Last night I met up with the Urban Sketchers of the Bay Area for the first time. We met at the Tilden Park Carousel Christmas Extravaganza. After a very dark and spooky drive through the woods I came up to the old carousel building decked out with thousands of lights, Christmas village decorations and nice little hut where the kids can talk with Santa and the Elves.

We were there for just 2 hours and I didn’t get a whole lot done. I sat outside and sketched one of the 6-foot tall nutcrackers. The fella working there was kind enough to leave it out for me to finish even though it was closing time.

I also sketched a view of the carousel from a picnic table just outside. It’s tough sketching things that come in and out of view at such speed!