I sketched today at the West Basin along San Diego Bay. The water was full of people on paddleboards, kayaks, and such. But the color of the building across the parking lot caught my eye, so I turned my back on the bay. However, I happened to set up in a place where people cleaned their equipment before leaving. Before long, someone came by with his yellow kayak and began rinsing it down. I quickly put him into my sketch.
Our Zoom model tonight was delayed, so my friend did a good deed and volunteered to pose. But sometimes if you sit still a minute, you just fall asleep. She got a nap, and the rest of us had fun trying to capture her relaxed arm and tired body language.
The Laguna Mountains rise to about 6,000 feet (1800 meters) in eastern San Diego County. The area is full of meadows, tall pines, and oaks. The Lagunas are a delightful place year-round, particularly in the midst of summer heat.
We spent a few days at Laguna Campground recently. This is a morning sketch of our camper van and my husband enjoying his morning coffee.
Our Tuesday night Zoom model wore a baseball shirt and held a big bat. He looked wistfully off to the side and it was easy to imagine that he was dreaming of hitting a home run.
There is a place in Liberty Station in San Diego where roller skaters of all skill levels gather. I went there today to practice sketching people in motion, which I did. But, after watching a bit, what I really wanted was to put on a pair of skates and fly around the park.
Today is our second day without COVID restrictions. It feels so good to be out and about again, although many of us are still clinging to our masks.
This morning I went to Balboa Park and sketched a bit. I worked on using a few brushstrokes to capture the movement and shapes of people.
Last week the winds were strong along the San Diego coast but very calm inland around my house. I set off for one of my favorite state parks, Torrey Pines, not expecting that I would not be able to keep a 22 by a 16-inch paper on my easel. I hid from the wind by sitting in the midst of the boulders that separate the road from the beach. The rocks dominated my view of the beach, and I liked how they mimicked the shapes of the bluffs that are further down the beach.
Deliberate Sketching 