I’m wrapping up the last of my sketches in my last handmade sketchbook with these two subway sketches and next time, my end-of-journal self portrait. I didn’t get around to binding another journal one in time and so switched to a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook as a stopgap.
Wheelchair Rider with Rear View Mirror
The Moleskine would be perfect if only it wasn’t in horizontal format. I hate the way two-page spreads become very long and skinny. Trying to sketch in it vertically is awkward to hold. Working in it for a few weeks has given me the incentive to get a new book bound ASAP!
Tower Bridge over Sacramento River, ink & watercolor
Continuing on from yesterday’s post, we left the Crocker and walked a few blocks to Sacramento’s Old Town to meet up with Urban Sketcher Pete Scully who lives nearby in Davis. Then we all stopped to draw this beautiful bridge, which is actually painted with gold metallic paint, unlike the Golden Gate Bridge which is painted a red-orange, and is not gold at all.
Eagle Theatre, ink & watercolor
Old Town is several square blocks of restored Gold-Rush era buildings with board walks instead of sidewalks, old trains, horse-drawn carriages, and a few people in costume like this woman (who, when I asked if I could sketch her, told me she was just waiting for her husband to come out of the restroom, and indeed left after 5 minutes). It’s very rustic, and while a bit touristy, is not nearly as bad as Fisherman’s Wharf or Pier 39 in San Francisco.
Sacramento Amtrak Station Exterior
My last sketch of the day was the exterior of the Amtrak station in Sacramento. The building is very ornate and I would have liked to spend more time accurately capturing some of the details but my eyes were burning from some nearby idling diesel buses so had to go indoors.
There’s a Starbucks at the other end of this block-long building and I ran down there to get a latte for the ride home and then almost missed the train. On the trip back we shared our sketchbooks and relaxed; such a pleasure compared to driving. I want to plan some more train sketching trips soon!
I needed to draw and paint something fun and refreshing after the ordeal with the last oil painting. I reached into my still life cabinet and pulled out this fun little pitcher. This gave me the idea to draw my complete inventory of still life items, one at a time. And that gave me the idea to draw everything I own. I wonder….
BART Snoozing, ink & watercolor
The day before I’d drawn these two guys snoozing back to back on BART. The coppery paint mixture worked perfectly for them too.
Baby Night at the Cerrito Theater, ink & watercolor
Before we met the others at Nong Thon on Tuesday night, Cathy and I sketched in the dark outside the restaurant by the Cerrito theater and El Cerrito Yoga. Tuesday night is baby night at the theatre and families lined up, loaded down with babies and baby gear, to see the Social Network. The Cerrito serves beer, wine and pizza (along with usual movie fare) while you watch the movie.
El Cerrito Yoga, ink & watercolor
We could see into the warmly lit, crowded yoga studio and did some quick gesture drawings. This is one of those Bikram yoga studios where they say they crank up the heat to “increase flexibility and flush toxins.” I’m not sure I’d enjoy spending the evening in a crowded room full of people sweating out their toxins, whatever “toxins” are.
I know some people swear by sweating, fasting, or colonics to get rid of “toxins” and I wondered if there is any scientific evidence that tells what these toxins are and why releasing body fluids would get rid of them. I found this great article that scientifically (and hilariously) debunks the whole concept, as does this one on Wikipedia.
Now that it’s dark by the time we meet we’re back to scouting out indoor sketch sites. We met up Tuesday night at the Saturn Cafe (to carry on from last week’s sketching at Jupiter). But we found the atmosphere at Saturn kind of sterile, gray and sad despite their vibrant Barbie-pink soda fountain theme so we headed across the street to the vibrant, warmly lit Cancun restaurant.
Cancun kitchen area, ink & watercolor
I enjoyed drawing all the odd angles and perspective in the multi-level ceiling and light fixtures. But when I finished I wondered why’d I’d chosen to draw the least colorful area of the cafe which has wonderful Aztec-themed murals on all the walls.
The young woman taking orders asked to see my sketch at the end of the evening, wondering what we were all doing and why I’d been looking in her direction so carefully. I was embarrassed by how poorly I’d drawn her face (drawn in ink there was no fixing it) but she smiled and said they were nice sketches. (More sketches from Cancun by my sketch buddies on Urban Sketchers Bay Area).
Jupiter Pub Sketch #2 with little boy, ink & watercolor
Last week we met up at Jupiter Beer Pub for sketching, pizza and beer on their outdoor patio. It turns out to have been the last warm night of the year and the place was packed. It was quite dark where we were sitting at the beginning of the evening, the last table way at the back of the courtyard (at top of sketch above) so my Pitt Artist’s Brush Pen with a thicker line made it easier to see what I was drawing (barely) than my fountain pen and I added the watercolor at home.
