Bates Nut Farm Scarecrow Contest

I attended an event at the Bates Nut Farm with the San Diego Urban Sketchers today. Many of us drew the scarecrows during the scarecrow contest. I created my sketch with a brush pen and watercolor.

 This is a 3:09-minute video of the event showing the scarecrows, the artists, and their sketches.

A quote from the minimalists

Change is possible. You can make yourself into someone you want to be.

Life Drawing

These are 2 pages from the life drawing session this morning at Judy's. We had 30 second, 1 minute, 2 minute poses then went on the 5s, 10s, and a 20-minute pose. I sketched in a Daler Rowney Sketchbook with 65 lb paper.

5 and 10 minute poses.
Japanese Brush Pen and watercolor.

20-minute pose, pencil and watercolor

Drawing at the Opera

Several artist groups were invited to the San Diego Civic Center to sketch during the dress and music rehearsal of Pirates of Penzance. I participated in this event last night. We had a little reading light and kept very quiet while drawing. It was a fun challenge drawing the moving singers. I dropped in watercolor on the first few sketches but decided my sketchbook was too big for me to be painting quickly.

Sketchbook page TV drawings

My Daler Rowney sketchbook is 11 x 14 so I used a carpenters pencil to draw with. I wanted a line that would not get lost on the large paper. This sketchbook paper is 65 lb and does not hold water very well.

Wavecrest Woodie Fest 2017 - San Diego Urban Sketchers

At the Wavecrest Woodie Fest 2017 with the San Diego Urban Sketchers. This 3-minute video shows woodies, the Urban Sketchers and their sketches after 2 hours of drawing.

Teri's Chair

Chairs

These are a few of the chairs I have been sketching for #sittingprettyinseptember.

Lemurs at Africa Rocks, San Diego Zoo 2017

a 37 second video

Sketch using black gesso and gelly roll pen

ANOTHER effort to draw from life.. everyday.

Ocean Beach with the San Diego Urban Sketchers

Our 3 minute Lydeo on YouTube

San Diego Zoo

Urban Sketching at the zoo.

Colorado meets San Diego. I had such a fun morning meeting Paul Heaston and his family at the zoo this morning. Being able to meet people who we know from the urban sketcher community is just one of the things I like about being an urban sketcher.

July Selfie July 5 2017

july 4 selfie

July Selfie (July 3, 2017)

July Selfie (July 2, 2017)

Koh-i-Noor Rapido Sketch Pen in a Stillman & Birn Alpha.

I fell

San Diego Urban Sketchers Waterwise Botanicals Video

3:50 minute video of the San Diego Urban Sketchers at Waterwise Botanicals in Bonsall.

The artists, the sketches, and the nursery.

Waterwise Botanical Garden, Bonsall

 A nursery in San Diego was the location of the San Diego Urban Sketchers today. They had a lot of nice displays of the cactus and succulents. Luckily we had a break in the heat wave while we were there. This is my sketch done in my new Stillman & Birn Alpha Series.

Vendor in Watercolor

More watercolor practice. This is a vendor at the San Diego County Fair.

Vulture ACEOs in my Etsy Store

Vulture ACEO 

Art card with matching envelope.

Woodworker

Watercolor practice in my sketchbook.

This sketch was created from a photo I took at the San Diego County Fair in the Woodwork Exhibit Hall. 

Western Multiple Signature Book Arts

I have been working in my "textbook", Making Handmade Books by Alisa Golden for some time now. It is a great book that takes you from easy to more difficult structures with good diagrams and instructions. We also used it in a book arts class taught by Cindy Zimmerman, my most favorite class of all time. 

This little book is Western Multiple Signature with a Wrapped Hard Cover. I used lined pages ripped from an old journal for the inside pages and for the cover I used paste paper I made with a friend last year. 

The book is 4.25 x 3 inches.

Kate Sessions Park Watercolor Plein Air

Purchase on Etsy

Mixed Media Watercolor the Squeezer

New listing. Squeezer Stand at the San Diego County Fair.

Bid

Leo Carrillo Ranch, Carlsbad

This is my sketch done with the San Diego Urban Sketchers at Leo Carrillo Historical Park.
I used a Koh-i-nor sketch pen and watercolor. 

The other artists and their sketches can be seen on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/OTJ39Dp0sfY

sketchbook page may 30 2017

Sketchbook page

Doodling instead of playing computer games.
Always practicing my painting.

New Listing: Laguna Beach Lifeguard Tower

Laguna Beach Lifeguard Tower

Original Watercolor

5 x 7 inches
Ebay Auction

Plein Air Convention and Expo PACE17 at Balboa Park, San Diego

A Lydeo of a few hundred artists painting at Balboa Park.

Liberty Station

 Still hyper from the Plein Air Convention and Expo (#PACE17) I did a sketch after entering some pieces in the San Diego Watercolor Society monthly show. The Walk for Mental Health was just wrapping up so I got to sketch. I practiced some of the many things I tried to remember from the convention.

LA TRAVIATA

Sketching at the opera last night during the dress rehearsal of LA TRAVIATA. What a great opportunity!

Stamping and painting

One of the things I like when I "clean" my studio is I find things that I didn't know I had or that I haven't used in a long time. Sometimes I walk into my studio and I am inspired right away and I don't clean it at all. Today I spent a lot of time sorting through papers and combining them into 2 flat boxes. When I was done I came across a large bird I had photographed at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. I wasn't sure why I saved a large 8.5 x 11 print of the bird but it looked perfect for a stamp project. I sat down and carved out a small stamp using a scrap of Speedy-carve I found.

If I were to do it again I would have picked a better piece of carving material. I don't plan things out too well, I just jump in and DO IT. This bird barely fit on the stamp material. At first I used a stamp pad to ink the stamp and later used printing ink and a brayer. The paper is quite absorbent so the image came out better using more ink with the brayer.

La Mesa Stroll, April 11, 2017

Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden, Balboa Park

A 2:12 minute Lydeo of me and my friends at the Rose Garden this morning. A LOT of roses!

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.

Chicken practice

No really chicken practice it's watercolor practice.

Huntington Manor

My piece done at the Huntington Manor. I would like to simplify more. This mall piece is 5 x 7. Next I am going to practice going larger and having bolder shapes.

A 2 minute Lydeo of the San Diego Watercolor Society Paint out at Huntington Manor in Poway

Fisherman's Landing, Point Loma

The San Diego Urban Sketchers had a visitor from Oxford, England! This is a 3:30 minute video of the artists, our sketches and the area in Point Loma called Fisherman's Landing.