Category: Drawing

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Drawing Flower Art Glass Ink and watercolor wash Painting Plants Sketchbook Pages Still Life

Gone Wild With Wildflowers, Part 1

Bachelors Buttons (I think), ink & watercolor, 8x5"
Bachelors Buttons (I think), ink & watercolor, 8×5″

Just days before the city mowed down all the “dangerous” wildflowers on Carlson Boulevard for the second time, finally killing them, I walked along the narrow median strip with cars zooming by, and snipped specimens of each to paint. (I previously wrote here about why they were dangerous. They grew back after that first trimming.)

Pink Wildflowers, ink and watercolor, 5x8"
Pink Wildflowers, ink and watercolor, 5×8″
Pink Wildflower sketch with photo
Pink wildflower sketch with photo

I took them home and went wild, putting them in pretty bottles and vases, then sketching and painting them all day long.

Pink & Yellow Wildflowers, ink and watercolor, 5x8"
Pink & Yellow Wildflowers, ink and watercolor, 5×8″
Pink and yellow wildflowers with photo
Pink and yellow wildflowers with photo

My goal was to make free and fresh sketches of each flower that captured its personality while keeping composition in mind.

Little Daisy-Like Wildflowers, ink & watercolor, 8x5"
Little Daisy-Like Wildflowers, ink & watercolor, 8×5″
Little Daisy-Like Wildflowers with photo, ink & watercolor, 8x5"
Little Daisy-Like Wildflowers with photo

I postponed posting because of the time it would take to prepare the many sketches, scans and photos from that glorious day. I finally made the time; I didn’t want to be posting spring wildflowers in the Fall!

Lacy Wildflowers in Blue Bottle, ink & watercolor, 8x5"
Lacy Wildflowers in Blue Bottle, ink & watercolor, 8×5″
Lacy Wildflowers in Blue Bottle with photo
Lacy Wildflowers in Blue Bottle with photo

Do you know the names of any of these flowers? If you do, please leave a comment and tell me and I’ll change the captions with the correct names.

There are many more wildflower sketches to come, which I will post in Part 2.

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Berkeley Building Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

From Mortuary to Marmot Mountain Works to…?

Marmot Mountain Works, Berkeley, Ink & watercolor, 8x5"
Marmot Mountain Works, Berkeley, Ink & watercolor, 8×5″

Built in 1923 as the Hull & Durgin funeral home, this storybook-like building became the home of outdoor gear store Marmot Mountain works in 1976. In March 2012 Marmot closed up shop and the building is now for sale.

The Hull & Durgin folks had quite a colorful history going back to the late 1800s when they were half furniture store, half mortuary. The story about them and this building on the Berkeley Architectural Heritage (BAHA) website begins…

“On the morning of 1 February 1895, a Berkeley carpenter by the name of A.E. Spaulding entered Stricker’s cigar store at 2132 Shattuck Avenue. Laying a bundle of medications on the counter, he announced that he wished to leave it there. Then he walked to the rear of Durgin & Bleakley, a furniture and undertaking establishment at 2129 Center Street. Leaning against a barn, Spaulding shot himself through the heart with a 38-caliber revolver.”

There are wonderful photos of the interior and exterior of this building in its prime on the BAHA site with a fascinating story of its history. The building cost $28,000 and opened in February 1924. I hope it is restored and not torn down.

About the sketch: Drawn with Lamy Safari Fountain Pen Ex-Fine with Platinum Carbon Ink in Moleskine Watercolor Notebook and painted on site, while sitting on a pile of huge  PVC sewer pipes stacked at the curb near the corner of Adeleine and Ashby in Berkeley.

You can see Cathy’s amazing sketch of the building on our Urban Sketchers blog here and Carries here.

Categories
Drawing Gardening Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Painting Places Plants Plein Air Sketchbook Pages Walnut Creek

Ruth Bancroft Gardens: Beyond the “Private, No Entry” Signs

Ruth Bancroft Gardens Old Barn, ink & watercolor, 5x8"
Ruth Bancroft Gardens Old Barn, ink & watercolor, 5×8″

My plein air group was given the great privilege of being able to go beyond the chained off, “Private Property. No Entrance” signs to explore the property where Mrs. Bancroft and other family members still live. There are old barns like the one above and other outbuildings as well as a log cabin, a chalet and a beautiful Japanese style home.

1970s Muscle Cars Resting in the Shade and Dust
1970s Muscle Cars Resting in the Shade and Dust Behind the Garden

The Ruth Bancroft Gardens in Walnut Creek began as a 400-acre fruit farm in the 1880s developed by Hubert Howe Bancroft, a famous historian and publisher whose book collection is now part of UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library.

