Thinking about New Orleans and the tragedy on Bourbon Street

 I looked back on some drawings from my past visits to the Crescent City:

a collection of sketchbooks

I posted this image on INSTAGRAM and wrote about the memories that are associated with each drawing and sketch from the past 3 or 4 decades of drawing...

 

Oakland discussions and the future.

Oakland has long held its own unique character, but will the high-rises and office buildings sprouting up around the city jeopardize that character? How can a city preserve something intangible, but so incredibly important, while continuing to grow in order to provide homes, services and employment? Join us as we discuss how Oakland can expand its capacity without compromising the key attributes of its neighborhoods.

+ Roberto Bedoya / City of Oakland
+ Doug Wittnebel / Gensler
+ Cindy Ma / KTGY Architecture + Planning

And here are my visual notes from the event...

The buildings of Chicago always thrill me...

Starting with the Wrigley building... a simple line drawing and then adding more to the scene below...

Carl Sandburg wrote this poem about the city...

CHICAGO

     HOG Butcher for the World,

     Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,

     Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;

     Stormy, husky, brawling,

     City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I

     have seen your painted women under the gas lamps

     luring the farm boys.

And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it

     is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to

     kill again.

And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the

     faces of women and children I have seen the marks

     of wanton hunger.

And having answered so I turn once more to those who

     sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer

     and say to them:

Come and show me another city with lifted head singing

     so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.

Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on

     job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the

     little soft cities;

Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning

     as a savage pitted against the wilderness,

          Bareheaded,

          Shoveling,

          Wrecking,

          Planning,

          Building, breaking, rebuilding,

Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with

     white teeth,

Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young

     man laughs,

Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has

     never lost a battle,

Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.

     and under his ribs the heart of the people,

               Laughing!

Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of

     Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog

     Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with

     Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

Oakland and building memories...

My article on memories and buildings in Oakland, part one...

http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2015/2/17/evolving-memories-within-oakland.html

A look back at the video about Oakland and the ideas of Live, Thrive, Love in the City

http://vimeo.com/douglaswittnebel/work-live-love-thrive-in-the-city-of-oakland-2014

 

 

http://vimeo.com/douglaswittnebel/work-live-love-thrive-in-the-city-of-oakland-2014

...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.

 

Lichen in Lake Tahoe

Bank of Oakland Building on Broadway

 

This building sketch/painting of the former Bank of California building.  this was featured in the article from Urbanist magazine, published by SPUR.

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

At the corner of 12th Street and Broadway stands the original headquarters for the Bank of Oakland, a unique combination of lower masonry block muscle and a taller decorative tower. The main building went up in 1907, and the tower portion was added later, pushing up to the height of 225 feet (18 stories). Now the bank occupies the building with other tenants and histories. A series of Corinthian columns and pilasters support and frame the top levels of setback windows. The top-level spaces must have terrific views of the adjacent Tribune building. Perhaps the two towers wink at each other in the early morning hours.



Urbanist magazine article updated

 

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

 

Urbanist magazine article, a photo by douglaswittnebel on Flickr.

 

Smart City Green City

Smart City Green City, a photo by douglaswittnebel on Flickr.

Beginnings of the narrative, storyboard and image sketch for the future glimpse of the city of Oakland, work! green and smart...

Oakland Urban Field Notes

Oakland Urban Field Notes, a photo by douglaswittnebel on Flickr.

Color draft folded version of the four beautiful buildings in downtown Oakland, hand-drawn illustrations

Oakland series urban field notes

Oakland series urban field notes, a photo by douglaswittnebel on Flickr.

A study for the cover set of urban field notes setting, downtown Oakland

Oakland Bank Building, Comerica, Bank of America, 1907

Oakland Bank Building, Comerica, Bank of America, 1907, a photo by douglaswittnebel on Flickr.

...a night time drawing view of the top of the tower, Bank of Oakland building on Broadway, downtown Oakland, CA...

Painted view of Cavallo Point

Painted view of Cavallo Point, a photo by douglaswittnebel on Flickr.

Lake Tahoe, Da Ow A Ga, dock and swimmers, divers and gazers...

...the completed painted view of the wood dock at the Sugar Pine Point State Park beach, Lake Tahoe...The Native American Washoe tribe inhabited the Tahoe region years and years ago and considered the area as the epicenter of their universe . The Washoe called the lake and the area "Da ow a ga", roughly translated to "edge of the lake". The first white visitors to the area heard the sounds and mispronounced this name, and called it "Tahoe". The name remained in this Anglicized form until present times.

Gensleron blog posting up for viewing

The sketches and paintings from the Mendocino expedition are also now on view within the gensleron blog pages, see link here...

http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2012/7/5/mills-mindsets-mendocino-and-memories.html

Atlas Stair Building Co. Building sketch trials

 first view and sketch trial

2901 22nd street in the Mission District of San Francisco is the address of an unusual building that must have a interesting history to reveal...my focus was to capture some views with texture tests in sketchbook pro and then see what happens next...will post to flickr also...