Four Corners, Berkeley Style

I just returned from a trip that included a stop at Four Corners, the meeting place of the borders of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.  This reminded me that I hadn't finished the set of drawings I had started last year of the four corners of a major intersection in my neighborhood, Shattuck Avenue and Vine Street.  Luckily, our group met there this week to sketch at the Thursday Farmers' Market and Cheeseboard Pizza, and I was able to complete the final sketch.

Shattuck and Vine, Berkeley

We met in this busy neighborhood on a night when the "Taste of North Berkeley" event was underway.  It's a restaurant walk and sampling at 20 various eateries sponsored by the Lions Club to benefit local Community Fund charities.  I decided to draw each corner of the intersection, but only had time to complete two.

The bird was actually there & looked that big.

Judith, Jana and Cristina drawing at our meeting spot.

Sketching Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto

Earthly Goods, Shattuck & Vine, Berkeley, ink & watercolor, 8x5"

 Back in the 1970s when Chez Panisse first opened, the neighboring area became known as Gourmet Ghetto, and it has continued in that tradition since then. The area is packed with wonderful foodie joints, fine restaurants and specialty food shops as well as boutiques like Earthly Goods (above).

The French Hotel has lost part of its neon sign. Ink & watercolor, 8x5"

The French Hotel (above) is in the same neighborhood and has a great espresso bar on the ground floor. A couple of doors down is the Cheese Board Collective, famous for their special pizzas that people line up for while being entertained by a jazz band and then eat, picnic style, on the center median strip of Shattuck, despite signs saying not to. (My previous post has funny video of people breaking that particular rule.)