Desert Travels

Finally catching up with posting drawings here, so I'm making a combined post of desert travels--a Christmas trip to the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree National Park and the desert town of Twentynine Palms, and then the recent return trip for Spring Break...

These trips involve a lot of driving, which is great for me as the passenger, since it allows me to indulge in something I love to do--highway sketching!

I never get tired of visiting Joshua Tree National Park...to see familiar beauties like Hidden Valley (with or without the multitude of visitors), or discovering new places to explore.  Always fascinating, and always changing with the season and the light...

 The abandoned ruins of the
Reyes Adobe...

 Hidden Valley...

And a place without a name (that I know of!)

And then there is the town of Twentynine Palms...with old adobes, the Mojave landscape, and trips out for breakfast...

Animal Drawing

Every fall I take students to the LA Zoo, and I go a few times in advance to sketch, see what's new and mentally map out the best routes.  Some sketches from this fall...

Meerkats greet you near the zoo entrance...(while they watch the skies for winged predators)

 We watch and sketch the "elephant training"--Billy, Jewel and Tina.  The girls are retired circus elephants...

Someone said you cannot be in the presence of gorillas for an hour and not be completely awed...this is very true.
















Chimp mothers...

Amazingly, we happened to be at the zoo the day after the birth of a baby hippo!  Seen here nestling with mom--baby's sex hadn't been determined yet since mother and baby were being left alone to bond...

Orangutans in the "Orangutan Forest"...

 One of my favorites--Francois Langurs--visitors stand in a little house surrounded by the Langurs' forest habitat...














The siamang making his extraordinary resonating calls with his throat pouch...






I always find zoo visitors pretty interesting to sketch as well!

JPL Open House

NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena hosts an annual Open House--and some 40,000 people show up for this free weekend event.  While there is some waiting in line to see many of the rooms and demonstrations, it's exciting to see such a diverse crowd, and so many children there to get inspired by science!

JPL employees demonstrate how this little prototype Rover with its 8 independently motorized wheels rolls over "rocks"...

 Rather than stand in line, here I sketched on top of a trashcan (which makes a good impromptu easel) above the crowd entering an exhibit of digital technology...






One of the most fascinating things on view...a wonderful demonstration of the huge, spider-like "Scarecrow" from the Curiosity Rover, as it appears to intelligently move around "Martian" rocks.  (Later I found out that the name "Scarecrow" came from its lack of a brain.)  I'm sketching elbow to elbow here with fellow visitors in a large sketchbook.  I sat on nearby steps to add some color, listening to the variety of languages spoken all around me--something I love about where I live!

It seemed that every child in attendance left with a pair of 3-D glasses--what fun!

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...