Sketchbook: San Francisco

 

 Ocean Beach, San Francisco

pen and ink sketch

by Rosa Phoenix

Ah! Nothing like sketching on the beach, on a rare warm and sunny day in San Francisco!

It's important to refresh, renew, and see new sights. Travel is important for artists, to be stimulated by new scenery and experiences. 

This summer, I was thrilled to take part in Urban Sketchers' 2nd Annual West Coast Sketch Crawl in Portland, Oregon.

I'll be posting more sketches from my trip, so stay tuned.

I've been practicing drawing, and I can see that I have made a lot of improvement. Sketching has helped me a lot. I look forward to sharing what I've learned with my art students.

Sketchbook: San Francisco

crayon and color pencil drawing

The streetlight looks like asparagus. 

It makes me think of Paris. 

In reality, I'm in downtown San Francisco.

Sketchbook: San Francisco

Sketchbook: San Francisco

 

felt tip pen drawing

by Rosa Phoenix

A rainbow over the ice cream shop in Hayes Valley, San Francisco.

Sketchbook: San Francisco

San Francisco Fireboat

pen and ink sketch

by Rosa Phoenix

When you're in San Francisco, take a stroll along the Embarcadero . . . and bring your sketchbook.

 

Sketchbook: San Francisco

 

crayon sketch

by Rosa Phoenix

I broke out the Crayola crayons on a recent visit to San Francisco!

Sketchbook: San Francisco

Sketchbook: Battery Park, New York

 

Small sketch from 2000 of Battery Park streetlamps and the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the background.

Sketchbook: San Francisco

Sketchbook: Phoenix

Rosson House, Phoenix, AZ

crayon drawing by Rosa Phoenix

Hey! There's a Victorian house in Phoenix!

This is the Rosson House Museum in downtown Phoenix. It was built in 1895 for an early Mayor of Phoenix. It reminds me of the beautiful Victorian houses of San Francisco.

LINKS

Rosson House Museum

Sketchbook: Papago Park, Phoenix

Papago Park "Hole in the Rock"

sketch by Rosa Phoenix

Here is a sketch I made in Papago Park, Phoenix, Arizona.  Papago Park is known for its unusual sandstone rock formations. This one is called "Hole in the Rock". It's said that the Hohokam ancient people used the hole as an observatory to view celestial events. It's one of my favorite places for watching a sunset. 

 Papago Park

 photo by Rosa Phoenix

My first on-location sketch since San Francisco. Luckily, there are a lot of beautiful sights to sketch right around Phoenix. I've found some other artists to sketch with, so that makes it more fun.

St. Ignatius Church Sketch

 

 crayon and color pencil sketch

by Rosa Phoenix

I keep sketching St. Ignatius Church.  

This view is from Buena Vista Park. 

The foreground shapes suggested sheep, so I went with it. 

At the Airport

Airport sketch

by Rosa Phoenix

Wishing everyone safe travels and pleasant journeys!

I'm an Urban Sketcher!

pen and ink sketch by Rosa Phoenix

I'm now a member of Urban Sketchers! If you have been following my blog you know I have mentioned this site before. There are so many terrific artists on this site, who all enjoy sketching the world around them.

Urban Sketchers members list is arranged by country and then city, with links to the artists' blogs or flickr pages. So, people who want to look at San Francisco sketches will be able to find my work.

Check it out, you'll see the best sketches!

Urban Sketchers

Sketchbook: San Francisco

Tibet Center

watercolor pencil 

in moleskine watercolor notebook

by Rosa Phoenix

I love the colors of Tibet. Bright red, orange, deep blue and yellow. And colorful prayer flags blowing in the wind.

A man saw me sketching and said, that's my house!

He said he lived at the Tibet Center and did the gardening. He wanted to make sure the garden was in the drawing.

this is a tiny door

see the colorful prayer flags

Sketchbook: New York

Cloisters Museum

watercolor pencil 

in moleskine watercolor sketchbook

by Rosa Phoenix

Fort Tryon Park is a beautiful hillside park overlooking the Hudson River.  On top of the hill is the Cloisters Museum, home of an important collection of Medieval Christian art.

Fort Tryon Park, NYC

watercolor pencil sketch

in moleskine watercolor sketchbook

by Rosa Phoenix

 It's a lovely place for a picnic!


I also wrote about the Cloisters Museum in my blog post here.

Sketchbook: San Francisco

2 Blue Houses

watercolor pencil 

in moleskine watercolor sketchbook

by Rosa Phoenix

Here are 2 recent watercolor pencil sketches. They seem to go together.

Sketchbook: San Francisco

crayon and color pencil on paper
by Rosa Phoenix

I've been wanting to sketch this house for awhile. 

I had to work up the nerve to take it on.

This house presented some challenges.

First of all, the entire house is painted a dull brown color. If I were to draw the house exactly as I see it, this dull brown color would have made it appear very flat and one-dimensional.

My solution was to use color to exaggerate the shadows and highlights of the house. Cool colors for the shadows and warm sunny colors to approximate sunshine. Touches of red liven it up even more.

I like the result!

Sketchbook: San Francisco

felt tip pen and ink drawing by Rosa Phoenix

This is the view from Tank Hill, looking toward downtown San Francisco and the Bay.

You can see some San Francisco landmarks in this sketch, including the TransAmerica Pyramid building, the Bay Bridge, City Hall, Mission Dolores and Market Street (which I colored yellow). The big rainbow flag marks the intersection of Market and Castro, center of the Castro District (birthplace of the gay rights movement).

There is also a new huge tower at the entrance to the Bay Bridge. I think it is called Rincon, but I call it the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze Tower, because that is what it looks like, to me. If only it cleaned the air as well!

I did this sketch with black Uniball pen, and then I colored it later with felt tip pens.

Birthday Self Portrait

watercolor pencil in moleskine watercolor sketchbook

by Rosa Phoenix

I was wondering, what should I draw now? Since it was my birthday, I drew myself! 

I haven't done a self portrait in years. Since it was my birthday, I gave myself blue hair (something I have always wanted!) Hey, it matches my outfit!