I (finally) made it to the SFMoMa, so long after it opened. What a gorgeous space… I love Calder and can watch those delicately balance mobiles for hours. The shadows they cast are especially fascinating. And what’s a museum sketch without the ubiquitous guard in the background?
There were too many favorites to stop and sketch, so I just sketched at places we stopped when the kids were fatigued. Luckily, everything in the museum makes for a good sketch. On the left, below is a Tony Cragg made from industrial stuff. And on the right a really fun and energetic Frank Stella inspired by a racecar track.
I grew up living in tall apartments in Bombay and still miss living up high above a city. So staying up in the city and watching the street below on a wet night felt like home.
Here’s the view of the rooftops out of our window the next morning. I love not only the energy of a city, but also it’s texture: nothing is very clean and pristine, everything is weathered and tells a story.
The kids discovered at breakfast the next day that you can overdose on Nutella. Each of the Nutella and strawberry crepes at Honey Honey could have fed a whole family.
The weather in San Francisco is so unpredictable. One day it poured all over my sketch in the very short time I stood outside.
And the next day was spectacularly sunny at Grace Cathedral.I was tempted to leave it in just line but then I felt I just had to capture that blue sky.
Sketch Away: Travels with my sketchbook 
I love sketches in general and very much yours. I draw sketches too, just for me, it helps to have a more precise vision and it helps me to think!
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They are really beautiful! You can feel through the sketches that SF inspired you. Pieces with wet SF are my favourite. If I would be your friend your art work would be the only thing I ask for my birthday. Thank you for sharing.
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Love the energy and spontaneity of your work – and that you let the rain paint in your journal. Sharing is fun.
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Yes, it is, Sharon, thanks for commenting, it’s always nice to hear from artists and fellow bloggers.
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Your sketches captured the spirit of your stay there in San Francisco. And the rain sketch is perfect!
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Thanks Marlene, That rain sketch did fade quite a bit when it dried, though. But I love that it captures that day as it was.
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This is a very special group of sketches! I also noticed the shadows from the Calder piece, when I visited the new MoMa. I always enjoy reading your notes on family activities, impressions and personal history…great to have a context for seeing a scene through your eyes a bit more.
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Thanks Rhoda, the little I can do with words fills in the gaps in the pictures for me. But pictures first, always 🙂
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Having just been to MOMA this week I was tickled to see your sketches! I am constantly in awe of your ability to capture the feel of these city scenes too. My favorites then are the ones looking down on the city streets and esp the nighttime one!
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we were there the same day, Susan, on Saturday! Viewing a city like that from above is meditative to me: I grew up in Bombay, living in a 7th floor apartment and spent an inordinate amount of time just standing in the window watches things happen below. Brawls, near accidents, cricket matches, arguments, and just the daily going ons of a city. I loved it.
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Yes, she’s really good. And prolific. Thank you SO much for sending this……somehow I missed this post and I really really love it. Thanks, buddy!
Also, I think the rain on the sketch added so much interesting and appropriate texture!
Xoxoxoxox
Nancy
/Sent from my iPad
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Nancy, Thank you so very much, you’re really kind. But I think you meant to send this as an email to someone else?
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Your sketches are so inspiring. I’ve taken your Craftsy class and would love to see more on sketching buildings (yours are so loose, alive and colorful) and watercolor sketching (your colors are amazing)! I would sign up for any online course you offer.
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Oh, these SO capture the City! I lived and worked there long ago and have just finished Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City,” and these would be perfect illustrations for some of his tales. Just great! Thanks for posting them.
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Thanks Phoebe, that would be such a dream to illustrate a book cover for one of Armistead’s books or do a poster for a talk by him! I read the books when I first moved to the Bay Area from India and have always loved how he tells little stories that are so fascinating, but you end up with a picture of the city he loves through them.
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