Black and White Cookie

Sketched on my phone

First Garden Tomato -- iPhone Sketch

Model in situ:

The craziest part?

I sketched this in Providence. I grew it in LA. I brought it along because I didn't have time to sketch before I left. 

Ps: it tasted delicious!

Note: post created on my phone. Will fix any formatting weirdness when home next week. 

Another Waiting Game at UCLA/Harbor plusTesting CamScanner

I found a "scanning" phone app via my Fake Journaling friend Dana, who found it through Tina, an Urban Sketcher.
The app is CamScanner, available for both iOS and Android.

The first quick experiment, under bad lighting:

Compare with a standard scan:

The standard scan wins in this case. This is an easy sketchbook to scan from, and black ink is easy to scan.
I have other sketchbooks and media that are more difficult, and I will continue with my experiments.

The hospital visit was for a sonogram for a suspicious lump near my 2nd mastectomy scar. It was a false alarm -- that was a relief. I could have done without the three hours of waiting around, it was very boring AND anxiety inducing. I refused to sit in the Room of Doom (where I waited to get my initial diagnosis on 6/2/10). Instead, I sat in the hall near the Radiation Oncology Clinic.

Testing the Rocketbook Wave Sketchbook

Last year, I backed an Indiegogo campaign for the Rocketbook Wave, a reusable sketchbook that can be quickly digitized through a phone app. I can't even remember when I finally received it, it's been gathering dust on the shelf. 

Yesterday, I met with some pals at LACMA, to see the Reigning Men exhibit (which is great, by the way). I decided to bring along the Rocketbook, rather than my usual Canson 6x6" sketchbook, just in case photography wasn't allowed. It was, I didn't need to sketch, but after lugging around the Rocketbook all day, I was determined to sketch SOMETHING to test it out. 

Here is my first experiment: 

Direct in-app digitization, uploaded to Blogger on phone, image size: 984 x 1112 pixels 

Scanned @300dpi, Photoshop levels adjustments, resized to 1000 pixels width for blog.
The QR code, dot grid, and symbols at the bottom are elements for the digitization that become invisible.

Thoughts:

As you can see, the top direct digitization lost detail (dots especially) and saves at a smaller resolution than I can get scanning.

Scaling the in-app file to exactly the drawing's dimensions (7.75" width) creates an image of 127dpi.

OK for notes, not very usable for fine art purposes.

The provided pen is too wimpy -- it's a special pen to work with the sketchbook's reusable feature. Again, OK for notes, meh for fine art. There is a thicker felt-tip pen available on Amazon, which I might try.

After purchasing a Rocketbook, it's possible to download a PDF to print then use.
I thought of some ways I could utilize this, especially for some of my fashion sketching.
That will be my next experiment.

Meanwhile, I think I'll be using my Rocketbook for ToDo lists -- better than the myriad scraps of paper floating around on my desk!

Bergamot Station Station Opens

The Metro light rail now runs from downtown LA to Santa Monica. Woohoo!

I helped woman the Bergamot Station Arts Complex booth during the hoopla on Saturday.
I sat there all day (10am - 4pm) and by 2pm I was getting a bit loopy.
I did some sketching to help ground myself.

In case you were wondering, Bergamot Station is running strong, despite the efforts of the City of Santa Monica to redevelop it into another hotel/condo/shopping thing (isn't there enough of that in Santa Monica already?). Full disclosure: I have a vested interest in keeping Bergamot an Arts destination, I'm part owner of TAG Gallery.

If you are a Santa Monica resident, I encourage you to learn about the LUVE Initiative (LUVE stands for Land Use Voter Empowerment). 

It IS possible to fight City Hall.

The Clutter Abides, Still

I'm doing one of those "Post 5 Artworks..." challenges on Facebook [find mine here], and I thought I'd make it more complicated for myself by making blog posts with the art. Each day a different blog. [Yes, I have 5+ blogs. Ack!]
Sketches and Impressions was the first blog that I started, in May 2008.

Clutter sketches surface in my oeuvre every now and then.
Here's an early one from 2009:

Anne M Bray, Office Clutter, Ink on paper, 11 x 13" ©2009

Here's a recent one from my decluttering project of October 2015:

Link for this image

All the posts are on The Glutton's Progress, the second blog that I started in April 2009.
Here's the link for the month-long series.
As a result of that project, the living room became tidy for about one day. Then the paper tsunami hit. The floodwaters of paper still linger.
As I say in the title, the clutter abides.