Obon Festival at the Vista Buddhist Temple 2014

The Obon Festival at the Vista Buddhist Temple had Jodaiko, a collegiate taiko group perform as part of the festival's entertainment. What great practice for gesture drawing! This is my page of sketches done during their 30 minute performance.

Butterfly Garden or Nudist Colony?

Zoro Garden, a sunken stone grotto garden that was designed as a nudist colony during the 1935 California-Pacific Exposition is now a butterfly garden containing both the larvae and nectar plants needed for the complete life cycle of butterflies.

This was the location of our sketchcrawl to day with the weekday sketchers.

Pizza Studio

The Pizza Studio is located in The Spreckels Building in the Gaslamp area of San Diego, California. The building which opened in 1912, was constructed to commemorate the opening of the Panama Canal. My drawing was done in the outside seating area of the Pizza Studio while on an meetup with the San Diego Urban Sketchers Meetup Group.

Lydia's Portland Adventure

A 5 minute video of my adventures in Portland, Oregon while attending the 2nd Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl with Alicia Hallett, David Clemesha, and Dominique Eichi.

2nd Annual Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl, Portland, Oregon

A 6 minute video and my sketches of the 2nd Annual Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl, July 11 - 12, 2014

Rocky (the boxer)

This is my dog Rocky. He is part boxer and part something else. I think the other part is pit-bull but Gary didn't want to tell me so he said, "he's part boxer and part something else."

Misdirected anger?

San Diego County Fair 2014

Mission Trails Regional Park

Sketching with the San Diego Urban Sketchers at Mission Trails today.

figure drawing at north park

10 - 2 minute
watercolor background and watercolor pencil

2 fives and a ten
prismacolor brush pens from Stephen and watercolor

2 twenties
brush pen and watercolor

20 minute
watercolor and brush pen

20 minute
pencil and watercolor

Japanese Friendship Garden, Balboa Park

My incomplete sketch done while with the San Diego Urban Sketchers Meetup Group at the Japanese Friendship Garden. 3 x 4.5 inches.

San Clemente Quick Draw

This "quick" sketch was done at the San Clement Quick Draw today. We had to Check in, paint, and come back with a framed piece in 3 hours!

Waiting for a ride at A+

Veterans' Museum and Memorial Center

This is my sketch of the Veterans' Museum and Memorial Center done, while on a Meetup with the San Diego Urban Sketchers.

The building, the former chapel of the old Naval Hospital, was built during World War II. It is a beautiful neo-classical Spanish Colonial/California Mission design with thick walls and a red tile roof, a style that first took hold in San Diego during the Panama-California Exposition of 1915-16.

My day

Buena Creek Gardens, San Marcos, California

The Buena Creek Gardens is a beautiful nursery in San Marcos. They have beautiful garden décor as well as many paths and garden settings to browse through. It is a very lush, green and shady place to stroll and select plants and flowers for your garden. They specialize in unique and uncommon plants. This was the location of the San Diego Urban Sketchers Meetup on Sunday, June 8, 2014.

This is my sketch I did with micron pen and watercolor while on the meetup.

Michael's Bird

When I retired I had a list of projects I never finished. I would start projects, lose interest and move on to something else. This bird is one of the projects on that list. It is a paper mache bird I got out of the $1 bin at Michael's Craft Store. I painted it with acrylic markers. The photos show the top, bottom and side.

Busyhead House, Old Town San Diego

Heritage Park was the location of the San Diego Urban Sketchers Meetup this weekend. This is a county park located close to Old Town, San Diego. It measures almost 8 acres and was developed to preserve examples of  San Diego’s Victorian architecture. My sketch is of the Bushyhead House. Mr Edward Wilkerson Bushyhead was an early San Diego Sheriff, an early San Diego sheriff, chief of police and San Diego Union newspaper owner, built this Italianate residence in 1887.

My sketch is a 3.5 x 5.5 inch watercolor on Arches Watercolor board.

Life Drawing

2 minute poses

2 minute, 2 - 5 minute, a 10 and a 20 minute pose

2- 20 minute poses

 

I had a little frustration today because I used gouache from dry cakes (not tubes) and I didn't know the colors as well as I know my watercolors.

Old Poway Park

Old Poway Park is an old park in San Diego with many old oak trees. Its very grassy and shady but they also have a section with an old train barn, and other old buildings. The building I sketched from the picnic area is the back of the ticket office where you can obtain a pass for the train that goes around the park.