Fort Point Lighthouse Below the Golden Gate Bridge

Before last weekend, I had never sketched Fort Point Lighthouse, located just below the towering Golden Gate Bridge. The iron lighthouse was built in 1863, but once work began on the bridge in 1933, the lighthouse was obscured from view and soon decommissioned. A fog signal and navigational light were then placed at the base of the bridge’s south tower. It became a National Historic Site in 1970 cementing its perch overlooking the bay.
If you haven’t experienced the bridge from below, you’d probably be impressed by the energy surrounding it. The structure’s enormous size, the sounds of non-stop traffic, the tide moving in out of the bay in conjunction with the weather swirling around the span all provide an electrifying experience that crackles with energy.
I sketched atop the fort for a couple of hours, before strong winds, fog and cold drove me to seek shelter in the fort below.

Redwood Hill Farm

Great day out sketching at Redwood Hill Farms. The Bice family started the farm 50 years ago and although the goat cheese operations were sold a few years back, the farm remains in family hands. It’s a gorgeous place to sketch! I chose this small cottage thinking it was a fairly easy subject to paint but quickly found out to the contrary. My biggest problem is still not going dark enough and having to do multiple layers. I’ll have to work on that.

Tom Hoffman’s Watercolor Workshop — Day One

Last weekend I took Tom Hoffman’s workshop for the second time in San Francisco. We had a blast and I learned quite a lot. I love Tom’s style and was determined to learn as much as I could over the next four days. On the first day we were to use a photo (I chose this one) as a warm up exercise before heading outside to sketch from life.

This second sketch was painted on the corner of 17th St. and Texas St.

 

New Sketching Classes!

The second annual SF Bay Area 10×10 Urban Sketching Workshops are happening this spring! 10 instructors, 10 classes. Each class is limited to 15 students. I’ll be teaching the class “Unraveling the Complexity of Travel Sketching.” Sign up before they sell out. As of writing this, my class is already half full in less than a day of open regestration!
Check out the full listing of classes here

San Francisco Meet-up with Liz Steel and Jane Blundell

I think it’s safe to say that all of us Bay Area sketchers had a great time hobnobbing with world famous sketchers Liz Steel and Jane Blundell today. There were probably 60 sketchers total. Though socializing was our purpose, Grace Cathedral was our sketching subject. Thanks to Laurie Wigham for organizing the event!

Antique Car Show in Cloverdale

Cloverdale’s Antique Car Show is hands down the most fun I’ve had all year sketching. What’s not to like? Antique cars and enthusiasts everywhere. People eager to have you sketch their car as they tell you all the nitty gritty that went into the restoration. Passers by seemed as interesting in our groups sketches as they did the cars. Top that off with a Pizza (last year) or Thai food (this year) and the day is complete.