Sketching the Light

It would be easy as a native of Southern California to take the light here for granted...but I've found it's the thing that I always notice first in a scene--no matter the season.  

Some of these sketches were made with watercolor and gouache on tan paper--when I have the luxury of time to develop the story a bit.  I love working this way because it means intentionally painting the light...

Sketching over coffee in La Canada...

Or in Los Angeles...

Late afternoon with fading light in Pasadena...

 In Silver Lake in Los Angeles... 

At the Autry Museum...

Waiting for my car being repaired...a perfect sketching opportunity on a corner in Pasadena...

 The bell tower in front of Pasadena Presbyterian Church...

A quick sketch in Glendale...and more coffee and afternoon light in Pasadena...

"Creative Sketching Workshop"

I was really delighted to receive a great "Christmas present"...Pete Scully's book, "Creative Sketching Workshop"!  I'm honored to be among the contributors to this book, along with fellow sketchers Shiho Nakaza, Rita Sabler, Liz Steel, James Hobbs, Ilga Leimanis, Nina Johansson, Kumi Matsukawa, Paul Wang, Samantha Zaza, Melanie Reim, and a number of other talented artists.  I enjoyed writing about one of my favorite things to do..."high speed passenger sketching"!  Thanks to Pete and RotoVision for the opportunity to be part of this project!

I do this all the time (when not driving, of course!)  Here are a few recent sketches from my passenger seat "studio"...

A super-quick sketch made on Beverly Blvd. on Christmas day...sketching on a city street is far more challenging than a freeway, where there is usually some repetition in the scenery, and the ability to see distance...

A couple of sketches made on the freeway in the rain recently...

 Playing a bit with color ink washes...

Sometimes it's nice to keep it simple, with black and white...

And adding just a bit of color...or mixing it up with different materials...

December in the Desert

Every year just before Christmas, I travel from Los Angeles to the Mojave Desert...Joshua Tree National Park and the desert town of Twentynine Palms.  I love Los Angeles, but--I really look forward to these trips--a few hours and a world away from the city!


The trip always begins with passenger sketching!

First night in the desert, watching the sun go behind the hills overlooking the outskirts of Twentynine Palms...

Visiting Noah Purifoy's Desert Art Museum in the town of Joshua Tree...a wonderful collection of sculpture I hope to revisit for more sketching!  More about Noah Purifoy...

Sketching in Joshua Tree National Park...at Keys View with Palm Springs in the far distance...and Mt. San Jacinto...

Split Rock, drawn with pencil and watercolor graphite...

I never get tired of visiting Hidden Valley...called a "transition zone" for the range of plants there that grow in higher elevations.  Always some climbers and other visitors here...

Breakfast at Andrea's, a neighborhood place in Twentynine Palms with regulars who sit together and discuss all the news of the day...

Light on tamarisk trees...












And evenings in the desert...

 Driving in Joshua Tree National Park...

Leaving the Park...







...and heading home to Los Angeles with a storm coming...

 ...passing Morongo Casino, and back to the city...

A trip to the LA Zoo...

Every fall I plan an LA Zoo sketching trip with my students.  I go and do some sketching in advance...there's always apt to be some newborns to check out and I map a route.  Here are some sketches from the most recent trip...

Sketching materials at the zoo need to be easy and portable...I used a combination here of pencil, ink and ink wash in brush pens (and some watercolor on the large giraffe drawing below...)

In the Red Ape Forest...

Orangutans and Gorillas...

The the daily "elephant training" is a great opportunity to get a close up view of the elephants, today it was Billy...he seems to enjoy the grooming and feeding with his trainers, and doesn't seem to mind all the visitors...

A young orangutan...


The giraffes with a 3 week old baby!

A slow-moving tortoise gives us plenty of time to sketch....and a languorous jaguar draped in a tree...








Meerkats never stop moving and checking the skies for flying predators...

A howler monkey family and a giant otter in the newest part of the zoo, Rainforest of the Americas...