Seeing Is Believing or Drawing Is Seeing? Zach's Snacks on Berkeley's Northside

Zach's Snacks on Berkeley's Northside, Ink & Watercolor, 5x7"

They say, "Seeing is believing." I say, "Going through life without drawing is like being nearly blind. Only when I stop to look in order to draw, do I really see!"

Berkeley's Euclid Avenue ends at the north side of University of California's Berkeley campus (the greenery on the right, above). This block has everything you'd expect for a street abutting a college: shops with pizza, beer, coffee, burgers, snacks, and oh yeah, books.

There is some great architecture in this neighborhood too, including this apartment building with a snack shop tucked away in a little basement room. I've probably walked past here a hundred times and never noticed the interesting features of this building, with porches, pillars, carved wood decorations, fancy brickwork, and cool old lanterns.

Only when I stopped to draw and started really looking did I see what was there all along.