In April my sketch group decided to sketch things starting with “A” but I kept going with it. I had a lot of fun finding things about the people I sketched that started with A. Click on any of the pictures to see them larger with my notes in slide show format. As you’ll see from the times in the notes, I was working some long hours the past couple months which is why I’m so behind on posting. When time is limited I always choose painting over posting.
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.
So rare to see someone reading a real book and not just fidgeting with their digital whatevers.
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.
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 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.
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.
I’ve gotten so used to sketching people in public that sometimes I forget to be subtle. Then I get glares or confused looks from people who can’t figure out why I keep looking at them. One day a guy down the train was holding up a camera and continuously filming everyone which I found annoying. Filming seems more intrusive since my drawings rarely capture a close-enough likeness for anyone to worry about.
Here are some random people sketches, mostly from my 13 minute subway ride to work. They are displayed first in a slide show (with arrows to click through) and at the bottom in “gallery” format. In gallery format you can click to enlarge a picture.
Please take the poll in between the two so I can learn which type of display for multiple pictures you prefer. THANKS!
Automatic Response Systems offers drive-in shredding service for your boxes of old bank statements and tax returns, secrets on your hard drives, naughty videos, or anything in between. Their Willy-Wonka like equipment rolls your papers up a ramp, grinds them in a massive shredder and flies them away through huge see-through tubes.
They recycle everything they shred, from the paper to the paper clips. Their old, brick, northwest-Berkeley industrial-zone warehouse is also home to an amazing collection of antique office and industrial equipment. The owners graciously allowed us to come sketch there on a stormy Tuesday night.
This enormous drill press is about 8 feet tall and much more substantial than my sketch makes it look. I started drawing it from the top which was further away from me (so appeared smaller) than the base, but not as much as I drew it (oops). It was incredibly complicated and a fun challenge to draw. Be sure to see my friends’ much better drawings of this amazing equipment posted here and here on our Urban Sketchers blog.
When we first arrived I warmed up by sketching this life-size bust of a beautiful woman who, unlike in my sketch, did not look at all worried about how I was drawing her.
We hope to go sketching there again as there was so much more to draw. And if you need anything shredded in the S. F. Bay area, this is the place to go (or call—they pick up too)!
I loved Downton Abbey and I’m missing it now that it’s over but at least I have these sketches I made while watching the shown on TV.
Poor Mr. Bates. I hope he’s doing ok in prison. Do you think he really murdered his terrible wife?
I was so fond of Lord Grantham. In looking him up on the Masterpiece Theater website, I noticed they have a character likability scale and chart of all the characters and the actors who played them, and full episodes available to watch online.
Poor Anna Smith. But wasn’t Mr. Bates rather too old for her anyway? I liked him in a sweet British series, Lark Rise to Candleford, where he played a similarly earnest and good man and every show has a happy ending.
Another good British series I enjoyed was Bramwell, starring Jemma Redgrave as Dr. Eleanor Bramwell, a headstrong woman doctor during the late Victorian era who fights for the right to practice medicine and opens a free clinic for the poor.
It was fun watching the Golden Globes and sketching the people. It took much longer because I kept pausing the TiVo when I saw someone I wanted to sketch.
I was surprised to actually catch likenesses of some (but definitely not all) of the people. Laura Dern and Rob Lowe alluded me.
I wasn’t sure if it was just my TV or the angle of the cameras that filmed the show, but it seemed like all the movie stars had extra long heads. I doubt it was the camera that made all the female stars look soooo skinny. How sad it must be to have your art form require that you don’t get to eat.
It seemed like all the male directors and producers were wearing glasses with heavy, square, black frames, the kind that used to be considered nerd glasses and usually sported tape holding them together.
I took my two favorite 12-year-old girls to Tilden Park for a Friday afternoon outing on a rare sunny day in this horrible summer of fog and wind. My plan was to relax and read on the beach while the girls played in the water and then take them to the carousel and the Little Farm Nature Area.
After a little picnic the girls gleefully headed into the water, I reached for my book and discovered I’d forgotten it. Fortunately I had my journal so instead of reading a book I drew in one.
My first attempt at drawing the lifeguard stand got the perspective all wrong so I used that page for more sketches of people.
The girls were having so much fun in the water, swimming, chatting, and fooling around that I couldn’t get them out until 5:00. I promised that if we have another sunny Friday this summer I’ll take them again. But this time I will remember my book and, if it’s warm enough, my bathing suit!
Jana Bouc, Artist 