art & friends ~ {tuscany}

from Miwako

This evening we went to San Francisco to have dinner with new friends from Siena, Vito and Dina. They are artists of a different medium ~ architectural gardening! If you desire an authentic Tuscan garden design, I would happily recommend this notably kind and enthusiastic couple, landscape architects and founders of Citera Studio. Dina also keeps a cooking tumblr where she shares authentic recipes passed down through her family. It's in Italian, but I find it quite soothing to watch one of her videos of how to make bread... I only wish I could eat some at the end!

They were sweet enough to courier a drawing to me, sent by our mutual friend Miwako. When I saw her illustration, I wanted to hop on a plane to Italy right away to stay with her in this beautiful old building. It was once a convent that has since been transformed into numerous apartments. I can already envision our little ones running around together in the grass or playing tag around the tree in her drawing. If I could go quickly, there would still be a blue sky and warm sun. September is the most beautiful month in Italy.

I've shared a small watercolor of Miwako's on this blog before. She has a delicate touch and refined aesthetic. I know she sent me this drawing because she wants me to move to Siena and keep her company... and it's very tempting! The power of her sketch is quite strong; she knows exactly what I love there. Maybe I can't move there right now but I surely want to plan a visit and spend as many idyllic days together as possible in the beautiful countryside. One day... arrivero'!

art afternoon

My friend Chiori and I met with our boys at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University this afternoon for the last day of the Art of the Book in California show. We ended up going through most of the wings, so got to see unique books, antique books, African art, contemporary Bay Area artists and of course, the famous collection of Rodin sculptures.

Here are some of the beautiful books:

Some of the Rodin collection:

A few of the modern pieces:

And a huge sculpture of metal that one could enter inside and see ever-changing curves of metal, light and shadow:

Iced coffee in the cafe', a walk around the Stanford campus (boys shooting ahead on scooters), a pause in the shade for sketching and admiring the architecture, and soon the sun was setting. A perfect afternoon, I'd say!

Quick sketch that I'll send to Chiori for happy memories.

urban sketch ~ {serra park}

This afternoon I took my youngest to a birthday party at Serra Park in Sunnyvale. At first I did what I always do at parties - eat, talk and take bunches of photos!  But later in the afternoon, the kids moved on to play in the water feature and there I was able to settle down on a bench with a Sharpie and a notepad to sketch the scene.

The water play area of the park consists of unusual, diagonal-cut, concrete structures and thick, blue poles of varying heights that shoot out streams of water in different directions.  It isn't extremely attractive, but it is clean and was interesting to draw.  Towards the end, the kids realized I was sketching them and enjoyed finding themselves on the page.

I took the idea of urban sketching from the pros over at Urban Sketchers.  Their site has a huge list of contributing artists who are all very talented.  I'm now thinking that I should always carry a sketchbook with me.  The tiny, spiral-bound sketchpad I used today was convenient and just discreet enough to not attract the attention of my models as I sketched them playing in the water.

I think I'll try it more often.