Bancroft Garden Lilly Pond and Dragonflies, ink & watercolor 5x8"
Bancroft Garden Lilly Pond and Dragonflies, ink & watercolor 5×8″

The farm was passed down through the generations, and much of the land was sold off for housing development. In 1971 the last walnut orchard on the property was cut down, and Ruth’s husband, Phillip Bancroft, offered her three acres to begin a new garden using her large collection of succulents.

Giant Agave, ink & watercolor, 5x8"
Giant Agave, ink & watercolor, 5×8″

The garden also has collections of aloes, agaves, yuccas, and echeverias. Aeonium ‘Glenn Davidson’, the first succulent in Ruth’s collection, is still growing in the garden.

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Bay Area Parks Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Painting Places Plein Air Sketchbook Pages

Lost on the Way to China (Camp)

Sea Breeze, Grounded Boat at China Camp Village, ink & watercolor 5x8"
“Sea Breez”, Grounded Boat at China Camp Village, ink & watercolor 5×8″

I think I broke my record of getting lost when I went to a paint out at China Camp. The first three times I apparently confused my GPS when I entered my destination as cross streets and it delivered me to three different neighborhoods in San Rafael instead of the state park. Finally I arrived at the 15 mile long park but missed the turnoff to our painting spot and drove all the way through and out the other side into yet another nice San Rafael neighborhood.

Plein Air Painter and the Old Pier at China Camp Village, ink & watercolor, 5x8"
Plein Air Painter and the Old Pier at China Camp Village, ink & watercolor, 5×8″

At least the road through the 1,514-acre park offers beautiful views of the San Pablo Bay waterfront, a salt marsh, and meadows. At China Camp Village where I made these sketches, there are many remnants of the 1880s Chinese immigrant shrimp-fishing village of 500, including one lone, 85-year old surviving resident who was going to be evicted when the park was to close July 1 due to budget cuts. 

Continue reading “Lost on the Way to China (Camp)”
Categories
Drawing People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

A is for Age, Avoiding, Annoying, Anxious…

In April my sketch group decided to sketch things starting with “A” but I kept going with it. I had a lot of fun finding things about the people I sketched that started with A. Click on any of the pictures to see them larger with my notes in slide show format. As you’ll see from the times in the notes, I was working some long hours the past couple months which is why I’m so behind on posting. When time is limited I always choose painting over posting.

Categories
Berkeley Building Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Places Sketchbook Pages

Back to Albina Street

Back to Albina Street, ink & watercolor, 8x5.5"
Back to Albina Street (Cathy sketching), ink & watercolor, 8×5.5″

We were fortunate to be invited back to the amazing Albina Street Victorian that I wrote about before here. The owners were so gracious to allow our entire Urban Sketchers group explore the house from top to bottom. They even served us lemonade and cookies in the garden.

I was interested in that curvy shape below the edge of the roof, a motif that is repeated throughout the exterior and interior of the house.

At the end of the evening we spread out our dozen sketchbooks for the owner to photograph for his scrapbook. I thought my sketch was rather boring but fortunately others in the group made up for my blah sketch. Cathy outdid herself with a half-dozen renderings of the rare and unique palms and other trees in the garden and Micaela captured some wonderful interior scenes.

When the others post their new Albina Street sketches on our Urban Sketchers blog you can see them here.

Categories
Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Interiors Life in general People Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

The Danger of Sketching While Tired

El Cerrito Natural Grocery, sepia ink & watercolor
El Cerrito Natural Grocery, sepia ink & watercolor, 8×5″

I was so tired I almost didn’t go to our Tuesday sketch night but our destination, El Cerrito Natural Grocery, was near home so I pushed myself out the door. I only managed the sketch above, made standing using a shopping cart as my table. Even the colors looked tired. Cathy focused on the meat department and entertained the butchers with her drawings of them. Her chicken sketch is a hoot.

We left at 8:00 when the store closed and then I sat in my car for a few minutes, checking my email on my phone while trying to talk myself out of a trip to the ice cream shop. My phone rang: “Hello, this is El Cerrito Natural and you left your little notebook in your shopping cart.”

Thank goodness I always put a note on the first page of every journal: “IF LOST PLEASE CALL…” with my phone number. I said I was still in the parking lot and ran back to the front door and gratefully took it home.

Outside Peets Coffee, Ink & watercolor
Outside Peet’s Coffee, Ink & watercolor

This was another drawing while tired. I tried taking a walk to Peet’s coffee to wake myself up. Since caffeine is no longer an option, the walking and an iced decaf had to do the trick. It didn’t. I was just more tired when I got home but at least I got to sketch a bit (and didn’t lose my sketchbook this time).

