Our Thursday Plein Air group met at Harbor Island near the San Diego Airport. One of the painters standing close to the bay was backlit by the morning light bouncing off the sky and water. He was very focused, and I think I conveyed a bit of it in this sketch.
The couple on the bench near where I was painting this morning caught my attention, mainly because their body language was so strong. They stayed on the bench for more than an hour, maintained eye contact, examined each other’s faces, laughed, and raised their voices at times. I thought they seemed very content to be spending the morning together on a park bench as they worked through a tricky issue. In any case, I was delighted that they stayed put on that bench, and I could sketch them.
Tuesday night still life painting is back! This one is of flowers from an artist’s garden.
Two women came out of the water and stood at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, in a perfect spot for me to sketch them quickly. They were chatting away and enjoying each other’s company. I don’t know if they were friends, sisters, or both, but I know I loved painting them.
This morning the tide was low, and the shore was full of people snorkeling on their own or with private companies. I loved the bright colors of one of the groups and quickly sketched the scene showing the support rafts and individuals. But until I added a mom explaining what the snorkelers were doing, this sketch was incomplete.
I wanted to capture it all- the light glinting on the waves, the sunbathers, the kids playing, and the beauty of the day’s ending.
While sketching away on the shore, looking at the swimmers, you can see which are together and the ways in which they like each other. These two were clearly a pair, and I tried to convey their delight even as I also tried to capture the beauty of the late afternoon beach.
Deliberate Sketching 