Aikya Param

In many of the past years, I add a Christmas tree decoration that memorializes something special from the preceding year.    The year I got my first home computer, I hung a computer ornament on the tree.  The year I went kayaking for the first time, I found a cute ornament of Santa kayaking.  The year I focused on writing, I added an ornament of a little elf writing in a pad with a big pencil.  The year I did lots of biking, I hung a red bicycle ornament on the tree. The new delight of this year was rediscovering the joy of making art through courses offered by Sketchbook Skool.   Those who keep sketchbooks are a subculture in the art world. How they approach art is through easily portable supplies that enable them to sketch anywhere, that enable easy travel, but locally and internationally, with an easily carried sketchbook, pen and watercolor paints. This year's new ornament celebrates this easy portability.  There's an aspect of DIY (Do-It-Yourself) to this culture.  Al

In past years, Yule Frogs were stars of Christmas greeting cards.  They did not appear every year either but, when they did, they made me laugh and were well appreciated.  This year, Sandy Guderyon, who has graciously hosted a group of us for more than 6 years for SoulCollege, was so delighted when she heard about Yule Frogs and the possibility of a story featuring them that it pushed me to take my enjoyment of the goofy little guys and try to make a little story.  Enjoy!    Yule Frog 2014, pen and ink, watercolor, watercolor pencil, Stillman & Birn Alpha 10 X 7 notebook. Cover.   Yule Frog 2014, p. 1.     Yule Frog 2014, p. 2   Yule Frog 2014, p. 3   Yule Frog 2014, p. 4   Yule Frog 2014, p. 5  Yule Frog 2014, p. 6   Yule Frog 2014, p. 7   Yule Frog 2014, p. 8    Yule Frog 2014, p. 9  Yule Frogs 2014, p. 10  

Sketchbook Skool logo designed by Jean-Christopher Defline It started, perhaps in April of 2014, the series of three courses--Beginning, Seeing and Storytelling--offered by Sketchbook Skool,  I read about the program in Danny Gregory's blog.   Danny Gregory must be one of the most beloved artists alive today.  That's what I think anyway. He began sketching after his wife was left paralyzed after an accident in the New York City subway.  He found that it helped him through that difficult time. Now he says it changed his life.  Through sketching he met other artists and traveled around the world. He has created numerous books filled not only with his own drawings as is Every Day Matters  but also with the work of the many artists he came to know and appreciate such as in An Illustrated Life (the first book of his that I purchased) and An Illustrated Journey, another book I'm happy to have on my shelf. Some of the artists from these two books were teachers in Sketchb

So we have a materialistic culture, right?  I mean, in our free time, we go to the mall.  We don't pray or get together with others and vision.  In general, I'm talking.  Of course there are groups that pray and groups that vision.  The dominant culture goes to the mall.  In fact, we think it's patriotic to shop.  It supports the nation's economy  What's up with that? Isn't it a whole lifestyle that continually says "Happiness is outside you." Or,  [Whatever-you-seek] is outside you. And what's the result?  Everybody runs around with an impossible-to-slake HUNGER. No matter how many things I get, how many people entertain me, how extreme is my travel, it is never enough. Many of us are overweight as well. It's that same hunger affecting body and mind. So, when one of us tries to learn art, we're still looking for the secret to OUR great talent OUTSIDE in the art supplies used by the better artist.  If I just have the same pen, the sa

Kroeber Hall, U.C. Berkeley home of the Anthropology Department, the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthroology and rooms for art practice. Encouraged by Sketchbook Skooler Margo Rivera-Weiss, last Saturday I got my 70 year old self to the University of California, Berkeley to Kroeber Hall for a life drawing class. Since the last half of the 1980's when I went to one in Pleasanton, this would be the first. Such classes present an opportunity to draw something quickly, to capture an image fast.  Possibly due to mild brain damage from a birth condition, I've never been fast at anything naturally. Fast is challenging for me.  Wooden art horse seat When I arrived at the class, minutes late rather than wisely early, Margo was  there.  So was Lynn Cohen, another SBS klassmate who came down all the way from Vacaville.  A third, a man from  Sketchbook Skool , admitted to having attended but he did not seek out the rest of us then.  We'll track him down in future.

Selfie from Mirror and Camera. Watercolor, pen & ink. Sanctuary Entryway, OCSL. Watercolor, pen & ink Selfie from Photograph. Graphite. All sketches and paintings - copyright 2014, Aikya Param. On You Go. Watercolor, pen & ink Susana's Yoga Spa After Class. Watercolor, pen & ink. Pepper and Lemon. Watercolor, pen & ink. 1612 Grand Avenue, Alameda. Watercolor, pen, ink Crossroads. Watercolor, pen & ink Contour Sketch with color. Acrylic, pen & ink. Gandhi's Birthday. Watercolor pencil, pen & ink. Jesse's Deer, Watercolor, pen & ink. Tea 4 Me: Marilyn's Teapot. Watercolor, pen &ink   

Jack London in bronze, 4 PM. We've created a subgroup on Facebook for Sketchbook Skolars who live in the San Francisco East Bay.  It's called East Bay Sketchers.  Our first outing was not the Lindsay Wildlife Museum but Jack London Square in Oakland.  It was a Sunday and probably the last gloriously sunny, warm day for several months. The Square on Sunday boasts a very large, lively Farmer's Market with live music. It was perfect for sketching people since there were so many of them.  We were 7 Sketchbook Skolars plus one friend who has been adopted in spite of never having taken one of the klasses.  The original triumvirate -- Aikya Param (moi) Patricia Robinson Dale Wolfe --were there, of course. We were joined by  (L to R) Lynn Cohen, Aikya Param, Dale Wolfe, Valerie Sauban. Priscilla Reid Lynn Cohen Margo Rivera-Weiss Pat Tong and Dale's friend, Valerie Sauban. It was a first time meeting for all but the original three.  Sketchers ar

Aikya Param, Patricia Robinson and Dale Wolfe Patricia Robinson, Dale Wolfe and I -- all three students of Sketchbook Skool -- met to sketch together at John Muir House in Martinez.  The property is a small National Park. That seemed very appropriate since Muir is called the Father of our National Parks. It is off the road right in the midst of downtown Martinez. On arrival, I drove right past it and had to turn around and retrace my route. Patricia and I visited for a while and then went inside the house to explore every room up to and including the attic and bell tower.  Bells were rung to call family members and workers back from the fields. There is no bell in the tower now but it does provide a great view of the surrounding area.  The parlor and office are probably the most impressive rooms.  I loved the large iron stove in the kitchen.  Needlepoint of Muir House There is an elevated train track not far from the house and a very long freight train rumbled

I'm rediscovering art: creating it and enjoying it.  It has been an old friend but we became estranged. My mind came up with a question and insisted on an answer like a monkey who has stuck it's little hand in a cage to grab the coconut inside and will not let go.  My monkey mind demanded to know "What is your art FOR?" There is no answer to that question.  NEXT! The rational mind and art have an interesting relationship.  In a way, in my opinion, art opens our minds and awareness to other ways to approach and experience things. Those ways are other than reason and logic.  In creating art, I've found it necessary to put aside concepts of what I'm doing in order to experience whatever it is more directly and wholly and report on it more accurately. My old friend Art and I have been able to reconcile because I signed up for the online program Sketchbook Skool .  It was started by Danny Gregory  who lives in Brooklyn, NY and Koosje Koene from Amsterdam in