Oakland Museum

My friends Anna and Marie recently informed me of a Disney Exhibit (Behind the Magic - 50 Years of Disneyland) held at the Oakland Museum. It was a nice informative exhibit, with tons of enlarged photos, concept art and early video footage of Walt...but there were so many people...there was not enough room to sketch. I think we spent a good 2 hours in here.

There are several other good exhibits like the "San Francisco Earthquake" and "Walk across California". This particular sketch was from the "Gallery of California Art". With 20 minutes until closing, I was not satisfied with results. So I totally re-sketched it at a coffee shop later that night.

Julia Bracken Wendth
Titled: "Doris"
1909 - Cast Bronze

San Francisco, Ca. - Part I

Exploring the Bay Area a bit....

I've always seen this tall red and black antenna from a distance and finally got a closer look at the top of the hill known as "Twin Peaks". The middle sketch was from inside the St. Ignatius Catholic Church. Perspective and black & white tones were all off. I'll have to give this one another try another day. The top right is from the popular "Burma Superstar Restaurant". Not only did my co-worker Ken, highly recommended it....but we also saw a segment on television recently. The food is very good and I thought the portions were just right. We ended the the afternoon checking out one of my favorite stores "Kid Robot". We took a break after walking back to our car and decided to sketch these folks waiting for the bus.

More to come....

IF - "Play"

I came across this fountain of ducks made of bronze while visiting the Corte Madera, Ca. shopping center.

I didn't realize that it's been 4 months since my last entry for Illustration Friday...I miss participating.

From the California Hwy of Redwood Trees aka: “The Avenue of Giants”.

Here's a rusty wagon used to haul slabs of chopped Redwoods. While I was sketching, a car was trying to park behind me and my leg was almost knicked from thier bumper. The couple that came out of the car ended up being one of the nicest people we came across during our trip. They made couple of nice comments on my sketches and then stood in front of me to take a long look at the wagon themselves. I think they were hoping that I'd include them in my sketch...sorry.

This park is well known for its' drive-thru tree named the “Chandelier Tree”. It’s just amazing how the trunk of this 315 ft. tree is hollowed out and has continued to live and grow over the years.

Little Miss Sunshine

Here's some doodles right before the showing of "Little Miss Sunshine". (top) a girl sitting 2 seats over (middle) a guy sitting 2 rows in front of me - waiting for friends to return with a bucket of popcorn and drinks (bottom) a girl at the end of my row chatting with some friends that arrived late.

Yoga Flame, Yoga Flame...

Ah...the ever so popular anime and video game "Street Fighter II". The actual animated film was released back in 1995 and was recently re-released onto DVD (uncut version). Alvin Lee and his uber talented team at Udon Comics has continued dishing out this amazing quality of art work. I was so blown away by thier take on the SFII characters, I decided to paint the Martial Arts Yoga Master, known as Dhalsim. Known for his ability to contort and extend his extremities in ways that are physically impossible, I decided to smash him into a box shape for this illustration. Creating the glow effect in his eyes were the most time consuming, but fun.

Acrylic on 16"x 20" canvas.

Here's a small b-day gift I painted for my girlfriend.

For years we've always wanted to visit the Berkeley Kite Festival and last weekend just happened to be the event. We saw it off the freeway and decided to get a closer look. The parking was really bad...It's a good thing that the event offered shuttle rides.

Well, we drove into the park and double parked for a few minutes and were amazed at how many people were participating. There were at least 30 kites in the air...not including the 5 or 6 that kids were still trying to get off the ground. But our favorites were the bubble-shaped octopus kites.

Just adding the final touches....

This painting was inspired by spending an afternoon at a beach where pelicans continuously flew from a lake, over our heads and into the Pacific Ocean. We sat there for about 45 minutes just snapping photos and observing the pelicans taking turns to find food.

The colors and patterns were inspired by the decor in our living room.