SF Cherry Blossom Festival

James and I visited Japantown  in SF on the weekend for the 50th Cherry Blossom Festival. The weather, unfortunately, was not good for a festival. It rained all day and became quite windy in the afternoon but the parade went on. Many beautiful kimonos were soaked in the rain yet participants were still smiling on the floats. I missed the first half of parade for being stuck in a long queue to get in a popular ramen ya. One can not enjoy watching a parade with an empty stomach! But sketching helps distracting me from feeling hungry :)

Looking down from the ramen ya while standing in the queue

James and I joined the crowd for the second half of parade and saw the Taru Mikoshi (a float with barrels of sake). It was exciting to see the float coming! It was carried by about 150 volunteers and there were 2 people (wearing nothing but shorts/ a wrap) standing on the barrels and swaying with the rhythm as the float moved forward. Upon arrival, cheers were heard among the crowd and confetti popped into the air. Happy ending!

We thought we would only stay at Japantown for a short while before going to the Museum of Fine Arts. As it turned out we spent the whole afternoon and evening watching the parade / performance and visiting all the interesting stores. What a gem to find in San Francisco.

Baylands Nature Preserve

My sister and nephew are visiting me next week so I've been looking up attractions nearby to keep them entertained during their stay. Baylands Nature Preserve popped on the list and I decided to ride over to have a look on this gorgeous day.

While chatting with a local cyclist, I found out that the Preserve was a landfill till 2011. Now according to their website, the Nature Preserve has become one of the best bird watching spot on the west coast. I had to believe it because I saw a humming bird hovering in the air for the first time in my life!

I got to try out my new Plantinum Carbon Ink Pen and it was great. The ink dried faster than Noodler's Bulletproof and the pen worked beautifully on my Fabriano Artistico soft press paper.

Vancouver, BC

I had to take a trip to Vancouver, BC for my visa application this week. My visa appointment was only 1-hour long and after that I just had to wait till I heard from the Consulate. Therefore I had plenty of time wandering around the city.

It wasn't the best time to visit Vancouver, I guess. It was pretty wet the whole time I was there. I was however determined to sketch as I thought I wouldn't be participating in the West Coast Sketch Crawl in August (now it's been cancelled!). I was lucky to get some breaks between showers on the first day so I went to Granville Island Public Market by ferry. A few sketches were done in and around the market, where many buskers were performing.

Looking at English Bay Beach

The rest of sketches were all done indoors due to the wet weather. I was quite happy with the sketch done at a comedy club. It was my first time watching a stand-up comedy show and most of the drawing was done in the dark till the spotlight hit the stage.

Art supply shops were also fun to explore on a rainy day. I bought a small bottle of Koh-i-noor brown ink just to experiment. I was told by the staff that the ink is mostly used in technical pens but should work fine in a fountain pen. So far it seems OK and I do like the warm brown colour.

My last sketch was done at a Starbucks. I just wanted to draw a place with a Canadian flag. As usual, I didn't wait long enough for the ink to dry before applying watercolours. Smudges everywhere. That's OK. My Platinum Carbon Ink just arrived and I can't wait to play with it.

A day trip to San Francisco

Although James and I now live 1-hour-train-ride away from San Francisco, travelling to and walking in the city is like going to a foreign country. The vibe, the people, the view, the space...everything is different from what I see around Palo Alto.

We only spent a few hours there but I managed to do a few sketches (James did one with oil pastels as well!). My Noodler's ink again stained all over my sketches but this time I know how to deal with it. I learnt a trick from Urban Sketchers Tainan (Taiwan) that the Magic Eraser sponges are great to lift paint (ink in my case) without damaging paper. The sponge is now taking a permanent corner in my sketch kit!