Sixteen Recent Sketches

After my brother died, I developed a block and could not draw or paint. Almost half a year later, I began tentatively doing "subway" sketches - simple, fast, and doesn't matter if it 'looks like' or not -  no pressure - just do it - as a way to break through the block. First, I used a pen with a fude nib, which I liked, and am waiting for a new pen barrel to come into stock. Then, with a gift certificate to a local art store that a lovely friend gave me for my birthday, I bought a set of Bic coloured ballpoint pens. Love them! Only, they are not lightfast*[see note below], and already folks want to buy some of these. So I bought a set of 36 Pilot Juice Gel Ink Ballpoint Pens and have been using them solely (I found very little on these pens researching, but think they are gel ink with a rolling ballpoint tip, and are pigment-based rather than dye-based as ballpoint pens are). The Pilot pens were used in the first three drawings you see here - the colourful lady completed last night.

Most of these drawings are tiny - 3.5"x5.5" - done in a Pocket Portrait sketchbook made by Hand-Book Journal Co. It is heavyweight buff drawing paper, 130gsm/90lbs, that is acid-free and very nice to draw on. The book is hardcover with an elastic closure and easy to slip into your pocket or purse. The pens are .5mm and really too large to work at this size - but, eh, the size means more chance of drawing.

Each drawing has inscription - please go to my Instagram to see: https://www.instagram.com/brendaclews/
I have to disconnect Instagram to this blog since it sends the commentary through as a title! And I must do all the resizing and start double posting here. But, so busy - at least I will try do this kind of round up every now and then.

                                                             

The last three sketches, of H.D. Doolittle, are preparatory sketches for a commissioned painting.

*Good ballpoint pens, like Bic Crystal, only lose colour in light. If you keep drawings in a drawer or closed in a sketchbook, they are fine. What ballpoint pen artists do is scan or photograph a drawing when it is finished and use the image to print them for showing. I think the gel pens are likely similar - I bought them for the range of colours in the set.
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Sketch 13 April 2018

Yesterday on the University Subway, 13 April. She was a beautiful Korean woman. My initial sketches are in gold ink and a bit scribbly - if I’ve focused on someone to draw them, I seem to be able to see them later almost photographically honing the drawing & for skin tones & clothing colours. But... I wish to move into imaginal colour, hence the... spectral wildness. 

I need to figure out how to stop Instagram from posting here - my comments on my photos come in as headers! Awful!!!

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'Fugue in Green,' video from Quattro Books Launch Jan 2018

direct link: Fugue in Green Quattro Books publisher launch Jan 2018

This is my first videoed reading of my new novella, Fugue in Green. It has received great reviews. This novella was written during NaNoWriMo 2012! It kind of wrote itself. I am happy with this little book. The Quattro Launch was fabulous - crowded, a great line-up of authors and their books, a fun night.

So far, I have 8 reviews of Fugue in Green, and the reviewers all like the book! Ok, at present they are reviews by my friends, who are all authors, which floors me and blows me away - I can't believe how wonderful people are! I am humbled and grateful before them. I have all the reviews collected, and readable in screens that open on the page, on my FIG webpage.

The cover is a detail of my 5' x 5' painting, Charcoal Poems.

Quattro produced a beautiful book, the paper is good vellum, the print is dark, and there is a full line between each indented paragraph, making the reading experience quite wonderful. You can buy a copy from Indigo Books in Canada (Amazon Canada is charging more than the book costs), and Amazon in the US (where they are priced correctly and are a bit cheaper due to the exchange rate). There's also Quattro Books, but they're a small press and it might take awhile to receive a copy purchased there. Though if you want to put in a larger order, definitely contact them to see about the price. I also sell them - so connect if you're in Toronto.

The full launch video of all the authors whose books Quattro launched on January 31, 2918  is at my Poetry and Music Salons channel.

All the info with all the links to booksellers is on my Fugue webpage: http://brendaclews.com/books/fugue-in-green
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Photos from a rehearsal of Deepti Gupta's 'Snow Angels' Kathak dance performance

                               
Deepti Gupta's 'Snow Angels' Kathak Indian dance performance will be performed in Peterborough this weekend. IM her for more details. I was the photographer for the flyer. And I include a gif I made of their beautiful dance during a rehearsal last Fall. Last week I dropped in on a rehearsal, and had fun processing a few of the photos after I finished my work today - photoshop is like snack food, nothing relaxes me as much, I so enjoy playing with images.

There is an article on the upcoming opening in Ottawa mid-April in KawarthaNow, and if you can go, DO!
https://kawarthanow.com/2018/04/03/snowangels-a-lions-roar/
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Little sketch from Tom’s Urban Folk Art Salon where Nadia featured & was fantastic. The colouring is not bad – but the detail in such a small size with .5mm or 1.0mm ballpoint pens...! @nadiahighmusic #Toronto #urbansketchers #ballpointpen #colorink #figurativedrawing #art #art_dailydose #instaart #artist #sketchbook #sketchoftheday #sketching #sketch #sketch_daily #draw #drawing #artistoninstagram #moleskine #moleskinesketchbook

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Ballpoint sketch of Nadia High @nadiahighmusic performing at the Urban Folk Art Salon in #Toronto. I want to fiddle with the drawing & may overdo it. So here’s the original, which took 10min. 3.5”x5.5”. #urbansketchers #ballpointpen #colorink #figurativedrawing #art #art_dailydose #instaart #artist #sketchbook #sketchoftheday #sketching #sketch #sketch_daily #draw #drawing #artistoninstagram #moleskine #moleskinesketchbook

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I think he was an angel at The Second Cup. Unfinished, as is. #urbansketchers #ballpointpen #colorink #figurativedrawing #art

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