Category: Occidental

An extra sketch session from our fellow sketcher Susan Cornelis:

I would like to invite the Ready Set Sketchers to the Fool’s Day Parade in Occidental, April 1st. http://www.occidentalfoolsparade.com/  Meet at the Occidental Community Center, in costume, at noon. If you like to sketch people in costume, there’s no better setting. Walk in the parade while sketching or sit on the street and watch. The Hubbub Club band and others music, food, a talent show, It’s all totally foolish and fun.

Occidental is a small Northern California mountain town founded in 1876. The cafe I sketched there, Howard’s Station Cafe, is named after William “Dutch Bill” Howard, who supposedly was not really Dutch, nor was his name William Howard. According to the restaurant’s website, “He was in fact, a Danish sailor named Christopher Thornassen Folkmann, born in 1823. Folkmann was serving as an able bodied seaman on the U.S. Ship St. Mary, which dropped anchor in San Francisco Bay in 1849.”

Howard granted the North Pacific Coast Railroad right-of-way across his land to connect the nearby town of Cazadero to Sausalito on the San Francisco Bay. In return, he received a lifetime railway pass and the station was named after him.

The Howard Station Cafe serves delicious organic breakfasts and lunches. On weekends, there is always a wait to get a table so come early (before 9am)—or late (after 1pm).

Our Ready, Set, Sketch! group met at 10 am in front of Howard’s Cafe Saturday and sketched the area.  At 1pm we shared our sketches and then had lunch at the Cafe. A good time was had by all!

This sketch has been published in the Press Democrat online edition and in the Dec 21, 2013 edition of the Towns section of the PD.

Come join us Saturday October 19 in Occidental for the next “Ready, Set, Sketch!” group outing!

We’ll meet at 10am in front of Howard Station Cafe ​located at 3611 bohemian hwy, Occidental, CA

All you need is something to draw on and something to draw with. The event is free.

Here’s a Google map link: http://goo.gl/maps/0XY9O

Hope to see you there!