Holiday on Fourth Street, Too

Every December, East Bay Urban Sketchers visit Fourth Street in Berkeley to sketch the holiday decorations. And every year, I invariably sketch the window display at Molly B. Boutique. 

Nina Taylor has been creating Molly B.'s wonderfully eclectic window displays for thirty plus years, and she never fails to attract passersby for a closer look. She uses her personal stash of props and rental items, along with objects loaned by friends and other artists. In this window Nina employs African and Oceanic masks, shields and other objects from Dave DeRoche's collection. 
~Susan Ford

Fieldwork Craft Brewery, Berkeley

Are you a fan of stout ale? Okay, then make your way to Fieldwork and order a pint of Shtickless.

Described as a "plain ol' stout" -- it's anything but! A deep, dark and chewy 6.3% ABV classic with flavors of dark chocolate, coffee, cedar and bready malts. Delicious!!

While you're enjoying your Shtickless, peruse the other creative beer names. A few can be seen above.

Remembering Ceiny Carney

Ceiny sketched by Susan

This post is in honor of Ceiny Carney -- sweet woman, talented artist and fellow urban sketcher who died about a week ago.

In May 2015, we spent a rare warm evening sketching on the courtyard at Freehouse, an eatery in a historic 1928 hotel near the UC Berkeley campus. I drew Ceiny as she sat sketching in quiet concentration in the late afternoon sun.

Susan sketched by Ceiny

Fond memories of a get together we had in the spring of this year. Ceiny, me and the gang sketched one another and gave the person we sketched the painting we had made. This was a rare sketch night because we didn't scatter in search of a good sketch location. We sat together around Cathy's table, sketching and painting one another. We had a lot of laughs. 

Above is Ceiny's painting of me, hamming it up over a vase of fresh daffodils. Didn't Ceiny's drawings capture the essence of every location? I remember her amazing concentration, enthusiasm and artistic focus. And a sweet little laugh that I can hear in my memory. We miss you, Ceiny.