Sketching South Pasadena

In anticipation of teaching a workshop series in South Pasadena, I've done lots of sketching...and really enjoying the process of getting to know this lovely town.  In some ways South Pasadena seems frozen in time...in fact it's often been a film and TV location because of the old-fashioned small town atmosphere--so different from most of the rest of Southern California!


The heart of the town seems to be the library, and the magnificent Moreton Bay Fig tree in the library park.  Lots of weekend community events congregate there...

I love the process of preparing for a workshop--I start with essential techniques and ways of working--contour drawing and feeling the form with line.  All the textures of this beautiful tree are a perfect subject with a variety of tools...

sketching in broad strokes with a carpenter's pencil...

...line and tone--adding tones with watercolor quickly establishes a feeling of depth...
a family picnics near the fig tree as I sketch, and one of the little girls comes over to see what I'm doing, and offers to pose for me doing her ballet steps!

At frequent intervals, the Gold Line metro train breezes straight through town--I love the energy it seems to bring!

Another South Pasadena landmark...Buster's Coffee...painted here on a crazy-hot day in September...

 ...a view of the water tower from library park...

...I happened on to a classic car show one Sunday on Mission Street...and fortunate to get in some sketches before they drove away...this owner of this little turquoise jewel of a Thunderbird went into the bar next door, and the old Ford roadster drove up in front of me...

...and some South Pasadena people...sketched from Buster's across from the train station...

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!

Workshop Sketching

Descanso Gardens in La Canada, California was once again a wonderful place for a workshop series, and fortunately had lots of shady places for sketching on warm summer days.  In preparing to teach workshops, I really enjoy the process of planning--going back to the basics of thumbnail sketching, thinking in line, and thinking in shape.  It's a great opportunity to experiment with color...adding just a bit for emphasis, or starting with color, then adding line...or no line at all!

Building a composition with warm and cool shapes...

Thumbnails with color glazes...

using color selectively...

...and experimenting with "pure color" layers (the new super-saturated QoR watercolor from Golden)

Summer Sketching on Sunset Blvd.

...from Silver Lake to Hollywood...

Sitting in the shade of a flowery alcove outside The Casbah Cafe at Sunset Junction...with a view of the Boulevard and the hills above the Silver Lake neighborhood...

Traveling west on Sunset to East Hollywood, I returned to a favorite place to sketch...Barnsdall Park with its panoramic views in all directions of the city, and the Griffith Observatory...

...and some sketching in Hollywood...at Sunset and Vine--almost hidden from the street by the giant ficus is a bell signpost for El Camino Real.  The old "royal road" runs most of the length of California, and apparently this section of Sunset was part of it--the bell markers are part of the history of California which I love seeing!

... and just down the street is a modern piece of history, and a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural monument...the Cinerama Dome...