Not quite on location: SF Ferry Building at Sunset

Partly from imagination, partly from memory...since all the Ferry Building has in front of it are palm trees.

Full 2 days of sunshine in the city!

 I rarely get to spend 2 full (Sunny) days in SF (usually need to catch the shuttle to work before the mist is lifted), so it was great to spend hours standing in the sun sketching the crowd! Since security refused to let my glass water jar in (she basically said, you can't bring this in, chucked my jar in the trash can, and carried on checking my bag. To which I responded, may I have my jar back, I will not go in. Imagine the surprise on her face) But there's plenty to sketch outside, especially since the main entrance of AT&T Park has always been a challenge in the back of my mind.

Lefty O'Dowl Bridge next to the ballpark. The two pieces of concrete were always a bit of a mystery to me, turns out it is a drawbridge, and the concrete blocks are counterweights. Added the statue of the pitcher in the end to act as reminder that this is next to the ballpark ;P

 Missed my Caltrain connection by 10 minutes because of the never ending N-car tunnel work. Since it is a nice day out, I promptly started working on another painting (since one never runs out of stuff to draw in SF) After some googling later, I found that this building, Townsend Building at 123 Townsend Street, was originally built in 1903 as a coffee warehouse and now houses several offices. Great looking building, especially in the sun!

Back! in California!

 After 3 weeks of bone chilling weather and smog filled air in China, all the sunshine and lively plants felt really surreal. Spring always arrives early in California. I found this nice looking yard while biking around scouting for places to draw. The owner of the house actually drove out of their garage while I was there...hopefully I didn't look suspicious with my helmet, sunglasses and all, staring intently at where children usually play...

Another tree I quickly scribbled before heading to get my groceries before sunset

Smog smog smog

No force in heaven was going to move me out of my hotel room in Zhengzhou, so what better to do than to get some smog action on paper? :P

Pending New Year in Vancouver!

Or rather, Last sunset of the year 2015. Vancouver had some rare sunny days this Christmas break, so the sunset colours have been coercing me to draw for the past few days. Too bad I was busy feasting around and didn't get to it until the last day.

Note to self: meant to write some New Year's reflection over at the right blank spaces...but totally forgot about it...orz

Thanksgiving in Philadelphia

 I joined my friend from Junior High at Philadelphia for Thanksgiving. After a 2-hr drive from Shenzhen to HK, a loooong flight from HK to SF, another long flight to hop over the continent (during which I almost lost my phone after being startled from my nap by a mother and kid trying to get to the empty seats next to me...thanks god the lady across the aisle found my phone inside her purse just before landing ;A;), yet another 2 hrs waiting at the terminal for the next train to Philadelphia, and finally a 1 hr sleepy train ride. That was in total 2+12+6+1 = 21 hrs JUST in transit. Thanks to the magical time difference, I still managed to arrive on the same day I departed!

Time to enjoy some glorious sunset in Philadelphia!

I swore it was like this when I put on the colours, but the next moment I looked up it was completely dark...

 Since my friend was busy finishing her homework, I took a walk along Schuylkill River (fancy name...) in the drizzling afternoon. When you've got bridges after bridges along a quiet river, there's never enough things to draw.

And finally, the Boathouse Row! It was starting to get dark at this point, so I put on the colours when I got back later. Strangely a jogger approached me when I was drawing, and said, Hello, you really do look like someone I met here I few days ago! She said she just came from China a month ago~! To which I was ready to respond, well, to be honest I just came from China a week ago

Chaos and colours in the City!

 When I was on my way to the SF Sketcher meetup in SOMA, I came across this chaotic scene on Townsend and 6th Street. Hard to imagine that across the train lines on the other side are all brand new high-end apartment buildings, while this side is filled with old industrial warehouses, graffitis, and tents. There's hardly even anyone walking by at noon. I was first reluctant even to put my bag down, even when I had my hands full with my painting black, palette, water bottle, and brush, ready to run at any sign of danger. But 10 minutes passed with no sign of change while my shoulder starting complaining, so I set my stuff behind me and remained standing. Guess working in a sketchy location is one way to push myself to paint faster lol

 And this is it, the SOMArts Cultural Center. Colourful buildings with very interesting pots of plants in the garden! (if you are careful enough to bend down and pay attention :P) The center is located in a sketchy location too (tents everywhere surrounding it), but since there were plenty of fellow sketchers painting in the garden, I even left my bag on the ground to grab some supplies indoor. Sometime it's good to have company!

Plants in teapots and bird cage. Anyone fancy a fresh brew?