Quick Sketch of a Church in Whittier

This is a quick sketch of a church in Whittier, California. I am experimenting with drawing less and painting more. I took about three minutes to make the sketch, paying no attention to detail - I just outlined the big shapes and remembered the values. I ignored the cars, just letting the paint go right over them. The windows are mere strokes of dark grey, and the people just blobs. This is a very small sketch: 6" x 9", done in my Aquabee sketchbook. I am pleased with the effort because it has an energetic looseness, a sense of light and dark, and an interesting composition.

Reworking More Paintings

Lately I have been going through my stack of previously done paintings and reworking them in the studio. I have been adding gouache, pastel and colored pencil as needed to enhance and add energy to paintings that I feel were still lacking. Here are a few examples.

The top sketch is of the Athenaeum at Caltech; the middle one is a view from under the Colorado Street Bridge; and the bottom one is a of a collection of cottages at Crystal Cove.

Los Angeles Wall Mural - Part 8

The Los Angeles wall mural is almost completed. I think one more session will do it.

Waiting Sketches

Here are some sketches I made while waiting. That is the advantage of always having a sketchbook ready to go: you get a lot of practice, and the waiting time passes quickly.  I did these sketches with my Sanford Uniball Micro pen, accented with a Pentel Sign Pen, and painted them later in my studio, imagining the colors.

The drawing of each of these took about five minutes. The top one was done while sitting on the curb in a parking lot waiting for Suzanne. I had to work fast. I only had enough time to capture the essence of the scene. 

My Minimal Travel Sketching Kit

I have mentioned my equipment before, but felt it was time again to share my minimal gear: the supplies that travel with me everywhere. Here it is:

6" x  9" Aquabee Super Deluxe Sketchbook
Winsor & Newton Artist's Field Sketchbox filled with Holbien Watercolor paint:

Gamboge Nova
Permanent Yellow Orange
Cadmium Red Light
Alizarin Crimson
Olive Green/Greenish Yellow
Raw Sienna
Burnt Sienna
Burnt Umber
Cerulean Blue
Colbalt Blue
Marine Blue
Ultramarine Deep

Sable Travel Brushes from Daniel Smith
0.5 mechanical pencil with HB lead
Sanford Unibal Micro pen
Pentel Sign Pen
Mars Staedtler Eraser
Tube of Titanium white

Everything but the sketchbook travels in a small black nylon pouch that I carry in my attache/satchel (or if on the weekend, my back pack). With this simple set I can paint anywhere, anytime. I can practice drawing, sketching, and painting everyday with minimal effort. 

I hope this is helpful.

Pasadena Train Station Model - Part 10

This is the final step of the Pasadena Train Station Model. I used a small touch of ACC glue to attach an N-scale passenger car to the track and I mounted two Mini-Metals taxi cabs to the pick up area. My friend Yung made a case from 1/4" acrylic. It will now join my other architectural models on display in my studio.

Los Angeles Wall Mural - Part 7

Weekend in Wisconsin

Here is a collection of sketches from a trip I took last weekend to Wisconsin to attend a friend's wedding. There are views from inside the plane, looking out of the plane, the view from the balcony looking at the lake, the barn where the wedding took place and other miscellaneous sketches from the trip. I travelled light, and came back with my sketchbook full.