It was a short but fun trip to Manhattan – meeting up with my parents and my sister’s family in NJ. Here are just a few quick sketches.

more sketches on my flicker at Urban sketches set

workshop with Eric Tiemens

sketching around Waikiki

view from Dole Plantation

north shore and windward side of Oahu

view from the hotel at 6am

USS Missouri

Moana Surfrider Hotel

Kahana beach

Select photos from Hawaii is on my flickr sets at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/akiko11/sets/72157623829464696/

I like to follow LA’s hidden water ways.

this is an old sketch from Old Town San Diego

… at the LA central library due to rain.  It’s been a while since I participated and it was a lot of fun with good turn out.

the grand rotanda area with Dean Cornwell’s murals.

children’s book area with big lamps and stuffed animals.

– last but not least, the women’s room was really cool.

It was great meeting artists, but also on exhibit at the library was the “world of William Joyce” and “Sketches and drawings of  Neutra”.  Both really inspirational.  To top it off, I went to the opening of “Curiouser and Curiouser: Inspired by ‘Alice In Wonderland” show at Gallery Nucleus with Vivian and Chito.

Her are some of the sketches I did during my stay.  Please check out the rest of the sketches on my “urban sketches” flickr set.

I’ve also uploaded all photos not included on my blog in the New Orleans flickr set

Duncan’s been out in New Orleans working on Green Lantern, so I went to visit him.

I start with the typical airport sketch -

First night at New Orleans, we went to see B 52′s at the house of Blues.  They were awesome!  I’ve only seen them on MTV back in the 90s so it was really something to see them live.

It was rainy and REALLY cold the first several days.   But the whole city was building up to Mardi Gras and people and cops were literally everywhere!

different views of the colorado bridge

saturn’s sky sitting by the service area.  The lots are almost empty and the once bustling service area was really quiet.

I’ve joined the online sketching group called

Urban Sketchers

you can see my sketches on my flickr set

been playing beach volleyball on weekends.  Sketches from parking lot of the pier and a cute neighborhood

trying limited palette colors