Quirky Berkeley

The Quirky Material Culture of Berkeley

Quirky Berkeley
  • Walkers
  • Help us!
  • Links
  • Blogs/Albums
  • Contact us
  • Latest Posts
  • Quirky Berkeley in the Media
July 7, 2019 by tomdalzell

Jon Balderston’s Sketch Books

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

In the fall of 2016 I posted about Jon Balderston, whom I called “Quirky Berkelety Royalty.”

In the fall of 2017, I posted about a visit to the Alameda Point Flea Market

Quirky Berkeley visits the Alameda Flea market in Alameda, Calif., on September 3rd, 2017.

Maracia Donahue and Jon Balderston walked me around.  Those, my dear friend, are two absolute quirky powerhouses.

Jon has been through the wringer with a health issue but he surely seems to be in a good place now.  In my new project of looking at and photographing and posting QB artist sketchbooks, I chose Balderston to follow my brilliant post about the brilliant artist Susan Brooks.

Here he is –

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

Tell me he doesn’t look like a million dollars, if, perhaps, it is in a badger sort of way.

When I visited Bladerston in 2016, his good dog Joey was alive and well.  Now he is neither.  He was a good dog.

This is Jacques, who is a good cat.  Ballderston has a lead-up to the wonderful pun “a chat in the dark” but I don’t remember it.

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

Thoe who know me know that I don’t know when to stop with cats and I end up getting scratched and/or bitten.  (That is a lot of know’s in a row, isn’t it?)

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

‘Twas ever thus with Jacques.

Photo Jon Balderston

Photo Jon Balderston

In the interest of up-to-date news, there is a new puppy in the family.

Anyway, I asked to see Balderston’s sketches and he took us out to the Hodge Podge Lodge behind his house and brought out his sketch books.  We focused on the sketches he started after a visit to Toronto in July, 2018.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019Many of Balderston’s recent sketches are of this man who has no name.  If you click on these photos they will enlarge and you can print them and they can be colored.  I encourage you to do this

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

Before the new man with no name there was this man who also had no name.  They appear to share common ancestors.

More drawings of the new man:

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Balderston sketched the man illustrating a number of idioms.

Sawing the limb you're sitting on

Sawing the limb you’re sitting on

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

A deer in the headlights.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Painting yourself into a corner

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Building a house of cards

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Putting the cart before the horse

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Being a slave to the clock and money.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Up the stream with no paddle.

There are several autobiographical sketches.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

His afflictions.

His life

His life

One day Jon’s wife Linda was a little grumpy.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Jon drew Linda with the man with no man.  It cheered her up.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Here Balderston took the man with no name into three dimensions.  Who knew?

here are many other drawings, not of the new man and not of idioms.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Ship of Fool

This is the ship of fool.  Singular.  Not ship of fools.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

You can see with the watercolor the intimations of painting.Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

This sketch made it all the way to painting:

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

Here are several other new paintings:

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019 Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

A new collage:

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

And a series of geometry photos:

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

What next with the drawings?

Photo: https://www.benjybrooke.com/About

Photo: https://www.benjybrooke.com/About

Balderston’s nephew Benjy Brooke is an animator. He and Balderston  have discussed making an animated version of Mozart’s Magic Flute, libretto by  Emanuel Schikaneder.  That would be really really something.

Balderston also showed us new acquisitions to his upstairs room.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

The vintage laundry soap boxes are new.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

A very creepy hand, no?

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

Razor blade displays – who knew how cool they could be?

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

Cascade Ginger Ale is made and sold in Australia. Cascade Beverages was established in 1886 as part of the Cascade Brewery in Tasmania.  It became part of the Coca-Cola Amatil business in 2013 and continues to made in Australia with majority Australian ingredients.

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

New paper.  Lots of new paper.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

The ceramic shoes are new collection.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

The candy bar boxes are another new interest.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

There is a drawing table near the outside door of the Hodge Podge Lodge.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

On the way to the front door are the dining room and living room.  I posted before photos of the furniture he made.  Two have new accessories, a globe and a samovar.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

The globe was a birthday present.  I missed the party and regret it.  On further examination I see that the samovar is not new. I like the word and I like the idea and i reminds me of the Philadelphia winter of my senior year of high school when I discovered and immersed myself in Russian short stories – so it stays.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on May 14th, 2019.

In August and September, Balderston’s work will be shown at Julie’s Tea and Coffee Garden at 1223 Park Street Alameda.  Worry not, I will remind you when it gets closer.

I asked my friend to look through this post.  He is fond of Balderston’s work and Balderston and smiled as he scrolled through the sketch photos.  He hand me a photo and said he’d explain when he was done with the post.

Dino Burning 2

 

When he finished the post he looked up.  I said, “And?”

“The Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience in Canon City, Colorado.  In March 2018 there was an unfortunate electrical issue with the T Rex.  That’s quite a fire.”

I agree and asked for his judgment on the post.

Quirky Berkeley 05-12-16

Posted in Uncategorized. RSS 2.0 feed.
« Emmanuel Catarino Montoya
R. Crumb and Berkeley »

4 Responses to Jon Balderston’s Sketch Books

  1. Tom Balderston says:
    July 10, 2019 at 1:01 am

    Love this! We are collectors. He’s a terrific artist.

    (Yes, I’m one of his brothers. But I am totally unbaised.).

    Reply
    • tomdalzell says:
      July 12, 2019 at 5:05 am

      What do you collect?

      Tom

      Reply
  2. Jamie Fishman says:
    July 10, 2019 at 10:05 am

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BxTmhO1A-vQ/?igshid=1a1dk5mb89yfn Portrait of Jon at the Alameda Flea Market

    Reply
    • Penny Brogden says:
      July 12, 2019 at 10:52 pm

      I loved this post. I got invited to his last birthday party and I am glad I didn’t spend time
      photographing everything, because you did it! ( and so nicely!)
      P

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Here you will find photos of the oddball, whimsical, eccentric, and the near-rhyme quirky material culture of Berkeley.
Read More

Subscribe

Categories

  • Animals
  • Architecture
  • Cars, Trains and Planes
  • Food
  • Gone
  • Graffiti
  • Ma
  • Mailboxes
  • Major Quirky
  • Miscellaneous
  • Murals
  • Painted
  • Peace
  • Signs
  • Walks

All content © 2025 by Quirky Berkeley. Base WordPress Theme by Graph Paper Press