Category: Painting

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Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting People Places Urban Sketchers

Popcycle SF – Treats on a Traveling Tricycle

Popcycle SF in Downtown Oakland, ink & watercolor
Popcycle SF in Downtown Oakland, ink & watercolor

I almost passed up this sketching opportunity as I hurried home from work but realized it was worth postponing dinner for and walked back. Here was this cute guy selling gourmet popsicles out of a pretend ice-cream truck that is really just a large tricyle inside a cloth-covered frame, playing rinky-tinky ice cream truck music.

I asked the proprietor, David Meisenholder, if he would be there for a while so I could sketch him. He’d been about to leave but was nice enough to wait while I sketched him (and he even made a few more sales).

The pretend, miniature “truck” is a brilliantly creative work of art, the kind of thing that makes your mind sort of expand and contract all at once, and is perfectly executed down to the little pretend headlights and grill on the front.

This is a new venture for David and his partner; you can see photos of the Popcycle’s “Maiden Voyage” here and you can find his locations via Twitter.

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Building Landscape Oil Painting Outdoors/Landscape Painting Places

TOOL Adult Books and Movies, an Urban Oil Painting

TOOL Adult Books and Movies, oil on panel, 10x8"
TOOL Adult Books and Movies, oil on panel, 10x8"

The signage and awnings on this corner in El Cerrito caught my eye, being an interesting eyesore. Only the icky Golden Gate Adult Books and Movies store still exists, just the signs remain for “Shirt Laundry &” and “TOOL.”

The “Tool” sign made me laugh since it has many connotations including one I’ve heard  used lately to mean a dorky, loser of a guy (e.g. “What a tool!”)

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Building Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Life in general Outdoors/Landscape Painting Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Summer Squash on a Messed Up Wienerschnitzel

Summer Squash on a Messed Up Page, brush pen & watercolor
Summer Squash on a Messed Up Page, brush pen & watercolor

Last week we went to a fairly desolate corner in El Cerrito with the intention to sketch a church and the local Wienerschnitzel fast food drive-thru. I was starting to get a migraine and feeling generally stupid so my first attempt just left a page with a bunch of black lines that I could see were all wrong.

I left the page and moved on to the next one (below). The next day I went back and drew right over the messed up page with my green Pitt Brush Pen to paint the squash above. (I’d cooked and eaten its delicious brethren but saved this one to draw.)

Wienerschnitzel, El Cerrito, Ink & watercolor
Wienerschnitzel, El Cerrito, Ink & watercolor

Here’s my second attempt. I love the way even the stupidest building can be pretty at sunset. At 7:30 it was already too dark to see so we gave up on drawing the church. By time we left at 8:00 I was happy to go home, take my migraine meds and head for bed.

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Drawing Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting Rose Sketchbook Pages

Sketching Scruffy Roses Instead of Ice Cream

Scruffy Roses Instead of Ice Cream, ink & watercolor
Scruffy Roses Instead of Ice Cream, ink & watercolor

Sometimes when I’m tired and grumpy it feels like the solution to all my problems could be found in a bowl of ice cream. I know I’m not alone in this because I’ve noticed that movies and TV often show female characters heading for the Haagendaz when they’re upset.

I’ve also learned that despite those crossed wires in my brain* that say tired = eat sugar, dessert is rarely the solution, and only creates other problems for me.  So I try to do something else and it usually works. On this occasion I spent the evening sketching some scruffy little roses from my garden. By the time I finished, the nearby ice cream shop had closed and I was ready to go to bed.

*Sleep Deprivation and Carbohydrate Craving

In a Harvard Magazine report on sleep research they explain how and why being sleep deprived creates a physiological craving for sugar. In one study, healthy, male college students who were subjected to sleep interruptions over a couple of weeks became carb-loading sugar fiends and even developed pre-diabetes. In the article the Harvard researchers say:”It could be that a good chunk of our epidemic of obesity is actually an epidemic of sleep deprivation.”

