Spring in San Jose: Rose Garden and Rosicrucian Park

It has been quite a while since I was last at the San Jose Municipal Garden. I vaguely remember a unsatisfactory ink drawing of the fountain and being jokingly asked to include a portrait when I was working on a rose. Even though it is really close to where I live, I still preferred driving 1 hr one way to San Francisco than staring at roses and trees all day. That said, I was still looking forward to painting with fellow sketchers in South Bay.

There were a lot of merry-making people in the park, including families and friends taking commemorative photos. I thought most of the flowers would be gone after the rain storm the previous day, but the flowers were surprisingly resilient and I saw plenty still fully blooming.

We moved over to the Rosicrucian Park/Egyptian Museum a block away after lunch. It is an entirely different gardening style from the Rose Garden, with several walkways criss-crossing the foliages. I sat down on a bench in the shade (because digesting lunch was taking up too much of my energy) and chose a scene that is of my weakness. (not a lot of clear shapes, complex details) But since I was sitting and sunlight was consistent, I patiently worked my way through the layers of plants.

Gardens of Alcatraz

I was fortunate enough to get a spot to join the SF Sketchers in the Alcatraz tour over the weekend. When I signed up for the event 1 week ago, I was dead last at 18th on the waitlist. But by some divine intervention, I was confirmed to go the afternoon before the day of the event!

It was such a short notice that I had no time to rethink my decision to get up at 6am. To catch the staff boat we had be ready at the dock by 8am. Given 1 hr driving time, no prior experience parking around Pier 33, and the need to get breakfast and snack for the day, I gave myself a full 2-hour buffer. I was brutally awaken by my alarm, scrambled my stuff together, and then drove a couple minutes in the dark amidst light drizzle to a nearby donut shop (which opens at 5am for some unknown reasons...) I was expecting a dreary little place with no customers, but was pleasantly welcomed to a brightly lit and spacious diner with a handful of people already eating! Although I still have no idea what they're doing at 6am on a Saturday... I got my breakfast (tea and donut) and snack (breakfast burrito), then headed off North as the skies slowly brightened up. 

I scouted a parking location w/ good review the day before at nearby Pier 27. I did notice the side note saying no public parking is allowed if a cruise ship is docked there, but ignored it nonetheless since I don't recall seeing a single cruise ship in all my years in the Bay Area! As luck would have it though, I saw a cruise ship docked at SF for the first time that morning.. and that means of course that I had to find somewhere else to park...fast! (I did find an unlimited time meter on Lombard street in the end)

A volunteer guide from the Golden Gate Park Conservancy walked us through 3 gardens on the island. Two of which are normally off-limits to visitors. You could still see the gardens from usual walking paths, but getting down a level to the garden itself really offers an entirely different view! This one, for example, has the garden, Warden's House, and the Bay bridge! This piece alone justifies the early morning Odyssey from South Bay for me.

Here's the piece with the actual view. It was really when we got on the island that the sun started poking out of the cloud, which came as a total surprise to all of us. Given the rain storm the other night, I packed all my rain gear and brought my most waterproof bag!

When I was drawing this, I heard a mom telling her son, "No, she's not a prisoner, she's a painter!" The part in the audio guide about prisoners painting must have really got into his head haha.

In the end I had to head back on an earlier ferry because I thought the event end time is the time we get back to the mainland... so I didn't put enough time into the parking meter... oh well~

Very very early on a Sunday: Santa Clara Mission Cemetery

I was able to join a few sketchers/painters in South Bay for a paint out at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery a few weekends ago, thanks to my manager canceling my work trip the night before. I never really painted much around the area I live, so I was pleasantly surprised that this beautiful and serene location was only 10 mins away from my apartment. 

On my own I would probably never come by because it is not my normal painting subject, but it was a nice change of pace to wander around the old cemetery and capture details that normally went unseen.

This little bird stopped atop the angel right as I was about to finish the piece, so I promptly added it in. One of the nice things about having extra long exposure time...aka, painting instead of taking a photograph, you always get plenty of time for the key players to gather. 

