Joucas Vaucluse

Sketchbook page from a little town, Joucas Vaucluce.

 Robert Bateman 6" x 9" sketchbook

 Watercolor and Pen

First day at Les Bassacs

We had a relaxing first day in France.  After breakfast we went to market day and then after lunch I wandered, sketched and settled in.  Managed to get one page done in my 6" x 9" sketchbook.

Market day in L'Isle sur la Sorgue

Horizon Lines

My art critique group does monthly challenges to keep our creative juices flowing.  This month's challenge is to compose a landscape with either a very high or a very low horizon line.

I did a series of small 5" x 5" monoprints.
My first print is with a very high horizon line.  I only used my palette knife for this one, laying in the layers of colors and the using the side of the knife to break up the foreground.

My second print, also with the palette knife, was supposed to be my very low horizon line but wasn't as low as I think it should be…..and it looks more like a seascape with the waves crashing over some rocks with absolutely no horizon line. Hmmm…maybe I'll get extra credit!

So I tried another very low horizon. This time I rolled the ink on for the background sky and used the palette knife again for the ground and palm tree.

It was fun to work in a series of horizon lines but also fun to work with the palette knife to create my images.

…and Jane came up with a new class quote:
"Anything worth doing is worth doing in a series"

A Stroll through Bowers

Made a little side trip over to Bowers Museum to renew my membership and took a quick sketching trip through the galleries.  I had started this page awhile back when I visited an exhibition from China just doing the hatband for a crown.  Took a spin through the Spirits and Headhunters: Art of the Pacific Islands to finish the page.

This is another collaborative piece with M.  He painted the watercolor and I added the pen work.


Both of these are in my
Robert Bateman 5" x 7" Sketchbook
Pen and Watercolor

Zentangle Time

Tangled Expressions is a group that meets once a month to meet up with friends and play with Zentangles.  This is a page in my 5" x 5" Handbook where I combined a few pattern ideas and actually did a little shading too.

This is another page in my 5" x 5" Handbook using a traditional Zentangle set up and some of my favorite tangles.  Looks like those silly Quabogs took over two or three windows!

Pushing ink….

My monoprint class students this semester are off and playing so I get a little time to push some ink around as well in class.

I cut a 5.5" square plexi plate and using a water based black crayon I drew some ovals and then added some speedball water based inks.

I think I needed more pressure on the press for this one because my black lines did not release.  No problem I just got out one of my many black pens and add them back in.

Playing around, Playing around, ah, ah, ah, ah, Playing around!

Little bird, little bird….

…in the cinnamon tree.  One of many great songs from Man of La Mancha.  Now I'll be humming that all day!

This page came from working with one of my art students.  We played with an 05 micron and drew some little birds and then we added color with Inktense pencils and our water Niji brushes.  It was a great fun day and I will post hers when it is finished.

Robert Bateman 5" x 7" Sketchbook
Pen and Inktense Pencils.

more collaborative art

Here is M's watercolor with a little of mom's hand in there as well….

…and after the ink was added.  Started this one at lunch and finished last night.  I do have to say these are lots of fun.

Went to lunch the other day with an artist friend and showed her the first collaborative piece and we both saw a space creature in this one right away….

….and sure enough there he was!


5" x 7" Robert Bateman sketchbook
Watercolor and Pen