Redbud Tree (aka Judas Tree) in Bloom

My Friday outing was a lot of fun as I ventured into the google campus to draw some blooming trees - and will be back for more as they have some amazing specimens!

Right now redbuds (aka Judas tree) are in bloom, and their delicate branches are covered in magnificently magenta flowers and just a hint of leaves to come (I love the shape of their leaves and the fact that old seedpods are still hanging on many branches). And California Blue sky provided an amazing background - on a bright (and HOT for March) day it was a joy to sketch!

Google Orb!

I had a great time sketching the Orb installation at the Google Headquarters / Google Experience in Mountain View. This sculpture was created by Marc Fornes @theverymany - and we chose it for our sketching outing with @suhitasketch this week. 

I saw the sculpture in different light conditions and with a crowd of people around and by itself - and it was wonderfully intriguing every time. The building in the background is the famous Gradient Canopy and deserves a separate sketching outing by itself. I sketched its brother - Bayview last year - in black, white and pink and in gouache. 

We had a little over an hour to work on this and I feel like there needs to be another attempt (or several) but I am happy to share these black-and-white versions.

There is a little video with the process:

I encourage you to visit Suhita's version on her instagram - it is so colorful and textured - when I look at it I can feel how sunny the day was and how the shadows of the surfaces created cool areas!

100 Views of Silicon Valley: Mountain View - Google

Google occupies a wide range of different buildings in Mountain View and around the area but they all have some things in common: colorful umbrellas, chairs, and google bikes. And googlers everywhere :) Soon there will be a whole set of specifically google buildings - I sketched the construction site at the beginning of this project. Based on what's in the proposal it will be a grand building - but I am sure my way of recognizing a place by a bright set of yellow, red, blue and green will work there too :)


Here is a couple of process shots:

100 Views of Silicon Valley

This is one of the mini gouaches I did recently while out on a quick urban sketch/meet with Suhita Shirodkar. This is a construction site of a brand new Google Campus in Mountain View.

As I looked at this page and at a few other mini-paintings on my table and in my sketchbooks I realized that I am collecting a nice set - and decided to give it a name and a goal. This is how "100 Views of Silicon Valley - a collection of iconic views in mini gouache paintings" were born.
#100viewsofsiliconvalley

Spring in California - Magnolias and Google Construction Site.

Badger Log: 36 (2014)