Olvera Street

...is a place I return to sketch again and again, and as I continued to prepare to teach my workshop at the Urban Sketchers Singapore Symposium, I spent several days sketching here.  One of my favorite locations, Olvera Street is the oldest part of Los Angeles--at the center of El Pueblo de Los Angeles.  It's certainly popular with tourists who arrive by the busloads and quickly leave after buying something from the colorful market stalls, but the visitor in a hurry might miss the real sense of community here!

At one end of the street is the Plaza, graced by several large Moreton Bay Fig trees...this particular tree feels like the heart of the Plaza, and I notice that besides the tourists who visit, there are lots of "regulars" who come to sit here in the shade.  Sketched here with pencil, watercolor and gouache on tan paper...

On some afternoons, Aztec Dancers perform in the center of the Plaza, to the delight of children who visit in large school groups...a quick pencil sketch...
















One afternoon as I sat sketching, a fancy black tour bus pulled up nearby with "La Adictiva" emblazoned on the side...and 17 or so men in spectacular studded suits jumped out and lined up in front of me to be interviewed by a glamorous reporter from Spanish language TV Telemundo.  I sketched as fast as I could, while others took photos of what I discovered is a very popular Mexican banda.  I was pointed out to the reporter, and was suddenly pulled off my stool with my sketchbook to have my picture taken with the Banda!

I did lots of thumbnail sketches of visitors and the beautiful architecture at Olvera Street, preparing for my Singapore workshop--in black and white...

...Practicing massing light and dark with ink, then adding mid-tone watercolor wash...

...and adding a punch of color for emphasis...





Sometimes working from the outside in (starting with a border) to frame a little composition, and sometimes working from inside out (starting with an interesting spot and moving out, composing in a freeform pattern)

Here, a relaxed sketch in pencil, watercolor and gouache over lunch as I watch a stream of visitors posing on the stuffed donkey to have their pictures taken in fancy sombreros...as I child I had my picture taken here on a real donkey!

And finally, my favorite Olvera Street moment--late afternoon on Friday in the Plaza, wonderful cumbia music begins to play and couples start dancing in the shade of the huge fig tree--first just a few, then lots of them...

Harmony of Dark and Light...

Planning my workshop for the Singapore Urban Sketchers Symposium actually began many months in advance.  I've been giving a lot of thought to what makes a sketch (or perhaps any artwork) a success--and it seems to me that it's composition--a dynamic composition has the power to grab the eye and hold it!  Without a strong composition a great idea or lovely rendering just doesn't come across.

In studying composition, I began reading about Notan--a Japanese word meaning the harmony of light and dark.  There really isn't a word in English that means quite the same thing.  Suddenly a light came on for me, as I saw how well it could work as a way to create strong compositions by first seeing shapes of light and dark in a subject, and then composing those shapes on a page.

So--how does this relate to sketching on location?  Composing with Notan begins with seeing the patterns of light and dark in your subject--such as light and shadow on a building surface or foliage, but it means much more than that.  As you develop your sketch, what becomes important is the harmony of tones--how the lights and darks are balanced on your page.  In other words, you make choices of what to "push" as you interpret and compose the patterns of light and dark that you see.

My first workshop using this idea was at the Los Angeles Arboretum with its lovely Queen Anne Cottage, enormous palm trees, and a wonderful variety of birds everywhere.  I took participants through a process of 3 steps:  creating a pattern of black and white, then adding a mid-value wash to follow the rhythm of the black and white shapes and add some depth, and then the final step of adding a punch of color for fun--and emphasis.

So, here are some of the sketches that I did at The Los Angeles Arboretum...


Initially I began with line...then adding, massing shapes with a black brush pen...

With practice, I began jumping in with the brush pen, to commit to the large shapes right away...

Then, adding a mid-value wash...

And finally, adding color for emphasis--doing this selectively.  At this point, I ask--Where do you want to draw the eye?  Notice how color can become another element to lead the eye in your composition...

Sketching in Black and White...

When planning workshops I go back to what are for me, the basics--like quick line studies, and value studies in black and white--I never get tired of doing these!  I love watching classic black and white movies of the 30's and 40's made by the masters of lighting.  They understood the dramatic power of beautifully composed shots of dark and light, and all the gradations in between--something I always aspire to!  I also believe that it's key to working in color as well...





A quick study in late afternoon in a Los Feliz parking lot...I can never resist a view of my favorite Los Angeles building, the Griffith Observatory...

 Quick sketching over coffee on a Saturday morning...

From a recent train trip down to Mission San Juan Capistrano, with my sketching friends Shiho, John and Chris--to meet Gail Wong and Frank Ching here from Seattle to do a workshop.  This has to be the loveliest of missions!  I wanted to study the light that day--and now look forward to returning to do more work in color...

A quick sketch waiting at the train tracks for the trip back to Los Angeles...

Some quick sketching at Descanso Gardens

...thinking again about the meat and potatoes of sketching...some quick studies in line and tone...

...before moving on to some color...the range between a warm yellow and deep Indranthene blue...

...and then more recently a large study of light and shade in a favorite spot, the Japanese Garden...

...and a few more studies in black and white...on the road to Santa Barbara...

 ...and from a cafe window in Pasadena...