which made me think of drawing coins. I did all the 'tails' sides since they're all different & more interesting.

The loonie is smaller than the actual, the 2 dollar coin is larger & the penny is pretty close in size. I did not trace any of them so that's why the shapes aren't exactly round. The loonie has 11 sides - which I did not know until I counted them tonight. Both the penny and the 2 dollar coin are currently circular.
The penny was a 12 sided coin from 1982 to 1996. I did not find that information online, even though I looked. I actually dug through my coins & found the dates of the edged pennies & circular pennies. I did count the edges of the penny too.
Apparently, the 2 dollar coin had occasional problems the year they were introduced (1996) when some of them had the centres pop out if they became frozen or were struck too hard. Maybe try freezing a 1996 2 dollar coin & see if you can separate it!

I like to keep this blog informative as well as creative!

The shadows were different. There must have been a kind of reflection in the shadowed area since some of where I would have thought a shadow should be, it was light.

me times 2

I actually drew early today! Hurray!! I was supposed to go out tonight but with the blistery weather I decided staying home was best. I should do that more often regardless.

Tonight was a marker night again. I really find them fun to use but they are quite non-forgiving. One line in the wrong place & you have to make it work...somehow.

I did two self portraits tonight. I hadn't thought of drawing from a magazine now that I think of it; maybe another time.

The first one I did was this purple one. I went monochromatic since the blue eyes stood out too much last time I used markers.



The eyes are closer together as they should be but the mouth is too dark - like I'm wearing really dark lipstick (which I occasionally do but I wasn't here). What else...? The eye on the left is a wee bit droopy just as the mouth is on the right side. I didn't switch back to lighter markers sometimes when I really should have. Hence my comment on - if you make a line, make it work!





I did a second dwg since I wasn't thrilled with my first. I realize I could have just stayed with one but since I was already sitting there...


I did this differently. I looked at myself in the mirror and held the pad of paper on my chest & drew on the paper while watching in the mirror. Weird! It's almost like drawing left handed but worse! Very awkward! I didn't do the entire drawing that way but the initial basic shape, eyes, hair, neck, etc. were. I went back to the mirror drawing method occasionally but it was odd, no question. I thought by drawing that way, I would get a more accurate placement of my eyes, nose & mouth but the mouth is too wide even still.

numb ass

As I looked around for something to draw, I noticed this candle I have. It sits on a shelf in my office that's higher than my head & thought that that angle would be great to draw. In the end, I noticed how dusty it was so I took it down, dusted it off, placed it on top of some books on my coffee table & drew it from there as I sat on the floor instead of the sofa. Needless to say, I had to eventually sit on a pillow. Hardwood is not that comfy!

I took the time to map it out more than I normally do so the proportions are quite good. The nose looks pretty good too. Maybe I should do a week of faces...?

I wonder if the person who gave it to me expected me to burn it. I just couldn't do it & still can't. I realize it's a mass produced piece but I really like it & why wreck it? Perhaps burning it would add to it's uniqueness...? I'm not taking that chance.

foot

I always draw hands - or I used to. They're handy (pun intended), always with me, easy to see & I have two of them. I have drawn them both left & right handed. I know that hands can be difficult to draw but due to practice, I don't find them too tough anymore, which is why I drew my foot today.
There are similar reason to draw one's foot. They're always with me & have two of them but they are not easy to see especially in the winter since they are covered always in socks & sometimes slippers!

Here is my foot. Proportions a wee bit off but not bad all around.

¿qué hora es?

My favourite painting by Salvador Dalí is The Persistence of Memory. I had (or may still have) a print of it from Ikea. I still have not seen the real piece. It was supposed to be at MoMA in New York but I believe it was on loan to another gallery when I was there last month. Sad.

Someone bought me this Dalí clock many years ago. I had looked at it many times when I lived in Winnipeg & had always admired it but never did buy it myself. I actually received the gift when I was living in Edmonton. Thankfully the store still sold it. I have no idea if it is still sold today.

It sits at the top of my stairs & I can see it from my sofa. It was odd when I had the flooring changed in my condo & I had to take it down for over a week. I am so accustomed to looking at it for the time when I'm in the living room.

This drawing of the clock is a bit longer than the actual clock. Either way, it's a fun piece to own & I thank the person who gave it to me even now. (:

pineapple

I was at a friend's house last night since he just got back from a long holiday & I wanted to see his photographs. I had my sketchbook with me cuz I wanted to draw something in someone else's house instead of my own.
He had a pineapple & suggested I draw it. I did have something else selected that I was going to sketch but ended up doing the pineapple in the end. I started out drawing slowly then I ended up speeding up as I got to the body of the pineapple. So the leaves at the top are much more accurate than the actual pineapple body.

I still need to draw tonight so off I go!

hot?

I have no idea what type of pepper this is - likely just a hot red pepper. I received this plastic/resin(?) pepper from a past friend of mine when she stayed with me over Stampede one July weekend. This was back when I first moved to Calgary. It currently sits behind my kitchen sink & it caught my eye this morning. I knew as soon as I saw it that it was my drawing subject for today & it had to be done in colour.
I decided on markers since I would like to be able to use them a bit better than I do now. I did not sketch this out on the paper first (although I really should do that more often) so it's a wee bit longer & narrower than it should be. That's ok. You can tell what it is regardless.

raku fish

I believe it was my sister who bought me this raku ceramic fish that hangs on my wall. If not, I bought it when I was with her in Edmonton on a visit many moons ago.

This fish hangs on my wall at the bottom of the stairs to my lower level. It used to hang in my bathroom - when I had a larger one - since it kinda goes with the shower curtain I (still) have.

Watercolour seemed to be the most logical way to portray this. I realize it is already art but it is beautifully done (by someone else). Perhaps it's easier to draw something that is already art? No idea. It is 3 dimensional so it still has it's challenges.



I like the colours of the body of the fish. Looks quite close to the real piece. The fins are a bit off though. I don't have any metallic paint so the raku glaze isn't really showing properly.

collectable

Today I was having a tough time determining what to draw. It happens sometimes when I feel like I've drawn everything in my house - which is obviously not the case at all.

I have this collectable in my room which has been there since I moved here. He often falls to the floor whenever I dust the table since he is balanced on top of a decorative ionic plaster column.

This is Fone Bone who is a character in Jeff Smith's comic adventure based in "Boneville". I have the trade paperbacks in black & white but they are now available in full colour - Costco has sold them in the past. His side kicks are Phoney Bone & Smiley Bone and are his cousins if I remember correctly. The story is both funny & adventurous! There are other characters of course but I can't remember their names.

I did just go look up the heroin's name which is Thorn & Fone Bone is in love with her from the onset of the story.