Napa Mills sketch study

One more color ink sketch of the towers, storage mills, and structural steel frameworks on view from the side of the Napa river looking to the west...

you tube video update collection and links

The collection of videos on sketching included the Japan sketchbook and the New Orleans memory sketches and photos along with the drawing on the wall clip from August.  All clips are viewable from the links here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXx1qDHQonE


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBfVNOEVjtk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Dmsa8iSLc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/user/douglaswittnebel?feature=mhum
 

Napa Mills building, Silos, towers, brick and history...

Always a pleasure to come across buildings and agglomerations of buildings and structures that have been restored and re-used with different degrees of care and respect...this complex associated with Hatt and then added and expanded during the time of need for grain storage and warehousing by the Napa river is home to the Celadon restaurant...

san francisco international terminal waiting time...

while waiting for those flights from Haneda, Tokyo to arrive, a view of the lumbering flying beasts...

bits of ways of working

 On this rainy interlude after the Thanksgiving celebrations, I have decided to delve into the many different ways that we are working today and will be creating a set of scenarios that illustrate those ways...

A whisper from the past uncovered during a cleaning...

Spent some of the weekend going through old stuff and ancient boxes of memorable flotsam and jetsam, and found some notes and sketches from a visit to that wonderfully interesting Russian city of Vladivostok...I really wonder if I will ever go back to that city...and I will have to also post some note sketches from those days and nights spent in the city that Moscow seems to have forgotten...

waiting and drawing and traveling...

a composite view of gates, terminals and planes while in the waiting state of mind...

Gate 27 Oakland

framed views of the airliners disgorging passengers and gulping fuel for the next flights at gate 27 in Oakland

B 42 Denver

bilateral symmetry study at the Denver airport terminal Gate B42...

Gerald Ford International Airport visit and sketch

a view of Gate 7 attachment section and the plane I boarded to fly back to the Bay Area, only to experience the dreaded "icing" of the wings and the plane was forced to land on a airstrip in Pueblo, Colorado...

sketchbook of japan, the video link...

 

A selection of sketches of Japan have been assembled into a video on youtube, enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXx1qDHQonE

sketch studies of the rear garden terrace...

... still working on some details of the posts and connections and possible canopy designs for the terrace project...

modeling the rear terrace garden project

some simple modeling views of the rear garden terrace project generated as studies before implementation...the fence portion is the final area to be completed...

drawing on the world closer to home

The rear garden patio project is getting closer to completion now that the details of the fence posts have been worked out and the first test of the intersection of verticals and horizontals has been completed...

closer to home in the drawing and building world

As I inch closer to completing the rear garden patio project, the final stretch includes the design and building of the fence shown here in photos and drawings...

closer to home with drawing and building

Much closer to home than the previous posts about Isla Guadalupe and Mendocino, my current weekend project is the design and construction of a fence.  A simple enough project for your DIY designer and I have gone through a number of variations on the design of the system.  Progress is underway and the detail drawing and photographic result of the post and horizontal intersection can be seen here...

Submersible

A sketch view of the Pelagic explorer, a new submersible device in use on the diving boat SOLMAR V.  Two divers can use crawl inside this unit, one in front for operation and steering and one in the rear with the cameras...and then descend into the waters below...

Submersible unit Pelagic

Sketch view of the new submersible unit on the SOLMAR V diving boat, this unit can be used by two divers at a time.  One diver in front for steering and operating and one in the rear with the cameras...

Scenes of the wildlife at Isla Guadalupe

Selected sketch scenes of the pinnipeds and sharks viewed off of the coast of the island...

fold out panorama view of portrait format images of the diving trip

I brewed this up in photoshop with the idea of creating a fold out sequence of images within a watery realm...

some views of the island from the boat...

two views of the island from the boat...22 miles in length, the volcanic geological formation is now essentially denuded from most plant and tree life, as a result of the release of goats on the island several centuries before...

SOLMAR V boat view of the bow and cage/crane and watercolor from above of shark below surface

The SOLMAR V anchored off the coast of Isla Guadalupe with the crane suspended shark cage, bow view...and a watercolor view of a shark below the water surface

Starboard Shark Cage, SOLMAR V diving boat

A watercolor view of the starboard mounted shark cage, suspended by the upper deck crane and dropped to about eleven meters below sea level...off of the coast of Isla Guadalupe...in the environs of great white sharks...

Journey to Isla Guadalupe

Have just returned from a memorable journey to the Oceano Pacifico, and Isla Guadalupe, about 185 miles south west of Ensenada, Mexico.   It was a truly fascinating trip that included diving in cages with Great White Sharks and habitat viewing of a variety of pinnipeds on this natural preserve.   I am going to begin with a posting of the maps that I have drawn of the region and the island and then follow up with some details on what can be seen and observed...

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?...

On the 5th anniversary of the Katrina disaster in the Crescent City, I assembled a short video clip of some drawings, sketches, images and video of my favorite city...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Dmsa8iSLc

The sketch is a view of one of the steamboat houses built by Captain Doullut right next to the Mississippi River levee in the Lower Ninth Ward, the area that received the brunt of the rushing waters from hurricane Katrina...

Fort Rossia, Fort Ross, within the walls...

One watercolor view looking east from the upper level of the southern blocktower towards the main house and the Russian chapel...and I have added a detail view of the main house...

drawing on the wall

I had the opportunity to create a full size wall mural drawing in my office in San Ramon for Gensler and IIDA Northern Chapter event on sustainability.  Here is the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBfVNOEVjtk

Russian Chapel at Fort Rossia, Fort Ross, Northern California

A selection of watercolor images of the chapel at the settlement established by the Russians on the northern coast of California...

Fort Ross, Fort Rossia, California

A watercolor view of the north west block tower and walls of the Russian outpost and fort built on the northern coastline of California...

Tower and Palm tree in Pegu, Burma

Shwedagon Pagoda, Pray and Rest

A truly magical place in Yangon, the pagoda of Shwedagon, is a wonderful spot to visit, to stroll, to observe, to relax and to pray...

Shwemawdaw figures, Bago, Burma

A view of some of the sculptural figures at the Shwemawdaw pagoda, built by the brothers, Mahasala and Kullasala, who returned from India with two hairs from Gautama Buddha, upon which a small stupa was constructed to enshrine the hairs.  The pagoda has expanded with more relics and buildings and has been rocked by several earthquakes since 982.

watercolors in Burma

While I try to find that portion of time to finish and scan the sketches and views of Fort Rossia, I decided to look back for some inspiration to my series of watercolors of scenes in Burma from the late 90's, during several of my sojourns from Bangkok to the mysteries over the western Thai border...