place

We will hold this place...

My happy place

Class assignment: draw a crowd with layers and overlapping. I took this class because it is my artist heart's desire to capture people in real life action. We did learn a technique for that, but we did it from video. It was so stressful, and I'm considering practicing that 10 min a day for Lent. This one was a compilation from photos my teacher provided. What are your tips for capturing people in action? For me, the challenge was deciding what the action was. I kept changing the action as I saw it because it is SO FAST. I felt like I couldn't "see" fast enough.

The world is such a loud place for me. Painting quiets my mind. This time the loud of the worl seeped onto the canvas.

If I can change and you can change, everybody can change!

Village women walking along the desert carrying water in clay pots.

"Sometimes the bridges that are hardest to cross lead to most magical places. "-anon #painting #originalart #art_aristina.z #aristina.z #digitalpainting #illustration #autodesksketchbook

Face homework. This was following a couple of super uncomfortable hours trying to draw people moving in videos, which was such a struggle for me (and my deepest art desire right now!).

All of the worlds meeting in one place in time and space.

Okay, so, even though I was certainly not born in the times of Showbiz Pizza Place, I am still in love with it. My favorites are Billy Bob, Looney Bird, Rolfe Dewolfe, and Uncle Klunk (but saying that I have favorites makes it look like I don't love them all...). I really wish that Showbiz was able to stay around, just for one birthday... maybe my sweet 16, or something. I dunno. Drawn with FireAlpaca.

I got to drop into an outdoor class with my beloved teacher from the studio. A space had finally opened up two weeks before everything in SF shut down again. Well, it was good to see her and my fellow students and be in that setting on a beautiful sunny day. I was also negotiating my next job salary and getting phone calls during class, so I wasn't entirely present. The class topic for the day was palm trees. This is in front of the De Young, another place I was so glad to have visited indoors on another afternoon before the latest lock down.

One of the rare times when my son draws for long enough for me to get one in, too. This was while we were waiting for our lunch at an outdoor table when that was still allowed.

Experimenting with winter darks...kudu when the zoo was still open.

A few moments to try out my new brush at Ortega playground after lunch with my son

NOAA Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary

I figured it'd be a while until I draw (in full detail) ALL of the Altitone band members, so I made each one a sprite. Their names are (from left to right): (The first one is a base), Elizabeth the hot pink cat, Preistor the sky blue rabbit, Altor the golden bear, Bruce the green mouse, Lexibo the violet elephant, Mary the short red fox, Dexter the blue-gray Racoon DJ, and the three cheerleaders: Rosette the crimson mouse, Oopsie the russet fox, and Pastelle the cotton candy short-eared rabbit. On the very bottom are the instruments. In order, they are Elizabeth's mic, Preistor's guitar, Altor's drum set, Bruce's mic, Lexibo's piano, Mary's oil drum (not an instrument, but Mary hides her bottom half in the oil drum, sort of like Looney Bird from The Rock-afire Explosion (which is why she has no legs)), and Dexter's DJ board. The last three are cheerleaders, and their hands have been replaced with cheerleading pom poms. On stage left, we have Dexter and Mary. On the center stage, we have Preistor, Altor, Lexibo, Elizabeth, and Bruce. On stage right is Rosette, Oopsie, and Pastelle. Made with Piskel. (If you're wondering where Jester and Dellusion are, they aren't band members --- but rather seperate attractions (and Jester doesn't even perform.))

I sketched Rob on a hot Saturday morning when he was also sketching. Our focus was The Shine Dome, which is having it’s copper roof replaced.

Sketching at the Academy (California Academy of Science) with my five year old. This was so fun. There was so much movement that he actually focused on his own sketchbook for long enough for me to get one in. Usually, he's done by the time I put the clips on my book! The Academy and all museums are closed again with SF preemptively joining the rest of the state in the extended stay at home order this past Sunday 12/6/2020. Grateful we got to go several times while it was open.

Japantown sitting by the Ruth Azawa fountain. It was so hot and unusual for SF.

Koala at the zoo. Sketch meetup with my studio art friend Kathy. The zoo may be closing here in a few weeks under the governor's new coronavirus prevention order. That will suck! I take my son every Monday. Our zoo has really beautiful, lush gardens.

Clancy's Pumpkin Patch by the zoo by my house. Sketch walk with the Oceanic Sketchers.

FanArt of one of my favourite manga and anime. :) . . "What is your name? Do you have a place to go? Oh could you tell me? I saw you hidden in garden." -Undelivered Truth By BTS. Media: Acrylic Paint

#Embracingnightmares is a very nice place to visit......

I’m disappointed or broken my heart because of that sometimes. But that’s why the world is colorful and beautiful. So I’ll leave things I can’t understand and just love what i love and who I love.

A street sketch near Bourem, Mali. My new method of finding something interesting to draw - now that I'm mostly at home, like everyone else - is using StreetView. I use the app to search interesting places around the globe.

Found a shady spot to sketch a little street in our beautiful city of San Francisco. I have been surprised to learn how much fun vehicles are to draw. My four year old loves them.

My fave of recent sketches. Flora Grubb is a nursery here in SF, and this car with plants growing in it is in a shady back corner.

I rarely do pieces with a full color background, landscapes and all. But I really enjoyed doing this piece. It shows a place and character from my novel project "The Hidden Kingdoms". Drawn in pencil, then scanned and colored digitally.