More Sketches From Disney World

These are from EPCOT and Animal Kingdom.

Palms in Benicia

Benicia was chosen to be our state capitol at one point. There are some graceful old buildings, and trees there. My pencils looked more practical than paints on a recent really cold Sunday.

North Beach Pizza

This North Beach Pizza — nowhere near the beach! It's in an old IHOP, in Berkeley. The horizontal drawing was done with a grey pen which had a thick, even stroke, which was kind of interesting, more so before color was added.

Sketchcrawl, January 2011: Stanford, Palo Alto

It was fun to finally meet up with some of the East Bay Urban Sketchers at the Sketchcrawl! But 2 hours was way too short! I had barely "warmed up"- next time I'm planning on staying longer and sketching!

Pizza at Patxi's after the sketchcrawl.. it's not Zachary's but it's as close as it gets in the South Bay!

Downtown San Jose

A wonderful old stone building in the middle of downtown San Jose. I used to be the main library.

sketchcrawl 30:san francisco

A surprisingly sunny day in San Francisco. We met in the morning at a cafe called Murano in Lower Pacific Heights. Here are some fellow sketchers at the cafe, St. Dominic's Church on Steiner, A view along California St. and a dog that seemed like it was going to lie still at first but then its person came back and distracted it with water and a ball, but which then lost the ball under a car which gave me a minute to draw the dog as the person fished the ball out, two angles on the pagoda at the Peace Plaza in Japan Center, and BART riders from my way home that night.

Sketchcrawl at Stanford

The buildings at Stanford are built of local buff colored sandstone.

The 30th World Wide Sketchcrawl!

I sure enjoyed meeting Jana, Cathy, Suhita and the others up at Stanford. We had a great time and the weather was beautiful. I am looking forward to doing this again fore this was my First sketchcrawl! I really didn't mean to make fun of this pleasant looking statue!
All of Rodin's Statues seem to be in some sort of agony!
My sister came down from Marin to join us!

Sketchcrawl at Stanford

Rodin Sculpture Garden Trees, Stanford, ink & watercolor

It was fun meeting the South Bay members Suhita and John at the Stanford sketchcrawl Saturday along with members of Sketchcrawl Silicon Valley. I love those funny, imperfectly groomed trees sketched above at the end of the day.

Cantor Center Sculpture of "Faith"

My first sketch was the one above, of a statue called "Faith" in front of the Cantor Center for Visual Arts. Starting with "Faith" seemed good, since it helps to have a little faith that the sketching will go well.

Stanford Memorial Arch, ink & watercolor

Chapel and courtyard

For more about our day at Stanford, visit my blog, JanasJournal.com.

Sketching At Disney World

Went to Disney World in Florida for an 8 day "sketching boot camp" with Dalvero Academy. Went to 3 parks, sketched about10 hours a day. Great! These are from Magic Kingdom.

Jan 19, 2010: Waiting for a Shuttle

Jan 19, 2010: Waiting for a Shuttle
Originally uploaded by apple-pine

These people kept e-mailing even when in the actual shuttle bus! Too bad I cannot draw in the moving car/bus :(

Brennan's on a quiet night

sketches of my sketching buddies at Brennan's - plus a couple of barflys.

A very sunny day in Palo Alto on Middlefield and Charleston.

Jan. 11, 2011: Palo Alto - Mitchell Park - Climbing the Tree Structure

Jan. 11, 2011: Park - Wood
Originally uploaded by apple-pine

This wonderful structure is a piece of real wood. It was too wet for me to get inside to read the plaque but I will return and sketch this again!

Jan. 9, 2010 - Parents and Kids in the Park

Jan. 9, 2010 - Parents and Kids in the Park
Originally uploaded by apple-pine

Sunday Morning in Cuesta Park - lots of kids, rather nice weather.

Fresh From the Ovens at the Bread Workshop

                                                                     By Sonia Tamez

Sketching at the Bread Workshop

The Inferno looks like it is igniting the mosaic up above.

Sylvan Park in October

Now that holidays are over I am glad to scan and post some of the fall impressions - here is my view from another Mountain View city park.

The Bread Workshop - January 2011

It was really fun going to The Bread Workshop on University at Acton in Berkeley. We went in the evening, and the bread was racked up in the kitchen. The bakers were working on what looked like crescent rolls, and baguettes. They soon finished that, set stuff to spinning/baking in the oven, and started slicing and bagging the bread. These young men are keeping an ancient tradition alive! I bought some bread and brought it home. It makes great sandwiches!

Scenes from a long, long flight

We travelled to India, as we do every other year, to visit family and friends. It's a long, long flight, especially with 2 little kids! Here are some sketches from our flight(s).

I love setting out on a long, long trip. Every plane on the tarmac spells exciting adventures. Even the mundane is new and challenging when I travel with my kids!

On shorter flights, the kids prefer to NOT sit with me: they have seats across the aisle from me and pour over the flight safety manual. Everytime. They're always hoping that just this one time, they get to land on the water!

On longer flights- like our 11.5 hour haul from SFO to Hong Kong- we all sit together. My daughter(on the right) and I go between sketching and sleeping, and my husband and son watch movies nonstop.

Meet the Sketcher: Amy Ventura

I live in the East Bay and have been a jack-of-all-trades in the creative world; I've worked as a graphic designer, have a degree in Fashion Design and love to sketch.

I'm excited to be part of the SF Bay Area Urban Sketchers! Here are some of my drawings from our Ranch 99 outing in El Cerrito.

Crab tank at Ranch 99

Rice and white fungus packaging

Turkey Vultures Tree in Palo Alto

Evening stroll on the first day of this year in the middle of busy Silicon Valley. I am being escorted to a special - "surprise tree: - FULL OF TURKEY VULTURES!

So first I sketched this tree at night.


Next day we went to check it out and eucalyptus was completely empty. I decided to come back later - but suddenly saw a whole bunch of these large birds on a huge evergreen next door!