Category: Urban Sketchers

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Animals Berkeley Drawing Gouache Ink and watercolor wash Painting Places Urban Sketchers

Sketching at the Teddy Bear Fountain

Teddy Bear Fountain, ink & watercolor on hot press paper, 6"x4"
Teddy Bear Fountain, ink & gouache on hot press paper, 6"x4"

Teddy bears hold hands in a circle in this wonderful, historic fountain* in North Berkeley on Marin Circle. We sketched there on a warm Tuesday evening as the sun was setting.

I did the one above very quickly at the end of the evening when just as I was about to pack up a worker came and switched on the fountain’s lights and adjusted the water so it sprayed up from the top. I had to give it one more try.

Teddy Bear Fountain, ink & watercolor, 5 1/2 x6 1/2"
Teddy Bear Fountain, ink & gouache, 5 1/2 x6 1/2"

This one was done first and I spent a longer time with it—more than I should have probably, as it began to get overworked. My friend Cathy did several wonderful sketches while we were there, which you can see here.

*An interesting bit of history about the fountain: In 1908, a real estate developer came up with the idea to make Berkeley the state capitol and lobbied hard for his proposal. The Circle and the fountain were to be part of a grand entry to the new capitol building to be built nearby. The California Legislature passed the proposal and the governor signed the bill, but Berkeley was a dry city and the liquor lobbyists were successful in convincing the voters to narrowly defeat the bill.

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Bay Area Parks Berkeley Drawing Gouache Ink and watercolor wash People Photos Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Golden Gate Live Steamers Train Meet at Tilden Park

Steam Train Medley from multiple sketches
Steam Train Meet Medley from multiple sketches

A few weeks ago Cathy and I were sketching guests at the Spring Meet of the Golden Gate Live Steamers Club in Berkeley’s Tilden Park. The train people were as curious about us as we were about them, and they wanted to see what we were doing. I usually don’t care when people look at my sketches, but I was drawing their trains that they had lovingly built from scratch, designing and engineering everything from the wood-burning boilers to the screws that held them together. It was like drawing their children—one thing out of place and they would know it.

Train guys
Train guys

Many of their members maintain and operate trains that their fathers or grandfathers built and they are now apprenticing their sons in the craft. Over the years the club has built a complete course of tracks with trestles, tunnels, and small buildings to match the 1.5″-to-the-foot scale of the trains. You can see photos and videos on their website including this one below of me sketching at the meet (much to my surprise!)

Continue reading “Golden Gate Live Steamers Train Meet at Tilden Park”
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Berkeley Building Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Interiors Painting Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Inside Berkeley’s Maybeck-Designed First Church

First Church of Christ Scientist, Berkeley
First Church of Christ Scientist, Berkeley

The American Institute of Architects named this church one of the three finest uniquely American churches. I saw a picture of the spectacular interior and knew we had to sketch it. I contacted the architectural heritage group, Friends of First Church (see photos on their site), and one of their members was generously willing to open the church for our Tuesday night Urban Sketchers group.

She graciously gave us a tour and told us a little about the history and architecture and then we picked our spots and started drawing. The interior is sweeping and complicated, with “a pair of great crossed trusses spanning the central pace overhead.”

Interior photo from where I sat, First Church Christ Scientist
Interior photo from where I sat, First Church Christ Scientist

I tried to envision how I would get everything I wanted onto my page and then just started drawing in the left corner, working my way across the page, drawing directly in ink. I drew up until the last minute so had to add the watercolor at home.

That’s a pipe organ behind the choir loft. They’re trying to raise funds to restore it.  Everything is embellished with gilt so the room has a golden glow. The architecture and design includes many styles and periods, including Gothic, Romanesque Byzantine and Arts and Crafts.

Spending the evening in that beautiful, quiet, exquisite space was so special and we are very grateful to the Friends of First Church for so graciously sharing this jewel with us.

