Category: Painting

Categories
Flower Art Glass Ink and watercolor wash Oil Painting Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life

Dandelions and Wine

Dandelions and Wine, Oil Painting on Gessobord, 10x8"
Dandelions and Wine, Oil Painting on Gessobord, 10×8″

It was time to take a break from portraits and do some still life painting after ten failed attempts at painting a friend from a not-great photo. I gathered some dandelions from my neighbor’s yard (I’m sure he didn’t mind) and stuck a few in my favorite old French Cognac bottle (that I found in the street years ago). With the addition of a bottle of Spanish wine, I had a still life ready to paint.

Dandelions & Wine, Watercolor, 7.5"x5"
Dandelions & Wine, Watercolor, 7.5″x5″

But first I did this watercolor sketch. Even if I plan to finish an oil painting in one go, it always helps do a sketch first to get to know my subject. And since I’m eager to get started with the oil painting, I work quickly which keeps my watercolor fresh and not overworked.

It was a relief to turn out something I liked after my frustrating journey with the portrait. But I haven’t given up on it. There are still two failed canvases facing the wall, waiting for me to make them work (or smash them to bits!)

Categories
Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Outdoors/Landscape Painting Places Plants Richmond Annex Sketchbook Pages

Dangerous Wildflowers on Carlson Boulevard

Wildflowers on Carlson Boulevard, ink & watercolor 5x8"
Wildflowers on Carlson Boulevard, ink & watercolor 5×8″

When the two-year long repaving project on the one-mile stretch of Carlson Boulevard from El Cerrito to Richmond Annex was finally completed, someone planted wildflower seeds in the dirt-filled center dividers. The ugly, urban street took on new life as the wildflowers bloomed into a gorgeous riot of color. There were little white ones and fluffy yellows, brilliant orange California poppies, and my favorites, the blue bachelor buttons and tall lavender lupines that stood (note past tense here) three feet high.

I’m glad I spent a lovely hour enjoying sketching them because the next day work crews came through and HACKED them all down. The neighborhood email newsletter was abuzz with people horrified at the destruction.

Then we found out why. There was a serious car accident and a couple of near misses because the flowers grew so high that you couldn’t see oncoming traffic on the other side of street when crossing or making turns.  It was true; even in my sketch you can’t see the street on the other side of the center divider because the flowers completely hid it.

Happily, new, completely different wildflowers have now sprouted, and hopefully they won’t be so dangerous and will be left to bloom in peace.

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

Berkeley’s Amazing Albina Street Victoria

Albina Street Victorian, ink & watercolor (added at home), 8x5"
A corner of the Albina Street Victorian, ink & watercolor, 8×5″ (sketched in ink on site, watercolor added at home), 

Have you ever stood in front of an amazing house and wished the owner would appear and invite you inside? That’s exactly what happened to us when we were sketching the historic Albina Street house in Berkeley. The new owner (steward is a better word, and how he describes his role) bought the house just six months ago (only the third owner), and he and his family are clearly in love with the spectacular home and gardens with the huge variety of majestic palms and other trees.

He saw us sketching and invited us in for a full tour and made sure we were on the fourth floor roof deck to see the sunset. There were so many amazing architectural features (I know I keep saying “amazing” but other than “jaw-dropping” it’s the only way to describe the property), fascinating contraptions and attention to detail that I can’t even begin to list them.

You can get a good general view on the Berkeley Architectural Historic site, and for the complete story, there is a 43 page book available for viewing on the web.

You can also see Cathy’s wonderful sketches here and Micaela’s here on our Urban Sketchers blog.

Categories
Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Painting Places Plein Air Sketchbook Pages Sketchcrawl Urban Sketchers

Saints Peter and Paul Church, Aquatic Park Bay Panorama: Sketchcrawl Part III

Saints Peter & Paul Church, viewed from Washington Square, Ink & watercolor, 8x5.5"
Saints Peter & Paul Church, Ink & watercolor, 8×5.5″

We brought our lunches from Molinari’s Deli to Washington Square Park where we sat in the shade of a tree to eat and then sketch Saint Peter and Paul’s Church. I started in a smaller sketchbook first (below) and then decided to start over (above) in the larger watercolor Moleskine I’ve been using lately.

Saints Peter and Paul Church, with rubber stamps, 4x4"
Saints Peter and Paul Church, 4×4″

Then we made the long walk to the Fisherman’s Wharf Holiday Inn for the Tease-O-Rama sketching. From there we walked down to Maritime Museum where I stamped the page (above) with their National Park rubber stamps when we arrived at Aquatic Park.

San Francisco Bay from Aquatic Park, ink & watercolor 16x5.5"
San Francisco Bay from Aquatic Park, ink & watercolor 16×5.5″

Above is the last sketch of the day, my view sitting on the stairs at Aquatic Park, across the street from Ghirardelli Square, the Sketchcrawl meet-up spot.

