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...

Sketching the Light

It would be easy as a native of Southern California to take the light here for granted...but I've found it's the thing that I always notice first in a scene--no matter the season.  

Some of these sketches were made with watercolor and gouache on tan paper--when I have the luxury of time to develop the story a bit.  I love working this way because it means intentionally painting the light...

Sketching over coffee in La Canada...

Or in Los Angeles...

Late afternoon with fading light in Pasadena...

 In Silver Lake in Los Angeles... 

At the Autry Museum...

Waiting for my car being repaired...a perfect sketching opportunity on a corner in Pasadena...

 The bell tower in front of Pasadena Presbyterian Church...

A quick sketch in Glendale...and more coffee and afternoon light in Pasadena...

Sketching Around Town...

...and some from out of town too...from a trip to old town Orange with sketching friends on the train from Union Station...
























Sketching with the LA Worldwide Sketchcrawl group in January at the La Brea Tarpits...

...and in April at the Venice Canals...

Happening upon a wonderful orange truck in Glendale...

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And some neighborhood sketching at train crossing in South Pasadena, and on Los Angeles streets...

...and on a gray day with balloons...

Urban Trees

...are certainly a favorite subject...on the streets, in parking lots, or in city gardens...

A grand old eucalyptus in Highland Park that survived the windstorm a little over a year ago...

Some time after the storm, a giant oak tree that used to greet visitors  near the entrance of Huntington Gardens had to be pulled up by massive roots due to storm damage--I just happened to be there that day and had to get a quick sketch of an old friend...

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A pair of parkway trees in Montrose seen in fall, and later on in winter......and some views in the same neighborhood in summer and fall...

 Tall palms at the LA Arboretum...and on the street in Glendale...

A picnic at Griffith Park...

Gingkos just about to lose their golden leaves at Descanso Gardens...