San Francisco, Part 3: Golden Gate Park

9/2/15 ink, watercolor

To call it a “park” is the understatement of the year. To me, a “park” is a grassy square with a few benches and trees. Golden Gate Park is more of a small city within a city. Home to several museums, a flower conservatory, an arboretum, a Japanese garden, buffalo (!), windmills and the terrific California Academy of Sciences, the whole park would have taken at least a week to experience sufficiently. All we had was one day, so we made the most of it without feeling compelled to see it all.

Our first stop was the beautiful Japanese Tea Garden, which felt serene even with the relatively large number of people walking through it while we were there. I could have sketched there all day, but I settled for a small slice of a lantern and trees on either side of a pond.

We spent the majority of our time inside the California Academy of Sciences’ spectacular Osher Rainforest, a multi-floor exhibit filled with free-flying birds and butterflies and thousands of other (non-free but definitely living) species of animals and other critters. Too busy trying to take it all in, I didn’t sketch much there, but I did fill a couple pages in my sketchbook with small studies of macaws, amphibians and butterflies that stayed still long enough for me to put down a few lines.

9/2/15 ink, colored pencils

9/2/15 ink, colored pencils

(Technical note: I’ve mentioned before that colored pencils come in handy in certain situations when watercolors aren’t practical. The Rainforest was an ideal example. I couldn’t sketch the macaws and butterflies without color, but pulling out paints in the crowd would have been unwieldy. Instead, I whipped out my small selection of water-soluble colored pencils mainly to remind myself of the brilliant hues. Later, back at our rented cottage, I gave the pencil strokes a few swipes of the waterbrush to intensify and blend colors. For example, I didn’t have an orange pencil, but I made a fairly accurate orange on the butterfly’s wings by mixing red and yellow pencils.)

After spending most of the day exploring the CAS, I was feeling frustrated that I still hadn’t sketched a dinosaur skeleton – and we’d passed several! It was nearly closing time when we finished viewing a planetarium show (the excellent and timely program, “Habitat Earth”). As we exited the theater, I found myself on a walkway bridge standing right over the T. Rex’s head! It was an irresistibly unusual perspective and an ideal last sketch of our San Francisco adventures.

9/2/15 ink, colored pencil

San Francisco, Part 2: USk SF at the Ferry Building

9/1/15 ink, watercolor (Ferry Building)

A highlight of our trip was meeting up with a small group from Urban Sketchers San Francisco Bay Area. After I contacted Cathy McAuliffe, whose sketches I have enjoyed for a long time on Flickr, she kindly organized an ad hoc group to meet me for a morning of sketching at the Ferry Building Marketplace. With colorful venues inside (in case of inclement weather), artwork outside (I sketched part of Nuestros Silencios, a series of provocative sculptures, below) and the historic building itself (at right), it was more than enough to keep us busy. I’m always delighted and amazed when the worldwide Urban Sketchers network makes it so easy to contact other sketchers wherever I go!

After parting with the other sketchers, Greg and I took a trolley and then a bus up to the top of Telegraph Hill, where I sketched Coit Tower, another SF icon. (You can also see it on the skyline in the quick sketch below.) Walking down Telegraph Hill back to the waterfront, we looked for the famed wild parrots that live there, but we could only hear them. However, that morning in front of the Ferry Building, Janine and I caught a glimpse of the birds flying by and heard their distinctive chatter in the trees.

Our last stop before heading home was Golden Gate Park . . .

9/1/15 inks, brush pen

9/1/15 inks, colored pencils ("Nuestros Silencios")

9/1/15 inks, colored pencils (Coit Tower and statue of Christopher Columbus)

Sketching with USk San Francisco Bay Area! Left to right: Janine, Judith, Suhita,
Cathy and Tina

Left to right: Suhita, Laurie, Cathy and Janine

Suhita sketched with us while scoping out sketch locations for her upcoming workshop!

Janine might be my longest-standing blog reader! Great to see you again, Janine!

San Francisco, Part 1: Golden Gate Bridge and Presidio

8/31/15 ink, watercolor, colored pencil

With wedding festivities and related family events behind us, Greg and I went into the city for a few days. Although we’ve been to San Francisco several times, it had been many years since the last time, so everything seemed fresh and new – especially now that I was visiting with a sketchbook.

