Hi Sketchers:
During our last session, I noted that we are meeting once-a-week in 2021, starting on Monday January 4, 2021. Oopsie on my part because we agreed to meet Fridays, not Mondays. So, the first meeting in 2021 is Friday, January 8th, at 6:00 pm. Sorry for the confusion.
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| SF Cityscape with BB cables, in-progress |
After the oopsie with the mat board, I re-cut the opening with a piece of board supporting the edge of the cutting tool. That stabilized the tool and completed a clean cut (thanks Marc). So, I signed the sketch and dropped it into the frame.
Good luck with framing!
CoWaBunGA
In 2013, I was invited to my Sifu Jeff Chan's 80th Birthday party in LA. Sifu Chan is the leader of the Immortals Lion Dance Troup, which I am a member since the early 1980's. This was a perfect opportunity to moto road trip down Hwy 1, about 500 miles of beautiful coastline from Oakland to LA.
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| The road down to San Simeon. |
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| Taking a break amongst the redwoods. |
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| Taking a turn in the Lion head. |
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| My dearest friends at the 80th party. |
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| Hanging out with my buddies after the party. |
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| The Sporty turned 10,000 miles. |
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| Surfers in Ventura. |
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| The fanciest truck stop up on Hwy 101 near Santa Barbara. |
Hi Sketchers:
Yesterday, we finished Half Moon Bay Haystacks, an exercise in two-point perspective and landscape sketching. I hope everyone enjoyed this project.
For our next project, we will sketch a cityscape with Bay Bridge main cables, but from the underside. I've uploaded two images on Rhythmix Cultural Works' Facebook page, feel free to select either one. I will post the image I will sketch from to this blog shortly.
CoWaBUNga!
SIP-n-Sketchers:
We've been conducting our virtual sketching sessions since April 2020 and have produced lots of good work. To celebrate, Rhythmix Cultural Works will be hosting a virtual gallery and reception on December 4th, 2020. The reception will include a few of our regular sketchers who will discuss their works and answer questions from the audience. More information can be found here:
https://www.rhythmix.org/events/keep-on-sketchin-reception/
Hope to see you there.
CoWaBUGa!!
The old Bill Jeng Studio website was looking a bit dated and I think Google was planning to end their "classic" sites page. So, I updated the website to their new Sites page:
Check it out.
CoWaBunGA
But, the pieces sat in our backyard for many years gathering dust and weathering under the sun. My wife said she was going to throw them out as part of her pandemic cleanup. I had to use them or lose them. So, with my new pandemic container garden, I decided I need a bench to tend to the new plants.
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| Base bench ready for finishing. |
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| Wheels to roll around garden. |
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| Might as well use up the old tile too. |
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| Tiles set and ready for grout. |
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| A corner tile for sparkle. |
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| Epoxy grout installed. Good for exterior use. |
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| Ready for tending basil. |
Over the years, I used the chair as my step stool, to hold books, and as a trusted painting seat by my easel. For a long time, it sat outside getting worn by the weather and taken apart by neighborhood birds for nesting material.
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| Poor old chair sitting outside... |
During the pandemic, I decided to refurbish my old chair and bring her back indoors. I took the seat and back apart, removed the legs, and set about refinishing all the components. Here are a few progress pics from the restoration.
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| Taking apart the legs |
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| Sanded and ready for polyurethane |
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| All pieces ready for reassembly |
Well, my old Eames chair is restored and ready for another 40 years of service. Many thanks to Tony at Bay Trim Upholstery for reupholstering the seat and back; Ooohhhh, it is so comfy!
Hello SIP-n-Sketchers:
As promised, here is the landscape image for this Friday's sketch project:
I took this photo as I was riding along Highway 1 down through Half Moon Bay. Although it is a landscape, there are many things happening in the foreground that will make an interesting sketch. Hope to see you Friday.
If you are interested in joining our SIP-n-Sketch sessions, more information can be found here: https://www.rhythmix.org/online-classes/sip-n-sketch-2/
CoWaBUnGA
12/6/2020 News Flash:
The owners of Rang Dong just wrote back to me that they will reopen soon, in the City of Alameda, and will display this sketch in the new restaurant! Yay!!! We are so excited for this news and look forward to dining at the new Rang Dong.
We finished our favorite local business yesterday, here is mine, Rang Dong from Oakland Chinatown:
We hope that Rang Dong will be able to reopen and wish them the best of luck. I hope you enjoyed sketching your favorite local business.
Look out for the next SIP-n-Sketch project for this Friday, a landscape...
CoWaBUNga
Hello SIP-n-Sketchers:
I hope you are enjoying sketching your favorite local business. Here's my favorite Vietnamese restaurant "Rang Dong" sketch in-progress.
Hi Sketchers:
For our next project, we will sketch our favorite local business (restaurant, book store, dry cleaner, etc.). The sketch can be an exterior street view, and interior favorite seat that you enjoy, or a specific product or service that this businesses sells.
For my business, I am selecting "Rang Dong", my favorite Vietnamese restaurant that burned recently in the Oakland Chinatown fire. I had enjoyed Rang Dong's delicious food for many years and hope they will return.
CowABunGA
Last Friday, we finished "San Francisco Belle under red Sun". Please post your finished work under the Rhythmix webpage on Facebook.
For Monday, please select a favorite local business (restaurant, book store, dry cleaner, etc.) that you would like to sketch. Your sketch can be the exterior street view, or an interior seating area, or a particular product, dish, or service this business sells.
My local business is "Rang Dong", a Vietnamese restaurant that was on 7th and Webster in Oakland Chinatown. Last week, Rang Dong was burned in a fire that started behind the building. Unfortunately, it is now closed. So, let's sketch our favorite businesses before they burn down.
Mr. PokeyMon, our resident cactus, has gotten so big he doesn't fit on my son's window ledge anymore. Luckily, I had a bunch of scrap wood pieces from the container garden to build Mr. PokeyMon a window shelf.
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| Mr. PokeyMon on window shelf |
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| Ready for epoxy pour-on top |
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| Lots of epoxy bubbles |
Hi SIP-n-Sketchers:
For Monday, we will start on "San Francisco Belle under red sun". I'm going to use watercolor crayon in addition to acrylic paint. The crayons are applied like a pastel stick but can be blended with water. Additionally, I am not drawing a pencil baseline before applying color.
Hope to see you there,
CoWaBUNGa
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| Rolling gardens |
We finally joined the home gardening trend during the COVID Pandemic. My good friend Aannah K. had given me a few wine barrels many years ago for a rainwater collection system. Unfortunately, I never got around to designing my collection system and the Boss was getting anxious to get rid of the barrels. So, I cut them in half for container plants.
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| Rolling carts |
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| Carts getting a coat of polyurethane |
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| Rolling carts assembly |
Hello Folks:
We concluded the Motel Grand sketching sessions last night. Get ready for the next project...
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| Motel Grand, LA, acrylic and pencil on paper, 8/2020 |
Hi Folks:
I finally cleaned up my sketch and finished. I was stuck for a little on the shadows and shading, but found a way to tie the colors together.
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| Train on Arch Bridge, Acrylic and pencil on paper, 8/2020 |
