I sketched at the San Diego watercolor gallery today during the weekly figure drawing session. I love doing 20-minute sketches. The time limit speeds up the decision-making, and I get a stronger, more immediate result. There is only a moment to decide—what is the model’s gesture and mood, where is the light, what do I like about the pose?
These are on 20 x 13 inch Bee black bristol paper with Art Graf for the lines and gouache in the painted areas.
This is from Inspiration Point at Balboa Park, our nearby city park. I was there very early one winter morning and took photos, which I embellished quite a bit to convey how the early morning light felt to me.
This is from my Tourmaline Beach series. I noticed the serenity of the morning and wanted to show it by capturing the leisurely focus of a beachcomber. I tried to make it clear that she was absorbed in looking for shells along the shore, so I tilted the angle of her head and added her right hand pointing down into the left, as though she was asking herself, “What have we here?”
We have had the most beautiful days in San Diego, and the surfers have noticed. Clad in their wetsuits, they have returned to the beaches, much to the delight of onlookers like me.
I liked the slow zig-zag of the gentle waves as they broke on Tourmaline Beach at low tide.
Here are five eggs from a local yard gathered in a china bowl.
It was my turn today to prepare a few photos for our Tuesday evening Zoom and paint session. So, early this morning, I was taking pictures of a houseplant bathed in the morning light. This would have been a good subject for us, but it came alive when my husband walked into the photo.
Deliberate Sketching 