Dia de los Muertos at Fruitvale Station, Oakland

We visited Dia de los muertos festival by the Fruitvale BART station. Lots of inexpensive, greasy food, cheap toys, not-so-cheap trinkets and painted skulls of all sorts including edible...our friend Sonia sketched the Aztec dancers, we both sketched some bald mannequins sporting floral headwear and a tent with plastic "papel" picados, and the crowd. With one exception, I added the crowd later.

Near the plaza-entrance from the BART station

one of the bald mannequins with magenta flowers and black veil

BART to SFO

It was a quiet ride on December 24th to SFO. After a big storm the day was bright and quite warm.

BART, pencil, pen and ink.

Sketching while waiting

Waiting at Kaiser, Ink & Watercolor, 5.5x7.5"

Sketching is such a great way to enjoy time spent waiting. In the sketch above I was waiting for someone during her appointment at the medical center.  The lady on the left was dressed completely in Barbie pink from head to toe, including sweatshirt, purse and shoes. Even her cell phone was bright pink.

The little boy above spent his waiting time enthusiastically "reading" a book. He squealed with delight to his mom over each page.  It was so nice to see a child loving a book even if he was too young to actually read the words.

BART Station Street Light, ink & watercolor, 7.5 x5.5"

Sketched while waiting for friends to arrive at the El Cerrito Plaza BART station.

Mohawk and Other Subway Sketches

Mohawk on the Subway, by Jana Bouc

You can imagine my glee when this gentleman in full Mohawk sat down across from me on BART. Entranced by his cell phone, he never noticed me sketching. And more subway sketches below.

Reading on the Subway (BART)

Some feet on BART

Wintery Subway Rider on BART

Wintry Rider on BART

There's something about this sketch that really says winter in Northern California to me: bundled up, boots on, bare trees out the window, and a sense of quiet.

Bundled Up and Busy on BART (Subway Sketches)

Bundled up and Busy on BART, by Jana Bouc

BART is the name of the subway system in the SF Bay Area. My ride to work is a total of 13 minutes with 4 stops. I never know when I start to sketch if someone will be getting off at the next stop. Makes it an adventure to try to draw quickly enough.

Wheelchair guy with rear view mirror

The Bay Area was ahead of the country in making transit and neighborhoods accessible to people with disabilities.

Subway Snoozers on BART

Subway Snoozing on BART, ink & watercolor by Jana Bouc

I was in a grumpy mood on the way to work and was about to play Angry Birds on my iPhone for a little fun, but when I saw these two guys snoozing back to back I had to sketch them instead. And then I wasn't in a grumpy mood anymore.