Sketches, musings, and other stuff from my perspective. I’d love to hear from you (because I don’t know if anyone ever sees this) so please let me know if you’re out there.
Our wet Winter brought brilliant wildflowers to California in the Spring and I was delighted. While on my walks, I photographed the variety of colorful blooms and then went to the studio to paint.
Flower painting in my studioSizes ratios are not consistent hereSometimes it’s hard to identify the species, even with the Seek app.
Spotlight on Pride of Madiera
Pride of Madiera is an invasive species that thrives in NorCal coastal areas. The blossoms on this bush start as cone-headed shoots, which grow into a plethora of tiny purplish blue flowers, some with fuchsia hairs . The bushes can grow to be 20 feet tall.
This year, I pulled off one of the little buds to find that it was its own gem: an incredible curl of plant with tiny periwinkle colored flowers along with that fuchsia hair and buds. I was mesmerized and drew numerous studies of the flowers.
Pride of Madiera from a variety of distances and angles
Here are some photos of Pride of Madiera in action
Incredible, right?Some of the blossoms are pink, some are more on the white sideHillside surrounding the Robin Williams tunnel entry going into Marin County from the Golden Gate Bridge
It’s Tuesday and I’m still lit up from spending Friday and Saturday at San Francisco’s biggest music party, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, a free festival hosted by the late, great Warren Hellman estate.
All the characters come out of the woodwork for this three day festival.
Watching Asleep at the Wheel at the Banjo Stage from the picnic tables
She was rocking the fringe tunic and flower child look
We love this wonderful free festival in Golden Gate Park. I’m always impressed with how well organized it is, from the stages to the graphics to the mobile app; it’s top notch. Over the years, we’ve developed a drill—arrive early while it’s still uncrowded and comprised almost exclusively of old futs like us. I always feel buoyant then as I anticipate the promise of the day’s events.
Friday’s lineup mostly featured bands that were new to us but I’d prepped by previewing them online. Jake Blount’s group played at the friendliest locale, the Bandwagon: an RV outfitted to serve as a stage. The group was smokin’ hot and I experienced the first of many perfect moments as someone blew bubbles through the audience, shrouded in fog.
Jake Blount’s band at the Bandwagon Stage. He’s from Providence, Rhode Island. Yes, those are matching pastel jumpsuits.
Saturday started with another perfect moment as we arrived; Jerry Harrison’s roadies performed their sound check by playing one of the songs from Remain in Light. They executed the piece extremely well and before I knew it, I was dancing at the foot of that stage.
I further entertained myself by sketching some of the characters and styles at the festival. This guy with the eyebrows…
Other perfect moments
Randomly running into friends
Talking with the dad of Drive-by Truckers’ bassist from Alabama, who was happy to remark that the festival was so “wholesome.” Indeed, babies, toddlers and dogs roamed freely. This year seemed to be devoid of assholes and drunks.
Jim Lauderdale sports a hot blue suit with matching cowboy boots
Traveling light with our backrests to discover new acts; being delighted by Rayne Gellert and Kieran Kane who were great and funny and gob smacked by the appreciation of the audience.
Their music was great and Kieran Kane was very funny
Hearing Elvis Costello clear as a bell from way up the top of the ridge, above the din of concert-going talkers (the many conversations)
Couldn’t see Elvis but could hear him perfectly
A little girl’s unicorn bubble machine showering me in hundreds of small bubbles
And THE highlight dancing madly with those young San Francisco pixies and leprechauns to the electrifying music of Talking Heads and the Remain in Light album, played by Jerry, Adrian Belew and their funky African rhythm band.
We’ll be back again next year. Thank you, Warren Hellman and family for throwing us this kick-ass party each year. You bring so much joy to the City that you loved. XOXOXO
I have become a big fan of Instagram. Through that app, I’ve found wonderful sketchers, illustrators and artists and I’ve been sharing my work (@susanstanger5995—when I picked the handle, I didn’t know you were supposed to pick something more descriptive—I’m still learning). In early March, I learned about a challenge to sketch 100 people in a week. You might have noticed that I love to draw people so this was a no brainer for me. But it wasn’t easy. It was really 100 people in 5 days and by the end of the week, I was pretty much burnt out on drawing people.
On the other hand (so to speak), my drawing became more facile and quicker. I also started using other media, like a sharpie pen and colored pencils. One day, I banged out several sketches that way in just half an hour. Really quick and half from memory as my subjects moved through and out of eyeshot.
I posted on Instagram every day but the drawings were out of order and sometimes incomplete. I knew that eventually I would post them here so I could show them all in order (somewhat—though it seems that I’m missing a couple) and write more details about what I was doing, if I wanted to. So, here they are, my sketches of 100 people…
These first few sketches were done at the Mill valley Community Action Network meeting
These first sketches were done during a meeting of the Mill Valley CAN (Community Action Network) meeting. A group that is doing fantastic political action!
The ferry is a wonderful place to sketch people because they seldom see me drawing them. Most are reading something, as this sketch shows.
Here’s where I start doing those really quick sketches with the Sharpie pen and colored pencils. These were created in the lobby of the building where I work, 201 Mission St. on the corner of Beale in SF.
Back on the Ferry
A few of my colleagues:
More quick sketches with a sharpie. I sketched first and colored in later.
Finally doing a few just with paint. It was really fun and interesting to mix it up and do things a little differently.
This is the place that Robin called the “Murder Shed” because it’s a dilapidated shed behind her house that looks creepy in the night. But there’s also this tree that’s blooming with red and pink flowers right in front. I thought it was beautiful and cool!
The next day, I went with my folks to Pier 39 for “Tulipmania” which was basically no more than a marketing campaign and several planters full of tulips. I was more taken by the seals/sea lions. They are pretty funny.
I miss my wonderful former colleague, Dominique. She’s a talented illustrator and we used to go out to sketch in the financial district of San Francisco at lunchtime on Wednesdays. She’s freelancing now but I’m trying to keep the tradition going on my own.
This week, I did a quick sketch of Coit Tower (minus the traffic, trolley lines and streetlamps) from the Embarcadero.
I just spent a day with Dominique and Robin in Oakland at Robin’s. Her house is beautiful and her studio is every artist’s fantasy – wonderful light, space, and all kinds of fantastic supplies. I couldn’t resist drawing one wall of the space, chock-a-block with treasures.
I am also fascinated with the Grand Newsstand on Market which sells a variety of ZINES. It’s such a cool kiosk type of thing and of course, I love zines!
A few of my colleagues:
This week, I did a quick sketch of Coit Tower (minus the traffic, trolley lines and streetlamps) from the Embarcadero.
Suzine II 