A Daily Practice...

I've tried to make sketching a daily practice for some time now...why?  Well, sketching is a bit addictive...I enjoy putting marks on paper whenever possible, but also just like recording something of where I am every day.  Sometimes I go to a place with the intention to draw it, but more often than not, the subject of my drawing is just where I happen to be that day, and what's going on around me.

I like to think that drawing every day makes me more observant, and keeps the connection between eye, heart and hand stronger and more immediate.  

More often than not, these daily sketches include people...

Drawing in a clinic waiting room, or at the Social Security office (a place that seemed designed for human discomfort)

One of my favorite places in Los Angeles is the Grand Central Market downtown...yes, it's changing all the time, with less of the old vendors and atmosphere and more upscale eateries, but still a fun and fascinating place to visit and draw...

Madcapra for falafel, the view on Broadway, G&B coffee bar with a view of Hill Street, and midweek view inside...

At Exposition Park, I sketch the whale skeleton at the Natural History Museum, and the Space Shuttle Endeavor at the California Science Center, but it's important to me to include the human presence, the human scale here...

A five-minute wait in line is enough for me to pull out the sketchbook!  I like drawing people at work...

At our newly opened local Sprouts Market....











I love the classic red and yellow
of In and Out Burger...









Testing colors at Image nail salon in Pasadena...

My yellow car treated to the occasional car wash...















People at the Rose Cafe in Venice...




















More every-day stuff...

Breakfast on Father's Day...and an ordinary day at Jones Coffee in Pasadena...

Waiting for coffee, or waiting at the bank, I think of waiting as an opportunity...

San Juan Capistrano

...is an easy train ride away from Los Angeles...but such a different world!  I've visited there several times lately, to sketch not just the beautiful, graceful Mission, but also the area around the train station, which feels like a quiet, unhurried small town...

These are the ruins of the "Great Stone Church" on a bright August day...built in Roman style, and only lasted a few years before tumbling in a major earthquake...I was transported to Italy that morning...

 One of the long corridors that line the central courtyard...






















A last quick sketch before leaving Mission San Juan Capistrano that afternoon...

Some quick vignettes at the Mission, and over lunch...

A last view of the the train station before leaving...

Sketching on the train..

And, then a return trip in September with my sketching friends Shiho Nakaza, John Banh and Chris Ruiz-Velasco...

Some thumbnails at the Mission mixing water-soluble chalk and gouache...
























...and watercolor...

A final sketch at the Mission...the mystery of the entrance...feeling a bit like a time portal somehow.  I was struck by the words of the doorway, "RESURGAM".  I had to look it up to discover it means "I shall rise again"...

Some last sketches that day, over lunch and waiting for the train to take us back to Los Angeles...

Sketching on a Friday Night...

...at the Norton Simon Museum!  Over the summer I started joining the LA sketching Meetup group at the Pasadena museum's monthly Free Friday nights--what a great sketching opportunity, drawing the museum's collection and the lovely gardens on a warm summer evening.  Here are a few sketches...

A favorite gallery...with paintings by Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas...and the lovely "Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer" by Degas.  The interplay between live, moving bodies and sculpture is always so interesting to me.  Sketching here with pencil and brush marker--no liquid media in the Norton Simon!

A sketcher with Maillol's "Three Nymphes"...


















On another night, the garden is irresistible...visitors around the pond with Maillol's "Air"...









And "Mountain" by Maillol seems to command the garden with her presence...

 Sketchers with "Mountain" in August...

I'd been wanting to sketch this view of "Air"--protesting the invasion of 21st century freeway noise and signage into her garden paradise...


















In September, the days getting shorter means hurrying a bit to catch the fading light in the garden...here are some quick thumbnails...

Experimenting here with a new material (always fun!!)--a chunky water-soluble slab of "colored graphite" in ochre, pencil, and a bit of white gouache...

"Inside Artists' Sketchbooks"

I was very excited to be a contributor to the Summer 2016 issue of Drawing Magazine--which was devoted to sketching and sketchbooks!  I am in some fantastic company here--a great variety of styles and approaches among the sketchbook artists.  This issue also features articles on travel sketching, 5-minute sketching and more--including a review of a new book about one of my heroes, "Richard Diebenkorn: The Sketchbooks Revealed".

Here's an article on with a sample of each of the featured artists' work, along with their sketching tips...Artist's Network

Traveling to Tacoma...

...for a gathering in August of urban sketchers--and the 4th Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketch Crawl!    The local sketchers lead by Francis Buckmaster did a fantastic job of organizing the event, and it was a really fun weekend--no workshops, just everyone getting together to sketch the beautiful mix of old and new in downtown Tacoma.

Waiting at LAX for my plane is of course, always a sketching opportunity...playing here with shadow and light...





The plane and the bus from the airport into town...more sketching...

Our first gathering on Friday night with nearly 150 sketchers, with some quick portraits...

Tacoma on Saturday morning was warm and brightly sunny, it felt like LA weather to me!  The sketch crawl centered around the beautiful Bridge of Glass and the work of Tacoma Artist Dale Chihuly.  The view here includes the "Crystal Towers", and the new Washington State History Museum echoing the arches of the old Union Station building...

 More sketching from the Bridge of Glass--the tilting glass cone that tops the "Hot Shop" of the Museum of Glass...












A view inside the fascinating Hot Shop, with a team of master glass artists working--and theater seating above for visitors...we all sweat together here!

And a view of the train looking down from the Bridge...

Sunday morning wrapped up the sketch crawl, and it was great to see Gabi Campanario arrive with his family, and we made a dash over to the historic Theater District.  There were lots of interesting buildings here, but this wedge-shaped gem really caught our eye...I discovered it was originally built as the Hotel Bostwick in 1889, now has Tully's Coffee on the ground floor...

Way too soon, it was time to head to the airport to fly back to Los Angeles...and finally I got a sketch-able little glimpse of Mt. Rainier!  I can hardly wait until next year's West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketch Crawl...in Vancouver!