Food sketch – Page 7 – Jana Bouc, Artist

Fruit Fail Flap Fail, graphite and watercolor 9x6"

When my toilet decided to start saving water by only doing half flushes, a knowledgeable friend took a look and said I needed a new flapper. He showed me how to remove the old one and told me to take it to my wonderful neighborhood hardware store, Pastime Hardware in El Cerrito, to get a replacement. I knew I would be going to Pastime to sketch with my Tuesday Night Sketchcrawl buddies so I waited until then to remove it.

Tonight was our sketchcrawl and it was so much fun. When I got home I wanted to sketch this intriguing failed flapper and thought it would be an interesting juxtaposition to pair it with this failed persimmon. (I waited too long to eat it and now it’s squishy and I just can’t eat squishy fruit.) This is the kind of persimmon meant to be eaten crisp.

I will post my hardware store sketches and a couple of amusing stories from our evening there, next time as sleep seems more important right now.

Meanwhile, if you aren’t familiar with the concept of something being “FAIL,” and have never seen the hilarious FAIL blog, I highly recommend a visit! Who knew there were so many ways for things to go wrong, from stupid signs, to stupid people. It always makes me laugh.

Tuesday Sushi Sketchcrawl at Miyaki Japanese Restaurant

Miso Soup & Washcloths, ink and watercolor

Tuesday night sketchcrawl met at Miyuki Japanese Restaurant on Solano and it was a feast for the eyes and the stomach. It took tremendous willpower to sketch and paint each morsel before eating them. I started with the miso soup, delivered with steamy wash cloths to clean our hands before dining.

They brought edamame to our table while we looked at the menu. I sketched and ate them after the delicious miso soup. We sat at the sushi bar and had fun watching the sushi chef. He seemed to enjoyed watching us sketch,e specially Cathy’s sketch of him.

Next was the maguro sushi on a wooden plank. Spectacularly fresh and delicious. Then it was time for the star of the show, the Country Roll, stuffed with perfectly crisp asparagus and covered in spicy and slightly sweet seaweed salad.

Country Roll Sushi (seaweed salad & asparagus); Ink and watercolor

For “dessert” I ordered Unagi (grilled eel with a teriyaki-like sauce.

Unagi sushi (grilled eel), ink and watercolor

The waitress couldn’t quite make sense of us but since the restaurant wasn’t too crowded they didn’t mind us sitting there for two hours sketching and eating. And we left a big tip.

Miyuki Japanese Restaurant, Berkeley, ink and watercolor

All of these were sketched and painted on site except for this last one, which was sketched in the dark from across the street when I first arrived. I took notes about the colors and added color when I got home. I highly recommend Miyaki. The food is always fresh and beautifully prepared, the staff friendly, efficient and helpful and the prices very reasonable. It’s spacious so there’s never a wait and it’s not too noisy. And it’s a great place to sketch on a Tuesday night!