Chinatown at Mid-Autumn Festival

I've never had the chance to sketch at SF Chinatown. I only remember a few brief shopping trips or detour after eating there. I really enjoyed the cluttered and colorful scene. The first one I leaned against the fence of a Chinese Sunday School (I think). A few kids were being picked and dropped off. I remember one girl was trying to get my attention but I just ignored here lol. 

The view down Waverly Place is quite striking with the 2 imposing buildings. Unfortunately I didn't realize that my colors were getting super dark from the previous painting, so the bright colors were more subdued in this piece...

A bunch of updates at once!

I haven't updated in a long time, probably because I don't have much free time at work to type away...unlike at my previous job. Also my seat is along the main walkway, so there are people walking by all the time...not exactly an ideal situation to work on one's personal blog!

Below from July 27th, when attending a calligraphy demo / exhibition at the SF public library. SF City Hall is always a challenge to draw. I find the curve and subtle blue hue of the dome especially hard to capture. This time I decided to forgo the color and focus on the shade and shape, which had some pretty good results.

Below from Aug 4, when attending a sketch meetup with SF Sketchers at Mission Dolores Park. I remember it was supposed to be a Caturday event, but as far as I could see, there was no single cat in the entire park. (Mind you, the park was full of people!) I did a panorama first then headed somewhere with noticeable shadows.The lady in the silhouette was playing with her infant kid, but I was too lazy to include more figures lol.

Below from Aug 18, also attending a meetup with SF Sketchers at Fisherman's Wharf. Unfortunately I was terrible at finding parking at high traffic areas, so I gave up after 2 loops and headed for empty Fort Mason (thankfully there was no event that weekend). The parking is not free, but hey Flax art supplies is right there!

After finishing the first one I headed towards Fisherman's Wharf and did another one at Maritime Historical Park. I actually had to stop midway and head for the show-and-tell, then came back to my perch. Thankfully the light didn't drastically change (phew

Getting my weekly building fixes

After a week in South Bay, it is always nice to visit SF and breathe a sigh of relief that tall buildings still exist. Really every corner in downtown SF can become an interesting sketch, unlike in the suburbs where it is just trees and cars and highways.

After I made the devastating mistake of forgetting to bring my palette and brush pen, I gave up on the idea of sketching crowds at the Ukulele jam and headed to Market Street for some quick building fixes. I still have tube paints in my bag, but I can't find any surface large enough to squeeze and mix paint on. In the end I had use the lid of my water jar as palette and only chose 3 colors because any more than that I won't have space to mix paint in.

The building with the unique roof on the left caught my attention. It is the Mutual Savings Bank Building (1902)

Honestly I'm surprised that I was able to churn out a decent sketch out of a lid, although it is mostly a tonal sketch lol. Also just as I was about to get to filling in the details of the cars, the traffic jam suddenly stopped and there was no more than 2 or 3 cars waiting on a red light. Needlessly to say it's not the first time that I'm unhappy because there's no traffic.

Escaping the southern heat, but went to the other extreme

Over the weekend, temperature in South Bay is projected to be close to 40 degrees. Given that I don't have the option of staying later in the office to escape the heat, and that sunset is very late in the evening, I was glad that the meetup for the week was taking place at Fort Point, one of the most windy places in SF!

The fort itself is situated right under the ramp of Golden Gate Bridge, right on the coastline. I've drew in and around this location for a few times already, but there's always some color variations every time I visit. The sea appeared especially green on this occasion. And since I arrived relatively early before noon, the further bridge pillar was casting a really interesting twisted shadow on the distant hill (probably because of the curved slopes) I also found myself a nice parking space facing the scenery, so I could spread out my supplies on my front windshield (no need to balance them on a pole anymore!) while I leaned against my car.

After completing this piece, I ventured on top of the roof of the fort. It was already freezing inside the structure (I assume the open top let all the captured heat escape) I had my drawing pad flip against my face at least twice while I was drawing. Even as we had a break between to share the sketches and chat in the sun outside, I cannot feel my fingers after finishing the two pieces. Only then did I come to appreciate the heat retained by my car under the sun.

Adding opacity to the painting, Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park

Another weekend excursion joining the SF Sketchers. Honestly I would have never noticed the lake (Stow Lake) and boathouse had the meetup not taken place there. Since I usually bike through the park, I never paid attention to this lake off the main road. 

