Travel Sketches - Kaua'i

Sketchbooks, pens, and paints came out with me on a trip to Kaua'i last week. In between swatting mosquitoes who decided that I was a sitting duck when painting (sitting tasty duck at that), I managed to do a few drawings and paintings while out and about.

Out at the beach while some clouds gather at the peak of the nearby mountain. Showers were on and off, but it was never very cold even when raining.

Even with mosquito repellant, they found me too tasty to resist. The price of this lower right sketch was 3 bites. 

Managed to find a spot up on a ridge where the windiness kept most of the bugs away. Only a few lone dragonflies winged about. Huge ones, 4 inches long.

Experimented with a quick brush pen sketch too.

Comic-con

Back from Comic-con! Happy to be home, but once again, I seem to have caught my yearly summer-convention-cold. Such large crowds of people seem to make it inevitable for me. It's a rather sniffly/sneezy homecoming as a result.

Shared booth space with my artist friend Sandra Santara. I have to say that the nice booth setup was entirely thanks to her, as she brought all the carpet panels for hanging our art up on, as well as all the lighting. My usual convention setup is more sparse than this. It was one of the few occasions I had to bring framed originals with me as well, since I drove the 8 hours south to San Diego with my brother this time, rather than flying as I normally do for Gencon and Dragoncon.

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A snapshot of a quick drawing I did one evening in a friend's sketchbook while hanging out at the Westin. I had left my own notebooks and things back at the hotel room, and with a room full of artists sketching away, I needed something to do to keep my hands busy. And since Allen is a goober and takes 3 years ever to scan any drawings I ever give him at shows, I took a bad photo of it.

* * *

At every show, there's always busy times when I can't seem to pull prints out fast enough or answer the 4 questions that are shot my way at once; and then there are the quiet lulls where you wonder where everyone suddenly vanished off to and whether those garlic pita chips were perhaps perfuming the air around you.

I like to dig out my pens and work on ink drawings during the quiet spells. Once upon a time when I first started going to conventions I would actually bring paintings to work on, but I find now that those are too distracting to start and stop constantly. And having to worry about not spilling the water cup is an extra annoyance (especially so in a situation like Sandra and I had at this show where we were crowded so close we were practically in each others' laps!) Ink is nice and easy to pick up when I have the time, and set aside when necessary.

Inspired by a banyan tree I saw recently on my Maui trip whose roots were tangled around a large boulder (which we dubbed "the big ole' tree ball") I scribbled a quick sketch and worked on this for the first couple of days. There's almost a meditative quality about working on detailed line textures.

"Offerings"
7x11 inches
brown hi-tec-c gel pen on bristol board

* * *

And then when that was done and I got tired of twiddling my fingers, I pulled out another sheet and started with some random lines. They quickly resolved into nautiluses, a few photos of which I found floating in my digital camera, which conveniently was on hand. Perhaps a bit of Cthulu inspiration as well. Hard to go to a con and not see something Cthulu. Or perhaps it was just spirals on the mind.

"Nautilus"
7x11 inches
black hi-tec-c gel pen on bristol board

Conversations in the Woods (and at Night)

"Conversations in the Woods"
8.5x11.5 inches
watercolors

The Dragon Beign and O meeting in the woods for the first time. Cover piece for a poem-story by Mary L Riggs. Looks like I'm stuck on greens these days. Must be residual Hawaii.

Coming home from there to California though, I notice something about my own very green surroundings. There is a very different quality to it. While Hawaii is vibrant, shiny, yellowish-bright-sap-greens, California is more muted -- beautifully soothing viridian-blue-green. Damp tropical scents are replaced by the spicy aromas of redwood forests.

There's one path in Muir Woods (where Dana proposed to me) that I call "the Cinnamon flavored trail" because as you hike up the hill the crimson-barked manzinita, the towering old redwoods, and twisted oak trees combine just so to make a cinnamon smell.

* * *

Twice while in Hawaii I leapt up from a IMAX 3-D view nightmare of spiders. The first time, I jumped out of bed, the albino white spider as large as my hand staring evilly at me.

me: There's a giant white spider on the pillow!!!! (Standing next to the bed at this point, with the lamp on)
dana: (Who's used to these nocturnal outbursts from me, usually in reference to mosquitoes that he is then charged to kill. He looks up groggily) Hm? Where?
me: On the pillow!!! (Pointing)
dana: Honey, there's no spider.
::pauses::
Also, if there was a spider, how could you tell it was white in the dark?
me: (Damn logic...) Oh. Yeah. Right. Must have been a dream. (Climbing back into bed. A bit reluctant. Because damn it, no matter what he says, and what my logical awake-brain is telling me, I KNOW there was a giant white spider dripping venom there a moment ago!)



We didn't see any spiders there. Here back at home in Oakland though we actually do have some monstrous sized arachnids! Ironically I never have spider nightmares here.

Maui Travel Sketches

Back at the Foxhole now. As fun as the trip was, it's always nice to step through the doorway and take a breath of Home!

Returned a little bit darker, a little bit more relaxed. Plenty of travel sketches while I was away. The ink was not idle. Had to send Dana off with the camera to entertain himself at times while I fixated on a quick scribble.

Kept the little book on me pretty much the whole time, except for those outings when there was nothing but "oceanswimming" on the schedule. There's nothing like floating in the cerulean embrace of the sea. So light and effortless!

Rickety old bridge. Eek!

So many lovely old banyans. This one's my favorite.

Then on to Hana. Solitude, and waterfalls, waterfalls, waterfalls!

I've been in a bamboo forest before in Japan, but I suppose the wind must have been still, because what I did not remember was the eerie music like hundreds of bamboo wind chimes each time the wind trailed her fingers across the top of the grove. Paired with the deep blue-green shadows of what little light filtered down through the leaves, it was an otherworldly trek.