Sketching at Ikea, Emeryville [May 2017]
When we picked the Emeryville Ikea for our East Bay Sketchers meetup, I didn’t know if it would be a terrible idea or a good one. It was a fabulous idea. The Ikea staff was very friendly and the people-watching was spectacular.
Ikea has it all: lots of people of all sorts and sizes, interiors, fabrics, little things (so many little things!), interesting shapes, clean bathrooms, and wonderful landscape views from the top of the parking garage.
Ikea is sketching nirvana.
From the garage you can see across to Marin (with a snippet of the Golden Gate Bridge) AND the Oakland port loaders and East span of the Bay Bridge.
So. Many. Things. The colors of the products are fun and the shapes just weird enough to keep you looking.
Let’s be clear. I suck at drawing cups. But still, I persist.
All the pillows in a tumble of color, pattern and texture. And funny conversations overheard in the pillow aisle.
This sketch took 20 minutes to draw in line, and another 25 to watercolor afterwards. I use reference photos to get the colors right.
