Non-edible TACO, delicious to the ears

My neighbour invited me to sketch at her monthly orchestra meet-up. The group is called 'Terrible Adult Chamber Orchestra' or 'TACO'. Like Urban Sketchers, TACO is made up by adults who love classical music and want to play with a friendly group. People with all skill-levels are welcome to join in as long as they bring their own instruments, enjoy making music with the group and laugh at mistakes together. Although I didn't see any today, sometimes participants do bring their children or grandchildren to come along and play a piece of music with the group.

The first two sketches were done on pre-tinted paper. The guest conductor's hands made me smile. His left wrist moved in a distinctive way.

Cathy, who was a pianist in my sketch before, is the founder and conductor of TACO. I admire her commitment and hard-work to keep TACO running since 2011. There is a lot of off-scene preparation involved to accommodate 50-60 people play music together once a month. Thanks to her and many volunteers, TACO continues to provide social opportunities and musical education to the community. 

In my last sketch I decided to capture a few individual musicians just to show cast different instruments. The tricky part was to connect the subjects together without making the whole picture too messy. I decided to try some technique I saw in Charles Reid's video and I like how the sketch turned out.

After sketching intensely for 3 hours, I was exhausted. But the experience was amazing and no, TACO was not terrible at all! I'm hoping to make it to their December meet-up so I can sketch the orchestra with some choir groups. 

An improvised sketchwalk in downtown Palo Alto

I went to downtown Palo Alto for lunch with a friend yesterday and saw this street scene. At the time I didn't have my sketch kit with me so I went back today fully equipped.

 It wasn't easy for me to draw a busy street scene but to be honest, I was quite happy about how the sketch turned out. I felt good while applying watercolour on the paper. The mix of colours didn't turn into muddy puddles in the process.

Just when I felt it was time to call it a day, I rode pass the Apple store. At the time I thought it would be a good idea to sketch the store as the modern glass building looks quite different from the other brick buildings. Alas, what a mistake! The sketch looks dull and the glass house doesn't appear to be as shining as it is in real life. Oh well, at least one of the sketches for the day was satisfying.

The tree and the sketch itch

I've sketch this tree before. It stands on the street corner located about 10 metres from my house. I drive and ride pass it everyday. I do wonder if the owner of the house planted all the flowers around the tree and fire hydrant deliberately. The composition is just lovely. Most of the time the sun is already high up or down when I pass the street. The other day I was out early in the morning for an appointment and wow, the morning sun made the spot so attractive that I promised myself that I had to go sketch it one day.

After sketching this tree, I felt the itch to sketch more. I got on my bike and rode around to see what caught my eyes. Well, in the end it was my stomach got caught. I wanted to have a slice of pizza for lunch so I stopped at a pizzeria which is on a plaza. With my sketching kit and a slice of pizza, my hunger and sketch itch both faded away in the California sun.

Another flea market, more people watching

Coliseum Meet and Swap isn't really like what its name suggests. There is no swapping for sure. Most of vendors there are selling new goods instead of old, secondhand stuff. Nonetheless it is a great place for people watching, perhaps more so than the other markets I've been to. Many men (and little boys!) wear a mustache, cowboy hat and pointy leather boots. There was even a rodeo bull, which I sketched while watching people falling off it :)

Maple tree

There are quite a few maple trees in my neighbourhood but most of them are still covered with green leaves. A few have started to change their colours but the red isn't bright orange red. Instead it looks muddy. So when I saw this beautiful red maple on my way to the supermarket, I had to stop and sketch it. The red maple leaves looked even more vibrant with some green trees and a couple of tall pines.

Halloween

I saw pumpkins on porches for Halloween decoration in Seattle last year. I lived in Downtown Seattle so can't say I had many chances to look around the suburbs. Here in Menlo Park the Halloween decoration begun at the beginning the October and now I can see almost every house has pumpkins and skeletons and many with giant spiders and fake cobwebs. I'm looking forward to seeing Halloween in action.

Another small concert at my neighbour's

Today I visited my neighbour, Karen, again. She hosted another music practice session at her place. It was really wonderful to listen to beautiful music and sketch the musicians. However, I found the minor issue of drawing people who are aware of being sketched. They don't like the sketches to look unlike them, nor do they want the sketches to look like them. Ladies, especially, are worried how they would look in the sketches. Maybe I should just focus on the head and hands with the musical instruments?

Musicians in the neighbourhood

I felt so bummed last night when I found out that I can't visit Seattle next week. Therefore when my neighbour told me that she and her friends were having a music practice session today, I asked if I could visit and sketch them. I thought doing a sketch would make me feel better, and I was right.

It was a flute, oboe, bassoon trio. Except for the flute, I don't think I've heard oboe and bassoon played so close to me. The music was beautiful, even though Karen, my neighbour, said they are just amateur musician.

I started with my Kuretake brush pen (with water-soluble ink) to warm up. That helped me get familiar with the gestures. Then another sketch was done with ink and watercolour.

This might be the first time that I sketched people who knew that I was using them as models. Luckily we were all preoccupied by our task at hand so none of us felt too awkward. Well, at least I know I wasn't!

After I came home, I realised that urban sketching has changed me in some way. I have always been a shy person ever since I was a child. I remember as a child I could not answer questions from the owner of an eatery where I was buying dinner. I ended up taking something I didn't order home that evening. My sister always roamed around the street on her bike with the neighbours' children. I, on the other hand, would be watching them. Partly because I preferred to read, but also because I didn't know how to connect with strangers.

After moving to Seattle, I joined the USK Seattle. The first outing was great and so were all the following outings. The network helped me connect with the people and city. It helped me settle and enjoy my life in Seattle. I guess I also learnt how to connect with strangers through sketching from there. When I go to a social event, and I don't feel comfortable making small talks with strangers, I sketch. Then I talk with strangers about my sketch, about the reason I sketch, about how I found Urban Sketchers and about USK Seattle. Like today. The childhood me would never believe that I talked with a not-so-familiar neighbour and two total strangers.

A day around the bridge

Last August I visited San Francisco for the first time. To be honest, I didn't like it. I was overwhelmed by it. Now living in a town that's only 1 hour drive from it, I've visited San Francisco a few times, including playing local tour guide for my family and friends. I have to say this city really has amazing views in various corners.

James and I visited Sausalito yesterday. A small town on the other end of Golden Gate Bridge. Yes, it's touristy but charming. If you look carefully, you will find the small public beach hiding behind a popular restaurant.

On our way back, we stopped at a view point where you can see the Golden Gate Bridge up close. Well, the view point was totally full so we had to keep driving, and driving and driving till we finally found a view point with a parking space!
It was worth it though as the sunset and the view were just breathtaking.

Sketching at an indoor climbing gym

I am not a serious climber. I enjoy going outdoor climbing with James but I don't go to the climbing gym regularly to strengthen my climbing skills as other climbers do. Last night I asked James to take me with him when he was about to leave for the climbing gym. I wanted to go sketching, not climbing, at the gym. I thought there would be tons of free models on motion for me so why not?

Before I started, I did some warm-up exercise by doing gestural drawing with my brush pen.

 

I was glad that I spent some time warming up before committing to a sketch as I could feel my eyes and hands were more alert when I started working on my sketchbook.

 In the past I might have tried to put down those colourful holds on the climbing wall because they are there. This time I decided to draw only a few holds to indicate that it is a climbing wall. Then I tried using watercolour to suggest the texture of the wall. Not sure if it's the right thing to do but I do like the way it turned out.

Another sketch done for the night. The drawing was done during the last 10 minutes before the gym closed.

I still don't think I will go to the gym for climbing but now I've found a good reason to go with James next time.