Moleskine Slideshow

Ginger and Fried Egg

Photo of previously posted fried egg in moleskine.

Ginger plant. Acrylic on 18 x 24 canvas.

Fuji-san Slideshow

Egypt Sketchbook Part 4

The top photo is the temple at Luxor (Thebes). This front section was built by Ramses II 1213 BC. The two earlier sections behind this were built by Tutankhamen and Amen-Hotep, 1327 and 1352 BC.

Imagining Egypt, A Living Portrait of the Time of the Pharaohs by Mark Millmore. Millmore creates computer illustrations of temples, structures and artifacts as they may have appeared when new and freshly painted. It is nice to see the structure complete, the missing obelisk returned from the country that pilfered it although it does look lovely in Paris where it seems at home and admired. Several obelisks have appeared in movies, recently in Angels and Demons.

The second photo shows Millmore's reconstruction of the Hypostyle hall inside the Temple of Isis that was on the island of Philae. Due to the construction of the Aswan dam bult in the 1960's, the Egyptian government and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), performed a massive joint effort, surrounded the island with a dam, labeled, removed and reassembled each stone on the island of Agilka Island. An impressive 10 year engineering rescue project as was the rescue of other beautiful temples. 2007 is the copyright date on his book.

The discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb is in Egyptologist Elizabeth Peters' mystery The Tomb of the Golden Bird, a nice brief description of what it may have been like to be an archaelogist at one of the most exciting moments.

Egypt Sketchbook Part 3

The wedjat eyes of Horus, the falcon god, all knowing.



I started this sketchbook in March. Spent time reading about Egypt before all the faces came together as a people instead of individual statues and sarcophagi.

Ancient life had a seasonal rhythm around the rising of the Nile, flooding of the fields, preparing for the crops that will feed a people for the coming year. The pharoah looked ahead, put aside food for a drought year, employed men in construction of burial sites and temples during the flood season when men could not tend the farms. Perhaps they were better planners than the world, 4000 years later.

Egyptian Sketchbook Part 2

Egyptian facebook.
Pakap, overseer of cultivated lands and scribes.
Tjayasetimu, 900 BC, singer of god's wife.
Padiamente, 700 BC, attendent and doorkeeper of the god Re at Thebes.
To the left is more of my antique necklace.

Heart scarab from the 18th dynasty. The heart was considered to be the seat of intelligence. It was the only organ left intact during the mummification process. All other organs were placed in four jars covered with god animal heads. The brain, considered mere stuffing for the skull, was removed and discarded through the sinus, replaced with sawdust.

Amenwahsu, overseer of granary. The image of the deceased is often shown holding baskets of grain or implements of harvest.

The god Horus, a falcon or hawk, his eye is a frequent symbol, "making whole", having regenerative powers. Wedjat Eyes appear on coffins, walls, as an amulet.

Egypt Sketchbook Part 1

Egyptian sketch journal via internet photographs and lots of library research. 31 painted panels, 9 feet, in a small accordion moleskine. I am lucky to have a library with a wonderful rare book room. They have a Tuttle book that unfolds to about 9 feet, a continuous folding Japanese painted screen.

Thinking about clothes to take to Egypt, my Lizard Island t-shirt, canvas hiking boots, an antique necklace of fruits carved in metal with the blossom and seed(s) on the underside of the fruit half. Thought this necklace would fit in well, a meeting of one art piece in a country of rich history and art.

Researching Egypt has been a pleasure. 90% of the country is desert so the patterns of desert sand and sky flow through the sketch journal.

Villa Riviera

Long Beach's grand dame, Villa Riviera Hotel, built 1927 as coop apartments, on the corner of Ocean and Alamitos, faces downtown and acts as hostess to Shoreline Drive, access down to the marina and beach.

Sketched giant nasturciums that climbed my fence, then added the Villa a few days later, two skyscrapers.

Spring Time in the City

Springtime in an urban setting can be like a scavenger hunt, keeping an eye out for a bit of greenery. In this instance, it was some red blotchy leaves on the sidewalk that came home to be painted. Watercolor and pen in a moleskine.

Tabasco and Raisins

Still in the mood for red after sketching Cheetos and Cola. Watercolor on molesine.

Tea Cup and Paints

Watercolor in moleskine. This compact watercolor set has a clear cover that doubles as a palette. The layers twist together into a compact travel set. Will fill an empty set with my own tube paints, two colors to a circle so I'll only need one layer. .

Los Animalitos

That's a half pound brass belt buckle, a piece of sculpture found in a San Francisco thrift store. I've been looking at it for years, wondering what I was going to do with it. Sketch it of course!

