A trip to the LA Zoo...

Every fall I plan an LA Zoo sketching trip with my students.  I go and do some sketching in advance...there's always apt to be some newborns to check out and I map a route.  Here are some sketches from the most recent trip...

Sketching materials at the zoo need to be easy and portable...I used a combination here of pencil, ink and ink wash in brush pens (and some watercolor on the large giraffe drawing below...)

In the Red Ape Forest...

Orangutans and Gorillas...

The the daily "elephant training" is a great opportunity to get a close up view of the elephants, today it was Billy...he seems to enjoy the grooming and feeding with his trainers, and doesn't seem to mind all the visitors...

A young orangutan...


The giraffes with a 3 week old baby!

A slow-moving tortoise gives us plenty of time to sketch....and a languorous jaguar draped in a tree...








Meerkats never stop moving and checking the skies for flying predators...

A howler monkey family and a giant otter in the newest part of the zoo, Rainforest of the Americas...

Color at the Arboretum

The beginning of a new year, and it's about time I updated here!

First, I'll share some work that follows up on my studies of Notan (harmony of light and dark) that I shared here after my Urban Sketchers Singapore workshop...time to work on color!

I did a workshop in November called the Harmony of Color at the Los Angeles Arboretum.  I believe that strong color work really needs a solid understanding of values, and I've noticed that sketchers often struggle with this when working with color.  It's so easy to get caught up in "local color", and miss the rich range of values that you're seeing.  So, I began with monochromatic studies...















I think the best place to start with color is with seeing "color temperature", so I did some studies in complementary warm and cool colors...

I started by painting the cool shadows of the Queen Anne Cottage and surrounding foliage with ultramarine blue watercolor...

Next, I used pyrrol orange (very  brilliant reddish orange!) as the complement to blue.  I wanted the cool blue to predominate, so I tried to be selective with the orange.  Just as in Notan painting, I try to be mindful of the pattern I'm creating as I work...

Then, I thought I'd experiment to see what would happen if I started with the warm color, pyrrol orange, and then added the complement of blue...I frankly found that confusing, and here the warm and cool are battling it out for dominance!  I added yellow to make a sort of triad (3 colors that are equidistant on the color wheel).  So, even if it's not completely successful, it's something to learn from!

My next step was to experiment some more with triads...and made some variations on the primaries.  While I was added I did some other complementary combinations, like violet/yellow.  There are endless possible variations, and I have more experimenting to do!

My next triad study started with painting shadows in cobalt blue...

Then adding layers of hansa yellow light and pyrrol orange--fun to see the range of greens emerge...

Some more color studies at the Arboretum...starting with some quick thumbnails...

And some larger color studies...

Cafe Sketching...

...the perfect thing to do on hot summer days around Los Angeles!
From August and September...


Quick sketching with ink and watercolor on a Saturday morning at a bakery in La Canada, in the hills above Los Angeles...the bicyclists have already had their ride and the shoppers are just getting started...

...afternoon coffee at Lamill, an elegant little bistro in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles...

More leisurely sketching with pencil, watercolor and gouache on tan paper...Blue Bottle Coffee had just opened, but was already attracting a crowd in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park...

A morning sketch over breakfast at the Highland Cafe in the northeast Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park.  The lady on the phone stopped briefly in front of me as I sketched...

...and back at Lamill, this time enjoying the street-side view of Silver Lake...the business of the week is discussed on a Saturday afternoon...

Sketching back in Los Angeles...

August brings our hot weather, and I found some relaxing places to sketch, and visited some museum shows too...

At LACMA, I love sketching from a shady bench in the Rodin sculpture garden...really a throughway from the older part of the museum to the new.  Occasionally someone stops to have a picture taken with one of Rodin's heroic figures or the dramatic giant heads while mimicking the gesture.  There's just something I love about the heroic stoicism of these figures with visitors breezing by.  Sketching here in pencil, watercolor and gouache.

While there I saw the recent "50 for 50" show--featuring highlights from their collection acquired since the museum opened 50 years ago...the highlight for me was the room of 19th-early 20th c. French art with these sculptures by Carpeaux and Degas...lovely still models!