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Berkeley Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Interiors Painting People Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Sketchcrawl and Pubcrawl: The Albatross Pub

Albatross Pub Berkeley: the bar, ink & watercolor
Albatross Pub Berkeley: the bar (painted in near darkness), ink & watercolor

The past couple of weeks our Tuesday night sketch group has met at pubs to draw and sample the beer. First stop was the Albatross, Berkeley’s oldest pub. It’s a very friendly and comfortable place with several different rooms. I left the group sitting at a big table in the back and moved up front near the bar.

Albatross Pub, couple with hat, ink and watercolor
Albatross Pub, couple with hat, ink and watercolor

The Albatross stocks a variety of board and card games for its patrons. There were some men playing chess nearby and a couple on a date playing a card game while talking about their travels. I felt comfortable sitting by myself drawing and painting. Nobody bothered me. The only difficulty was seeing the colors I was painting.

Dart players, ink
Dart players, ink

Tuesday nights The Albatross hosts dart tournaments. These two guys didn’t actually overlap like this, they took turns approaching the line and throwing their dart. Each player has his own style of aiming and throwing, and they repeat it exactly the same each time. I drew them in stages capturing a little more with each throw. The short guy on the left leaned way forward, held the dart by his forehead, then tossed it with his left foot  coming off the ground. His much taller partner stood upright and very still, and just tossed the dart without moving his body.

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Building Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Painting People Places Sketchbook Pages Sketchcrawl Urban Sketchers

Worldwide Sketchcrawl 31: San Francisco

View from Dolores Park, ink & watercolor
View from Dolores Park, ink & watercolor

Saturday was the 31st Worldwide Sketchcrawl and I joined the San Francisco group to explore the Mission District and sketch. I tagged along with my friend Pete Scully who had mapped out a route that included stops at two famous S.F. comic book stores.

Sketcher at morning meetup at Dolores Cafe
Sketcher at a.m. meetup at Dolores Cafe

While waiting for the crawl to begin everyone sat and stood around drawing everyone else. See Pete’s sketch of me seriously sketching here.

Pete Sketching atop stairs
Pete Sketching atop stairs

Later, while Pete climbed up a set of stairs to draw a Victorian house, I sketched him sketching and then picked up some lunch at a cafe up the street.

Fire Hydrant and Mission Dolores
Fire Hydrant and Mission Dolores

Since I was sketching with Pete, of course we had to stop and draw a fire hydrant (see Pete’s fire hydrant series here). I was amused by the similarity of shapes in the tower atop Mission Dolores and the fire plug.

Mission Mariachis hanging out
Mission Mariachis standing around

I don’t know what these guys were waiting for but they never did play.

Old "New Mission Theatre"
Old "New Mission Theatre"

The theater is defunct, the sign peeling and is dwarfed by neighboring Giant Value big box store. I bet the theater was beautiful when it was new.

Below, some BART people on the very bumpy ride to SF. I’m finding that as much as I love my fountain pen for its smooth flowing, I have less control, especially when drawing on transit or when standing.

Continue reading “Worldwide Sketchcrawl 31: San Francisco”
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Berkeley Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Interiors Painting People Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Picante Sketches with Strange Lights

Picante Cocina Mexicana's Mask Lights, Ink & watercolor
Picante Cocina Mexicana's Mask Lights, Ink & watercolor

Last week the Urban Sketchers Flickr group had lighting as their theme so our Urban Sketchers group focused on lighting too. When I walked into Picante the first thing I noticed was the way the wall sconces shined up at wonderfully bizarre masks all around the room.

Picante Mask Lights, ink & watercolor
Picante Mask Lights, ink & watercolor

Along with the great masks, the ceiling is festooned with row after row of vibrantly colored hanging Mexican cut-paper art work.

Several different diners and children stopped at our table to complement our sketches. The children were particularly enthusiastic. And (as usual) everyone told us they can’t draw. And as usual we told them that anyone can draw if they just practice and that it doesn’t have to be good, just fun.