They say that most of us now sleep less than people did a century ago, or even 50 years ago although our biological need for 8 hours of sleep a night hasn’t changed. “We are living in the middle of history’s greatest experiment in sleep deprivation and we are all a part of that experiment,” says Stickgold. “It’s not inconceivable to me that we will discover that there are major social, economic, and health consequences to that experiment. Sleep deprivation doesn’t have any good side effects.”

~From Deep into Sleep | Harvard Magazine Jul-Aug 2005
http://harvardmagazine.com/2005/07/deep-into-sleep.html

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Building Landscape Life in general Oil Painting Painting Photos Places Virtual Paint-Out

Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, NY (Virtual Paintout)

Bleecker and Sullivan Streets, New York; Oil on Panel, 8"x10"
Bleecker and Sullivan Streets, New York; Oil on Panel, 8"x10"

When I saw that this month’s Virtual Paintout was taking place in Manhattan, I wanted to paint the Lower East Side tenement where I lived when I made my big move to New York City from San Diego, California at the age of naive and tender age of 19, chasing my dreams.

I couldn’t find the building where I lived on East 13th Street between Avenue A and B (possibly torn down and replaced by a small community garden) using Google Street View but I could see that now it’s fluffy with foliage and yuppified with yoga studios. There were no gardens or trees on East 13th Street when I lived there, just trash cans, junked cars and the occasional group of men playing dominoes on card tables in front of their storefront church downstairs or throwing dice on the corner by the drug store.

East 13th Street between Ave. A & B, 1969
East 13th Street between Ave. A & B, 1969

Next I looked for my favorite Greenwich Village cafe back then: the historic Le Figaro Cafe (New York Times article) which survived 50 years before closing down in 2008. It had famously been the haunts of Bob Dylan, Lenny Bruce, Dave Van Ronk, and Jack Kerouac.

During that year in NYC, I visited Le Figaro weekly for a little taste of home: their California Burger contained actual lettuce and tomato, unlike all other NYC burgers that were just bun and meat.  They also served great espresso that you could sip while playing chess or people watching. (Although to be honest, at 19 I was more interested in their ice cream floats than espresso.)

I couldn’t find Le Figaro so I painted the next corner, Bleecker and Sullivan, which interested me as a subject. It turns out I gave up looking too soon, because in writing this post I actually found the remains of Le Figaro on Google Street View:

Le Figaro Cafe
Le Figaro Cafe, Bleecker and MacDougal, NYC
Categories
Berkeley Building Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Painting Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Crystal Amber Industrial Sand Factory and Railroad Buffs

Berkeley Cement Plant 1, ink & watercolor
Berkeley Cement Plant #1, ink & watercolor

This cement plant/sand factory takes up a square block of West Berkeley and offers a wealth of sketching opportunities. We were there as the sun was setting and everything was glowing for about 45 minutes and then suddenly it was too dark to see.

The factory’s site on Second and Virginia used to be a white sand beach (not the desolate industrial area it is now) and First Street (now Highway I-80) ran along the Bay.

Berkeley Cement Plant #2, ink & watercolor
Berkeley Cement Plant #2, ink & watercolor

In 1855 the Pioneer Starch and Grist Mill opened in the same spot but later burned down.  And that begs the question: what is grist?

While searching for more information about the factory I came across a railroad buff forum (Trainorders.com) where they describe watching trains deliver to the plant. I don’t understand most of their lingo but appreciate their enthusiasm for railroads:

One of my favorite memories was watching a flying switch drop at Crystal Amber back in the early 90’s. I used to bicycle from my house in North Berkeley to Aquatic Park next to the SP main.

The cab to cab SW1500’s were facing eastbound. They accelerated and then cut off the two hoppers, went into the pocket track and then the brakeman threw the switch. The other brakeman rode the two hoppers while the fireman flagged Virginia St. The switcher set then coupled back onto the hoppers, shoved past Cedar St and then pulled them down past Berkeley Ready Mix, then shoved them into Crystal Amber.

As the crew was walking back, I said to the brakeman “nice flying switch”. He was a bit surprised and replied “you liked my drop?”, to which I replied “Yeah, I liked your drop”. Ahh the memories.

