Balloon Seller

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Suhita Shirodkar

These two sketches are both made from a photo I took of a balloon seller in San Miguel Allende, Mexico. They’re created s part of a my monthly “Sketching Together” group sketch meet on zoom, where we all do a take on a single image in a half hour.

While this first piece was fine, I got far into it before I realized that I’d focussed almost all my problem-solving skills ( and time) on making the figure read in reverse against a dark background because that’s how the photograph was.

While there is some drama to doing this, the story would remain the same and it would be much easier to capture if I eliminated that background. So I did a second 30-minute version. (below)

Leaving out the dark background let me create a less “trapped” effect and let what attracted me to this scene: the color of all those toys and balloons- leak out into the background space.

You can see a sped-up version of that second take here.

Video Link

Want to join in a monthly sketch-together session? It’s $5/month if you sign up for the year as an Annual Member here.

Posted in people, teaching, Workshop | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Pencil Sketches

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Suhita Shirodkar

Pencil is one of my favorite mediums. It is so versatile: you can change line width and value and make all sorts of marks, each with a different character. All with one tool.

This is my cat, Samson. Rendered on textured paper in black colored pencil using long and short strokes that follow the direction of his fur.

These people at a cafe are sketched in charcoal pencil. Messy? Yes, but totally worth it for the dark smooshiness of charcoal turning to dust against paper. (and yes, some finger-smudging is involved)

This scene was all greens. So green, in fact, that I abandoned color and captured it all in brown conte pencil and graphite pencil.

I love all sorts of pencils: Blackwing graphite pencils, Pitt oil pencils, conte pencils, charcoal pencils, watersoluble pencils, and more. They all make marks with slightly different characters, but what they share is the ability to produce a variety of marks that no other medium can come close to.

Posted in Animals, california, people | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A Week of Tulips

Posted on April 19, 2024 by Suhita Shirodkar

Here, in images, is a week of tulips on my desk.

Posted in experiments, flowers, studies | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Real Life People, TV People

Posted on April 17, 2024 by Suhita Shirodkar

There’s nothing like standing in the corner of a room bustling with energy and drawing it. On San Jose Day, Empire Seven Studios let me hang out in a corner of their gallery and sketch for a bit.

There’s nothing like live sketching.

Still, I kinda enjoyed watching my first-ever full basketball match (on tv) and sketching. The nice thing about basketball is that it’s easy to figure out what’s going on. So even a no-basketball-knowledge person like me enjoys it.

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Machines

Posted on April 15, 2024 by Suhita Shirodkar

Some recent machine-centric pages from my sketchbook.

This is Russ, working in the front yard with a very noisy paver-cutting machine.

Spotted in Japantown on San Jose Day, and I had to stop and sketch it, of course; A gorgeous blue lowrider.

I should know the name of this classic red Italian espresso machine at Roy’s Station in Japantown. I don’t, but I do love how it looks like a very sleek, highly polished automobile.

Standing beside the trains at the Railroad Museum in Sacramento made me realize just how huge they are.

My favorite part of the trains is the beautiful hand lettering on their sides.

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Pencils4Tea: Online Portraits

Posted on April 5, 2024 by Suhita Shirodkar

Pencils4Tea hosts a Zoom-based portrait sketching session every Thursday where participants take turns posing for each other. Portraits are times by the length of songs.

I drew these two spreads in one such session, mostly using a blue and brown ink combo ( I love these two colors together: the blue really warms up the brown!) with a range of drawing tools. It was a fun, relaxed way to draw and experiment.

I’ll be doing more of these soon! Check out Pencils4Tea‘s profile to see if the Zoom session works for you.

That same brown ink looks quite different when paired with graphite and colored pencil in the sketch below.

Posted in people, Portrait | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Westside Billiards

Posted on April 3, 2024 by Suhita Shirodkar

Westside Billiards in a San Jose institution that has been around since about 1947. So it was super exciting to see the sign restored.
Restorations like this might look like little projects but you can bet there’s tons of commitment and partnerships between business owners wanting to preserve history, preservation folks like Preservation Action Council of San Jose, and the San Jose Signs Project put in tons of work to make this happen.

I sketched this sign (originally from 1947) in 2015? 2016? And it’s on the back cover of my book, Vintage Signs of San Jose. So it was fun to draw it again.

Then I was back only a couple of nights later for the West Side Soirée celebrating the sign restoration, and I stood outside at dusk, painting the lit-up sign. That’s when I noticed that the neon lights up but the 6-pointed star doesn’t. Yet.

Turns out it’s going to require more fund-raising to get this sign and other vintage signs in San Jose fully restored.

Posted in california, Close to home, san jose, Silicon Valley, Vintage Signs | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Art, Play, and Community

Posted on April 1, 2024 by Suhita Shirodkar

These are four pieces I made last week. The first one is a sketch of withered daffodil heads.

This one below appeared on my page the next day as I chatted with Paul Wang (we’re bringing you a new PlayLab session soon!)

I can’t photograph this piece below well, but it’s a little zine-like thing made of tracing paper, just something I did one afternoon to break up my finish-the-taxes day. (I’ve managed to push that day out over a few weeks!)

And this last one is a collaged piece in my sketchbook. I did three versions of sketches of oranges from my backyard while chatting on Zoom with Nina Khashchina and then cut them all up and collaged them together afterward.

Looking back, I see a train of thought through them all, and an exploration of media and mark-making that I am really enjoying.

Where it will go, (if it does go somewhere, that is), I have no idea. But I’m super grateful to have lots of experimentation, play, AND a community of friends and artists, online and in person, to bounce ideas off, because nothing happens in a vacuum.

Posted in california, challenge, Close to home, collage, Everyday Sketches, experiments, flowers, studies | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Pink!

Posted on March 28, 2024 by Suhita Shirodkar

It’s spring, and it’s PINK everywhere I turn. This glorious tree was captured from my car studio, which allows me to carry far too many supplies, and throw them all at the paper, all at once!

I know a base of bright pink ink and Neocolor II crayons were part of this mix, but I cannot remember what else was involved…

The magnolia tree below is in Nina’s neighborhood. She locates promising ones during her morning run and then I go over and get a guided sketch tour of the neighborhood trees-in-bloom.

Here is a sketch of another magnolia tree, this one with bigger blooms.

These final two are from fruit trees in bloom at Cosentino Farms. It was such a gorgeous day, we sat down and sketched and I never moved and basically did the same tree twice, switching my media up a bit.

There’s a bit more of the pink and white blooms left. They will be on the trees a while longer, but the green leaves are coming in now and will overshadow the blooms soon. But, it’s time for the warmer weather iris and California poppies, and then the hot weather Matilija poppies, so there will be a lot of flowers in my sketchbook for the next few months!

Posted in california, Close to home, Everyday Sketches, san jose, Silicon Valley | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

End of the Rainy Season?

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Suhita Shirodkar

We might just be done with the big downpours of the year. It is warm and sunny now and it seems hard to imagine that most of February and early March was all rain and no sun. I did this quick sketch after a very wet grocery run.

After it had rained continually for a few days, I gave up on waiting for a sunny day and headed out on a little walk in the rain, sketchbook in hand. I didn’t get far, my book got wet, but still, I’m glad I sketched.

Posted in california, Close to home, Everyday Sketches, san jose, Silicon Valley | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments