Flowerland Nursery and Store, Albany

Relaxing pre-holiday couple of hours on Solano Avenue in Albany, sitting on a sunny bench in front of the airstream-trailer-turned-coffee-bar at Flowerland Nursery.  Captured people and their dogs taking a break from plant and gift shopping.

 

By Hand Clothing Store

Paula Zurowski, co-owner of By Hand, was kind enough to stay open after hours for our sketching group on the eve of a weekend sale.  Founded in 1974, the store started in South Berkeley, moved to Walnut Square and then to Solano Avenue.  By Hand will close next year and will be sorely missed by the many Berkeleyites for whom it is an essential shopping place.  Thanks, Paula!

Top of Solano, Berkeley

Top of Solano, Berkeley, ink & watercolor 5x8"

When Cathy said, “Let’s sketch at the top of Solano Avenue Tuesday night” I chose to literally sketch the top of Solano: looking up and drawing the tops of streetlights, buildings and trees.

It’s common here to refer to the “top” and “bottom” of streets when they’re on a hill, and 2-mile long Solano is on a slight incline as it runs from the start of the Berkeley Hills at The Alameda (just a street, but for some reason called “The Alameda”), down almost to the bay. I sat at a table outside a cafe and sketched the view at sunset. There are so many beautiful trees in Berkeley!

La Farine Bakery

While the rest of the group looked outward to draw Solano Avenue (see Cristina's post below), I turned around and drew the view through the window of the bakery as the staff were cleaning up after closing time.