Cement Plant at 2nd & Virginia, Berkeley; ink & watercolor
Cement Plant at 2nd & Virginia, Berkeley, journal spread; ink & watercolor

If you’d like to see more sketches of the factory by my sketch buddies they are on our Urban Sketchers Bay Area blog here.

Categories
Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Life in general Outdoors/Landscape Painting Places Plein Air Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Pumping Something in Snow Park, Oakland

Pumping Something in Snow Park, ink & watercolor
Pumping Something in Snow Park, ink & watercolor

I don’t know what they were pumping out of the ground but the name on the truck—”Environliners”—made me think I probably wouldn’t want to know. It was a gorgeous summer day and I was determined to get outside for a few minutes at lunchtime. I spent it eating a take-out salad and sketching in Snow Park across the street from our building in Oakland.

Our office culture is to eat with co-workers in the office kitchen and get right back to work since there’s always more to do than hours in the day. We’ve even been trying to figure out how to add a new month to the calendar to fit it all in.  But some days you have to forget about all that and just enjoy the moment and the all-too-rare sunshine in the Bay Area this summer.

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Building Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Life in general Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Mississippi Catfish and Smog Check

Mississippi Catfish and Smog Express, ink & watercolor
Mississippi Catfish and Smog Express, ink & watercolor

Would you eat dinner at a place that also offers smog testing? I didn’t take a chance on the food while my car was getting its smog test. Instead I stood out in front and sketched. The car was finished and certified in 10 minutes—before I could finish painting.

The mechanic couldn’t figure out what I was doing. Twice he stuck his head out of the garage and called out to me that my car was ready. Finally, he came over and asked, “Are you still doodling? Your car is ready.”

He looked at my sketch but still couldn’t really comprehend the concept that I was drawing his humble establishment. But he said, “Nice picture. Take your time.” And I did.

And if you’re looking for a quick, easy smog check at the best price around, Smog Check Express in Richmond was great.

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Drawing Ink and watercolor wash People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings Urban Sketchers

Subway Drawings: BART Riders

Shaky train, shaky pen; ink with digital coloring
Guns Before Butter; shaky pen & digital coloring

This lady carefully marked up her cheesy crime novel, “Guns Before Butter” with her pencil as she read.  The train ride was really bumpy and so my ink line got pretty squiggly. I switched to drawing her after a big guy with a bike got on and completely blocked my view of the man above her.

Two guys in green, ink & colored pencil
Two guys in green, ink & colored pencil

I experimented some more with the brown craft paper sketchbook, drawing with a black brush pen on BART and (above) adding white pen and colored pencil at home.

More Brown Paper People
More Brown Paper People

And below, some ink drawings done on BART with watercolor added at home later.

Waiting patiently, ink & watercolor
Waiting patiently, ink & watercolor
Elderly Asian couple, ink & watercolor
Elderly Asian couple, ink & watercolor
Categories
Berkeley Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Life in general Outdoors/Landscape Painting People Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Sketching at the Berkeley Pier

Fishing & Strolling the Pier, ink & watercolor
Fishing & Strolling Berkeley Pier at Sunset, ink & watercolor

It was the hottest August day in the history of San Francisco, smack in the middle of the coldest summer since 1975. So for our Tuesday night sketch-out we headed for the cooling breezes coming in off the Pacific Ocean through the Golden Gate Bridge (in the center of the picture above, to the right of the San Francisco skyline). We weren’t alone. The pier was full of people strolling and fishing and enjoying the rare warm evening.

Men's Bathroom on the Pier at Sunset, ink & watercolor
Men's Bathroom on the Pier at Sunset, ink & watercolor

Although my sketch buddies selected a more scenic perspective from the same vantage point (which you can see on our Urban Sketchers Bay Area blog here), the men’s bathroom and shoreline rocks glowing pink and orange in the sunset attracted me instead. Apparently I was holding my sketchbook at a strange angle as I was drawing and painting (or else the world temporarily tilted) causing the wonky slanted horizon and bridge.

The sky turned indigo blue as we walked back down the pier towards land, and a huge full moon rose over the hills. Then a group of half a dozen kayakers with little headlights on their boats paddled right under the pier and out the other side below us. It is special sights like this that make getting out in the world to sketch so special.