The back of the buckle says "Capt. Hawks Sky Patrol" "1977 and Novelty Co." Like to think the Captain is still out there, making more art.

Chicken Salad

Good intentions, doing one sketch a day. The bento box was done 3-26, the salad 3-27. My art store got in a fresh supply of moleskines. But they only had the small ones with the perforated pages which takes the watercolor better. I'm not having any luck finding the book without the perfs.

The sandwich in the bento box is chicken salad. Minced onion, celery, dill weed, salt, pepper, mayonnaise, chopped pecans. Sometimes I add chopped green grapes or a pinch of yellow curry powder.

Bento Box

I bought an inexpensive stack of small bento boxes, very handy for storing and serving small food portions for picnic and New Year's Day. I only recently discovered bento box lunches have become popular in France, a way of portion control for dieting and as an edible art form. Just Bento by Maki has yummy recipes and photographs.

I enjoy arranging food most of the time. Sometimes it's just something to eat but a nice presentation makes it more of an occasion than a bowl of cat food. My cat never appreciated a cilantro garnish on her tuna but I did.

Cheetos and Taxes

An antique dish, handpainted leaf pattern from Japan, probably 1940's. It's stamped JAPAN on the bottom. Cheetos and cola, treats to lure myself to finish the bookkeeping for tax time.

Yesterday's breakfast of coffee and danish on another antique dish, heavy clear glass tea set probably from the 1920's. A raised bubble or popcorn pattern on the bottom. Bright orange Japanese cotton scarf with tiny yellow dot wave pattern, too tiny to paint.

Uniball pen, watercolor in moleskine.

Carnitas and the Warrior

SHAMBALA The Sacred Path of the Warrior
By Chogyam Trungpa

Page 11 “The key to warriorship and the first principle of Shambala vision is not being afraid of who you are. Ultimately, that is the definition of bravery: not being afraid of yourself. Shambala vision teaches that, in the face of the world’s great problems, we can be heroic and kind at the same time. Shambhala vision is the opposite of selfishness. When we are afraid of ourselves and afraid of the seeming threat the world presents, then we become extremely selfish. We want to build our own little nests, our own cocoons, so that we can live by ourselves in a secure way.”

My daughter gave me this palm sized book several years ago. Philosophy is not an easy read for me but this book is written clear enough. Straight reading gives me little. I do better to pick it up every once in a while and let it surprise me. Most of us do strive to create a cozy nest, a place of peace, comfort, warmth. And for us, a place to make art for our own pleasures. Better to add wings and find ways to share.

Page 14 Excerpt from An Enlightened Society
“Discovering real goodness comes from appreciating very simple experiences.”

This would be me. The simpler the better.

Watercolor in moleskine 3-1-09.

Hokusai's Kirifuri Waterfall

Hokusai's graphic interpretation of water feels fresh and contemporary. I sketched the lower left corner.



Uniball vision pen and watercolor in moleskine. Below is the print from Hokusai, 1955 edition published by Charles Tuttle Company.

Mt Fuji View 24

The 24th view of a fiery Mt. Fuji.

"Despite his appeals to heaven for “yet another decade—nay, even another five years,” on the 18th day of the fourth month of the Japanese calendar “the old man mad with painting,” as he called himself, breathed his last. He was 89 but still insatiably seeking for an ultimate truth in art—as he had written 15 years earlier:

"From the age of five I have had a mania for sketching the forms of things. From about the age of 50 I produced a number of designs, yet of all I drew prior to the age of 70 there is truly nothing of any great note. At the age of 73 I finally apprehended something of the true quality of birds, animals, insects, fishes, and of thevital nature of grasses and trees. Therefore, at 80 I shall have made some progress, at 90 I shall have penetrated even further the deeper meaning of things, at 100 I shall have become truly marvelous, and at 110, each dot, each line shall surely possess a life of its own. I only beg that gentlemen of sufficiently long life take care to note the truth of my words." Hokusai

Richard Lane
Encyclopedia Britannica

Mt Fuji View 23

23rd view of Hokusai's 24 Views of Mt. Fuji. From a Shinto Shrine in Edo. Above the clouds and the firetower.

Near, far, high, low, big, small. Fujiyama appears small in the distance until you notice the men working on the roof. Hokusai directs the eye in a circle.

Uniball Vision pen in pocketbook moleskine.

Mt Fuji View 22

22nd of Hokusai's 24 views of Mt. Fuji from the Sumida River. Micron pen in watercolor pocketbook moleskine.

Looking forward to the first day of a new year.