Urban Sketching at Balboa Park, San Diego

Sketching at Balboa Park with the San Diego Urban Sketchers. It's such a treat to welcome guests from all over the world and today we had special guests, Maria and Jim from Australia! This is my sketch of the Bell Tower and the top of the Old Globe Theatre.

The Spanish Village Art Center is home to over 200 working artists and a beautiful place to sketch and paint. I tried this piece in a large (10 x 11 inch) watercolor sketchbook a fellow urban sketcher made for me. (Thank you Alicia Hallett!)

Most of the building was in shadow and it was a bit of a challenge for me to keep the other parts of the building and plants pure.

Sketching at Spanish Village

It's been a while since I have sketched with the San Diego Sketch Crawlers and wanted to visit more than draw. I worked on several small sketches with my Rapido Sketch Pen and watercolor rather than concentrate on a full page drawing. I only stayed for a few hours but managed to sketch and take photos of the other artists.

This is a 1:07 minute video of the group and their sketches at Spanish Village in Balboa Park, San Diego. 

Gouache Sketch and Contour Line Drawing of Museum of Man

Gouache on left contour line drawing on the right.

Still practicing gouache, I worked on a small part of the Museum of Man in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA. The building was built as part of the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition. The museum features cultural anthropology exhibits and was one of the first buildings in Balboa Park.

Page a Day

Page a Day - Spanish Village, Balboa Park

Balboa Park Rose Garden

This is the view of the museum at Balboa Park. I was trying a large brush and large shapes.

When my friends showed up I pulled out my small sketchbook and painted Stephen sketching.

Lily Pond, Balboa Park, San Diego

Sketching at the Lily Pond at Balboa Park, San Diego. Saying good bye to friend before she leaves for Japan on deployment. I painted gesso over my bullet journal calendar for last month and painted in watercolor.

Met filmmaker Anjalika Sharma at Balboa Park today!

Today I met filmmaker Anjalika Sharma at Balboa Park. We might collaborate on a project. She is a very inspiring woman, I'm glad she reached out to me when she saw me sketching  with the Urban sketchers a few weeks ago. This is a link to our first Facebook Live video we tried together. Lots of fun!
https://www.facebook.com/lydia.velarde/videos/10210841408611641/

I also drew a lady while I was waiting for Anjalika.

Zoro Garden, Balboa Park, San Diego

Zoro Garden is a 6-acre sunken garden within Balboa Park in San Diego, California. During the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition it was the site of the Zoro Garden Nudist Colony, which featured mostly-nude performers rather than practicing nudists. It is now planted as a butterfly garden.

Old Cactus Garden, Balboa Park

This cactus garden was developed in 1935 for the California Pacific International Exposition. It contains some of the largest cactus and succulent specimens in Balboa Park. This is were the San Diego Weekday Sketchers met. Below are my sketches and a 3:46 minute video of the area, sketches, and my artist friends.

Views from the Rose Garden in Balboa Park

Poisson d'Avril with the San Diego Weekday Sketchers 2016

An exercise from a Marc Holmes, Craftsy lesson.

International Cottages

A Lydeo and my sketch created with San Diego Sketch Crawlers at International Cottages in Balboa Park .

Spanish Village

This watercolor of an area in Spanish Village was painted on gessoed paper. It was very frustrating because the paint just sits on top of the paper. I repeat the same mistakes by thinking I can be successful using this method. It doesn't work.

Sketching at Spanish Village in Balboa Park

This sketch was done on an Ampersand Clay Board.

This is a watercolor on a light weight Bristol Board with watercolor.

A 2 minute Lydeo showing the other artists work and parts of Spanish Village.

Zoro Garden, Balboa Park, San Diego

The Zoro Garden is a sunken stone grotto garden that was designed as a nudist colony during the 1935 California-Pacific Exposition it is now a butterfly garden. I was there sketching with friends this morning.

San Diego History Center

This is the building that houses the San Diego History Museum, the Railroad Museum and Photography Museum. I met with 3 sketch buddies today to sketch in this area of Balboa Park. I started on a 4 x 6 inch Arches watercolor board with pen and ink then painted it with watercolor.

This huge book in the history museum is the Guest Register from the 1915 Exposition. A beautiful book that was almost destroyed for scrap paper. 

drawings from the zoo June 12

Spanish Village, Balboa Park