Ben Bittner
surlyben.bsky.social
Ben Bittner
@surlyben.bsky.social
Hiking and drawing.
I've been looking at a lot of John Berkey and John Harris paintings lately. They are both so good, painterly, and wonderful! Space is almost never black in their paintings. Anyway. Another spaceship sketch.

#drawSpaceships #watercolor 6" x 6"
November 6, 2025 at 4:16 PM
4.5 x 6 gouache sketch on black paper.

#DrawSpaceships #gouache #sketch
November 5, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Spaceship sketch. Watercolor on paper 5"x7"

#watercolor #spaceShip #drawspaceships
November 4, 2025 at 9:59 PM
This painting just got to the point where it's starting to look cool, but I could easily fuck it up. It's a dog portrait, but instead of picking one photo of the dog rolling joyfully in the grass, I decided I needed to show them all. Comics! A work in progress, watercolor on paper 10"x10"
November 1, 2025 at 8:04 PM
This Silksong cosplay is getting out of hand!

#nokings #handmaidstale #releasetheepsteinfiles

J/k. Photo of a moment of impressive coordination at Coupeville No Kings protest.
October 18, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by Ben Bittner
Fierce, unruly joy in Portland at the emergency naked bike ride
October 12, 2025 at 10:46 PM
That's a big turnout for a naked bike ride, considering the weather. I miss Portland.
October 13, 2025 at 12:17 AM
My first ever oil painting. I just sort of dove in without paying a lot of attention to how and why, and I guess I learned a lot, mostly that oil painting is challenging and I have a lot to learn.

#oilpainting
October 10, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Got my annual flu and COVID vaccinations. It's that time of year again.
October 10, 2025 at 5:59 PM
151 miles into the Pacific Crest Trail, hikers will begin their ascent up San Jacinto. 25 miles after that, and 3000 feet higher, the trail turns east for a quarter mile or so, and just before the trail crosses into the woods on top of San Jacinto, a hiker can look south and see...

#pct #sanjacinto
September 29, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Cat portrait.

#catart
September 23, 2025 at 7:11 PM
I just sent a letter to my US Rep, where I politely lit him up over his YEA vote on H.Res. 719. I told him some Kirk facts, said I thought ”Kirk reeked of fascism when he was alive and he doesn't smell better now that he's dead," and asked my Rep not to vote like that again.
September 23, 2025 at 6:44 PM
A skunk. I've only ever seen one in the wild, and I was very glad it wasn't running towards me.

Watercolor on paper, 8"x8"

#skunk #watercolor #animalart
August 18, 2025 at 11:44 PM
I went to the Coupeville arts festival today, and bought a tiny black and white print of some cedars and owls and ferns from @tinyhousebigwoods.bsky.social Fun, though waiting in line for parking kinda sucked.
August 10, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Spaceship.

Watercolor on paper, 4.5" by 6" more or less.
July 30, 2025 at 1:11 AM
I like crows.

Watercolor on paper, 4.5" by 5.5" ish.

#crow #watercolor #birdonawire
July 26, 2025 at 4:04 AM
I love being in the dark woods and looking out on a bright patch of sunshine, and it's this amazing blown out green.

#Watercolor on paper, 4.5" by 6"

#crowdrawing
July 21, 2025 at 4:08 AM
They were racing penguins on the lake this morning, and I managed to notice and get set up in time to paint the last 20 minutes or so. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this plein air thing. Feels less weird to set up and go than it did at first.

Watercolor, 4" by 5"

#pleinAir #SailboatRace
July 15, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Sketched on my morning walk.

Watercolor 4"ish by 5"ish.

#pleinAir #watercolor #sketch
July 4, 2025 at 11:28 PM
One of those metal grill things at a local park. It would not take much to turn it into a gruesome, rusting robot head on a post. #pleinair #parkinfrastructure
July 3, 2025 at 7:49 PM
A garden plein air sketch. This pot has a gecko on it. Watercolor.

#pleinair #art
July 2, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Here's a little plein air sketch of some, I think, geraniums from my sketchbook. Trying to do more watercolor sketching out in the outside.

#pleinair #watercolor
July 2, 2025 at 1:22 AM
June 28, 2025 at 7:06 PM
You can just buy a bubble machine. They aren't even that expensive.
May 30, 2025 at 1:31 AM
I just bought a copy of Wyeth at Kuerners, and oh my! It's so fucking good! I haven't looked at a lot of Wyeth before. Christina's World, yes, and I think I once had a documentary on in the background while I did other things, but I had no idea. Very good.
February 6, 2025 at 5:10 PM