Jekyll2024-03-11T20:13:48+01:00/author/derrick/feed.xml9code | Derrick Oswald's placeIrony2024-03-11T18:47:21+01:002024-03-11T18:47:21+01:00/letters_to_dad/irony<p><img src="/assets/letters/20240311.jpg#full" alt="cursive letter about humerous irony" /></p>DerrickDear Dad, People here don't get my humour if I rely on irony.Troubleshooting for Beginners2023-11-14T11:57:32+01:002023-11-14T11:57:32+01:00/letters_to_dad/troubleshooting-for-beginners<p><img src="/assets/letters/20231114.jpg#full" alt="cursive letter about the book Troubleshooting for Beginners" />
<a href="https://gitlab.com/derrickoswald/troubleshooting/-/blob/master/Troubleshooting.epub?ref_type=heads">Troubleshooting.epub</a></p>DerrickDear Dad, I'm writing a book: 'Troubleshooting for Beginners' in ePub format.Ranch Dressing2023-11-10T18:50:20+01:002023-11-10T18:50:20+01:00/posts/ranch_dressing<p>One of the things you can’t get in Switzerland is ranch salad dressing.
There are many types of French and Italian dressings, a Catalina and a Caesar, but not ranch.</p>
<p>Admittedly, it’s very American. Being a Canadian is almost like being an American though.
So, I kind of grew up with it in the 80’s when it became available from Kraft (now Mondelez) in bottled form.</p>
<p>I’ve gathered all (I hope) the ingredients, and will set about trying to recreate
what I remember was a creamy, herby, topping that would turn a salad
(or spicy chicken wings) into an experience.</p>
<ul>
<li>150ml buttermilk, well shaken</li>
<li>100ml sour cream</li>
<li>50ml mayonaise</li>
<li>6ml lemon juice</li>
<li>3ml dry mustard</li>
<li>3ml onion power</li>
<li>3ml garlic powder</li>
<li>2ml black pepper, fresh ground</li>
<li>2ml Tobasco/Worcestershire sauce</li>
<li>1ml salt</li>
<li>18ml dill, finely chopped</li>
<li>18ml parsley, finely chopped</li>
<li>18ml chives, finely chopped</li>
</ul>
<p>Whisk together buttermilk, sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, onion, garlic, pepper, hot pepper sauce and salt. Stir in dill, parsley and chives.</p>DerrickOne of the things you can't get in Switzerland is ranch salad dressing.Urban Sketching2023-10-30T07:58:50+01:002023-10-30T07:58:50+01:00/letters_to_dad/urban-sketching<p><img src="/assets/letters/20231030.jpg#full" alt="cursive letter about urban sketching" /></p>DerrickDear Dad, We all have 10,000 bad drawings in us. The sooner we get them out the better -- Walt StanchfieldLe Carro2023-10-16T17:01:49+02:002023-10-16T17:01:49+02:00/letters_to_dad/le_carro<p><img src="/assets/letters/20231016.jpg#full" alt="cursive letter about Le Carro" /></p>DerrickDear Dad, You've probably heard by now that Samantha, Alexandra and Mandy have bought a place in Allesse.Covid2023-10-02T16:07:51+02:002023-10-02T16:07:51+02:00/letters_to_dad/covid<p><img src="/assets/letters/20231002.jpg#full" alt="cursive letter about covid" /></p>DerrickDear Dad, We finally ran out of our nine lives and got COVID last week.Self Discipline2023-09-24T13:50:39+02:002023-09-24T13:50:39+02:00/letters_to_dad/self-discipline<p><img src="/assets/letters/20230924.jpg#full" alt="cursive letter about self discipline" /></p>DerrickDear Dad, I quit smoking. Again. It's just one of many of my bad habits that require self discipline to kick.Münsterplattform2023-09-05T18:35:56+02:002023-09-05T18:35:56+02:00/art/m%C3%BCnsterplattform<p>I fell down a rabbit hole.
There exists an <a href="https://switzerland.urbansketchers.org/">Urban Sketchers Switzerland</a>,
and the <a href="https://switzerland.urbansketchers.org/2023/08/samstag-9-september-sketchcrawl-usk.html">Zurich sketch event this weekend</a> is part of its <a href="https://symposium.usk-switzerland.ch/de/">yearly symposium</a>.
Angst level 11.</p>
<p>I thought I would join the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/227965074572113/">Urban Sketchers Bern</a> on Saturday at Sechseläutenplatz to check out the group.
Moving from the on-line world to In Real Life (IRL) is always a bit of a crap shoot.
But, instead of a cozy dozen or so people from Bern, it’s two hundred people from all over the world — who actually paid to do art.</p>
<p>So, I’m practicing again: for speed. I got the time down to two hours forty-five minutes; so there’s still some way to go to hit two hours.
Although, to be fair, I talked to a guy for fifteeen minutes.</p>
<p>He suggested leaving it as a pencil sketch —
probably because I showed him my two previous sad attempts.
But, I watercoloured it anyway, even though not doing it would save a half hour.</p>
<p>Even in this smaller sketchbook format, it’s easy to get lost doing detailed pencil,
so don’t look too closely at the area below the nave-tower junction.
To my credit, in the interest of time, I didn’t erase it and re-do it.</p>
<p>I still lack that loose, natural feel you see in good art from a real artist,
but it does have a few paint spots à la <a href="https://vis.social/@gretared">@gretared</a> style.</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Data</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Title</td>
<td>Münsterplattform</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Artist</td>
<td>Derrick Oswald</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Medium</td>
<td>Watercolour and pencil on acid-free paper</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dimensions (w × h cm)</td>
<td>14.8 × 21</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Date</td>
<td>2023</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><img src="/assets/art/IMG_20230905_183556.jpg" alt="watercolour and pencil of the Münsterplattform in Bern - looking north-west towards the Münster" /></p>DerrickI fell down a rabbit hole. There exists an Urban Sketchers Switzerland, and the Zurich sketch event this weekend is part of its yearly symposium. Angst level 11.Urban Sketching2023-09-03T20:10:50+02:002023-09-03T20:10:50+02:00/art/urban-sketching<p>I joined the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/227965074572113/">Urban Sketchers Bern</a> Facebook group —
which fills me full of angst because there are real artists involved.
