Month: October 2010

Categories
Drawing Faces Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

All Day Meeting Sketches

 

All Day Meeting Sketches #1, pencil on notebook paper
All Day Meeting Sketches #1, graphite on notebook paper

 

We had an all day staff meeting today at our co-director’s home. It was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with each other, celebrate our accomplishments over the past year and plan for the huge amount of work we’ll be doing over the next year. It was also a chance for some sketching.

The gentleman above rests his finger just below his nose when he’s listening with concentration. (Just had to explain since it looks like he’s doing something else).

 

All Day Meeting Sketches #2, pencil
All Day Meeting Sketches #2, graphite

 

I really like the way the woman’s foot in this sketch turned out. She’s quite petite but I think I should have made her legs bigger since they were closer to me.

It felt inappropriate to take out my sketchbook (even though I know I listen well while drawing, I didn’t want others to think I wasn’t paying attention) so I drew in the same cheesy notebook I was using for notetaking. Of course everyone knew I was sketching anyway…

Last year we had our annual all staff meeting in a stuffy conference room. It was so much nicer gathering in a home where we could eat pizza in the backyard and sit in comfy chairs in a pretty living room and kick our shoes off.

 

Categories
Building Landscape Oil Painting Outdoors/Landscape Painting Places Plein Air

Alvarado Bar, Grill and Pupusas: Painting Plein Air in Gritty Richmond

Alvarado Bar and Grill, San Pablo; oil on panel, 8x10"
Alvarado Bar and Grill, San Pablo; oil on panel, 8x10"

I recently began painting twice a week with the East Bay Landscape Painters whose members are preparing for a show of urban paintings of unexpected, nothing-special spots. For two Saturdays we painted on the unlovely corner of McBryde and San Pablo Avenue in Richmond.

I set up my easel by the air and water pumps at this gas station and set to work. I sketched out the composition and started painting the building when a huge semi truck double-parked right in front of it and began unloading produce for the market next door. My view was just about like this so I started on the empty lot next door. Half an hour later the truck left and I could finally paint the bar. I was happy with the above painting; a rare occurrence when I paint plein air.

Pupusas and Desayunos; oil on panel, 8x10"
Pupusas and Desayunos; oil on panel, 8x10"

The next Saturday afternoon we returned to the same corner. It was hot so I set up in a shady spot under this tree in front of a used car dealership and painted the Pupusas place across the street. Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez also painted the Pupuseria, except she worked on an enormous canvas (maybe 24×30″) and her painting was fantastic! She also tells a funny story here about the day and the idea behind painting nothing-special spots.

While we were having our critique in the shade of the Fish and Chips place, one of the artists who’d left her chair and easel set up across the street by the pupusas shop just happened to look over her shoulder. She saw a guy jump out the side door of a van and pick up her folding chair. She started yelling at him, ran across the street and grabbed it back before he could stick it in the van. He took off and returned to our critique.

Categories
Berkeley Building Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Interiors Landscape Life in general Painting Places Shop windows Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Alcatraz Liquor Deli and A Cuppa Tea, Berkeley

Alcatraz Liquor Deli, Berkeley; Ink & watercolor
Alcatraz Liquor Deli, Berkeley; Ink & watercolor

We met at the corner of Alcatraz and College on a warm evening and sat at tables outside A Cuppa Tea to sketch. Two women sat down beside me with cups of tea and began talking about prison while counting passing dogs. They asked about our sketching group, noticing us drawing, and then shared that this was their Tuesday night routine, and they were up to a dozen dogs already.

Although I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, hearing them talk about life in prison and the girls in their halfway house was just too interesting. It seemed ironic that having recently gotten out of prison they chose to meet on the corner of Alcatraz (the infamous  prison located in the middle of the San Francisco Bay).

A Cuppa Tea, Berkeley, Ink & watercolor
A Cuppa Tea, Berkeley, Ink & watercolor

It was great having the light of the cafe to sketch by as it got dark. When I could no longer see the street scene I turned around and drew the inside of the cafe through their window.

When we all finished sketching we went inside to see each others sketches. There were  signs all over saying, “Tables for customers only!” (To fend off the students who clog all the cafes in town with their computers and piles of books).  So Sonia bought another lemonade and when we left a few minutes later we left tips for the waitress.