Japanes Tea Gardens, Golden Gate Park (San Francisco, CA)

In August, I went back to the Bay Area to see my parents and to attend the San Francisco Pen Show. This year, my buddies Malachi and Brooke joined me. 

We purchased all-access passes to the San Francisco Pen Show. The show moved to a new venue this year (not far from the old venue). Friday morning, we woke up early and spent the day at the show. I had some items to pick up for friends and family, so those were the first tables I hit. I was amazed at how many people I knew at the show having attended last year and having made many acquaintances in the community.  

I sold a pen and bought two pens. Budget was blown, but it could have been worse.

Friday night, we headed out to Santa Cruz for dinner and a little wandering. 

Saturday, we headed back to the show for the morning. My Focus was on stationery that day and bought a bunch of notebooks. By Saturday afternoon, we were done with the show as the crowds were getting larger. 

We headed up to San Francisco after the show and wanted to decompress. I brought the gang to the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park. This was a place I had been to before and I knew the calm, peaceful nature of the gardens. 

I found a nice spot to sit in front of this structure. It was right along a foot path, so there were several people walking by. However, there was a little lake and the sounds of the waterfalls was peaceful. I thought this would be a fun sketch.

A lot of sketching seems to be about framing. I like using natural frames wherever possible. As you can see from the photos above, the trees provided a good frame. The question was whether or not I could incorporate the little lake, the fence, or the lantern looking structure. I ultimately decided, as often is the case, that over-working would be bad and not provide great context. 

This is a shot of my final piece. Note that my Chinese Chop stamp (upper right hand corner) fit nicely stylistically on this sketch.

I'm not great at sketching moving water, but I really wanted to capture that little waterfall. I think the water turned out ok in this. 

Couple other shots from the weekend: 

Malachi and Brooke standing on the bridge in the Gardens

Us at the Stinking Rose Restaurant eating garlic on top of garlic on top of Garlic. 

Our little friend at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk lounging away.