More Desert Travels...

I've recently returned from Singapore, where I was very fortunate to teach a workshop at the 6th Annual Urban Sketchers Symposium.  I've been encouraged and inspired to be much more frequent in making blog posts, so will be catching up this week!

In June I made another desert trip--to Joshua Tree National Park and Twentynine Palms in the Mojave Desert.  These trips always begin and end with lots of passenger sketching!  I love doing this--it's a great way to warm up with quick sketching, seeing how much I can record as we breeze along at freeway speed.

I like experimenting with materials in these sketches...here, layering watercolor, gouache and ink with a calligraphy brush pen...

Sketching time often begins for me with small thumbnails...having just arrived in the desert town of Twentynine Palms, I sat on the front porch of my friend's lovely old adobe house and sketched the view in pencil, watercolor and gouache--a wonderful change of view from my Los Angeles city life...

 More views from the front porch...seem to often include durable desert cars...

Playing back and forth with different media--pencil, watercolor and gouache on tan paper, or quick sketching with ink and watercolor...

Meanwhile there's the wonderful sound of doves, quail or quail and other birds who come to feed under the nearby trees...ink and watercolor

And then some time at Joshua Tree National Park, where I visited some favorite spots...always different with the season's light and atmosphere.  This spot is known as Split Rock...

Sketching here with watercolor and gouache on tan paper, and below--water soluble pencil and watercolor...

On this trip, I spent more time sketching in Twentynine Palms...just enjoying the desert views and pace of life at different times of day...the old wood frame house here reputed to be a place that actor James Cagney came to paint (I always like to think so, anyway!)

The panorama is an experiment with ink and bamboo pen on top of watercolor and gouache...

And here, a night view made with the help of my head lamp...being careful as I sketch not to tread on any night-crawling creatures!

No desert visit is complete without a visit to the the Country Kitchen in Joshua Tree for a good breakfast.  I love the very eclectic decor, and there's always an array of customers--Joshua Tree locals, families and soldiers from the nearby Marine base.  As I'm preparing for my trip to Singapore, I notice especially the pictures of Angkor Wat...the Cambodian owner tells me that I must plan lots of time to see it...that will be another trip.

And finally, there's the drive home, and more passenger sketching!  I am playing fast and loose now with a variety of media on tan paper...mostly pencil, watercolor and gouache...