As the sun hid underneath the clouds in the afternoon, I started looking for scenes with more structure to compensate for the lack of light/shadow. This is the front view to the Old Mausoleum. The rows of tombstones, trees, and distant mountains really make it a very orderly scene...as well as a systematic painting process.

Exploring CCSF

This was another opportunity to explore a totally new part of San Francisco, thanks to the SF sketchers meetup. We gathered at the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) to admire and sketch Diego Rivera's mural, Pan American Unity, in the aptly named Diego Rivera Theatre. It is located in the lobby of the theatre entrance and spans two stories. It is quite difficult to sew the details of the mural by standing on ground level, so it was really helpful that guests can climb onto the 2nd floor and observe the artwork at eye level. 

After standing indoors for a while, I decided to checkout the school's terrace. There were two sports field under the terrace and the ground was filled with students playing sports and cheering, not to mention the motivational background music! The neighbourhood was very densely packed so it was difficult to draw in all the houses, but I did my best :P
I also successfully dodged two missionary people by spotting the keywords on their pamphlet and skillfully dodged conversation.

Before I had the chance to leave, I noticed this magnificent tree and its long shadows. So I had to sit and draw it as well~ The Sutro TV tower is just tall enough to poke up in the background

Rocks and rocks and more rocks, at the foot of Golden Gate Bridge

I was came across this location and sketched more than a year ago, except that was when I needed to be in Presidio but ended up at Fort Point because of a mix-up when searching in GoogleMaps. Fortunately, it made finding the place this time extra easy. I pulled into the first parking lot I saw after getting off the high way (on top of the east battery hill) and then descended down the slopes to Marine Drive. 

After doing some interiors of Fort Point (I totally thought it was a solid building from the outside, but it had a huge open courtyard in the middle through all 3 floors), I decided to get some sun outside. 

The shadows under GG bridge isn't very dramatic at this hour, but it is always tons of fun trying to get the perspective correct. (You could see my missed attempt: the red smudge on the left)
There were a lot of boats crowding around the second tower. Turns out there was a major boat race, Three Bridge Fiasco, going on and the contestants were having trouble going against the flow of water gushing out to the open sea.

After gathering to discuss our results at Fort Point, I settled to do another piece facing the other way. There was a sharp contrast between the dark hills and the bright skyline in the background. I left the skyline alone most of the time, because the rocks took an endless effort. A gentleman passing by waited, commenting,"I want to see you do the water". Unfortunately 20 mins later I'm still working on the rocks...so he left ;A;
 Maybe waiting till high tide is a good idea

ps. I never seems to realize I drew a slanted horizon until I scanned and looked at it in Photoshop. Ughhhhh

Warmer Tones: Scenes from Mission Bay

Another weekend outing with the SF sketchers took me to Mission Bay. I missed the SF sketcher anniversary gathering at the Mission Creek Park last time, and finally I'm close enough to it this time to stop by. After sketching at a nearby antique shop and gathering at Arch's, I stopped by Mission Creek Park. It really was interesting that it has quaint boathouses on one side and neatly packed new townhouses on the other. (Glad I picked the correct side to park my car haha) Anyway, the slanted sun really has a stunning effect on the scene; even though it's really just around noon, the west-facing walls were splashed with a bright light. The background is in a fuzzy pink (you could see the raised bridge of AT&T park to the very left)

I also made quite a mess on the ground while trying to shake up the reflections...eh... hope no one noticed...

Then I left my car in Mission Creek Park and walked up to Blick on Market Street (Arch ran out of the watercolor block I use) On my way I stopped to work on the intersection of 4th & King (also the Caltrain Station that I used to frequent) I really couldn't pass up on a nicely-shaped shadow, namely the slanted one in the middle. This 1-hr delay put me into dinner rush hour traffic when I attempted to navigate from Mission Bay to Japan Town... uphill, in my manual car. That was a fun ride lol

View from the Top: Lafayette Park

Today I had one of my firsts! Driving into SF city proper by myself... in my manual car. I somehow came to this otherwise unthinkable decision owing to a few factors. Time of the day: 10AM on a Saturday (minimum risk for other cars) Location: A park at top of hill in Pacific Heights (probably nobody will show up at 10 AM (minimum risk for other cars) Almost impossible to reach by public transportation in a timely manner (so I can get up later in the morning) And so I ventured gingerly towards town on a bright Saturday morning after downing a few Onigiri's.

