«Sunset Sketchers» Collection
Aditi Mehta⎜Alicja Bajorska⎜Alison Cowell⎜Andrew Lee⎜Anita O'brien⎜Callie Floor⎜Cathy Raingarden⎜Daphne Barry⎜Darren J. Wong⎜Douglas Gorney⎜Jamie Urborg⎜Janet Shaw⎜ Jessica Phrogus⎜John Paul Marcelo ⎜Karen Bash⎜Karen Thomas⎜Lauren Abrams⎜Liz Scotta⎜Lucia Gonnella⎜Lynn Obrien⎜Martin Denefeld⎜Mary Conley⎜Matt Wills⎜Nadine⎜SLB⎜Sima Tawakoli⎜Stephanie Chen⎜Tatyana⎜Zip Lehnus
Gallery Hours from October 14 - November 18:
Saturday + Sunday 1 - 5 PM or by appointment
The Sunset Sketchers have been drawing and painting the west side of San Francisco since 2018. As part of the worldwide Urban Sketching movement, we meet at locations from Stanyan to Ocean Beach, Land's End to Fort Funston, sketching our home at the edge of the world from direct observation.
While the Sunset Sketchers' mission may be geographically defined, the membership is not. Artists from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz regularly attend our weekly meetups, with occasional drop-ins from Hong Kong and Zurich.
The 29 artists in our show have brought drawings and watercolors directly from their Sunset sketchbooks, as well as more finished works on paper and canvas--from across San Francisco and beyond. Taken as a whole, they represent the creative crosscurrents swirling in this place where the land meets the sea.
Aditi Mehta
An artist with a diverse canvas, I've journeyed through 8 states in India, drawing inspiration from its rich tapestry of patterns. I've also explored the beauty of three different states in the United States. Now, in vibrant San Francisco, captivated by the city's stunning architecture, my next painting adventure unfolds. I most enjoy intricate penmanship, as it transports me to a relaxing meditative state after a hectic day at work, allowing me to infuse my artwork with vibrant colors and energy. This art show, I am excited to showcase paintings of some of my first experiences in life. I continually evolve my artistic journey by exploring new techniques and drawing inspiration from my travels.
Find out more about Aditi on her Instagram
Alicja Bajorska
I recently discovered the world of urban sketching and joined the Sunset Sketchers and SF Sketchers meetup groups. Being outside and drawing and painting from life is a fun way of slowing down and enjoying the beauty of the city.
Find out more about Alicja on her Instagram
Alison Cowell
I am a comic artist and zine creator but I love sketching with the Sunset Sketchers to expand my subject matter and build community.
Find out more about Alison on her Instagram
Andrew Lee
Andrew is an architect by day and a tennis player, swing dancer, and watercolorist by night. His facility fordrawing is usually the starting point for his work. He enjoys exploring different approaches to rendering ascene: with lines and without, realistic and abstract, simplified and detailed. He has taken watercolor classes in Yosemite National Park in 2021 and 2023. While she rarely helps carry supplies and frequently knocks over her water dish, Andrew's dog Daya usually accompanies him on plein air sessions in the cityand the East Bay.
Anita O'Brien
Anita is a watercolor painter, freelance editor, and world traveler. She grew up in Palo Alto and, after a longer than expected interlude studying, working, and raising a family on the East Coast, has lived in San Francisco for the past 10 years. She loves the camaraderie and inspiration of painting and sketching in California and around the world.
Find out more about Anita on her Instagram
Callie Floor
I moved to San Francisco in 1986 from London, England where I completed my Higher Diploma in Theater Design at The Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. I have spent the subsequent 3 decadesas a Bay Area costume designer for opera, theater and dance.
