April 2012: Overgrown Creek in Palo Alto

April 2012: Overgrown Creek
Originally uploaded by apple-pine
Adobe Creek is covered with lots of greens, many ducks are starting families there and overall I think it's a beautiful addition to the city :) Though cleaning crew is improving it step by step - as you can see on my other sketches :)
 

Around San Francisco

Rosie the Riveter at the Railroad Museum

At The Railroad Museum

Train Trip to Sacramento's California State Railroad Museum

1908 Train #112 Redwood Empire Route, ink & watercolor, 5x10"

We took the train to Sacramento and visited the California State Railroad Museum. The enormous building ( 225,000 square feet) contains many full-sized trains and this one called out to me.

I sat against a pillar on the hard floor and started drawing. I used pencil first to get the basic shapes down since it was so complicated. Then I switched to ink and the time flew by until I realized I only had a few minutes left before we had to leave for our train ride home, so I quickly added watercolor, which I touched up a bit when I got home. 

Micaela and Susan sketching on the train trip

The museum has a Pullman-style sleeping car, a dining car, and a Railway Post Office, all of which you can walk through, along with many life-size displays demonstrating railroad life in the early years of California. I especially liked the little telegraph office with the lady at her desk with a little dish holding egg shells and a salt shaker from her breakfast. She must have had to work long hours in her lonely outpost. 

Click here to take a 360 Virtual Tour of the museum (or go in person—it's fantastic!) 

More on my blog, JanasJournal.com

Peets Coffee in Oakland

International Sketchcrawl Reminder, the Drunken Boat and Burlesque Marathon

Cathy sketching at Le Bateau Ivre, ink & watercolor, 8x6"

We had a wonderful Tuesday evening sketching and dining at Le Bateau Ivre (The Drunken Boat) in Berkeley. The ambiance and food is fantastic. We sat in the dining room with lovely brick walls and a fireplace. When we sketched there last year we sat in the cafe area which is equally charming.

International Sketchcrawl 35 is Saturday, April 21!

Here is a link to the Sketchcrawl website where you can find out if there is a group sketching near you (or initiate a location yourself).

San Francisco looks to be a particularly juicy sketchcrawl, starting in North Beach and ending at a free Burlesque Queens sketching marathon at a hotel at Fisherman's Wharf, hosted by Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School. The  burlesque performers are in town for the Tease-O-Rama, a "showcase and convention dedicated to the thriving neo-burlesque revival."

Springtime in Berkeley and at Blake Garden

Drill Press and More

Steam Powered Drill Press

Dial on a Crosley radio

Steam Powered Drill Press

Steam-Powered Drill Press by Susan Ford

Industrial Antique Sketching at Automatic Response Systems

1950 Royal Typewriter  

 Automatic Response Systems is located in a Berkeley industrial-zone warehouse where they offer drive-in shredding service for boxes of paper, secrets on your hard drives, 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. The warehouse is also home to an amazing collection of antique office and industrial equipment. 

Victorian Steam Powered Drill Press Circa 1900

This enormous drill press is about 8 feet tall and much more substantial than my sketch makes it look.

1840s French Depose Metal Sculpture

When we first arrived I warmed up by sketching this statue of a beautiful woman who, unlike in my sketch, did not look disapproving of my drawing. 

More on JanasJournal.com.

Chicken Pot Pie Celebration

Chicken Pot Pie at Fat Apples Restaurant, ink & watercolor, 5x8"

Carrying on from Suhita's Food Obsession posts, here is my contribution: the yummy chicken pot pie, salad and rolls at Fat Apples Restaurant I had to celebrate finally moving into my new studio.

Umbrellas at Fat Apples

I had fun trying to make sense of the two umbrellas in the middle of the restaurant but ran out of time to finish the drawing. Everyone was done sketching and eating and were waiting for me. That's a waitress with pigtails (sort of) behind the counter under the umbrellas.

More on my blog JanasJournal.com.

Civil War Reenactors in Benicia