8/31/15 ink, colored pencils

As I had felt when I sketched the Eiffel Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge was intimidating, to say the least. Not only is it a huge structural wonder; it’s also visually magnificent – a world-famous icon perhaps nearly as recognizable as the Eiffel. How do I approach it, and which angle do I take? One of the best views is from the Presidio, where I made the sketch above. I had my self-inflating cushion with me, so I considered sitting on the ground, but as soon as I did, the chain guard rail obstructed my view. I decided to sketch the bridge standing up. Afterwards we walked out to one of the piers, where a sea lion and fishermen competed for the daily catch.

8/31/15 inks, colored pencil

With that icon checked off my list, I could then relax and move on to the rest of the Presidio. A beautiful national park, the Presidio is, surprisingly, home to a number of businesses, including Lucasfilm Ltd headquarters. While researching the area before our trip, Greg had spotted a photo of the Yoda fountain outside Lucasfilm’s front door – impossible to resist! As you might guess, it was a popular location for selfies by Star Wars fans of all ages.

A short distance away was a statue of Eadweard Muybridge, known as the father of cinema. Just behind him in the distance, I spotted the elegant Palace of Fine Arts Theatre – an ideal background for my sketch.

Next stop: downtown and the waterfront.

8/31/15 ink, watercolor, colored pencils

Alix & Seila’s Wedding

8/29/15 ink, watercolor, colored pencils

If you think I’ve been traveling a lot lately, you’d be right: August was a record-breaking month! First, there was the West Coast Sketch Crawl in San Diego; then the Twin Cities; and finally the San Francisco Bay area this past week.

The occasion for the last trip was my niece Alix’s marriage to her longtime sweetheart, Seila. Shortly after we received their invitation, I started thinking about sketches I wanted to do for the event. One was the wedding ceremony itself. I’d never sketched at a wedding before, so I contacted Alix to get her permission, and I was delighted when she happily gave it. I had grand ideas about making the event an opportunity for sketch reportage (more on that later)!

The second was a sketch for their wedding card. What could I sketch that would be an appropriate symbol of a young couple beginning their lives together? The wedding invitation was in the University of Washington colors, purple and gold. I knew that Seila was a UW grad and still a huge UW Huskies fan. Could the wedding theme colors really be purple and gold? Indeed, they were – and that gave me the idea for their card. A few weeks before the wedding, I went out to Hec Edmundson Pavilion (AKA Huskies Stadium) on the UW campus to sketch the bronze Husky mascot sculpture.

7/30/15 ink, watercolor, colored pencils

As for that sketch reportage opportunity. . . ? Most wedding ceremonies I’ve attended, even informal, nonsecular ones, have lasted at least 15 minutes (and some have been much longer) – plenty of time for a sketch. Alix and Seila’s exchange of vows, however, was over in about five! I barely had time to finish Alix; Seila I had to do from memory (and I painted during the reception while we all waited for wedding cake). Originally I had plans to sketch during the reception too, but . . .

. . . speaking of reportage, this wedding was the first I attended with such strong social media coverage. Shortly before the wedding, the bride and groom asked guests to upload wedding day photos to Instagram with the hashtag #alixandseila. Seconds after the vows were completed, the groom snapped a group selfie, and during the reception, photos Instagrammed by guests were instantly projected on the walls, creating our own entertainment. Did I miss the tossing of rice or live band playing oldies? Heck, no! Instagramming photos (and my sketch!) to the live feed was way more fun (and then I forgot all about sketching)!

8/30/15 ink, watercolor

Half Moon Bay, the wedding location, is a lovely beach when it’s sunny, but it’s often windy and foggy. The morning and afternoon of the wedding day were cold and drizzly, but the sun came out just in time for the early evening outdoor ceremony. The day after, Greg and I spent a few hours walking on Half Moon Bay’s various beaches, where I sketched through all kinds of sunshine, wind and cold.

After the wedding festivities and sending the couple off on their honeymoon to South Africa, we went into the city for our own adventures . . . 

8/30/15 brush pen, watercolor