The art of cycling

After a long day of working on things like Open Studios registration for my group, I really wanted to do some art. I finished the painting I will take to the art exchange at the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society New Year’s Party on Saturday. After dinner, Bob and I had a really relaxing time sitting by the fire sipping camomile tea. Bob read a book and I sketched some eyes from Vanderpoel’s book on the human figure. I learned a lot about the bone and muscle structure that explains why the eye has its unique shape. I should be able to apply this when drawing the eye in different perspectives. There are more pages on the eye, so I will work through the entire section before moving on to the nose.

The painting shown is an example of the intersection of two of my passions: art and cycling. I took an Arne Westerman workshop a few years ago, and he emphasized doing 8 x 10 sketches to work out design, color, and value (it always pays to plan, doesn’t it!). I was intrigued by this picture of Bob, so I did the design sketch in the workshop, and Arne gave it a positive review. Some weeks later I painted "Repairing a Flat" of Bob as he was teaching a class about tire changing and repairing flats for the Almaden Cycle Touring Club Academy. Bob likes the picture so well that he has framed a print and hung it in his repair shop in the garage. Bob, a retired software engineer, works part-time at a job he loves, repairing and selling bicycles and related equipment for a local bike shop. He also maintains his personal, well-stocked repair shop at our home. I have not yet framed this painting, but I will soon, and plan to hang it on one of our walls.