Last Sunday, San Jose closed six miles of streets to car traffic, creating a pedestrian- and bike-friendly urban playground. M. and I took our bikes and joined in the fun. The heat was intense, so I only got a few sketches in. Here are my impressions of Japantown, where we visited vendor booths and watched San Jose Taiko, our local kumidaiko (Japanese ensemble drumming) troupe.





Later I sketched the flea market near Burbank Antiques on W. San Carlos Street while M. fixed a flat on his bike.



I noticed that there were more bikes than pedestrians this year -- perhaps due to the expanded route. Hope they increase the frequency of the event -- we discovered a lot of businesses along the way that we didn't even know existed!

Plein air acrylic, painted on a hot afternoon while dodging bees at Almaden Lake Park in San Jose. Not quite done with it -- needs a few studio touchups.

I've been working on a pair of paintings of the hills behind our house. Took the reference photos on a hike and sketched it out quite a while ago. Now committing it to canvas using Golden Open Acrylics and the biggest brushes I can find in my studio. I'm starting with a red underpainting and laying in big blocks of color.

After the sketch crawl in Tacoma, we headed to Seattle for the rest of the weekend.

Dinner at Wild Ginger was followed by a visit to The Triple Door's Musicquarium to hear the roots/blues sound of the JD Hobson Band.





So much fun! We really should catch live music acts more often.

The next day, M. surprised me with a rowboat ride at the Center for Wooden Boats on South Lake Union. I drew Gasworks Park and one of the bridges as he rowed me around, dodging the fast-landing seaplanes all around.