Drawing San Francisco

Sketching around town . . .

 Film shoot in North Beach with fake snow

 

On Grant Avenue, Chinatown

 Mission Dolores cemetary

16th street

 Japantown

18th Street diner

Shoeshine booth on Market St.

Drawing in a Mission dive bar with JSG, Melodie & Matt Cruickshank. Crookie did a finger drawing of an artist painting outside the window.

Berlin-SFO-L.A.

I've travelled far and wide the past month. First stop was several days in Berlin for a speaking engagement at a 'Culture Meets Science' conference.  The brutal East German winter hadn't hit yet so it was still possible to sketch outside comfortably.

 The city has an eclectic mix of modern and classical architecture and threaded throughout is a network of blue and pink piping!

 On my last day I made a beeline for the Brandenburg Gate-I couldn't leave without seeing it first hand.

This last picture is more impressionistic-my memories of Berlin.

While in town I looked up Deutsch-uber-wunderkinder Jakob Shuh and Uwe Heidschötter-they showed me around Studio Soi and drew in my book-danke!

Back in SanFrancisco I showed new resident Mr Cruickshank around-we mingled with the un-dead at Dios de Los Muertos in the Mission and hit Ocean Beach to draw the (wrong) windmill.

 Seal rocks are impressive but not as impressive as the Farallons!  In the spirit of high seas adventure we took a day trip out to the islands where humpback whales spout & breach, rare birds nest and great white sharks bite the heads off elephant seals! Not much drawing that day . . .

 Then down to Los Angeles for CTN-X 2012. We stayed around Venice Beach, soaking up the culture and avoiding the nutters.

Highlight of the trip was catching the spectacular Stanley Kubrick exhibition at LACMA

Happy Thanksgiving!

Summer sketchbook 2012

After completing the 30 day Sketchbook Challenge I slowed down a bit but keep the next book at hand  always.  Over the last month I've seen a bit of the United States, including Bodie and Columbus, Ohio and visited a couple of interesting museum shows.

The Jean-Paul Gaultier exhibition at the De Young was as exciting as everyone told me.  Thanks to my regular sketch buddy Jamie Baker we got in on the last day and I snuck a quick sketch in despite the museums' shitty 'no drawing' policy.

If we hit the De Young we usually squeeze in the Oceanic Art galleries and the Japanese Tea Garden next door also. . . 

See Jamie's sketches over on his blog here

On a quick stay in Columbus, Ohio I sketched the facade of the cavernous Book loft on 3rd St in German Village.

Airport drawings are usually so staid and boring I tried to have a bit of fun with them on this trip.

  Over Labor Day weekend we had a day in the sun at the SF Yacht Club (which is actually across the Bay at Tiburon)

Quick sketch of my neighbourhood on the way home from work

'Our Man in the Cabana' Jamie Baker at Trader Vic's Tiki Lounge, Emeryville Marina.

There's a self-portrait of the artist hidden in one of these pics- can you see me?