Golden Gate, Marin County and Aquatic Park (left side of spread)
Golden Gate, Marin County and Aquatic Park (left side of spread)

Above is a bigger picture of the left side of the spread, looking out towards the Golden Gate Bridge on the left, Marin County in the middle, and people playing at Aquatic Park.

Marin County, Alcatraz and the Balclutha (ride side of spread)
Marin County, Alcatraz and the Balclutha (right side of spread)

Behind the big ship Balclutha on the right (part of the San Francisco Maritime National Park), is Alcatraz. On the left is the ferry, taking people from San Francisco to Larkspur in Marin County. The bay was full of sailboats, kayaks and even people swimming on this unusually warm and sunny spring day.

I feel so blessed to live in such a gorgeous area with an incredible variety of people, places, and scenery! I’m also very grateful to both Enrico Casarosa who started the International Sketchcrawls and Gabi Campanero who created Urban Sketchers, and the opportunities their organizations offer for us to enjoy the art of sketching together.

Categories
Drawing Faces Ink and watercolor wash People Places Sketchbook Pages Sketchcrawl Urban Sketchers

International Sketchcrawl 35: San Francisco, Part I

Waiting with flowers at MacArthur BART Station
Waiting with flowers at MacArthur BART Station (sketched standing on the platform and color added at home)

Sketchcrawl 35 was fantastic! The weather in San Francisco was unusually beautiful, warm and sunny and there was so much to see and do. I’m posting the sketches in three parts since what we saw in each part of the day was so different.  Part I covers the trip into the city through lunch.

Reading an Actual BOOK on BART
Reading an Actual BOOK on BART (paint added at home)

So rare to see someone reading a real book and not just fidgeting with their digital whatevers.

He reminded me of Jay and Silent Bob in Clerks
He reminded me of Jay from the movie Clerks

The guy in the sketch above reminded me so much of the slacker Jay from the movie Clerks I had to post this photo of him and Silent Bob below.

Jay and Silent Bob in Clerks
Jay and Silent Bob in Clerks

Thank goodness for the Internet or I would have been saying, “Doesn’t he look just like that guy in that movie….” and had no photo to show you.

Cathy and another sketcher at Caffe Trieste in North Beach
Cathy and another sketcher at Caffe Trieste in North Beach (sketched and painted on site)

Cathy was sitting at my sidewalk table sketching someone behind me so I sketched her while the group gathered at Caffe Trieste, the starting point for the sketchcrawl. There was scaffolding over the entryway, which provided an interesting drawing challenge.

Molinari's Deli where we bought lunch
Molinari’s Deli where we bought lunch (sketched in the store, painted at home)

Cathy and I bought lunch for later and then stood in opposite corners of the store to sketch the counter guys at Molinari’s Deli in North Beach. (Click the link to Molinari’s to see the picture prominently displayed in their store of their salame with the Pope). They turned up their radio for the end of the Barcelona vs. Madrid soccer finals. It was fun hearing the super-excited announcer yelling the play-by-play in Spanish as a player ran down the field, made a goal and won the game.

Part II will be my drawings from Dr. Sketchy’s Tease-O-Rama and Part III is more in North Beach and Fisherman’s Wharf.

Categories
Landscape Painting Photos Plein Air Sacramento

Edgar Payne’s Paintings and His Plein Air Ford

Edgar Payne's Ford, ink & watercolor, 4x6"
Edgar Payne's Ford, ink & watercolor, 4x6"

On our sketching trip to Sacramento we visited theEdgar Payne painting exhibit at the Crocker Museum. Above is my sketch of the beautiful old Ford he used to get to plein air painting sites. According to the brief video they showed he also frequently traveled by mule. I only had a few minutes to sketch the car so I painted it when I got home.

You can see the photo of the car and some of my favorite paintings from the show below. His compositions (he wrote the book  Composition of Outdoor Painting) and his use of warm and cool colors to create a sense of light and depth are fantastic to see in person.

Categories
Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Sacramento Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Train Trip to the California State Railroad Museum

1908 Train #112 Redwood Empire Route, ink & watercolor, 5x10"
1908 Train #112 Redwood Empire Route, ink & watercolor, 5x10"

Our sketch group took a train trip to Sacramento and visited the California State Railroad Museum. The enormous building ( 225,000 square feet) contains many full-sized trains. This one called out to me so after looking around a bit, I sat against a pillar on the hard floor and started drawing.

I used pencil first to get the basic shapes down since it was so complicated. Then I switched to ink and the time flew by. A friendly docent started talking to me and I realized I only had a few minutes left before we had to leave for our train ride home, so I quickly added watercolor, which I touched up a bit when I got home.

Micaela and Susan sketching on the train
Micaela and Susan sketching on the train ride

The museum has a Pullman-style sleeping car, a dining car, and a Railway Post Office, all of which you can walk through, along with many life-size displays demonstrating railroad life in the early years of California. I especially liked the little telegraph office with the lady at her desk with a little dish holding egg shells and a salt shaker from her breakfast. She must have had to work long hours in her lonely outpost. Click here to take a 360 Virtual Tour of the museum (or go in person—it’s fantastic!)

