Rainy days at home

Winter is coming to Israël and rainy days with it… No place like home to feel warm and cosy, time to draw family again !

A good occasion also to keep on experimenting with my Japanese brush pen water soluble… and I love the effect when the colors mix with each other !

ZIG Clean Color Kuretake brush pen
SAI Japanese traditional colors brush pen

Trying to convince my daughter to keep on blowing on her finger nails to be able to finish the sketch…
— Keep on blowing !
— But mummy, it's all dry already !
— You love me ?
— I love you super a lot
— Are you sure ?
— Ok, I fidget now…

Naya talking outloud for herself :
— I am going to show that to daddy, I think he's gonna be happy ! Are you happy that I call you "daddy"? It's gonna be for you and dad this drawing, OK, let's go back to work, Naya !

— Mommy, can I draw with your "that" ? 

My gate in the patio. Nutshell ink

Our building courtyard.  Nutshell ink and colorex ink

Yafo's flea market

Here is a series I am working on… I felt like loosing myself a bit into details lately, to improve my sens of observation, proportions and work on my… patience !
A good occasion for a nice walk in my neighborhood and sketch the diversity of shops, objects, people one can find in the flea market of Jaffa !

Brunch & Draw in Jaffa

Last friday we organized the Urban sketchcrawl meeting in my place in Jaffa… I am living ground floor in an old arab style building and I really enjoyed drawing in my patio and in the main court yard my urban sketchers israeli friends. We enjoyed the food and the drink everybody brought and I keep on eating it as I got a lot of excellent left over ! An experience to do again as soon as the Bougainvilleas will flourish…

Noga, Jaffa

My turn to post my drawings from the last meeting in Café Casino San Remo, in Noga, Jaffa. More than a month I didn't draw… well, I could definitely feel it ! I struggled all day and had to keep on drawing until the end of the afternoon as a (wonderfull) punishment for having been busy elsewhere !

Marina Grechanik on the right

From left to right : Tania, Aviva and Marina

Ksenia and Ea, our dear visitor from Danemark

We kept on drawing in the flea market of Jaffa, in café Gibberish, with Ksenia

Brunch at Jaffa port

Brunch at Jaffa port

I'm not sure I like visiting the renovated Jaffa port. Too much of a tourist attraction. But visiting as a sketcher is a whole different experience. Its always fun looking at people looking at things. The tourists themselves become an attraction. And the boats at the docks are a great fun to sketch. Coming to think of it, many places that seems unpleasant to visit, are a heaven for sketchers. So, when are we going to sketch in the Central bus station?

Ink & Beer

Ink & Beer

Thursday evening, rushing from work to pick up my "tools" and then to no.18 bus to get to Jaffa on time to meet the rest of the sketchers. Getting lost in maze of streets surrounding the market and finally arriving to "Sifo" on Nahman 3 st. to find the group busy and quite, each in his own sketchbook. Man, I'm late again :( 

Sitting, greeting the those who are deep into their work (and second glass of "Goldstar"), taking a big breath and starting the fight. A strong espresso suppose to lift my energy up but the 500ml beer gets me all mellow. Its been a long week and I'm tired. So, I'm letting my mind taking a nap and allowing my new Lamy Safari pen do the work for me. And it does. The ink flows freely, the beer follows. 

Bamboo, driftwood and chopstick

I like a lot to work with ink but it's not always easy to find the right tool to express the atmospher of a scene and to feel comfortable with… I often got mad at my bamboo for dripping too fast the ink and having to dip it after each line, then I decided to test other tools, home made this time !

Here is a post with different techniques I used lately to work with ink…

Bamboo - Jerusalem - Musrara

Bamboo - Mr Bubble in Jaffa park

Bamboo, some are home made

Driftwood - Sarona Center, Tel Aviv

Driftwood found on Jabaliya beach in Jaffa and cut

Chopstick - Neve Sha'anan, Tel Aviv

Chopstick and ball pen - Poua, Jaffa

Chopstick - Poua, Jaffa

Chopstick cut and prepared with sand paper to get different sizes