Monday, February 27, 2006

Friday, February 24, 2006

IF - "Tea"

Here's a throwback from a local dim-sum restaurant. So far I've been recommended to check out one restaurant in Alemeda, San Francisco, and Toronto (thanks Terry). Any additional recommendations are welcomed.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Sketchcrawl 8 (part 2 of 2)

It was 20 degrees this morning and still snowing....which meant fresh powder for snowboarders, but not sure how this would affect my sketchcrawl? No choice but to wait until our arrival at the slopes.


We were graced with the sun for a moment, but the snow began to fall again. After the lesson, I headed over to a bench to lay down some colors...the snow actually added a cool effect on my thumbnail sketch (similar to adding salt).

After 4 hours on the slope, we were beat and ready to call it a day. Everyone took a 30 minute break for a dose of Motrin and to re-hydrate before we headed back home.

Since the Okuda's couldn't make the trip with us, they were so kind to have dinner ready for us when we returned. Agatha and her mom were way too kind in preparing all those delicious dishes. Thank you!

I wish we could have hung out a bit longer, but we were all exhausted...so one more game of Donkey Kong Congo then I definitely need to get back home.

I was hoping to end the night watching "Lady Vengence", but decided to take care of my pile of laundry.


Good night, and hope everyone had a nice, long President's Day weekend!

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Sketchcrawl 8 (part 1 of 2)

February 19th was Sketchcrawl 8. However, plans were already made to snowboard with some friends. But I ended up doing a sketchcrawl anyways, on our way up to snowy South Lake Tahoe, NV.
Pitt Stop: While my friends bought some snacks, I walked across the gas station to doodle this restaurant. I couldn't resist the 30 foot sign and older yellow car parked in front.


Traffic is at a hault again because of all the people pulling over to add chains to thier tires. Just enough time to doodle this hotel.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

We've always passed by this local Mexican Restaurant and decided to finally try it last night. They definitely had fast service and were not shy about piling on the guacamole & salsa, but the atmosphere was a bit dismal. I ordered small nachos and a burrito, thinking the nachos were just a basket of chips and cheese...but for $3.00, it was so huge, I ended up taking my burrito "to-go". However, I did enjoy the lime soda.

Monday, February 13, 2006

IF - Just a "Simple" morning

Discovered a coffee house near by, called Marin Coffee Roaster's. Such a great atmosphere to sketch...I'll have to start a napkin sketch pile from this place. I've only visited on the weekends, but they have great latte's, pastries, breakfast burritos, croissant sandwiches and oatmeal....I highly recommend the "Irish Oatmeal", I can't go back to Quaker Oats - it's that good! (live music on Satuday & Sunday mornings).
A fun-filled Saturday with tons of food, games, and....face painting. (Justin & Joni's daughter just turned 2 yrs. old). The face painting clown showed up around 4:00pm & happened to set up next to our table. The kids were soooo excited, they jumped out of the huge inflatable super-slide and lined up immediately. So while the kids were requesting butterflies, lady-bugs, and flowers...I decided to make a quick thumbnail on a napkin (below) so that I could sketch it again when I get home.
The blue pencil sketch was tough to capture on the camera...
...Ah, that's better (I ended up changing the hand completely due to the scale issue).
Here's the final watercolored version with a digital gradient background. Went back and forth with the background colors, but settled with the purple/lavendar.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Illustration Friday - "Chair"


It was Super Bowl Sunday, but we decided to work on a couple projects in the apartment instead. Our project list included: assembling 2 book shelves, 1 bathroom shelf, and painting our entertainment center...not in that order of course. It was more like...add the first coat of paint, start building the first book shelf, grab some coffee, add the second coat, build the second book shelf, etc. We did encounter a few paint problems, so that set us back in drying time. Thank goodness the sun was out in Marin County, a steady mid-70's all afternoon. We finished up around 9:00pm...we were sooo "pooped". The night ended by relaxing on our comfy couch and watching some TV..."Elf" to be more specific. That Will Farrel kills me.

Because I missed Sketchcrawl #7 on Saturday, I just had to sketch something before going to bed...I had to open up 3 heavily taped boxes just to find my watercolor brush but I managed sqeeze this quick little sketch before going to sleep.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Illustration Friday - "Chair 2"

Had dinner last night with our close graphic design friend, Ari. He was in the Bay Area for a spec artist meeting, so we met up for some dinner afterwards. Here's a kid who was way into his coloring instead of eating.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Illustration Friday - "Chair 3"

A couple of co-workers wrapping it up towards the end of the day.

Gerald's Sketch Cards

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