I'm still working with the Bee Pen Sketcher's sketchbook, as we'll be using it for the Art in Action workshop I'm leading in a few months.

At a conference for work in Anaheim, California, I sketched some entertainers: a poet with a typewriter slung around his neck and a temporary tattoo artist. I colored it with the inexpensive Yarka semi-moist watercolors and Pentel Aquash waterbrush that we'll be using in the workshop.



Last weekend, I went to San Francisco and sketched David Best's temple in Hayes Valley. Again, I used the Yarka watercolors.

Several weeks ago, M. and I enjoyed a hike, picnic, and sketch excursion with artist Suhita Shirodkar and her family. It was fun to see the other part of the park that is right behind our back yard. At certain times we couldn't see anything except trees, the trail, and green hills all around us (and power lines, of course). It was nearly like being in Ireland.









Bonus: M. found a deer skull as we were hiking back to the parking lot. Will have to clean it up a bit before we decide whether to display it.

Here's Suhita's account of the day.

Just a few minutes from my office is a haven for birds -- Baylands in Palo Alto, connected via the Bay Trail to Shoreline at Mountain View. We biked along the trail, and I stopped to sketch. We saw stilts, ducks, egrets, and even two pelicans.

I was testing out Bee Paper's Pen Sketcher's pad, as I'll be using that in an upcoming workshop I'm running for Art in Action. I was pleased to see that it worked fairly well with a Sharpie pen, watercolors, and a waterbrush.

A few weeks ago, I was in New York for the Urban Sketchers Executive Board in-person meeting. We spent long hours in a small room at Pearl Studios near Penn Station, but we took a break from our strategy sessions to sketch with the Urban Sketchers New York City chapter.

We sketched at Brookfield Place (formerly the World Financial Center). The installation of luminaries among the indoor palms was striking; they changed color frequently.



A highlight of the weekend was our visit to the Picasso sculpture exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. I spent my time mostly looking, not sketching!

Wandered around downtown Santa Cruz and visited Lenz Arts while M. biked on his birthday weekend at the end of January.

I don't often aspire to make my own drawing materials, but I took a class in coptic bookbinding at TechShop San Jose a few weeks ago because I had a coupon. It's a great way to make lie-flat sketchbooks. There were just two of us in the class. We were provided precut paper and MDF covers and learned how to sew waxed thread across the signatures to create this secure binding.







I liked learning the technique and can see the advantage of using my own mix of papers, but I'll probably leave the sketchbook-making to the pros.

How about you? Have you ever made your own sketchbook?

What a gift to be able to drive a few hours to see nature's wonders in the relative quiet of winter. Sketched Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Fall as we exited the park.

We spent our first New Year's in California cooking, eating, and going to wineries with friends. On that Sunday, M and I capped off the holiday with a hike in Henry Coe State Park, where I just had to stop and paint this twisting, gnarled tree. Not a bad way to start 2016!

Spent Thanksgiving weekend in L.A. eating, shopping, and sketching. Can't wait to go back!

It's odd to live so close to Big Sur that we can go there on a whim. This is the view from Nepenthe, a cafe/restaurant that overlooks the water.

Thank goodness the month is over. My daily InkTober drawings often devolved into strange late-night surreal scribblings, as I'd ask M. to give me prompt words. Here are the remaining ones, just to close out this bizarre month:

I've been diligently drawing every day but just hadn't taken time to scan everything until today. So here's the massive catch-up post.

Last night M. and I had dinner at Pho 69 and checked out TechShop in downtown San Jose. In between I sketched the California Theatre, a '20s-era movie palace turned performing arts venue.



The day before, I drew the two trees and distant hills I see every day out our front door. They are tall and totemic and remind me that I am in California.



Finding InkTober subjects on busy weeknights was challenging until M. and I hit upon the idea of using word prompts (from vintage copies of Sunset magazine, found at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park) to inspire me to draw random things and tie them together.

M. thinks teacup-tuna-toilet-paper baby will go viral.



Me, I'm rooting for the Saltine desert.



It's hard to do it without any prompts -- I end up mostly drawing what's in front of me, and at 10 pm it starts with whatever I see in and around the mirrored bedroom closet doors.



Last Sunday M. and I rode our bikes at Viva Calle SJ, an open streets event in which miles of San Jose roads were closed to cars. I sketched at the Aztec dance demonstration by Tezkatlipoka Dance Group and then drew the cyclists who had gathered at the information tents at Parque de los Pobladores.

They loiter aimlessly and peck and scratch and strut and sometimes even use the crosswalk when crossing the street. And they will not be on your Thanksgiving table.

After two hours of high-energy one-step, cha-cha and swing at Friday Night Waltz, I caught my breath long enough to do some quick gestural studies of our fellow dancers as they whirled around the room.

Drawn while sitting on the new sectional in our living room. A gift plant was the inspiration for the first.

Delicious green papaya salad to start, farro entree for the main. Not the best vantage point for a sketch, though, and the light was rapidly fading.

InkTober is a disciplinarian.

M. was a ready, if oblivious, subject for yesterday's drawing. I learned that although striped flannel sheets are cozy, drawing them takes a lot of patience.



Today I decided to play around with dip pens, a bamboo pen, a brush and various bottled inks. I used Levenger Regal and Forest, and Noodler's Cayenne.