Month: April 2014

California, here we come

We have a very early flight tomorrow for San Francisco. We’re taking a family vacation in California; Adrien’s first time in the USA. And we’re renting a convertible Mustang.

Here’s our road trip itinerary, screenshot courtesy of Vlad:

screenshot of our April 2014 California road trip

  • Mon. 21-Apr: SFO -> Santa Clara (52 km), Steve Jobs’ garage (2066 Christ Drive), Apple (1 Infinite Loop), Santa Cruz Natural Bridges State Beach and boardwalk.
  • Tue. 22-Apr: -> Monterey (116 km), Monterey Bay Aquarium, Carmel, Point Lobos State Reserve.
  • Wed. 22-Apr: -> Big Sur (127 km), Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Mc Way Falls, Canyon Trail for sequoias.
  • Thu. 23-Apr: (Big Sur, cont’d)
  • Fri. 24-Apr: -> Mohave (Tehachapi) (321 km)
  • Sat. 25-Apr: -> Death Valley (Furnace Creek) (331 km), Zabrisky Point.
  • Sun. 26-Apr: -> Lone Pine (173 km)
  • Mon. 27-Apr: -> Mono Lake (197 km)
  • Tue. 28-Apr: -> Sausalito (400 km) via Lake Tahoe, Sacramento. Muir Woods, Point Reyes.
  • Wed. 29-Apr: -> San Francisco (16 km), Golden Gate Bridge, China Town, Russian Hill, etc.
  • Thu. 30-Apr: (San Francisco, cont’d), Mission, Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz.
  • Fri. 1-May: -> SFO airport in San Bruno, farewell California.

#sketches: Hiroshige’s “View from Massaki”, 1857

I drew Hiroshige’s “View from Massaki on the Grove near Suijin Shrine, the Uchigawa Inlet and Sekiya Village” (8-1857), on iPad mini again, using ArtRage.

It took a couple days, 3 to 5 hours each. Below is a big version (1536×2048).

Quoting from the Scholten Japanese Art website:

This composition shows a view towards the Suijin Shrine on the Sumida River and Uchigawa inlet as seen through a round-shaped window from the second floor of a teahouse located in front of the Massaki Inari Shrine. At left the vase with a camellia blossoms and the branches of blossoming plum outside indicates the timing is early spring, and the dark hills in the distance set the time of day nearing dusk. The season and the proximity to the Masasaki Inari shrine suggest that it may be the first day of the horse in the second month, a day associated with visiting shrines devoted to Inari.

Hiroshige's View from Massaki, 1857