Top of the Top of Solano Ave, Berkeley, Ink & watercolor, 5×7.5″When we
When Cathy said, “Let’s sketch at the top of Solano Avenue Tuesday night” I chose to literally sketch the top of Solano: looking up and drawing the tops of streetlights, buildings and trees.
It’s common here to refer to the “top” and “bottom” of streets when they’re on a hill, and 2-mile long Solano is on a slight incline as it runs from the start of the Berkeley Hills at The Alameda (just a street, but for some reason called “The Alameda”), down almost to the bay. I sat at a table outside a café and sketched the view at sunset. There are so many beautiful trees in Berkeley!
I didn’t realize until I saw these two pictures together, that it was easy to tell that I painted one in summer (above) and the other in the spring (below), just by their color palette, even though they were both painted on warm, sunny days. I started the painting above plein air, but only got halfway done before it was time for the group critique. I finished it from memory and a photo but didn’t touch areas I already loved, like the yummy turquoise color in the background.
Briones Park (above) is gorgeous, but dogs are allowed off-leash there so the grasses along this beginning stretch of the trail are littered with stinky dog poo, thanks to irresponsible dog owners. But like bugs, wind and weather, smells are part of the plein air experience too.
Castle Rock Park and Mt. Diablo, Spring, 8×10″
I painted this watercolor view of Mt. Diablo in my 8×10 Moleskine. I didn’t have time to set up for oils because although we’d planned a day at Borges Ranch we learned on arrival that a 4-H club had reserved the area and we had to leave. The ranger suggested we go to Castle Rock Park down the road.
I parked at the Borges entrance for a while, catching others as they arrived and directing them to Castle Rock. Finally I left a big note on a brown paper bag taped to the Borges entrance sign, hoping latecomers would see it and know where to find us.
After the drive to Castle Rock and a hike to the top of a hill I only had time for a watercolor sketch. The bright yellow-green grassy field was beautifully spotted with lavender wild flowers. In the summer everything would be pretty much the same color of golden brown. This time it didn’t smell like dog poo; it was the pungent odor of the cows that graze there that accompanied the view.
Lake Chalet (and Plumbing) on Lake Merritt, Oakland. Ink & watercolor, 5×7.5″
Lake Chalet was originally built over 100 years ago as a high-pressure salt water pumping station for the Oakland Fire Department. In 1913, two wings were added to serve as boathouses. In 2009 the building was transformed into a lively restaurant and bar with outdoor seating on the docks behind it on the lake.
What attracted me to draw this scene wasn’t the lovely building; it was the multiple plumbing features on the grass that slopes down to the restaurant from the sidewalk where I sat to draw. And of course the antique street lights that circle the lake.
Milk Carton at Picante, ink & watercolor, 5×5″
I struggled trying to draw these two milk cartons so issued a challenge to the other sketchers at my table to draw them too. We all had different views of the cartons set in the middle of the table so it was fun to see the variety of approaches and points of view.
Drawing Rocks Practice on Sculpture at Oakland Museum, ink & watercolor, 5x7x5″
After a workshop on drawing rocks (part of John Muir Laws’ Bay Area Nature Journal Club) Susan and I walked down to the Oakland Museum’s sculpture garden, looking for rocks to practice on. The only rock-like object we could find was this clay sculpture. It’s so helpful to practice new concepts before they slip from my mind, as most things do these days.
View from Oakland Museum Sculpture Garden, ink & watercolor, 8×10″
After my monthly workshop at the Oakland Museum, with John Muir Laws and his Bay Area Nature Journal Club, I stayed to sketch in the beautiful sculpture garden. There are lovely trees and plantings, colorful sculptures and interesting urban views. The building with the flag atop it is the County Courthouse on the next block.
I also visited the fabulous “Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Lui exhibit.” The show features several rooms of her very large paintings plus early sketchbooks and painting studies completed in China before she came to the U.S. in 1984. The film of her painting with luscious juicy paint (and her signature drips) made me want to run to the studio and pick up a brush.
I was excited to sketch Berkeley’s 100-year-old Teddy Bear Fountain again. We found the perfect viewpoint, I sat down on the carved stone bench, pulled out my pen, opened my bag and discovered I’d forgotten my sketchbook! DUH! Fortunately Cristina had a 9×12 watercolor block with her and she let me use it.
When I sketched the fountain before I wasn’t happy with the results so I decided to start with pencil on the complicated scene this time. There was an odd optical illusion; it appeared that the water was only falling behind the fountain so that’s how I painted it. I also intentionally shrunk the width of the base of the fountain.
The sun was setting when I finished drawing so I added paint at home. Please check out Cristina’s comprehensive sketch of the scene and Cathy’s previous sketch that is now featured on Berkeley Library cards. Below is the photo I took before I started drawing.
Mother Earth on Earth Day in Healdsburg, ink & watercolor, 6.5×4″
Our sketch group traveled up to the wine country for a sketchcrawl in Healdsburg. We discovered an Earth Day festival setting up in the town square, complete with Mother Earth, above. Covered in flowers and pink and green gauzy fabric, she gave a talk about saving the earth, played her ukulele and sang a few children’s songs.
