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 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.

More downtown views...

...at some favorite places to visit and draw in downtown Los Angeles...

I always love returning to the Grand Central Market to shop (and sketch, of course!)...

 

Valeria's is the greatest place to buy chiles...and other interesting things...

...and another sketch at Olvera Street, the oldest street in Los Angeles, and the center of El Pueblo De Los Angeles...these last two made during a Worldwide Sketchcrawl with the Los Angeles group...

...across the street at Union Station...

More of old Los Angeles...

Angel's Flight in downtown Los Angeles is called "the shortest railway in the world"...

first built in 1901...closed for a number

of years, and then rebuilt and reopened in 1996 in a new location...safety concerns have closed it periodically, unfortunate, since it's such a treasure...

 ...old and new...the view from Bunker Hill (top of Angel's Flight) with the billboard for "Green Lantern"

Two views of the Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles...

Another favorite building in Los Angeles...Charles Lummis built his home "El Alisal" between 1889 and 1910 from arroyo rocks and telephone poles purchased from the Santa Fe Railroad.  A lovely and peaceful spot.

...across the Arroyo from the Lummis Home is the Heritage Square Museum, a collection of turn of the century Los Angeles buildings that were saved from demolition and moved here.  Some of the buildings are still in the process of restoration, like this church.






Stepping into the beautiful waiting room of Los Angeles' downtown train station is to be transported back to 1939, the year it opened.  The travertine and terra cotta tiles, elegant furniture and art deco fixtures have been refurbished since I was last there years ago.

                          

Down the street from the train station is Philippes, a real Los Angeles institution!

Philippe The Original opened in 1908, and claims to have created the "French Dipped Sandwich". Fairly quiet in the early afternoon...at noon it's packed! The clientele is wonderfully varied...watch out for the hot mustard!