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Animals Ink and watercolor wash Places Urban Sketchers

Amusement Park and Circus Museum: Playland Not At the Beach

Detail of Playland Diarama, ink & watercolor
Detail of Playland Diarama, ink & watercolor

Playland Not At The Beach Museum of Fun is an amazing place created by a group of volunteers and artists who are passionate about the circus, history, carnivals, and a San Francisco amusement park (now long gone) called Playland at the Beach.

Laughing Sal, ink, gouache & watercolor
Laughing Sal, ink, gouache & watercolor

Hidden away behind a nondescript storefront in El Cerrito, Playland Not At The Beach is both a museum  and a place to play carnival, penny arcade and pinball games (including historic and 3-D pinball machines), watch movies, see magic shows, have parties, explore the world of the circus and the world of Charles Dickens in miniature and much more, with room after room of visual delights, each surpassing the next.

Circus Diorama Detail, ink & watercolor
Circus Diorama Detail, ink & watercolor (the actual scene had about 3 times as many characters, but with so much to capture in 2 hours, I picked my favorites for this sketch)

The circus dioramas contain 300,000 hand-carved and hand-painted realistic figures of every kind of person, animal and behind-the-scenes activity (even including the cooks carving up big fish for dinner and the separate men’s and women’s dressing tents with performers washing up or changing clothes) and all the acts under the big top, all created by a man who joined the circus at 14 and his father, who were both lifelong circus lovers. It took a month just to create one elephant, which were each carved from a separate block of wood and are about an inch tall.

The creativity and dedication to follow one’s passion that went into making the circus dioramas brought tears to my eyes and left me intensely inspired.

You can see the wonderful sketches made by my buddies on our Urban Sketchers blog here. We plan to return to Playland Not At The Beach as soon as we can!

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Berkeley Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Interiors Painting People Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

St. Patrick’s Day Decor at Spengers

Spengers Bar, ink & watercolor
Spengers Bar, ink & watercolor

Spengers was decorated with green shamrocks when our Urban Sketchers group met there on a Tuesday before St. Patrick’s Day. Other than all the green, it was business as usual. I love the way cellphones keep people engaged and posing like this guy at the bar, even when drinking.

Sea Witch Ship Model, ink & watercolor
Sea Witch Ship Model, ink & watercolor

Spengers has a huge collection of ship models and other sea-themed objects on every wall, ceiling and in every corner. I drew this standing in front of the display case, trying to stay out of the waiters’ path. And as usual I incorrectly labeled the sketch “Brennan’s” — a nearby bar and restaurant that I always get mixed up with Spengers.

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Berkeley Drawing Food sketch Ink and watercolor wash Interiors Painting Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Sketching at Saul’s Deli

Saul's Deli & their famous pickles, ink & watercolor
Saul's Deli & their famous pickles, ink & watercolor

We always enjoy a visit to Saul’s Deli in Berkeley for sketching and dinner. I got my usual grilled trout dinner but was too hungry to draw it before eating. One of the owners of Sauls, Karen Adelman does the wonderful quirky drawings on their menus and website and always makes us feel welcome to come and sketch there.

More Saul’s sketches from my pals Micaela, Sonia and Cathy on our Urban Sketchers site.

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Albany Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Sketching at Target (?!)

Ladies Shoes, Target, Ink & watercolor
Ladies Shoes, Target, Ink & watercolor

Yes Target! Although we’ll be so happy when we can go outside for our Tuesday evening Urban sketching again, sketching at Target was a lot more fun than you might think. I had fun sketching the silly high heels and flip-flops on the wall behind them. Nobody seemed to notice or question why I was painting in the shoe department.

Left over Valentine Flowers, ink & watercolor
Left over Valentine Flowers, ink & watercolor

It was the night after Valentine’s day and there was the display of sad, wilting Valentines roses, on clearance, half off.

Remote Controlled Baby Swing, ink & watercolor
Remote Controlled Baby Swing, ink & watercolor

Whatever happened to sitting in a rocking chair holding the baby in your arms? This contraption had a touch pad remote control with 6 speeds and more. Someone told me he bought one of these only to discover it came in a million parts that was a nightmare to assemble.