My hearts started pounding even before I got off the 101. As I was approaching the exit into town, I could feel my eardrum thumping rapidly and my palms started sweating. Thankfully as I approach the first major uphill road (with multiple intersections in between), I realized that if the cars keep a certain pace, the green lights up one after another as if leading us onto the top smoothly. So I followed the pace of the cars in front of me, and successfully made it to level ground with no incident! (I did have to keep in 2nd gear, because I was paranoid of having to brake for cars trying to cut into my lane) Anyhow, as I was approaching within one block of the park, I was asked to turn left by GoogleMaps, I signaled and glanced left and saw a big incline... along with several cars lined up for the traffic light.... so I immediately drove straight ahead. The 2nd intersection was the same, even with anti-slipping markings on the pavement! Now I fully grasp why the description said sweeping views of the the city and alcatraz...it is on top of the hill alright. In the end I parked my car on level ground the just walked up the hill so I don't put any unsuspecting cars/people at risk. 

The view was indeed splendid! Although I did need a few moment to calm myself down after the intense drive. It was also my first time hearing and seeing a woodpecker for real! I heard this knock knock sound when I just started working on my first piece, and the sketchers beside me chatted, "Oh, look at that woodpecker working, always so busy". And then when I asked, they kindly pointed out its location to me the uninitiated. I did try to contain my excitement ;P
(Alcatraz is hidden just behind the building on the right hand side)

Then I decided to find a sunny spot to work on a more city-focused view. And man was it sunny. It got so hot I took off my coat, rolled up my sleeves and still was wiping sweat off my forehead! That's California Winter for you... and I thought I was crazy when I considered bring the sunscreen along.

In Celebration of USk 10 Year Anniversary!

Joined the SF Sketchers in Union Square for the USk 24 hr Global Sketchwalk for the 10th anniversary of Urban Sketchers organization. As always, I arrived more than 1 hour late, so I started straight into painting after I got off the Bart station. It was an unusually warm autumn/winter day in SF... I remember I was huddling indoors about the same time last year. Also thanks to the low angle of the sunlight, a few buildings that are usually in shadows had some very nice sunlit surfaces.

What first caught my eyes were the crowded signs on the right, but the building in the background (Humboldt Bank Building, 1908, more info here: https://untappedcities.com/2012/03/30/architecture-spotlight-the-humboldt-bank-building/)  The dome in the sunlight looked very impressive!

After the group meet at the Apple Store, I hopped back down to Union Square (instead of getting some proper lunch) because there were so many interesting shadows criss-crossing the narrow streets there! I liked this one in particular because the shadow came down halfway on the "Hotel Stratford" sign. (I would like the red to be a little brighter, but it was too late when I realized...oh well) The tracks on the road are for the Powell Street Cable Cars.

Autumn at the Piers

Followed the SF sketchers to the Embarcadero again over the weekend. Even though I was praying for rain (so I don't need to worry about washing my car anymore), having a perfect sunny day at the end of October felt nothing short of a privilege. Unlike summer months when I need to wait for hours until the sun start casting some shadows, the sun is noticeably slanted throughout the entire day, illuminating buildings that usually are shrouded in shadows. 

It was almost noon when I arrived at the Ferry building and the shadow was already stunning despite its being the middle of the day. I picked a spot perched above the sidewalk. There were quite a few homeless people lying on the grass around that area, but I found myself a spot right next to a bike rental stand. (I usually take Caltrain and bike whenever the meetup is along the bike path at the coast, but I am getting lazier by the day now that I have a car and could park conveniently at Daly City) 

I decided to add the streetcar that came in halfway through the painting, but it was a little hard to notice in the sea of warm colors lol. The sun did felt really warm though!

Second piece was done facing the Golden Gate Ferry Terminal and the Bay Bridge in the background. There was still a little bit of haze from the wild fire up north, so the East Bay is a little blurred from the view.