Cathy Raingarden
I am a Berkeley based artist who is both an 'urban sketcher' and an illustrator for the foodiemagazine, 'Edible East Bay'. My first degree was in fine arts, but I discovered the world of urban sketching when I returned to school for a second degree in landscape architecture, eight years ago. I rediscovered my love of drawing, and now my studio is outside, wherever I sit down with my art materials and sketchbook. I often use ink and watercolor, but love to experiment with materials like colored paper and pastel crayons. To be an urban sketcher is to be a visual storyteller, and our world is full of stories waiting to be drawn.
Daphne Barry
Daphne Barry grew up in San Francisco in the Ingleside Terraces neighborhood. She attended Lincoln High School, San Diego State University, and then San Francisco State University. She has lived in Spain and spent 22 years in Colorado before returning to her home here in San Francisco last year. She worked 15 years for the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department as a Recreation and Art Director prior to her move to Colorado.
She studied painting at the Art Student's League of Denver for 8 years taking classes and workshops with master artists which included Quang Ho, Dennis Pendleton, Raj Chaudhuri, Daniel Sprick and quite a few other wonderful mentors.
Daphne seeks to evoke the feeling, emotion, and mood of the place and time she is depicting. She works primarily in Watercolors and Oil, and some contemporary and abstract work in Acrylics. She leans mostly towards painting landscapes in a representational impressionistic style.
Find out more about Daphne on her Instagram
Darren J. Wong
Darren J. Wong is an Artist/Designer living in his hometown of San Francisco.
He has been on a life-long journey of creating art and exploring new ideas. After a career as a successful and award-winning graphic and user experience designer, he has returned tohis roots of doing what he was born to do - draw and paint.
Inspired by his love for Mid-Century and popular culture, he continues to create works that are familiar andresonate with the masses.
Douglas Gorney
Douglas Gorney sketches the architecture, infrastructure and people of his native San Francisco. He works primarily in watercolor and ink. Douglas is the organizer of the Sunset Sketchers, as well as a founding member of the west side art collective B0ardside.
Jamie Urborg
Jamie created SF Neighbors in June 2020. Her sketches are inspired by the houses, local shops, and little libraries woven throughout the city.
Find out more about Jamie on her Instagram
Janet Shaw
Born in Detroit, Michigan
Classes: Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design / Spectrum School of Art in Racine, Wisconsin / Anthony Holdsworth, San Francisco / City College, San Francisco
Find out more about Janet on her Instagram
Jessica Phrogus
Always enjoying travel and yearning for the novelty of unusual cultures and points of view I realized with COVID and the sharp turn of the isolation/insulation which ensued the richness and diversity of my own backyard, my block, my neighborhood and the Bay Area urban sketching is a perfect fit. All my pieces in this show were created on location. I’ve lived here for over 40 years but never enjoyed and appreciated our “neck of the woods” more than ever and sketching our bay area’s incredible life view point.
John Paul Marcelo
As John Paul Marcelo painted around in the urban decay of Chicago streets, he could only imagine the natural grandeur in far away lands. After graduating from Columbia College studying graphic design and advertising, it was a sudden choice to reject modern technological mediums, paint exclusively en plein air, and migrate to the majestic California coastline. Residing in the Bay Area for over twenty years, he has often blended social and environmental awareness into his work.
Karen Bash
Karen has been drawing and painting since she was a young child. She began painting plein air landscapes in 2000. She now teaches weekly plein air classes as a private instructor and has also taught them for SF Botanical Gardens, National Park Service, SF State University and Cal Poly State University. Karen is also a regular fine art instructor at Sharon Art Studio, a San Francisco community art center.
Find out more about Karen on her Instagram
Karen Thomas
Karen Thomas is an artist who captures, and in some work incorporates, the environment of the San Francisco’s Outer Richmond neighborhood. She has replaced her commute to the office with painting, sketching and mixed media.
Lauren Abrams
Attempting to find my own voice after a lifetime spent painting anonymously in the theater
Find out more about Lauren on her Instagram
Liz Scotta
I love color. I enjoy cutting paper and fabric and repositioning the pieces to create quilts and collages. I am influenced by Matisse, Milton Avery, Romare Bearden and Faith Ringgold.