I watched the blind woman at the next table (in the sketch above) make a phone call by listening carefully to the tone as she pushed each number. Her friend arrived shortly afterwards, also blind, walking a large black poodle.

Two things I wondered:

  1. If you’re meeting someone and you can’t see them, how do you know they’re there or arriving without calling out “Susie are you here…” or phoning?
  2. Why don’t you ever see standard poodles as guide dogs? I live near a center for the blind and also often see people training guide dogs on our subway system. They’re never poodles. Though they do always wear very cute booties–I wonder why?
Categories
Art supplies Digital art Drawing

Drawing Random Stuff with iPad, Bamboo Stylus and Paper App

Stuff by my chair
Stuff  on the table by my recliner in the living room

I had my iPad on the table next to me while I was watching TV, too tired to go in the studio. So I doodled these sketches while relaxing in my black leather recliner, my favorite chair for watching TV, napping or reading.

The Red Studio Basket, drawn on iPad
The Red Studio Basket, drawn on iPad

I love this red basket that I use to carry stuff between the studio and house. Today I spilled a cup of tea in it but it seems to have survived OK. It lives on a little table in my living room by the front door.

There’s something about the limited color choices and simplicity of the iPad app Paper by FiftyThree that makes everything you draw look nice. On screen the layout is designed to resemble a Moleskine notebook. Using a Bamboo Stylus is a lot easier than drawing with my finger but not as easy as drawing with a real pen.

My Glasses, drawn on iPad
My Glasses, drawn on iPad

Although I studied and practiced digital painting a couple years ago, and even sold a digital illustration to an airline magazine, I prefer painting by hand to making digital artwork. But every now and then I give it another go, just for fun.

Free Scissors
Free Scissors

These scissors came packaged with something else I bought (but I forget what) a long time ago. I don’t know why they were sitting nearby, but scissors are always fun to draw.

Paper is a fun app, and while not nearly as powerful as other iPad drawing apps, it’s somehow easier to turn out enjoyable sketches with it.

Categories
Building Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Painting Places Urban Sketchers

Not a Haunted House: Temescal Tid Bits

Temescal Clark Street Victorian, ink & watercolor, 5.5x8"
Temescal Clark Street Victorian, ink & watercolor, 5.5×8″

Although my wonky sketch makes it look rather spooky, this is actually a lovely, well-maintained home in the Temescal district of Oakland. I was sitting on the curb sketching at sunset and a woman walked by and said, “Oh, I just sketched that house yesterday!”

Temescal Alley Barber Shop door
Temescal Alley Barber Shop door

We met for our Tuesday evening sketching in Temescal Alley, a historic semi-restored block of tiny shops that was formerly a horse stable. Temescal Alley Barber Shop is an amazing place with old-fashioned everything (except the barbers who are anything but old-fashioned). They were closing so I only had time to draw their door and barber’s pole but really want to go back and draw inside the shop.

Barber's motorcycle, ink, 4x6"
Barber’s motorcycle, ink, 4×6″

Since all the other shops were closed I started drawing the motorcycle outside the barber shop. Then the barber closed up and drove off. So we walked down the street where we spotted the Victorian at the top of the post and sat down to sketch. We finished the evening at Scream, a tiny shop that sells tiny cups of homemade vegan sorbets, where we sat on a bench and shared our sketches.

Categories
Bay Area Parks Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Outdoors/Landscape Painting Plein Air Sketchbook Pages

Bull Valley Barn and Cow Studies

View from Bull Valley Trail Staging Area, Crockett, ink & watercolor 5x8"
View from Bull Valley Trail Staging Area, Crockett, ink & watercolor 5×8″

On the road home from the Port Costa adventure in my last post I spotted this barn and pulled off the road (this time actually managing to stay on the pavement!) into the Bull Valley Staging Area parking lot to sketch it.

When I finished I noticed a herd of cows grazing on the hill beside the parking lot and walked over to the fence to sketch them.  As you can see, I know nothing about cows and these gals weren’t holding still for me.

Bull Valley Cow Scribbles, ink 5x8"
Bull Valley Cow Scribbles, ink 5×8″

Then the strangest thing happened. A very old Asian man with very long whiskers and long hair, wearing only loose pants and flip-flops appeared in the cow pasture, walked up the hill through the cows and just kept on going until he disappeared. A guy with a camera was taking pictures of the cows and we looked at each other confused. We tried to figure out his story but could come up with nothing.