Crashing waves and warm sun: Lands End

Again, joined the weekend outing with the SF Sketchers to Lands End. I have walked along this area before and always wanted to come back for a full sketch session. There is just an unending combination of cliffs, rocks, water, and interesting structures (namely the ruins of Sutro Baths, which really burned down just ~50 years ago, but the weathering makes it look very ancient and dignified)

 I really had to pull myself away from the Corgi-con on the beaches, on one side I wanted to watch the Corgi costume contest, on the other the shadows underneath the bridge (center) is disappearing fast, and I really want to draw the road leading up to the cliff!

Thanks to the slanting autumn sun, even at midday there is some shadow behind the Cliff House (white building in the top picture).  I am still struggling to capture the dynamic of the crashing waves and how they spread out and foam up on the sand... step-by-step I guess~ I have to fight my inner urge to place the horizon somewhere in the bottom half, but I'm glad the composition worked out this way!

And finally, the Sutro Baths itself. (I once did a digital version of a full-on sunset, but not onsite) The subtle undulation on the grassy field is really a pleasure to draw! Plus the Lands End visitor centre has a nice viewing area perched on top with plenty of seating area. Normally SF gets very cold in the late afternoon, but the western exposure keeps Lands End very nice and warm. So other than my getting very hungry from standing/walking 4 hrs on only 1 rice ball, the session went much better than expected!

The tourists were also very nice here and gave encouraging comments :D

Another fine afternoon in Campbell - Heritage Village Offices

I accidentally biked past this building on my way home a few weeks ago and remembered to come back this time for a sketch. It is right next to the Campbell Heritage Theatre I drew last time, except that this one does not show up in google searches for nearby points of interest... (maybe it doesn't serve any cultural functions anymore?) 

Anyway, save for a few people gathering at the entrance of the building (mostly looking down at their phones, so I assume it might be Pokemon Go related activities?), I had the sunset to myself. The tree in front of the roundabout was also quite formidable and had some nice textures.

On to discover more neighbourhood oddities!

Festival in the Mission: Fiesta de las Américas

After a month-long hiatus (definitely not by choice, somehow work and travel needs squeezed out all my painting outings, unfortunately) I finally had a chance to head into the city on a nice and sunny day. This time is to join the SF sketchers on sketching the Fiesta de las Americas happening in the Mission district. I didn't even need to head into the festival to get distracted. I miss the sun and back alleys and dry weather so much that I immediately got to work after dispersing from the meeting point. The back alley - Lilac Street is actually famous for its murals and graffitis, but I was so excited just to see nice quaint buildings set against the sun that I hadn't time to study them in depth. Maybe next visit!

This time the interesting shadow on the canopy caught my attention, also the clothes for sale that were dancing in the wind. There was actually a huge mural behind the canopy on the building behind, but scared of directing the focus away from the shadow I dared not touch that surface (also from a bad experience painting murals in Chicago still left me reluctant to try again) I brought the new blue and red I bought in Japan earlier along, but I did not expect the red ("Scarlet Red" from Schmincke) to be so over-powering... the weakness of the blue ("Cobalt Azure" from Schmincke also) was expected because the swatch shows a very light blue. So I had to layer on the Phthalo Blue to balance out the scene.

After getting comfortable with the colours again I switched to the full-size Arches... and again found a shadow to work on. This time an orange building set against a long row of trees. After getting the Olive Green again on my palette, the greens finally feel full-bodied again!

Worth it for the redeye: Pier 3 + Hornblower

In order to attend this SF sketcher meetup at Pier 3, I negotiated at length on the phone with the travel agent to book a redeye flight to Japan. The dilemma was (1) I really want to attend the meetup on Saturday (2) My boss wants me in Japan Monday morning. As it turns out, all the flights to Japan depart around noon in the bay area, meeting the 2nd requirement but invariable crushing my sketching plans. In the end, I convinced the travel agent to book me on a midnight flight out of Los Angeles, arriving in Japan 5am in the morning on Monday... god knows why the redeye is only available in LA, but it certainly saved my day (or weekend rather) Onwards to enjoy the nice and sunny day at the Piers!!

