Sketching at the Museum...

Some wonderful shows have visited the Getty Center this summer, and with every visit I do some sketching.  The Richard Meier building always has dramatic light and shadows, and the 360 views of Los Angeles are fantastic!

 From an evening at the Getty Center, which coincided with a large brush fire some miles north--the sky looked bruised with red-violet clouds as the sun was going down...

Later, a fun gathering of artists!





The summer brought "Unruly Nature:  The Landscapes of Theodore Rousseau"--drawings and paintings of the great 19th c. French landscape artist.  I found his work so inspiring--I made several visits and lots of little studies.  I learned a new and very useful word: "ebauche"--a word used by critics to mean unfinished--but precisely the quality that makes his work feel very fresh, even raw at times.  Here are some little thumbnails studies in pencil, ink wash and markers...

Inspired by Rousseau's work, a view from the Getty of Los Angeles, looking southwest towards Santa Monica in watercolor and gouache on top of a pencil drawing...

 More Getty visitors...lunch next to the Sculpture Terrace...

More sketching inspired by Rousseau...first a pencil sketch of the hillside looking east...

I returned soon after to add watercolor and gouache to this view...

Summer evenings at the Getty--are lovely!  

Waiting for the tram to leave the Getty Center...a quick sketch of "That Profile" by Martin Puryear...

Currently on view until November 13 at the Getty Center is a spectacular painting show, "London Calling" with the works of Bacon, Kossoff, Andrews, Auerbach, Kitaj--and the absolutely stunning work of Lucian Freud.  If you're in Los Angeles--not to be missed!

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...

Sketching Los Angeles...

Sketching at some favorite locations around my home town...

Quick sketching at the historic Grand Central Market downtown in ink and watercolor... I come to buy chiles for making mole, have lunch and sketch!

With more time, I like to try to tell a more complete story with pencil, watercolor and gouache--observing here the changes taking place at the Grand Central Market.  I love this downtown institution, and as I watch it change, I hope with more upscale vendors and cafes moving in that what gives the mark its character will remain.  The traffic here has certainly increased, and that seems to be a good thing for everyone.

Another story here, sketching around Bunker Hill downtown on a cloudy day, across from the magnificent Central Library.  The sculpture by Robert Graham stands atop a fountain at the top of Bunker Hill Steps.  Prosperous looking bankers cross paths with homeless people wrapped in blankets and patrons of the library.  I love the tower of the Central Library with its tiled mosaic pyramid and golden hand holding a torch representing the "Light of Learning"...

Sketching here at an annual event celebrating Los Angeles history...Museums of the Arroyo Day.  The beautiful Southwest Museum sits on a hill with fantastic views.  At the entrance is a large totem pole.

Then, to Heritage Square--a "living history museum" of 8 historic 19th century buildings (rarities in Los Angeles!).  For this event, the old Ford was on display and lots of visitors were dressed in Victorian finery...

Sketching here with pencil and watercolor

This is a Turner-inspired panorama...sketched from the Getty Center, where I visited the fantastic exhibition:  "JMW Turner: Painting Set Free"--it was very inspiring, especially when I walked out of the exhibition into late afternoon light, and saw this panoramic view of Santa Monica with Catalina Island in the distance engulfed by "Turner-esque" atmosphere.  Layering a watercolor, gouache and pencil here...

Really though, this is my favorite kind of sketching...having some time on a weekday to make a lunchtime drawing of "ordinary" life...here in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on a cloudy day...pencil, watercolor and gouache on tan paper.

The Sketchbook Habit

...is something I preach to anyone who wants to draw, and I try to practice it myself.  I don't go anywhere without one!  There are always opportunities--whether it's a few minutes or the luxury of several hours--to practice the kind of observation that sketchbook sketching is all about for me...

at a Pasadena car wash...

at lunch at Gordon Biersch in Burbank...

in parking lots in and around 

Los Angeles...

at Huntington Gardens...

















or a corner coffee shop in
Los Angeles...

a trip to the Getty Center...
































and a mini-vacation day traveling with sketching friends to San Juan Capistrano--a perfect day!

Back home sketching...

The best way to come home was of
course to get out and sketch some more!  Here are a few around the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles...


A hazy summer afternoon on Los Feliz Blvd....


















Still in a traveling frame of mind, I visited the wonderful India Sweets & Spices store and vegetarian restaurant--a world of spices and other treats...

 Those Bollywood musicals are hypnotically addictive...















I love this place...their menu says they are the biggest Indian grocery store in Southern California...the beneficent face of Yogananda smiles from a picture behind the counter, and a grandmother sits and watches all that happens....

sketching my colorful lunch... 

More summer travels...to LACMA (sketching the monumental Rodin heads perched enigmatically on the staircase leaving the museum), and to the Getty Center...