Meghan Jean » Sketchbook

April Update

Meghan Jean — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 20:37:55 +0000

Swarm Gallery + Studios has joined Oakland Art Murmur’s First Friday Art Walk. Last night was the inaugural event, as well as a celebration of Swarm’s 6th year in operation. Thank you so much to everyone who made it out! Please stop by next month if you missed it–the gallery will have a new show up every month and the studios in the back will be open for perusing. The studio artists will also have a rotation of events, installations, and collaborations in the studio common space. Really looking forward to meeting new folks and sharing new work with everyone.

Here are some things in progress:

Postcards

Meghan Jean — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 20:51:55 +0000

New studio postcards just arrived. If you’d like one, send me an address and I’ll drop one in the mail to you.

Here are some photos from the past few days. I’ve picked up again on a large piece that I had started earlier this year and then set aside while I tackled a few other projects.

On Location…

Meghan Jean — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 02:33:35 +0000

The Trappist

Meghan Jean — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 01:01:56 +0000

This is from a bar in Oakland that I like to frequent. They serve only Belgian and specialty beers. It’s very crowded on weekends, but weeknights after work it’s a really nice place to just sit at the bar while drawing and making small-talk (and of course enjoy a delicious brew).

Entrails

Meghan Jean — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 15:30:33 +0000

iPhone Noodling

Meghan Jean — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 23:09:47 +0000

I recently bought a sketching app for my iPhone and have been messing around. I like it a lot. The very nature of it prohibits too much fussing over details. Just color, light, shapes. Quick and dirty.

New Studio + Sketchbooking

Meghan Jean — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:00:28 +0000

I recently moved into a new studio space in Jack London Square. So much better than the garage! Better light, better neighbors, fewer spiders. And dangerously close to Blue Bottle Coffee. You can see some new work in progress in the photo.

Because of our schedules this year, Chris and I have decided not to exhibit at APE. I was planning to compile some recent sketchbook images and mini-comics in a book for the show, but I’ll share some of them here instead.

More Plein Air

Meghan Jean — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:39:53 +0000

I painted a drab, crooked building on a very cold, gray and misty morning by Lake Merritt. And then afterwards I got breakfast at a diner and everything was fine.

Plein Air Paintings

Meghan Jean — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:37:34 +0000

I’ve been painting en plein air the last few weeks with Dice Tsutsumi, Robert Kondo, and Shelly Wan, who have been kind enough to let me tag along on their weekly outings. It has been, at the same time, both horrifying and wonderful. I sweat the entire time. My hands tremble. I develop a stutter.

…this is the stuff of inspiration!

It’s been terribly foggy and overcast in the mornings, so the lighting hasn’t been very exciting. But at least it’s been consistent. More to come…

New Ink

Meghan Jean — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:47:44 +0000

Chris got the outlines of his new tattoo started yesterday: a circus themed sleeve of epic proportions, done by the talented and prolific Jason Kundell at Artwork Rebels in Portland. I brought my sketchbook along.

Life Drawing at Hipbone Studio

Meghan Jean — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:38:45 +0000

A page from my sketchbook of some recent life drawing. I haven’t been since June, so the drawing felt rather labored the whole time. Also, I didn’t eat breakfast. Always, always remember to eat before going to life drawing. You don’t want to be that guy breaking the silence with your gargley stomach noises. Trust me it’s awkward.

I recently bought some screentones at a local Japanese bookstore, and I’m aiming to do more mixed media experimentation in my sketchbook. I’ll post some samples soon.

More Life Drawing at PNCA

Meghan Jean — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:12:51 +0000

So I’m trying to take things a step further this week. Still working with straight ink, but moving away from thinking so linearly about the edges. Instead, I wanted to construct the body mass by mass, not line by line. It’s like working from the inside out, rather than the outside in. Or, you can think of it in terms of sculpting. I have one of those refillable Japanese brushes (can’t remember the brand), that I filled with some watery ink. I just worked light to dark, building up the shape volumes in layers. At the very end, I used a black brush pen to define some of the poster edge and a few particularly dark folds in the skin. Next week I may bring some white gouache to go back into the highlights a bit. 5-20 minutes on these.