Jupiter sketch #1, Ink & watercolor
As it got later and the crowd thinned out we were able to move to the main area of the patio where I sat in a wonderful Adirondack chair and sketched the courtyard where we’d started the evening (sketch #1 at top).
When I saw the photo I’d taken of this boy at the Legion of Honor where he was posing for his sister’s Quinceanera party photos, I knew I had to paint him (see my original blog post about that day). He is such a beautiful boy.
When to Stop Painting
Lately I’ve been focusing all of my art time on oil painting, and discovered something that might be of interest to other painters.
One night I’d been painting into the wee hours, trying to “fix” a painting. I’d put on paint, step back, then scrape it off. When I realized I didn’t know why I was doing anything I was doing, I went to bed, frustrated that after hours of painting I’d accomplished very little and in fact, probably just made things worse.
The next day I was driving to a plein air paint-out using my GPS to get me to cross streets near the destination (a little park with no address). Once I passed those cross streets, my GPS began scrolling the words “Driving….driving….driving” on the screen because it no longer had any directions for me—I’d passed the target with no further plan.
That’s when it hit me: When I’m at the point with a painting where I am just driving….driving…driving (or dabbing, scraping, dabbing) I need to STOP.
Without a conscious and specific intention (make this area cooler, warmer, darker, lighter, bigger, smaller, sharper, softer, etc.) and an overall goal, it’s just like trying to reach a general idea of a destination by driving mindlessly and randomly, hoping I’ll get there. Not too likely.
All Day Meeting Sketches #1, graphite on notebook paper
We had an all day staff meeting today at our co-director’s home. It was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with each other, celebrate our accomplishments over the past year and plan for the huge amount of work we’ll be doing over the next year. It was also a chance for some sketching.
The gentleman above rests his finger just below his nose when he’s listening with concentration. (Just had to explain since it looks like he’s doing something else).
All Day Meeting Sketches #2, graphite
I really like the way the woman’s foot in this sketch turned out. She’s quite petite but I think I should have made her legs bigger since they were closer to me.
It felt inappropriate to take out my sketchbook (even though I know I listen well while drawing, I didn’t want others to think I wasn’t paying attention) so I drew in the same cheesy notebook I was using for notetaking. Of course everyone knew I was sketching anyway…
Last year we had our annual all staff meeting in a stuffy conference room. It was so much nicer gathering in a home where we could eat pizza in the backyard and sit in comfy chairs in a pretty living room and kick our shoes off.
My plein air painting group held a workshop today at the beautiful Legion of Honor in San Francisco’s Lincoln Park at which Ed Terpening demonstrated. After an hour some people set up and started their own painting but I watched the full demo so had only enough time for this quick sketch. At the critique Ed pointed out the problem with the size of the guys in the foreground compared to the cars which made me laugh.
Ed is one of those rare artists who can paint while at the same time explaining the how, and why of what they’re doing. I learned so much! I’ve enjoyed following Ed’s blog, Life Plein Air for years and it was a real pleasure to meet him in person.
Afterwards I tried to walk over to the museum to see the Impressionists in Paris show (wonderful!) but was prevented by this craziness:
There were about a hundred noisy, smoky mopeds, coming up the hill and then circling around and around, more and more of them. Finally they left and I made it across the street and directly to the museum’s café for a much-needed latte. While I sipped I sketched the view out the cafe’s french doors (except they didn’t have Ed’s name above them):
Sketch under my notes about the workshop in journal
I took notes during the demo on a page in my journal that had an unfinished sketch done with green pen which is what that green mark is under Ed’s name.
Apparently the Legion of Honor is a place people go to take wedding and Quinciaños photos (even though their ceremonies weren’t actually held there). I noticed five different groups being photographed and took my own photos of a few. Since I used a zoom lens you don’t see the tourists and museum goers that were all around them:
Wedding group #1, So formal and seriousWedding Group #2: Flower GirlsQuincianera and her court of honor getting ready for photos
The Quinciañera is a Latin American tradition for celebrating a girl’s 15th birthday. Formerly a religious celebration, it has become an obscenely expensive event that can match weddings in cost and extravagance, including ball gowns, banquets, limos, huge parties, photographers, bands and more. I wish they’d save their money for college.
After their photos they left in a huge stretch limo as long as a bus but made out of a Hummer.
What is he thinking?
Nobody looked like they were enjoying themselves much in any of the groups. Except maybe the photographers, but they were getting paid to do their art.
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.
Jana Bouc, Artist 