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...

Summer in the City

...with the arrival of summer, I'm finally back out sketching!

With a return to some favorite Los Angeles places...like the wonderful India Sweets and Spices for a spicy lunch and always interesting customers...

...and Echo Park...the neighborhood along Sunset Blvd....

...and the park in lotus season!  The light in summer is so beautiful, and wonderful to see the lotuses blooming again! 

Heading west on Sunset Blvd. to the Silver Lake neighborhood, returning to sketch at a favorite spot...Sunset Triangle--a tiny urban plaza with a farmers market twice a week...

 I've been so lucky in finding friendly staff people at corner cafes up and down Sunset Blvd. (so far!)...here at "Morning Nights" I'm feeling right at home...

Good to see there's still filming in Los Angeles!  Here's a film crew packing up for the day...

Back at Echo Park...

...and some other stops around Los Angeles and the east end of Sunset Blvd...

When I last visited Echo Park, I was delighted to discover that the paddle boats have returned to the lake!  These are not the funky old boats I remember from years ago, but sleek new shiny "rubber duck" yellow!  They've made an instant hit, and the park is very busy on the weekends now...

Just east of Echo Park on Sunset Blvd. is a little gem of restaurant, Guisado's, that makes great little tacos of all kinds.  It seems to be a favorite lunchtime oasis for nearby downtown office workers...

It was great to have a late summer reunion at a favorite L.A. location, Olvera Street, with friends I sketched with in Barcelona--Shiho, Chris and John.  So much fun to talk about that fantastic experience, and get in a bit of sketching too.  Olvera Street is the oldest part of Los Angeles--I've loved it since I was a child...

More Sketches at Echo Park

...still getting ready for my workshop at the Urban Sketchers Symposium!  I'll be posting sketches from Barcelona very soon (sorry to be late in updating here!)

A panorama view of the lake and the fountain with downtown Los Angeles in the background.  Echo Park reopened in June after being closed for 2 years while the lake was drained.  Today it looks fresh and beautiful!

 I fed the ducks here as a child...this fellow was clearly hoping I had a snack for him, and let me sketch him for a bit...

Two views of the "Lady of the Lake" who presides over the park...a 1930's WPA-era statue by Ada May Sharpless...

 Around noon on a hot summer day you begin to hear the bells ringing--the popsicle sellers start making the rounds of the park with their carts.  A great way to beat the heat--a mango chile popsicle!











Before the park closed, the garden of floating lotuses that practically filled the lake in late summer mysteriously disappeared.  Happily, they are returning!  On a very hot day, in spite of the "no swimming" signs, many just couldn't resist a dip in that fresh-looking lake...

 

I was preparing to leave the park, and a vision appeared across the lake...a Quinceanera arrived with her attendants and photographer in a magnicent turquoise float of a gown. Her damas wore paler shades of turquoise, and her chambelanes were elegant in black suits in spite of the hot afternoon...

And finally, a panorama sketch that was part of a step by step process of moving into color while thinking in values with a limited palette of complimentary colors...

Getting Ready...

In anticipation of teaching workshops, "Panorama in Light and Shade", I made lots of practice sketches--especially sketches that break down the process of seeing value and creating paths of light and shade across the page--easiest to do in quick thumbnails.  I bought some carpenter's pencils awhile back to experiment with--great because they practically force you to draw with bold strokes, and defy detail...so thought that would make a good workshop tool...

Sketching here at Barnsdall Park in
Los Angeles...

 ...and a few more at newly re-opened Echo Park...

Easiest to see values when working with one color, so next step was moving to watercolor washes--a good way to think shape and value, and notice the effects of atmosphere and distance on the landscape (aerial perspective!)...

 While I was thinking about panoramas, I also had to sketch interesting stories and details that suddenly appear...


I came to the conclusion that a good way to introduce color while maintaining a range of values is to think warm/cool.  I like a split-complementary palette...and look for the color I see in the atmosphere...

Exploring Los Angeles Neighborhoods

...my favorite subject is the city where I was born, Los Angeles.  It is sprawling, ever-changing, so there's always opportunity to discover new neighborhoods or re-discover old ones...I have been drawing Los Angeles by neighborhoods...here are some sketches of Echo Park...

I remember when the lake had lotuses...which seemed to suddenly and mysteriously disappear.  Last year it was still a favorite spot for families to gather.  It has now been drained, and is undergoing reconstruction. Hope to see the paddle boats and the lotuses return some day!








Echo Park is an interesting neighborhood of vintage clothing, antiques, music, botanicas, many ethnic cafes--some views along Sunset Blvd...

Evening into Night

...is a favorite subject of mine--fading daylight, when colors shift and then deepening into night...

 early evening on Sunset Blvd.
along the bluffs between Echo Park
and Silver Lake...

 a watercolor sketch at sunset...

fading sunset on a Los Angeles
neighborhood street...

last light on the longest day of the year, last June...

night in Los Angeles neighborhoods...

July 4th fireworks seen over the freeway...

and Christmas lights...