Museum visit

I could have stayed at the Wells Fargo Museum in San Francisco all day just drawing things. For some weird reason I tried to sketch one of the stagecoaches. BAD IDEA! I don't even draw cars because they end up looking like sausages....with wheels. I think the vehicle's red exterior did it. Red is my favorite color and I had to try to sketch it.

Eating in

My sketch group visited the Pyramid Brewery in Berkeley recently. The place also has food. However, I was nether hungry nor thirsty. I just focused on draw the restaurant employees and guests.

Ukulele player

Argh, I'm having technical difficulties - I'm to blame, of course - so I'm hoping that this will work. This is a quick sketch of a ukulele player I did while attending a ukulele workshop earlier this month.

digital sketch

Even though I haven't been posting regularly lately, I still leave the house armed with my sketchbook, pencils, pens and erasers --  well as a mini watercolor kit and water brush. Come to think of it I was wondering why my handbag is so heavy. I have added a new sketchbook to my arsenal but I won't be toting that around all over town because it is a Kindle Fire tablet. Small that it is I just can't stuff anything else into my purse.

Back to digital sketching -- it's become my latest obsession. As soon as I discovered that I could download drawing apps to the Kindle I was on my way. It is different than drawing on paper -- I'm still trying to remember how to use this tool and that other tool. So I may be posting my digital creations along with my "old school" sketches.

On Nov. 2 I attended my first Day of the Dead event with a sketching group in San Francisco. I saw altars dedicated to deceased loved ones, skeletons, with and without bodies, a parade or procession with music and dancers and crowds of people -- usually crowds make me uneasy but my curiosity got the better of me.

My first digital sketch is that of an altar. I'm still experimenting with the color tools so I didn't use them as much. It was fun, invigorating even. I will be using every spare minute exploring and practicing to see what else I can do as a digital sketcher.

I was in a waiting room on Tuesday (8.14.2012) when I decided to sketch this potted plant on a nearby table. (Ooops, that is my finger peeking out of the corner.) I enjoyed having a moment to relax after a crazy busy day.

another yerba buena sketch

This is a more broad view of the Yerba Buena Gardens. Many of the folks who came to the gardens seemed to be there for the sun, or to read, make-out or sleep. A good number probably came for the free music program. Oddly enough I drew almost everything except the musical entertainment. I'd like to think that it was the hot sun that prevented me from walking close to the stage to draw the singers and musicians. But I think it was because the focus of the program was on opera that I didn't go in for the close-up. (For that matter I wouldn't go up there to see that Beiber/Bierber? dude perform either.)