Neighborhood walking map exercise

Chicago River and Marina City View in the morning fog light

Forest in Tahoe

Hong Kong painted view looking out to the harbor

another section of the painted view looking out to the harbor and Kowloon beyond...

Views east from the window at the New Hotel Jen revealed the CCTV building and CITIC tower.  Views within the hotel illustrate the desk setting, built-in seating, Samsung screen on arm, and warm wood and carpet finishes...

Slice of Sausalito painted view ...

Meiji Shrine courtyard view

Studio A ballet practice on Saturday

Dad and Daughter drawing times

We will probably end up drawing the world together on our future journeys around the world...She has an amber eye for detail and a knack for keen observation, and a responsive hand eye connection...

Michael Kimmelman and Allison Arieff in a dialogue at SPUR Urban Center, San Francisco, CA

Kicking off the traditionally foggy month of June in San Francisco with a Visual Notes piece about the dialogue and coversation that was noted and illustrated at the SPUR Urban Center.  I have captured most of the topics and issues here, and only missed one item and the spelling of Zaatari, the instant refugee city in Syria... 

 

Two illustrations to signal the end of the year of 2014 ...

Cubing the Christmas tree, 'tis the season ...

...for the love of a Flatiron building in Oakland, a greytone version...First National Bank of Oakland...1907

...all for the love of a Flatiron building in Oakland, a greytone version has been created and tested for a possible larger scale print version or maybe a wall version installation in downtown Oakland...

 

http://www.spur.org/publications/article/2014-03-10/urban-field-notes-new-drawings-old-buildings

 

 

Above San Pablo and Broadway stands the premier flatiron building of the West Coast, a younger sibling of the more famous Manhattan one. Most of the stories in this building are woven into the exchange of money and finance, Wells Fargo being the most recent bank tenant. The original tenant was the First National Bank of Oakland, in this building complete with safe deposit boxes and a full basement for secure storage of valuables, furs, jewelry and paintings.

 

Built in 1907 after the great San Francisco earthquake, the building was designed by architect Llewellyn B. Dutton, who chose white granite for the lower floors and warm terra cotta tiles for the upper story enclosure, which wraps smoothly around the acute corner next to Frank Ogawa Plaza.

 

Daimonji Gozan Okuribi, Daimonji Bonfires, August / 2014

I never imagined I would be able to witness or document this once in a year or lifetime event.  As a part of the events of Obon,  the recognition and awareness of the return of the ancestor souls, this memorable evening was framed by rainstorms before and after and heavy mists that lifted before the lighting of the fires at 8:00 P.M. lasting for over thirty minutes.  

I painted the upper view and my daughter painted the middle and lower Kanji characters in yellow for "Dai" or BIG! 

"... The Daimonji Gozan Okuribi (Daimonji Bonfire) is an event held every year, rain or shine, on the evening of August 16th, when gigantic Chinese characters and other motifs are depicted by fires lit to illuminate the surroundings for patrolling on the slopes of the mountains surrounding the Kyoto Basin. It is a famous for evoking the image of a Kyoto summer.

Although there are several interpretations as to the origins of this event, it is generally regarded as a fire set alight at the gate for seeing off the souls of ancestors after commemorating the welcoming of their souls.
The character of "dai" (meaning "large") on Mt. Daimonji, and those of "myo" and "ho"which make up the word "Myo-ho" (wondrous teaching of Buddha) on Matsugasaki Nishiyama and Higashiyama mountains are famous..."

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/spot/festival/gozanokuribi.html

Hotel landscape, Los Cabos, Mexico

A quick little sketch version of the view in Cabo San Lucas, close to the hotel entrance.

Los Cabos, Infinity pool setting, Mejico

A long weekend voyage to Los Cabos, Mejico, allowed for some time to capture the unique landscape and some of the resort developments.  Here is a view of the infinity pool setting at Fiesta Americana, Del Sol...

Weekend at Pacific Grove, California

A painted view of the weekend scene in Pacific Grove, California...always a beautiful place to visit, foggy days or sunny days...

Seat 13A on a journey from east to west ...

Flight back from the Gensler Principals meeting in Houston, and a view from the Seat 13A, painted with ArtStudio app on ipad version...more interesting tests with the variety of brush styles and pencil/scribe techniques...

Town square studies on the weekend, traditional ink on paper

Weekend sketchbook travels in the park, some sketch views of a town square study for the city of San Ramon, California...welcome trip back to using my favorite Tradio pen on paper...

Alamo Square, San Francisco, design local

Participated in a great event with Mannington over the weekend, inspiration and energy from six local designers including myself to try to capture some of the essence and personality of the city of San Francisco...here was one of the plein air digital paintings from that session...

Sand Hill School iPad class for 3rd and 4th graders

Teaching and observing and creating 

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Here are some additional photos from the class at the school...

Doug Wittnebel, design director, Gensler San Ramon, taught a class of third and fourth grade students how to draw on iPads at Sand Hill School in Palo Alto, a school that serves students who show signs of learning differences, inattention, and/or social challenges.