Archive for February, 2008

Lunar Eclipse February 24th, 2008

On Wednesday there was a full lunar eclipse here in the Bay Area. I really wanted to draw it, but cloud cover obscured most of the event. We did catch the end though, at about 9:45pm from our front yard.

Lunar Eclipse (larger)

I did this little (2 x 3 inches) sketch in about 15 minutes. It was a cold and wet night so I went indoors and started by painting the sky and moon. I let the sky dry with it’s hard edge then painted the shadow, softened that edge. I went back outside and inked the tree. Inside once again I finished up with some additional watercolor on the tree.

One benefit of high quality watercolor paper is that it is easy to create a variety of edges. Hot press (HP) paper, which I favor, tends towards distinct hard edges which is a look I like, especially for quick sketches.

Posted in Berkeley, How to Sketch, Landscapes | Leave a Comment » | View 14 Comments »

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The Cottage February 19th, 2008

At Carneros Inn (larger)

Here is a cottage that we stayed in recently at the Carneros Inn, a "retreat" in the Carneros Valley. It was a cold, foggy weekend, and the cottage was quite cozy. We didn’t stay long: I’d like to go back on a sunny weekend and tour around the area. There are several champagne wineries nearby.

Posted in California, Landscapes, Travel Sketching | Leave a Comment » | View 9 Comments »

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The Bookcase February 13th, 2008

The Bookcase (larger)

This one was a fun one to do. I was lounging at the home of some friends and had time to sketch at a leisurely pace while New Year’s Day breakfast was being prepared. A rather luxurious way to sketch, I’d say! That’s my friend’s oil painting on the top of the bookcase.

Posted in Interiors, Still Life | Leave a Comment » | View 9 Comments »

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Berkeley Cafe Sketching February 5th, 2008

Cappuccino (larger)

At SketchCrawl #17 I met fellow sketchblogger Lee-Roy for the first time. He drove up from Los Angeles for the event and to spend a few days in the Bay Area. The day after the Crawl he came over to Berkeley to have a look. We met up in the North Berkeley neighborhood, aka Gourmet Ghetto, and took a little walking tour. It was cold though, and we’d already gotten frozen the day before, so we decided to seek refuge in Bar César. There we passed a lovely afternoon, talking and eating and drinking and sketching.

It was great fun to get to know another avid sketcher. Lee-Roy is quite talented indeed and did a wonderful sketch of the bar, right down to the many bottles and blue tiles. I love it!