1915 Ferry Building + Bay Bridge sunset

The "1915" lights were reinstalled on the Ferry Building to commemorate the centennial of 1915 Panama Pacific International Expo. Loves the moment when the setting sun lingered on the numbers! 

Today is also one of the rare days here that feature dynamic clouds (instead of the plain blue sky). The sunset was spectacular...

Scenes from Seattle: Space Needle, Fremont Troll, Pike Place Market, I-5 North

Space needle with the holiday lights on top. Fremont troll under the bridge, somebody decided to paint one of its eyes bright red (which is quite...eye-catching in the grey and rainy Seattle weekend ;A;)

Afternoon sun at Pike Place Market (more like afternoon-cloud-with-5-mins-of-weak-sun) w/ I-5 north by its side

Marin Circle Fountain, Berkeley

Lived my fifth year at Berkeley yet haven't seen this landmark up close before. (Since it is in a purely residential area) The vague shapes on the fountain are bears standing side by side (with holiday red ribbons around their neck) To bad the sun shone through for only about 3 one-minute sessions...which means my fingers and knees were freezing after this 1+ hr session ;A;
Thankfully a handful of kind passer-bys offered their compliment :D

Hawk Hill overlook, Marin Headland, SF

Second time on Hawk Hill and first time seeing the bridge not covered by fog! The lights on the bridge and from the cars started to show through as dusk set in. The Bay bridge is also visible in the distance on the left...and I crammed the hills on the right together just to fit in the TV tower haha

Sunset before Thanksgiving!

I used to get restless during sunset everyday because I could see the setting sun getting reflected by the building across the street from my apartment window. Now I need to get out of my apartment building to get any decent sunshine...
Some rare splashes of autumn colours in Berkeley!

Farmers Market, Ferry Plaza SF

Finally remembered to replenish my (unfiltered) honey stock this Saturday! And...I just realized I forgot the colour in the cute Corgi standing beside the second tent from the right lol

Kearny at Columbus, San Francisco

From the all too colourful and interesting Columbus Avenue. Was sent out as a postcard. Glad that it made it all the way to Singapore!

SF City Hall

Extra windy at the San Francisco City Hall! (which made talking on the phone almost impossible) Nice Giants banner!

Pyramid Alehouse, Berkeley

Went for another Thursday night sketching with the Bay Area Urban Sketchers. I was the only one who braved the chilly night outside (need to keep watch over my bike), which wasn't bad at all since I had my bike helmet on. But there was some people idling around on the other side of the street...with hard metal music thundering through...that was interesting. But for the palm trees outside, it's all worth it!

There was no one on the 2nd floor, so I took a sneak peak into the kitchen from above :P

SF Fleet Week - HMS Calgary

A Canadian ship docking at San Francisco's piers! Stirring up all my patriotic feelings! Beautiful weather too!

Queue for the tour of the ship

Nightfall at Fentons Creamery

First time sketching in the new sketchbook I sew together! And first time drawing on professional 140lb paper! (hence the shaky brushstrokes lol) This is the view across from Fentons creamery. The sun was still visible when I coloured the church on the left, but it was completely dark when I got to the right. (my ice-cream totally melted when I was too absorbed in the drawing...)

This time looking towards the creamery when standing in front of the church! First attempt in capturing a night scene in colour! (definitely needs a lot of work!)

Point Reyes

I remember seeing a photo a friend took of this stunning view, and this past Sunday was the perfect time to visit! Got to the entrance just before 4, just got enough time to get a quick stamp (always my main objective!), have a friendly chat with the NPS staff at the visiter centre, quickly finish an ink sketch from the overlooking platform, before dashing downhill to see the lighthouse before it closes at 4:30!  (on the right is the much weathered fog signal building.) Love the colour of the roofs!

Lunch break scribble!

Did this quick scribble while munching on my lunch sandwich. Since the cafe is right across from the crosswalk, I basically take a bite while the light is green (while people is walking) and as soon as the light turns red, I identify a target to sketch while he/she is waiting for the light~ Timing is perfect!

Sketchcrawl at Preservation Park & Pardee Home Museum (Oakland, CA)

I went for a day sketching with the Bay Area Urban Sketchers at the Preservation Park and the Pardee Home Museum right across from the street! Apparently neither of them are normally open to public... It was quite a surprise to find such a serene and perfectly maintained neighbourhood (or more like an extended driveway) in Oakland! But there was barely anyone except the 10 or so sketchers scattered around the neighbourhood. Judging from the nameplates, almost all of the buildings are over 100 years old, most of them now rented out as offices. (The one in the drawing in the White House, built in 1875, now serving as the office of Preservation park and cafe)

Couldn't resist doing a panorama of part of the place. Judging from everyone's sketchbook at the end, the palm tree was clearly the crowd favourite lol! (from 10AM onwards, there were people continuously trickling into the Nile Hall, apparently a speech or rally is going on there. And everyone who drove past were giving us sketchers the @@; confused look)

I'm actually not sure what this structure is for....but it is in the backyard of Pardee Home Museum, the original resident of former Oakland mayor (also Californian Governor) George Pardee. The slanting sun was amazing! but also gave me vicious sunburns ;A;

Food Chain Display at Keelung National Museum of Marine Science & Technology

This is drawn after a very well-made food chain model display at the Keelung NMMST while my friend was off watching the featured 3D film (I get motion sickness from them) I had to manoeuvre carefully around the kids who were jumping and screaming and crying, but it was fun all the same. I meant to put in lines to label the food chain (the model has lights displaying the prey and predator of the species you choose), but I was short on time... I like how Keelung chose to build a museum for marine science instead of an aquarium. Personally I find informative displays and models more practical and engaging than dolphin shows and live fish tanks. But it really depends on whether the audience prefers to be entertained or actively engage themselves in being educated... Also, since I've been learning bits and pieces about the deep sea for sometime, I really liked how the entire first floor was dedicated to this topic! Learned a bunch of stuff!

Lotus pond at Shukugawa Community Center

Despite the overwhelmingly famous Cherry blossoms at Shukugawa (even the local JR station is named as Sakura Shukugawa), the lotus pond was still worth the visit (and the mosquito bites thereof) There's even Nishikigoi swimming between the weeds!

Hyogo Profectural Mansion (or what I think the name should be)

Drawn during a drizzle while fending off the mosquito attacks. It used to be the main administration building of Hyogo Prefecture over 100 years ago and is still within close proximity from the one right now. Believe me, the building is much bigger than it seems in the drawing (shows how important framing is lol)

Kyoto Aquarium!

Fun day out sketching with Kyoto Sketch Club!

Museum of Literature (former Kansai Gakuin University Chapel), Kobe

The journey afterwork to the Museum of Literature started in the worst possible way; sky suddenly clouded up and an electrical malfunction down the line trapped tons of people in the train station. But after I finally got on the train 20 minutes later and headed towards Kobe, the sky cleared up and there came a perfect sunset! Well worth the wait!

Sanjusangendo, Kyoto

Literally means the temple with thirty-three spacings, hence the long hall. As I was almost done sketching the buddha on the left, with only the facial features left to finish, a staff approached me and said, Please do not sketch here. I replied with, well, I know photography is not allowed, why not sketching? She said, it will cause trouble for other visitors, especially when it's crowded. Please ask for the permission to sketch from those monks sitting over there. I was like, great, even this temple works on strict company hierarchy. And so I got a long lecture from the monk in charge of how pens and inks are not allowed in the building, blah blah blah it may potentially harm the precious buddhas. So I guess had I pulled out my watercolour gears instead of my pen, I would be sitting in detention right now lol

(He did end up lending me a pencil to finish my work though)