Oakland Aviation Museum

Great place to sketch. Friendly volunteers, many aircraft displayed inside and outside. Largest one is an ex-BOAC Solant Flying Boat once owned by Howard Hughes and used in the movie Raiders of The Lost Ark.

Picante, Waitress at Work

Picante Service Area, ink and watercolor, 5.5x8 in

I used a Pentel Tradio Pulaman Fountain Pen for drawing at Picante Mexican restaurant. I love this pen with its smooth chisel tip. Since it isn't waterproof I could add washes of water to make the gray areas. But Picante is such a colorful place I had to add a little color too. I ordered delicious fish tacos but was too hungry to draw them.

Latin American beaches

‘Why do we love the sea?

It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.’

~ Robert Henri

 

Not sure whether beaches qualify as urban sketching subjects - strictly speaking.

I'll post only one here, but more can be found at www.visualflaneur.com.

 

Oliver, your visual flaneur

 

 

Cato's Ale House, Oakland

Cato's Ale House, Oakland. Ink & Watercolor 5.5 x 10 in

When we planned the Urban Sketching evening for Cato's, a great old pub in Oakland, little did we know that a large group of Kaiser doctors were also planning a happy hour event that night too. The place was totally packed but a large group of urban sketchers made it work anyway. We gathered around several tables and sketched eaters, drinkers and sketchers (and in my case, dinner).

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence hosted their 35th annual Easter celebration this Sunday in Golden Gate Park. They are an interesting bunch - google 'hunky Jesus'. If you are religious, however, you may want not to.

.

 

.

I have included some comments overheard at the event that add a bit of a storyline to my drawings. More at www.visualflaneur.com

.

- Oliver, your visual flaneur

 

Ducks visit the Cathedral

I've been doing a lot of sketching since I began Sketchbook Skool earlier this month. It's an an online course on illustrated journaling. So I am way behind in my postings. Two ducks came by the Cathedral plaza to visit l set week and I grabbed my sketchbook and approached the aquatic duo.

Alvarado Park is Melting in the Rain

Alvarado Park, in Richmond, is part of Wildcat Canyon Regional Park (see www.ebparks.org/parks/wildcat).  This urban park is on the National Register of Historic Places and features extensive stonework and masonry attributed to Depression-era work programs. During my visit, it started misting, then drizzling. The oaks, backed by eucalyptus, and stonework started melting in the misty air.  I blotted and restored some lost color, but basically left it alone for its atmospheric effects.

Wat Mongkolratanaram. . .

. . . is a small Thai Buddhist temple in Berkley on Russell Street at Martin Luther King Jr. Way.  In 2001,  it marked 25 years of existence by renovating its Victorian house in temple style.  Evidently, they serve a terrific brunch to the public on Sundays--so I'll be back.

I enjoyed the contrast of the spiritual building with the Mercedes auto parked in front.

where they love...for a living

She is on the phone and does her nails as we sit down next to them. We are waiting for a bus to leave San Jose airport. She and the other girl next to her are also waiting for something. They look bored and hardly talk. They are friendly to each other, but aren't friends. After a while, two middle aged men approach from the airport terminal. One in shorts and a polo shirt, the other in slacks wearing a baseball cap -  'Betty Ford clinic' .  The men grin and excitement is apparent in their eyes as they approach. The girls put on a professional smile as they welcome their foreign visitors. 'Let's go and get a car.' 

More on www.visualflaneur.com

 

Oliver, your visual flaneur

 

The Local Butcher Shop

I sketched the Lamb Butchering Class at The Local Butcher Shop in Berkeley. Very interesting and great to sketch. All their meat is organic, sustainable and all from within 150 miles of Berkeley. The staff is great and very helpful and the have a house made sandwich of the day.

Caffe Strada, Berkeley

After much discussion among our sketching group about the unusual architecture of this busy cafe across the street from the Berkeley campus, Micaela did some research and discovered it was once a gas station owned and run by the Panhellenic women's group at U.C. to support the Bancroft Hotel next door.  Now it's a popular coffee place, known for its bianca mocha.

be(er)culiarities

'You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline.

[...] at the very least you need beer.'