Healdsburg Home, Formerly a 7th Day Adventist Church Camp, ink & watercolor5.5″x6″
While we sketched this house a block from town square, the owner came out and told us it was built in 1887 by the 7th Day Adventists as a church camp. They still have the original kitchen except for the stove, which they updated to a 1940s model. He apologized we’d missed the flowering of the wisteria vine across the front of the porch.
Gazebo in Healdsburg Town Square, ink & watercolor, 5.5″ x 6.5″
A variety of speakers lectured and bands performed under the gazebo in the beautiful Healdsburg town square. When the speakers got too strident or the bands too screechy, I walked a couple blocks away to find something else to draw.
As the temperature rose into the 80s I found a shady spot under a tree and drew the Bear Republic Brewing Company’s outdoor patio. Later we sat under those umbrellas and had our lunch. We shared journals with the other sketchcrawlers and at 4 :00 we headed back home.
Below are the full pages as they appear in my Moleskine A4 size journal (about 9×12″ per page).
Healdsburg, left page in Moleskine 9×12″ watercolor journalHealdsburg Right Hand Page in Moleksine A4
You can see the pictures from some of the other sketchers on our Urban Sketchers blog.
Looking into the Codex Book Fair in the Craneway Pavillion, ink & watercolor, 5×8″
I attended the Codex Book Fair at Craneway Pavillion (a former car factory, now an event space) in Richmond with some friends from S.F. Sketchers on a gorgeous, sunny day. The fair is an annual event where book artists and small publishers show their work. There were huge crowds enjoying the amazing art, although a few tables were empty because the artists or publishers got stuck in an East Coast snow storm.
The Park on the Bay by Craneway Pavillion, ink & watercolor, 5×8″
After I visited the fair I sat outside on a bench and quickly sketched the view from the boardwalk by the building (above).
My favorite artist at the show was Andie Thrams. Her handmade, watercolor-illustrated, one-of-a kind books were amazing and inspiring. My favorite of hers was In Forests, which you can see page by page here. It really is a must-see for anyone interested in journaling and bookbinding, especially nature journaling in ink or watercolor.
Mira Vista Country Club Putting Green and Golf Carts, ink & watercolor, 5×16″
My plein air group held our annual season kick-off meeting at the Mira Vista Country Club on Saturday where one of our painters has a membership. Afterwards, I sat on a bench in the sun and sketched the clubhouse, putting green and all the cute little golf carts.
Mira Vista, left side of spread, 5×8″
Although I prefer jeans to dress up and agree with Thoreau’s quote: “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes,” the club has a dress code that prohibits denim. So it was fun seeing how nicely the paint-spattered artists I’m used to seeing at our painting sessions can clean up, even if it meant I had to dress up too.
Mira Vista, right page, 5×8″
Our plein air schedule starts up again next month. Last year I only sketched at our paintouts but this year I’ve committed to dragging my oil painting supplies again and giving actual plein air painting another try. But if I still find it too frustrating to stand in one spot instead of exploring the locations, I’ll go back to sketching.
Lately food trucks pop up all over the Bay Area; former roach coaches are the new gourmet dining spots. But this is the first vintage Airstream trailer food truck I’ve seen and it doesn’t travel. It’s set up on blocks inside Flowerland Nursery on Solano Avenue in Albany (California–next door to Berkeley) and run by Local 123 Cafe.
I can’t think of a better place to enjoy a good cup of coffee than in a lovely garden. The lovely folks at Flowerland Nursery put interesting chairs and tables throughout the nursery, turning the whole place into a sort of garden café. You can get your coffee and then sit among the palms, the native plants, fruit trees or climbing vines to enjoy it.
And when you finish your coffee, you can take home the chair you sat on or the plant you sat beside (for a price of course).
View from Pt. Isabel Bridge #1, ink & watercolor, 6×8″
Very near my home is Pt. Isabel Regional Shoreline, with the world’s largest and most beautiful dog park. It is situated on the San Francisco Bay directly in line with the Golden Gate Bridge. There are views of San Francisco, wetland marshes and the East Bay hills looking east. I love dogs and don’t have one so I often go down there to walk the trails and enjoy other people’s dogs.
In the sketch above, I stood on the wooden bridge over the marsh and tried to capture everything, the marsh, the freeway, the buildings behind it and the hills beyond. Too much, really, for a small 8×6 sketchbook.
View from Pt. Isabel Bridge #2, ink & watercolor, 6×8″
On my next visit it was extremely windy and I almost lost my sketchbook and a brush over the top of the wooden bridge rail I was using for a table. The light wasn’t very interesting, very flat with no shadows.
View from Pt. Isabel Bridge #3, ink & watercolor, 6×8″
On the third visit the tide was in and the area in the first two sketches was mostly underwater so I turned to face west with San Francisco and the bridges in the distance.
I don’t feel that I did the scene justice in any of these sketches and hesitated posting them, but will return again and keep trying until I’m happier with the result.
Jana Bouc, Artist 