From an early age, I knew I wanted to leave my small town in Connecticut and see as much of the world as possible. Since then I have traveled around the world and lived in France, Italy and Mexico. My favorite subject activity is recording my environment.
As an Urban Sketcher I draw and paint my surroundings and have published three books on my travel sketches and watercolors.
I enjoy combining my interests in collage with my studies of art history, fashion, and sewing.
Lucia Gonnella
Lucia Gonnella is a plein air painter who paints in the streets of San Francisco. She tries to seize themoment using acrylics, watercolors, and oils. She was born in Bari, Italy where before long she showedan early passion for painting and drawing which continued during her career as a French and Italian teacher and continues even today. She studied design, composition, and life drawing at the Academy of Brera in Milano. In 2006 when she met Martha Zlatar an art coach who finally helped her accept that she was an artist. She did solo and group shows in the Bay Area in places like Live Worms Gallery and City Art Gallery, participated in the Open Studios with ArtSpan and Art Explosion and exhibited in Italy and Hawaii. She teaches online and in-person watercolor workshops for Hayes Valley Art Works.
Lynn OBrien
I was introduced to watercolor painting 20 years ago by taking a course at San Francisco City College. I have continue to work in this medium since then. In 2015 I went with a group to sketch in Cuba and discovered Urban Sketching, or it found me! I was hooked. Now that I am retired, I am able to combinemy drawing and painting with travel journaling. The social and learning aspects of drawing with a like minded group of artists such as the Sunset Sketchers is particularly satisfying.The four pieces I have in this show are direct watercolors, meaning they were created by applying paint to paper, with no initial drawing, some created on location and some in my studio from photos or sketches.
Find out more about Lynn on her Instagram
Martin Denefeld
Graduate of UC Santa Barbara / working in the Architecture field for 30 years / Drawing and Painting in my spare time / 50 + sketchbooks completed in the last 15 years- some posted to Facebook
Mary Conley
Mary is a multi-media artist working in painting and printmaking. A long time resident of the Sunset, she has been involved with the Sunset Sketchers for many years.
Matt Wills
An accomplished graphic designer, illustrator and watercolor artist, Matt is a local to the San Francisco Bay Area his entire life. His colorful, creative works started out as a hobby and have won him awards and accolades through the years. When Matt isn’t working as a graphic designer for Torani Syrups, where he’s been employed since 1998, or sketching all over San Francisco with the SF Urban Sketchers group, he can be found going to movies, traveling, gardening and cooking.
Nadine
Living in San Francisco and inspired by the beauty of the city with their unique views and characteristic buildings. I like to use and experiment with different styles and materials from simple pencil or pen drawings over crayon and watercolor paintings to colorful acrylic paintings with an abstract touch.
SLB
Sabine lives in the Sunset. She loves to sketch.
Sima Tawakoli
San Francisco Bay area based architect and lighting designer, Sima Tawakoli, has developed a deep passion for watercolor sketching after many years of painting and teaching architectural rendering. Her works has been exhibited in several groups and individual exhibitions in the last 20 years.
Find out more about Sima on her Instagram
Stephanie Chen
As a San Francisco based graphic designer, I joined the Sunset Sketchers in 2021 and have been sketching with the gang on weekends ever since. I love the camaraderie and welcoming atmosphere, as well as being surrounded by fellow artists passionate about learning and sharing new techniques with each other.
Tatyana
I am an amateur watercolorist. When I paint, I dive into examination of objects and learn more about them. Painting cultivates my attentiveness, as it requires a reconstruction of objects and their properties. It sharpens my image of reality.
Find out more about Tatyana on her website
Zip Lehnus
Zip Lehnus is an urban artist. His art explores the uneven transition between wildlife and man-made environments. He tries to portray the individual dignity of each subject. Zip lives and works in the Richmond district of San Francisco, alongside Karl the Fog.