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!

Urban Landscape

I enjoy drawing just about every aspect of the city, especially
the physical landscape--the land and trees as well as the people,
cars and the built environment that make up an
urban landscape.  Whether it's a bit of cultivated landscape,
like the Los Angeles Arboretum...

...the hills of Northeast Los Angeles at different times of day, or the landscape of a parking lots...I look for the passages of light and shadow...

I like the sometimes weird mash-up of signs, cars and buildings in Los Angeles, like this little
landmark on Hollywood Blvd., Machos Tacos...

I began thinking seriously about panoramic views  

in anticipation of teaching workshops...
what makes the eye move across the page, 

or draws the eye in...

A quick view of downtown Los Angeles at dusk, and views from Barnsdall Park, 

Griffith Observatory and the Santa Monica Pier...

Trees, Cars and Parking Lots

...would seem to be an odd combination,
but so common...
I think of these trees as heroic, somehow...