Ben Bittner
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surlyben.bsky.social
Ben Bittner
@surlyben.bsky.social
33 followers 25 following 37 posts
Hiking and drawing.
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surlyben.bsky.social
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"
A rectangular spaceship flies across the sky. Space is blue with red and yellow clouds at the top. Loose watercolor sketch.
November 6, 2025 at 4:16 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
4.5 x 6 gouache sketch on black paper.

#DrawSpaceships #gouache #sketch
A small space fighter completes a bombing run on a larger ship moored to an asteroid. The ships are white and light blue, space is black and gray. Rough gouache sketch.
November 5, 2025 at 4:46 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
Spaceship sketch. Watercolor on paper 5"x7"

#watercolor #spaceShip #drawspaceships
A small delta wing fighter flies away from a burning cruiser. In space. The ships are white, space is black and blue. Rough watercolor sketch.
November 4, 2025 at 9:59 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
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"
A 9x9 grid of three inch squares, depicting a small white dog rolling around in the grass. Five of the squares have had the grass painted, and there is blue painters tape outlining two of the squares. A watercolor work in progress.
November 1, 2025 at 8:04 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
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.
People in Handmaid costumes holding up a "release the Epstein files" sign on an overpass.
October 18, 2025 at 6:47 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
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
Oil sketch of a red and yellow apple, against an off-white background.
October 10, 2025 at 7:48 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
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
Watercolor study of mountains at sunset. Most of the image is in shadow, with sunlit peaks rendered in orange.
September 29, 2025 at 8:49 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
Cat portrait.

#catart
Photo of a watercolor drawing of a black and white cat. The cat is looking at the viewer. There are thumbnail sketches on the right, and a ruler below the drawing.
September 23, 2025 at 7:11 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
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
A black skunk with a majestic tail runs through the green spring grass. Watercolor.
August 18, 2025 at 11:44 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
Spaceship.

Watercolor on paper, 4.5" by 6" more or less.
A spaceship that looks a bit like a world war 2 p38 without wings zooms across a blue-black starfield.
July 30, 2025 at 1:11 AM
surlyben.bsky.social
I like crows.

Watercolor on paper, 4.5" by 5.5" ish.

#crow #watercolor #birdonawire
A crow on a power line viewed from below. The sky is overcast.
July 26, 2025 at 4:04 AM
surlyben.bsky.social
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
A crow sits on a branch of a dark tree, silhouetted against a bright green background.
July 21, 2025 at 4:08 AM
surlyben.bsky.social
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
Watercolor sketch of some sailboats on a lake. Watercolor sketch of a dinghy with a triangular red sail, rounding a bouy. The background is green.
July 15, 2025 at 7:39 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
Sketched on my morning walk.

Watercolor 4"ish by 5"ish.

#pleinAir #watercolor #sketch
Loose watercolor sketch of a sapling growing out of a mother stump. Colors are green, reddish brown and yellow
July 4, 2025 at 11:28 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
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
A watercolor drawing of a boxy park barbecue on a post
July 3, 2025 at 7:49 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
A garden plein air sketch. This pot has a gecko on it. Watercolor.

#pleinair #art
July 2, 2025 at 7:34 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
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
A watercolor sketch of some red geraniums and other plants growing out of an orange clay pot
July 2, 2025 at 1:22 AM
surlyben.bsky.social
A small goauche sketch of Phoebe, the moon of Saturn. It is heavily cratered. Space and the crater shadows are painted blue.
June 28, 2025 at 7:06 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
Pencil sketch of a woman's face looking towards the viewer. Pencil sketch of a man in a baseball cap, head only, in profile.
January 13, 2025 at 2:07 AM
surlyben.bsky.social
Mostly sketching people from reddit
Rough pencil sketch of a bearded man Rough pencil sketch of a smiling woman with big hair. Rough pencil sketch of a woman in a watch cap. Pencil of a futuristic soldier with a flamethrower.
January 11, 2025 at 10:16 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
I'm working on my Christmas Cards. Hail Santa!
A watercolor drawing of an upside down Santa shaped like a pentagram. The caption reads Hail Santa.
December 18, 2024 at 12:19 AM
surlyben.bsky.social
A black and white lino block print of a crow on a rock.
December 1, 2024 at 4:18 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
Happy boxing day! Watercolor on paper 4.5" by 6"
December 26, 2023 at 4:17 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
A Christmas card I sent
December 24, 2023 at 8:42 PM
surlyben.bsky.social
A Christmas card. I did a couple of these a-frame ones.

Watercolor and gouache on paper, 4.5 by 6 inches.

#art #christmas #landscapepainting
A painting of an a frame house on a snowy wooded hill.
December 24, 2023 at 8:41 PM