So, I thought I would try the protocol and just sit and sketch to see how bad it will be.</p>
<p>The first painting is from where we sit waiting at the Zytglogge tram stop.
That’s not the 9 tram and 10 bus stop north of Zytglogge at Kornhausplatz;
nor the 12 bus stop east of Zytglogge on Kramgasse;
but the 6, 7, and 8 tram stop south of Zytglogge at Casinoplatz.
Pity the fool who has instructions to meet at Zytglogge.</p>
<p>It is my usual ink and watercolour — but without cheating!
Just sit down and draw.
It also uses fineliner (magic marker) instead of a nib dip pen — I can’t see bringing that out of the studio.
The trouble is, it looks like a child drew it.
I limited myself to the two hours the Urban Sketchers allot,
and that hurry-up style leads to gross simplifications and elided parts.
Basically, I spent too long on the pencil layout.
By the time I got to inking, the sun was up over the Casino and I was blinded.</p>
<p>I used a limited palette — a cute little 10cm×12cm metal box purchased from the Paul Klee Center gift shop.
After all, you can never have too many art supplies.
But this means I have to work out new mixtures for the pale green sandstone and terracotta clay roof tile colours from the ten provided.
I obviously haven’t nailed it quite yet.</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Data</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Title</td>
<td>Casinoplatz</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Artist</td>
<td>Derrick Oswald</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Medium</td>
<td>Watercolour and fineliner on acid-free paper</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dimensions (w × h cm)</td>
<td>21 × 14.8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Date</td>
<td>2023</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><img src="/assets/art/IMG_20230903_201007.jpg" alt="watercolour and fineliner of the Casinoplatz in Bern - showing the Casino and Burgerbibliotek" /></p>
<p>To save time, for the second painting I thought I would go direct from pencil, skipping the inking step.
It was a bit challenging perspective-wise, so it actually took longer because it involved a lot of erasing and redrawing.</p>
<p>My debriefing notes for this one say “Capture the shadows once — they change”.
Over the three hours this took, the shadows moved around like a kid playing ‘monsters’ with a flashlight under the chin.
I added shadows with pencil, rather than trying to add them with grey at watercolour time,
but this leads to a confused mess of diagonal hatching that obscure the cornices.
I’ll get better eventually.</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Data</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Title</td>
<td>Brunngasse</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Artist</td>
<td>Derrick Oswald</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Medium</td>
<td>Watercolour and pencil on acid-free paper</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dimensions (w × h cm)</td>
<td>21 × 14.8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Date</td>
<td>2023</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><img src="/assets/art/IMG_20230903_201050.jpg" alt="watercolour and pencil sketch of Brunngasse, Bern, looking north in morning sun illumination" /></p>DerrickI joined the Urban Sketchers Bern Facebook group - which fills me full of angst because there are real artists involved.Vasileios2023-08-23T15:41:21+02:002023-08-23T15:41:21+02:00/art/vasileios<p>This is another in the series of portraits of colleagues - those poor guinea pigs of my retirement art hobby.</p>
<p>Generating these is getting a little easier, because it is more formulaic:</p>
<ul>
<li>note that these steps follow the “<a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/how-to-draw-an-owl">draw the rest of the fucking owl</a>” meme and I’m sorry, but that’s how it is</li>
<li>wash the lightest flesh-tone over the entire face ears and neck except for the eyeballs</li>
<li>overlay red, violet, brown etc. to match the complexion and facial contours</li>
<li>add eye details until it looks like real eyes</li>
<li>add eyebrows</li>
<li>add ear details until it looks like a real ear</li>
<li>carefully add lip color until it looks like real lips</li>
<li>add facial hair - obviously not required for female portraits</li>
<li>add head hair</li>
<li>round out with neck and clothing approximations</li>
<li>stop - you’ll just make it worse since watercolor is unforgiving</li>
</ul>
<p>Of importance is to accentuate the features that are distinctive for the face,
in a kind-of caricature, but without too much exaggeration.
In this Vasileios case, it is the upper lip pointed “V” shape,
eyebrows and dominant mustache.
I don’t know if anyone would recognize him if he was clean-shaven.</p>
<p>Color match is difficult.
The original photograph was taken in shaded summer light,
which gave him a more ruddy complexion than usual.
So, I mostly ignored that,
and instead went with my gut feeling of an olive skin base,
with sun reddened highlights.
It might have worked,
but it could be a bit more vibrant with a little more courage on my part.</p>
<p>He asked, “With or without glasses?” and I said with,
because he is rarely seen without them.
This presents a slight challenge to get the shape correct in perspective.
and I have to admit, I could have done a bit better.
It is what it is.</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Data</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Title</td>
<td>Vasileios</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Artist</td>
<td>Derrick Oswald</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Medium</td>
<td>Watercolour on acid-free, cellulose, fine-grained, natural-white paper</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dimensions (w × h cm)</td>
<td>29.7 × 42</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Date</td>
<td>2023</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><img src="/assets/art/IMG_20230823_154121.jpg" alt="watercolour of Vasileios" /></p>
<p><a href="/assets/art/Vasileios.jpg">original photograph of Vasileios</a></p>DerrickThis is another in the series of portraits of colleagues - those poor guinea pigs of my retirement art hobby.