The tiny yellow boat caught my attention as I was walking to the meeting point. (It almost killed me, however, when halfway through the painting, the boat sailed away with a group of passengers...it did come back after 15 minutes lol)

Onto the Hornblower boat. I was originally only planning to draw the buildings lining the Pier (between Pier 3 and 5), but there still was a bit of time left when I finished and it looked like the painting could naturally extend itself to the Hornblower moored next to it. I thus quickly proceeded to block in the sky, hoping that the blues match~

Verdict: definitely worth enduring the redeye!

The lecturing continues: Fort Funston National Park

Honestly I was a bit skeptical when the SF meetup group posted "Fort Funston National Park" as the next sketching location. A national park in SF is the last thing I would expect, given the population density and limited space. But...it turns out this tiny national park still managed to squeeze itself along the west coastline of the peninsula, and also offers quite a unique landscape. I really had no idea what to expect when I parked my car and walked towards where everyone else was. The grassy field drops down to a sheer cliff with patches of sand and grass all the way until the shoreline at the bottom. You could barely make out the people down there or the distant horizon.

Access to the beach is through the stairs (completely overrun by sand) in the middle of the painting. It really wasn't as scary as it looks once I got down there, but boy was uphill a battle trying to find traction in all the loose sand!

After sitting near the cliff finishing up my first painting, I nudged inland a little bit to focus on the resting hang-gliders. As I was about to put on the finishing touches though, I noticed from the corner of my eye, someone waving furiously at my direction and trying to mouth something. Through his body language, I could sort of grasp that he wanted me to move out of that location. Since there was another sketcher nearby who was still painting, I decided to finish this one up and then move out of the grass. But there were indeed orange cones behind where I was sitting, so I moved a few inches so that I'm behind them. Unfortunately a few minutes later, the same man walked up to me and started to voice anger that I still haven't cleared the area and that it's a hazard for landing gliders. A bit confused at this point, I explained that I though the orange cones are the boundaries, and since I'm now already out of the circled zone, where exactly is the forbidden area? The man quickly lost his patience, taking my questions as defiance to safety. After being thrown questions to the likes of "it's like drawing on the highway, will you draw on the highway?" merely because I asked why people walking through the area is okay but sitting is not okay, I quickly concluded the ineffective conversation and announced my intention to depart. As I was slowly packing up my stuff, another man walked up and apologized for the previous guy's attitude and this time politely explained why I couldn't stay where I was. However, at this stage the anger had really rubbed off on me and I just threw him an impatient "Yes! I AM packing!". (You see, anger and impatience are indeed the worst communication tools, even creating a domino effect on me)

The second person eventually came back again when I started doing the first panorama on my sketch book and explained that the hang gliders just weren't used to having sketchers in their territory, given that most people just walk through and walk downhill. Even though he was nice and considerate, there was still this uneasy feeling as I left the park. It is reminiscent of the various unfriendly encounters w/ authority I had when sketching in Japan (unfortunately most are confrontation from the start too...)

Looking across the parking lot, there's also a nice view of the TV tower in the distant.

Picking a shadow to hide: Los Gatos Creek Trail

On one scorching afternoon (Back in early June), I headed straight for the shades of Los Gatos Creek Trail on my bike (and hid there until the sun was down) 

I rarely draw on near square paper size, but it was a nice change!

Parts of town: Haight Ashbury

Summer of love event was a good excuse to visit Haight Ashbury again, I remember quickly walking through the streets during my apartment hunting a few years back. This time the organizer of the sketch Meetup found a perfect spot to enjoy the street view, outside a busy grocer. The street is extremely busy on the weekend, but the benches are surprisingly empty (even after I went back after the meetup to finish up the painting) 

 I was still paranoid about painting people without their knowledge (somehow I feel more intimidated here than the more crowded places like Singapore) So instead of drawing the guys chilling at the table next to us, I twisted my body to draw the scene across the street (my seat is actually facing in the direction of the street)
I was extra impressed by myself that I could negative-paint the letters without any pencil under drawings!

I saw the church (St. Ignatius) while riding the N-train into Haight, so I tried finding it again after hopping off the train. The green in the foreground is part of the Panhandle.