Davis Train Station as it rolled by
Davis Train Station as it rolled by

We walked from the train museum to the train station for our ride back home. When we  stopped at the Davis station I tried to draw it. But it must have been a “whistle stop.” I barely had time to sketch the tree and a bit of the lamp-post when we were rolling again.

Categories
Berkeley Ink and watercolor wash Interiors People Sketchbook Pages Sketchcrawl

The Drunken Boat, Burlesque Convention, International Sketchcrawl Reminder

Cathy Sketching at Le Bateau Ivre, Sepia pen and watercolor, 8x5
Cathy Sketching at Bateau Ivre, Sepia pen and watercolor, 8x5"

We had a wonderful Tuesday evening sketching and dining at Le Bateau Ivre (The Drunken Boat) in Berkeley. The ambiance and food are fantastic. We sat in the dining room with lovely brick walls and a fireplace. When we sketched there last year we sat in the café area which is equally charming.

International Sketchcrawl 35 is Saturday, April 21!

Here is a link to the Sketchcrawl website where you can find out if there is a group sketching near you (or start a location yourself).

San Francisco looks to be a particularly juicy sketchcrawl, starting in North Beach and ending at a free Burlesque Queens sketching marathon at a hotel at Fisherman’s Wharf, hosted by Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. The  burlesque performers are in town for the Tease-O-Rama, a “showcase and convention dedicated to the thriving neo-burlesque revival.”

Unfinished sketch of stuff on table with bits of business card
Unfinished sketch of random stuff on table with bits of business card
Categories
Animals Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Sketchbook Pages

Hoppy Easter Bunnies (and a Guinea Pig)

Baby Bunnies Chillin' & Chowin' Down, ink & watercolor, 5x8"
Baby Bunnies Chillin' & Chowin' Down, ink & watercolor, 5x8"

My local bunny rescue/pet supply store Rabbit Ears, has a bunch of bunnies available for adoption including this litter of 6 week old babies and their mom. While I sketched them, they took turns sleeping piled together, eating from their big bowl of bunny chow, grooming themselves and each other, and dropping little bunny pellets.

More bunnies (left side of spread), ink & watercolor, 5x8"
More bunnies (left side of spread), ink & watercolor, 5x8"

I left the babies and wandered around the store, drawing rabbits in different enclosures. It’s hard to figure out bunny parts with all that fur hiding everything.

Lucy the Guinea Pig
Lucy the Guinea Pig (Detail)

I think my favorite sketch is Lucy the Guinea Pig. I was surprised to see she had no visible pupils in her little red eyes.

Bunnies & Guinea Pig, right side of spread
Bunnies & Guinea Pig, right side of spread

The lop-eared rabbit’s name is Snickers. As soon as I started to sketch him he and his cage-partner Oreo got so busy grooming each other I couldn’t see his face to finish the drawing.

Full spread in sketchbook
Full spread in sketchbook

Happy Easter, Passover and Spring!

Categories
Bay Area Parks Landscape Life in general Plein Air Sketchbook Pages Walnut Creek Watercolor

Bad Mood Cloudy Day at Borges Ranch That Ended Well

Borges Ranch Shell Ridge Area, ink & watercolor, 5x8"
Borges Ranch Shell Ridge Area, ink & watercolor, 5x8"

My mind was as cloudy as the skies when my plein air group visited Borges Ranch for a Saturday paint out. I was mad because a beautiful bookcase promised to me on Craigslist sold to someone else. I needed it badly. After I donated lots of books along with my rickety old bookcase I still had many I was keeping with no place to put them.

I was too grumpy to hang out with my painting friends so I hiked away from the ranch on the Shell Ridge trail, which is beautiful and quiet except for the sounds of birds. I set up my folding stool and sketched in ink with watercolor washes, facing one direction (above).

Borges Ranch Shell Ridge Open Space, watercolor, 5x8"
Borges Ranch Shell Ridge Open Space, watercolor, 5x8"

Then I turned to face the opposite direction and worked directly in watercolor. I was starting to feel better, enjoying freely painting all the gorgeous colors of spring.

Happy Ending

On the way home from Borges I passed an “Estate Sale” sign and pulled over. Usually estate sales just have a lot of crummy, over-priced furniture, ugly knicknacks, and icky used bathrobes. But this home was huge and completely remodeled, with a master bath better than any spa, a huge dreamy kitchen, and best of all (for me) a home office with TWO bookcases exactly like the ONE I almost bought for $100…and I got them for $20 each! The nice estate sales guy even loaded them in my car for me.

I learned a good lesson: Don’t waste time being grumpy! The second bookcase now holds my cookbooks and gardening books just outside the kitchen which makes them much more accessible than they were before and it looks nice there too.