It was a gorgeous December day in San Diego, warm, bright, and perfect for a painting trip to the reflection pond at Balboa Park.
Before leaving the house, I had the thought to paint the pond with the Timken Museum in the background. But as soon as I saw how the dangling palm fronds framed the palm reflections that shot out from the corner of the bridge, I changed my mind.
It may be that this composition has too many competing elements, but it does capture what caught my eye this morning at Balboa Park.
About 20 years ago the south end of the San Diego Bay was restored into a wildlife refuge. The railroad was dismantled, roads were removed, and channels were cut. Now the area is a rich marsh full of birds and sea life. And it is also a great place to paint.
Our longtime Christmas cactus surprised us by bursting into its holiday colors a few weeks ago. I moved it outside in June and it seems that it relishes its new location on the patio table. I can see it from the kitchen window and notice it first thing in the morning as I make coffee. It is so bright and cheery. I have the feeling that I will be painting it a few more times this fall.
Our model for our Tuesday Zoom sketching session was a wood block artist and he posed as though he were carving. It was a beautiful pose with strong light and shadow.
My friend and I were painting at Kanaka Landing in Liberty Station, here in San Diego. We were standing at our easels and my friend said, “All we need is someone to come and sit on this bench.”
An hour or so later, another artist appeared and asked, “Would it bother you if I sat here?”
“Not at all,” we said. I was delighted when he pulled out his sketching material because I knew that meant he would stay put a long while.
I abandoned my other painting and quickly made a drawing with a red pastel pencil on my black Bristol board. After working on the hills and the bay, I decided not to paint in the body or the bench. I thought the solidness of the black balanced the palm trees and their reflections in the bay.
It rarely works out well to skip over basic steps like making a preliminary sketch, but I am mostly too eager to paint to be disciplined. Yesterday, though, I did start Tuesday’s Zoom figure session with a 20- minute warmup. Right away I knew I wanted to focus on the model’s posture and his facial expression. He seemed confident, proud, and a little hurt. I did not capture these nuances in this first attempt, but I was able to learn from this sketch and make the following 60-minute gouache painting.
I caught his posture, his slimness, and his lovely round head better for having done the first sketch, although his facial expression was still not right. But, there was one more 20- minute pose for the evening, so I still had a chance. I decided to paint directly without drawing and to use a large one and a half-inch flat brush. After the paint dried I added marks with a pen and pastel pencils.
I finally got his eyes and expression right in this sketch. This is my favorite from the evening because it shows what I noticed first off about him. Also, I like the marks the flat brush makes.
We went to Elfin Forest and enjoyed the fall colors, such as they are in San Diego in November. I had been meaning to improve my understanding of rocks and boulders, and the location was perfect.
Deliberate Sketching 