At the Getty Center, a favorite view looks out on the Sculpture Terrace from the cafe...with bronze sculptures by Aristide Maillol, Rene Magritte and Henry Moore.  I had come to see the exhibition of Renaissance artist Andrea del Sarto, and his beautiful red chalk drawings inspired the Getty in red (pencil and watercolor)...

I couldn't get enough of this great exhibition, and made some little studies on site with pencil, marker and ink on tan paper.  Why?  Well, I do this sometimes in an attempt to get perhaps a glimpse of what the Renaissance master was seeing...

As  I left at closing time in late afternoon, I paused on the steps to sketch the 8 foot "Boy with Frog" by  Charles Ray and Maillol's "Air" balancing below...

And on a warm Sunday at the South Pasadena Public Library, I sketched my old friend--the lovely Moreton Bay Fig tree with long late afternoon shadows...in pencil first (trying to train myself to take more photos of work in progress), then watercolor with a limited palette...

Singapore Part 2

Here are more sketches from my trip to Singapore, where I was honored to teach a workshop at the Urban Sketchers Symposium, "Light and Dark with a Punch of Color".  A few photos and sketches from the workshop are in the previous post below.  If you would like to download a PDF of my workshop handout, here it is--and hope you'll let me know if you find it helpful!

Click here:
Light and Dark with a Punch of Color

These sketches begin with the journey there, the last several days I enjoyed sketching with the wonderful Singapore Urban Sketchers, and then coming home...

 Aboard Cathay Pacific..."day" and "night" of a long flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong...

Sketching in the Hong Kong Airport lounge, enjoying my free meal voucher from the airline due to a delayed flight...

...almost ready for take-off from Hong Kong to Singapore...

After the Symposium...
Don and Kat Low treat me to an evening at the fabulous Singapore River Safari and Zoo, with just a bit of quick sketching this pair of white tigers--the fellow in the water got a hold of a turtle...

Don Low's sketch of me and the tigers at top, mine below

Later, Don and Kat take me for an unforgettable feast at Long Beach Seafood Restaurant and the famous chilli crab!

I sketch Don with families gathered for a Sunday night dinner and the fish tanks in the background...



Don is a master with ink and watercolor, so I'm inspired to do more ink drawing...

The next day, a fantastic day of sketching with Don, Tony Chua, James Tan and Teoh Yi Chie (aka Parka), starting at Marina Bay...

 

 A sudden rain (normal for Singapore!) means it's time to stop, and move on to the next spot--Gardens by the Bay, and the Supertrees!

Sketches of the Supertrees from left, clockwise--me,
digital sketch by Teoh Yi Chie, Tony Chua, James Tan, and
at center, Don Low

According to Wikipedia, the Supertrees "are vertical gardens that perform a multitude of functions, which include planting, shading and working as environmental engines for the gardens.

The Supertrees are home to enclaves of unique and exotic ferns, vines, orchids and also a vast collection of bromeliads such as Tillandsia, amongst other plants. They are fitted with environmental technologies that mimic the ecological function of trees – photovoltaic cells that harness solar energy which can be used for some of the functions of the Supertrees, such as lighting, just like how trees photosynthesize; and collection of rainwater for use in irrigation and fountain displays, exactly like how trees absorb rainwater for growth. The Supertrees also serve air intake and exhaust functions as part of the conservatories' cooling systems."

I felt I was seeing the future here...pencil, watercolor and gouache

From there, a subway ride to Chinatown, where I was lucky to find a spot to sketch next to the MRT station exit.  A group of tourists stood in front of me, so they became part of the sketch...

 

Dinner in Chinatown at the Hawker Center...

Next day, we join more Singapore sketchers in Kampong Glam--Somali Dasgupta, Francis Theo, Grace Liau and Dawn Lo.  I loved this neighborhood and could have sketched there for days!  The Sultan Mosque with storm clouds, and another sketch from Bussorah street--after running for the covered walkways when the rain came in a real Singapore downpour!  

These two sketches were made on site in pencil, and colored later with ink wash and watercolor...

The Blue Mosque
That night, I couldn't resist returning to Gardens by the Bay to see the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest...I loved these baobabs lit up as the light faded into evening...

Then, a little late night dinner at
The Better Field, a nice bistro off Waterloo Street...

Finally, time to return home.  With a long layover in Hong Kong, the airport terminal felt coldly cavernous in the middle of the night, but fills with light in the early morning...