You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/frankzappa134155.html#v4idrJRcpvcjemuX.99

~ Frank Zappa

 

Drawings and notes from a recent trip to Costa Rica and  Nicaragua.

.

 Tona, Imperial, Victoria - I'll have any of them happily. One peculiarity is that bottles are often served with a tissue wrapped around the bottle neck. In a more upscale bar, sometimes a second tissue is wrapped around the center of the bottle. You may think this dress up is to absorb condensing water drops, but no, apparently it is for - not further defined - 'hygienic reasons' . I have yet to figure out how to use them to protect my health. Maybe its just me. 

More on www.visualflaneur.com

 

Oliver, your visual flaneur

 

 

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland

Lots to draw inside and out. And lots to read. Excellent selection of books.

More Diesel Bookstore

Independent bookstores are such a vanishing treasure.  Luckily, in the Bay Area we still have some great ones, including Diesel in Oakland's Rockridge neighborhood, which offers live readings, hosts book groups, and has a well-lit, welcoming space.

Mohammed sketching

An all-yellow display--with reindeer

Perry drawing

Some titles in the kids' section and a bear

Diesel Bookstore, Oakland, California

Diesel Books, dip pen and ink and watercolor, 8x5in.

We enjoyed our sketching night in Rockridge in a good independent bookstore. The neighborhood has everything that makes life in a city so attractive, lots of people walking, restaurants, cafes, and a great bookstore.

Registration for 5th International Urban Sketching Symposium in Paraty, Brazil

Registration now open for 5th International Urban Sketching Symposium in Paraty, Brazil

Paraty, Brazil

Register now to attend the 5th International Urban Sketching Symposium taking place in Paraty, Brazil, August 27-30, 2014.

This year we will accommodate more sketchers than ever by providing several passes for different levels of participation. More information about the passes can be found on the Symposium website, along with the full Symposium schedule.

For more information, contact symposium@urbansketchers.org

Picante-it's the food

Picante in Berkeley has lots to to sketch, from the papel picado ("perforated paper") banners made out of tissue paper cut into elaborate designs to the carved masks on the walls. But for me the best part is the food (and the margaritas)!

Picante Cocina Mexicana

Surrounded by folk art at Picante on Sixth Street in West Berkeley.

To the left of our table. . . 

. . . and to the right

Castle In The Air

We had a good morning sketching at this store on 4th Street in Berkeley. There are so many things to sketch it was hard to choose. I sketched the crepe paper flowers downstairs then went up to the balcony for a close up view of the antique lanterns.

More Castle in the Air

 Castle in the Air on 4th Street in Berkeley is filled with gorgeous objects:

Ribbon rack on main floor

Mannequin upstairs outside the classroom 

Marionettes above the staircase

. . . and those huge lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

Castle in the Air, 4th Street, Berkeley.

Chinese Lanterns, ink, watercolor and gouache, 9x12in.

We have been enjoying indoor sketching in the East Bay area during the winter months thanks to the welcoming staff and owners of many stores. This time our group met on a rainy morning at Castle in the Air on 4th Street. We could have spent the entire day sketching the beautiful and interesting items in the store. I chose the Chinese lanterns hanging from the roof because they will eventually sell. I would love to have them in my own house! At least I have them in a sketch.

Sketching at Spice Monkey in Oakland

Beautiful building, good food, welcoming staff and owner. Perfect. Thanks for having us in to sketch.

See Sonia's sketches below.

Spice Monkey

I love the juxtaposition of the young Spice Monkey Restaurant (2008) housed in the Howden Building (1925). Outside this Oakland Landmark, there is a dazzling array of mosaics displaying a variety of tiles. You walk into the restaurant featuring gleaming tiles on the floor, walls, steps, fireplace and the elaborate fountain.  The 1920's were the golden age of tile work in the US. A local historian has been quoted as saying that this is the last tile showroom in California that has survived fairly intact. Spice Monkey owner Kanitha Matoury gave us a warm welcome and we feasted from the global menu and sketched the marvelous tiles inside and out. Please see fellow sketchers' posts in this blog. 'll be back to practice my tile sketching and enjoy the historic and culinary delights!

Berkeley City Club

 

Loved sketching at Julia Morgan designed Berkeley City Club. Thanks manager Michaela Winn for making it happen.