Since I arrived very close to the end time of the meetup (insert blame on lack of motivation on weekend and SF traffic) I quickly got to work as soon as I parked my car. This little snippet is probably only a few steps away from my car, but it had a nice shade and a perfect view to test out adding gouache to watercolor. Ever since I saw James Gurney's video on drawing a water scene with gouache, I was hoping to attempt it myself. The combination of blue highlight, greenish refection in the distance (transparent), and the closer warm shadows from the trees (somewhat opaque) really makes a perfect testing ground. 

I'd say the drawing turned out much better than I thought, given I had very limited time.  The opacity really added body to the painting and put more weight to the shadow area. 

After finishing the show-and-tell session, I followed what everyone else had drawn and headed for the stone bridge. The green of the water really stood out, so I tried to bring it out as much as possible. The dark areas with added gouache really bring out the contrast with the bright green. Several boats/paddleboats made their way through the bridge, so I put two in also ;P

The Chinese Pavilion is the centerpiece of Stow Lake, situated on the island. I decided not to get too close to the pavilion (mostly because I was tired and hungry and still munching on my boathouse hotdog) and drew it from across the lake. The sunlight was shining at a nice angle on the roof of the pavilion, and gouache was able to save the day again by allowing me to add a few white beams back to the pavilion~

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~

Drawing in the rain and ... Portraits!

Since this weekend's event with the SF sketchers was later in the afternoon, I actually had the time to arrive in the city early enough to stop by somewhere else to paint first. Mission Creek Park was just a couple of blocks away from Arch Art Supplies, so I parked my car by the neighbourhood and strolled along the creek looking for good vantage points. 

I was planning to draw the other side of the creek (since I did the boat side last time), but on closer inspection, it is really just new condos and trees - nothing too eye catching. Then I spotted the bridge (on 4th street) and the view at the end of it gave a wonderful view of the creek, distant hills, and the criss-crossed ramps. Just as I pulled out my drawing supplies though, I felt something light and cold on my head and thought uh-oh... the ripples on the water surface really left no doubt that it *just* started to rain. I half debated to take shelter in Philz next door and just wait it out, but in the end decided to hell it, I'm going to draw in the rain and just see how it turns out. 

I hid under a medium-sized tree, which stopped the constant drizzle, but just had bigger droplets of water coming down once-in-a-while (hence the blobs on the bottom right corner) In the brief intermission between the drizzle, I was able to put in most of the details. The wet climate really made the reflections in the water blend in beautifully. As the drizzle started again, I quickly packed up and walked to my car in the awkward position of holding my watercolour pad upside down.

The portrait party at Arch was fun as well. We took turns posing for each other and it was a huge relief that I can finally stare at/sketch people without any fear of retaliation. It is a long-time weakness of mine that I could not sketch people in public without worrying about being discovered.

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

Putting People in the Foreground, a few snapshots in the city

I don't usually put people in my landscape watercolors, mostly because by the time I finish with the scenery I'd be too exhausted to include any people. This time, however, some figures managed to find their way into the foreground of my drawings.

This one is from Fort Mason, before I went into one of the buildings for a figure drawing session. At first I was captivated by the silhouette cityscape in the background and palm trees, but as I worked my way down the page into the greens, it felt a little empty... then I noticed a couple sitting by the curb! Generally I don't sketch people too close to me in fear of being mis-interpreted as a stalker (which unfortunately has happened before) but this time it seems the figure is simple enough that I only need a couple of minutes actually looking in their direction.

I was initially unsure of the result, but the more I look at it the more interesting it becomes... it feels like the figures are almost adding more complexity to the drawing, like it's actually telling a more complete story.

The next figure-in-scene I attempted was before my visit to Asian Art Museum in Civic Center. I usually draw the building from the front, but I decided to change things up a bit and draw it from up close and angled. The light revolves around the dome as the day progresses, so the building never quite gets boring to look at. There were a few people on the plaza in front of the building (I assume some are homeless, some are resting), so I decided to include in the man sitting at the base of a light pole.

Since I was standing next to the paid parking lot (while using its stand to put my water jar) I was also semi-observing the parking situation at Civic Center. For the record, no spot was left empty for longer than a minute.

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

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.

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.