Bay Natives Nursery - where the chickens have fun

I honestly haven't seen chickens roam around freely for a long time (or at all??) let alone hen with a queue of chicks following behind. Which is the first things I saw at the nursery. Forget about the native plants, I could follow the chickens around all day! There was also a gorgeous looking chicken with flowy golden feather around its neck and shiny dark green plumage on its tail, too bad I didn't get a chance to sketch it because it was too busy getting attention from other customers lol. (side note, while following the chickens around with my sketchbook, I discovered that the owner actually built them an underground passage way and a two-level chicken co-op where they can get water/food and avoid human interaction whenever they want!)

There was also a fenced area where the goats rests. I was expecting to graze around all day, but it turns out this bunch are content just sit lounging around in the sun. Only but a few ones show interest in the bucket of hay. (yes, the nursery provides a bucket of hay next to the enclosure for you to feed them) Oh well, sitting around is easier for me to paint I guess.

A little walk out is Heron's Head Park, with a direct view onto Pier 96. The cranes looked nice, so I decided to paint this view.

Archaeology in the city: Historic Presidio

I really didn't take it seriously when I saw the next sketch event is at an archaeology dig site in SF. Why will there be anything to dig...in a city this young? Turns out the particular area has had Spanish and Mexican settlement in the 18th century and also American military presence since it was used as a military base since the mid 19th century. 

Here are the archaeologists at work with their nifty supply cart nearby. I suspect the role of the archaeologists on duty during the weekend mostly comprises of educating the public about the science itself and also the general history of Presidio. But it really was quite cool seeing them digging away in a park and under the palm trees!

 The building across from the dig site. I just thought the red roof and the long branches of the tree were quite nice-looking lol

Among the artefacts on display in the lab were a broken chamber pot and a pair of old boots. There were some colourful stories thought up by the staff for these 2 artefacts. Since the broken chamber pot was found in the laundry ladies' quarter, it was probably a still sleepy laundry lady who hasn't had her morning coffee accidentally dropping the chamber pot while dumping its contents. The pair of boots were found in the cubby holes behind the walls of the soldier's quarters, so it could be a soldier hiding the boots in there along with other stuff to avoid inspection, but later forgot where he put them.

Town inside Town, Alviso

I have contemplated going to a nearby park on the coast to paint for a few months now. The reason why I never made it there is because the horrible experience I’ve had at the park nearby, where I was swarmed by flies as I biked down the trail filled with stagnant air. The coastline was nowhere to be seen, it was taken over by salt ponds and water treatment plants. Since I had plenty of time to spare that afternoon, I headed to Alviso Marina County Park. The way to the park did not bode well, it was basically an extension from my usual commuting route. The air is hot and dry and the sceneries are the same as usual, trees, cars, boring town houses, and more trees. As I got over the highway however, cars disappear suddenly and before I knew I was the only one on the road. As I crossed a bridge, I saw a brick warehouse on the left of the road. Normally there is nothing surprising, but this is Silicon Valley, and I don’t recall seeing a proper red brick building in a long time. 

So I braked immediately and parked my car on the side of the road. Other than a few cyclist riding by, there were hardly any foot or car traffic. Right about when I finished though, there was indeed one Caltrain heading South that came by (that was when I realized the dyke behind the warehouse is actually a train track.

The town of Alviso is actually much more interesting than I expected. Many old houses / warehouses from back when it was a major port for both ferry and railway traffic. The coastal park also looks new and well-maintained. I’ll definitely be back for more!

Hey that's something on the way home!

I was scouting for afterwork sketch locations as usual when I noticed the nice shadows casted by the tree. Since the building in question is an apartment complex, I felt more confident about standing in front of it without drawing too much attention. So I turned right and parked my car at an inconspicuous dead end, walked back and took up my place in the shade. There were a few people walking by after work, and a few families heading out for a stroll, but there were very few foot traffic so I had the sidewalk to myself! There was also an interesting guy who, after confirming that I am Chinese, started telling me that he knows 2 Chinese who were studying biochemistry, and that one of them he knew since he was 5 and that he had perfect teeth even though he never went to the dentist. To which I could only reply...lol ehmmm, but sorry I don't think I know them...