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.

Kids Orchestra Japan

 

Young musician of Kids Orchestra Japan
in Oakland, California U.S.A.

My friend, Junko Suzuki Parsons, founder of the band Cyclub, created Kids Orchestra Japan, a project that involves kids in Fukushima, Japan and Oakland, California USA.  

The children will work collaboratively to play music together, creating a cross-cultural exchange of friendship, art, music and education.

Junko and her band Cyclub are currently working with kids in a public school in Oakland, California to learn music that they will eventually play together with young musicians from Fukushima, Japan.


Below, a few of the young musicians in Kids Orchestra in Oakland, California.
 

Junko is from Japan and has been an anti-nuclear activist for many years.  

When the March 11, 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster struck Japan, she was heartbroken for her country. 

Me (left) and Junko Suzuki Parsons (right) 

Junko's activism took on a deeper sense of urgency, as she watched events unfold, first from a distance in San Francisco, then she traveled to the disaster area in Japan and toured with her band Cyclub.

Junko has organized many benefit events to help the Fukushima victims. She now feels that it is incredibly important to reach the children of the disaster area, as they will be the ones most affected.

The band, Cyclub, her communities in Japan and the San Francisco Bay Area, and many concerned people in Japan and the U.S.A. support her mission. 

"Shining in Da Sun" album by Cyclub

CD cover illustration by Rosa Phoenix

The next generation inherits what we leave behind. 

Let's show them that a better way is possible, by educating kids about health and the effects of contaminants in the environment, and by empowering them to build bridges with art, music and cross-cultural collaboration and dialogue.

Children need hope to survive and thrive.

Learn more about Kids Orchestra Japan.

Future Vision

sketchbook page

pen and ink sketch 

by Rosa Phoenix

"I keep having this vision, where I am walking out into the desert."

This is a page from my sketchbook, one month before I moved to Arizona, in 2011.

At the time, it was vision into the future. This vision is now my reality.

It's interesting to look back at past sketchbooks, and see records of my thoughts, dreams and things that I was seeing at that time in my life.

Autumn Colors: Watercolor Painting Lesson

It's Autumn in Arizona! 

What better way to enjoy the changing season, than by walking in Nature, and seeing the autumn colors?

I took these photos on a hike to Horton Springs, near Payson, Arizona. 

Up in the mountains, the trees grow tall, and their leaves put on a spectacular display of color, illuminated in the sunlight!

the creek from Horton Spring

The change of seasons gives us a chance to reflect on the changes in our lives. 

It's a time to celebrate our growth and progress! 

Autumn is a colorful reminder that we can make a brilliant impact here on Earth.

I'm very excited about a new change for me this season: I'm teaching art classes!

I love it, because I am sharing the joy of creativity with others.  

*****

Here's a beginner's lesson in watercolor painting and color mixing, inspired by autumn colors:

First we learn about the color wheel. 

By mixing the three primary colors (red, yellow and blue) we can mix all the colors we need. Do you see the beautiful colors of autumn?

It takes just 3 steps to make our painting of autumn foliage:

Step 1

First we wet the paper, then start dabbing primary colors onto the paper. 

The colors mix together right on the paper. (This is called wet-on-wet technique in watercolor.) 

Then we let it dry.

Step 2

We use a cut piece of sponge, dip it in more paint, and dab the paint on the paper with the sponge.

Here is what it looks like, after we have added color with the sponge. Do you see how it creates texture?


Step 3

To finish the painting, just use a small paintbrush to make the tree limbs and branches. The brown color was mixed using all three primary colors: red, yellow and blue.

And we are done, in 3 easy steps!

Palo Verde in Bloom

 

palo verde tree in springtime

all photos by Rosa Phoenix

Spring has come to the Sonoran Desert. The palo verde is Arizona's state tree.

The palo verde is a native tree of our desert, with a delicate and feathery appearance. It is completely green, with green trunk and branches and tiny leaves.

In springtime, it covers itself with tiny, golden yellow blossoms.

I spent almost my entire childhood in Arizona. I've seen many palo verde trees. Yet I feel that I am seeing them in bloom for the very first time.

 

Why have I never noticed this before?

To see the street lined with many of these delicate desert trees, 

adorned with golden flowers, is a special vision.

I was sad to miss the cherry and plum blossoms of San Francisco this year. 

Imagine my delight to see the palo verde trees of a desert spring.

Sometimes, you have to go away for awhile, and return again, 

to see with new eyes, what you weren't able to see before.

I Follow My Heart

Heart Fire
photo by Abdulhamid Al Fadhly

Happy Rosa Phoenix Day! 

Today is Valentine's Day as well, a time to celebrate love and romance.

Today is also the one year anniversary of launching my business, Rosa Phoenix Art & Design.

It's also time to celebrate a new year (the lunar new year was on Feb 3 -- I launched my business on the lunar new year 2010). 

It's a good time to take note of a change, and the beginning of a new cycle.

I moved back to my hometown of Phoenix, Arizona.

This was after living for 10 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, and prior to that, New York City.

I left Phoenix and my family at age 18, to see the world and live a life of my own.

I quickly adapted to big city life in New York and San Francisco, met lots of people, learned about other cultures, and made great connections everywhere I traveled.

Everywhere I went, I found love . . . in the form of friends, neighbors, romantic partners, and even kind strangers who helped me.

My heart went through its own changes.

It grew with love, it shrank with fear, it broke with sorrow, it strengthened with courage and resolve, it reached out to others when they needed caring, and it even broke others' hearts, through carelessness or cruelty.

My heart has been transformed by all these experiences and interactions with other people. I feel that now it is a stronger and wiser heart, growing and expanding more all the time.

I follow my heart. It constantly leads me to new places that are full of risk and renewal. My heart leads me on my journey as an artist, a twisting and turning path where nothing is known or secure. Yet this is what makes me happy.

My heart also leads me away from my comfortable and familiar life, and many people I love and care about. This makes me sad because I miss them, but I also have faith that my heart is leading me to the place where I need to be.

I trust my heart to guide me.

Now my heart is leading me back home.

I am returning, 18 years after I left, to live with my family again in Phoenix. It definitely feels like a full cycle has been completed, and a new one is starting.

For some time now, I've been having visions of the Arizona desert, its colors and textures and vast open spaces. Arizona is forever a part of me. It called me back, and I responded to the call.

I'm looking forward to the new adventure, whatever is in store for me.

Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate the heart and the people you love. I always follow my heart, and my heart led me back home. Love is here with me, where it has been waiting all along.


What does "follow your heart" mean to you?

At the Airport

Airport sketch

by Rosa Phoenix

Wishing everyone safe travels and pleasant journeys!