I went to Dog Beach expecting to paint dogs as they ran and chased. But there were only a few dogs, surfers, and onlookers. The birds, however, were abundant and I eventually gave in and sketched them into this gouache painting.
We had a lovely model today for the Tuesday Fresno Sketch group. She had a reflective demeanor and an air of complexity. For the last 20- minute pose, I painted directly on the paper, without first drawing in her basic shapes. As I painted, her features became a little distorted and seemed to emphasize that she is a complicated person trying to make sense of a strange world.
Sometimes it takes me awhile to like my paintings. This second view of the Spruce Street Suspension Bridge is one of these. It did not seem finished, the cross bars at the top were wavy, the sky too rough. I brought this one home and hung it near my easel. The more I looked at it, the more I liked it, especially the shadows that play on the bridge floor.
President elect Biden spoke this evening. He asked, “What is our mandate?” And then he answered, “I believe it’s this: Americans have called upon us to marshal the forces of decency, the forces of fairness, to marshal the forces of science and the forces of hope in the great battles of our time.”
Hooray for Joe Biden, may he lead us well!
My friend told me about the Spruce Street Suspension Bridge, a foot bridge that connects two canyon tops in central San Diego. We painted there on Friday and it could not have been more delightful. It was shady, full of eucalyptus trees, and had potential from many angles.
This view is from the canyon below, with the bridge spanning the two canyon sides, giving a sense of all the time the bridge must have saved pedestrians over the years.
The tree tops were just beginning to be illuminated by direct sunlight when I sketched out the drawing. By the time I was putting in the big shapes, the sun began to touch down into the canyon. I mixed these two separate moments into this painting, but it seems to have worked out.
I had eucalyptus trees on my mind when I set off for Lake Murray early this morning. But the lake itself captivated me and the trees became secondary elements. I could have spent the day watching the light and wind move across the water. Instead I spent the morning trying to capture something of its beauty.
Our model yesterday for the Fresno Zoom sketching group seemed so tired. Exhaustion seemed to rise from her bones and onto my sketch. She was sitting on a conventional couch but I wanted to emphasize the support the furniture gave her, so I changed its shape to cradle her more.
Below is the first sketch of the evening, a sketch I made to understand the shapes, lighting, and emotion. It captures her tiredness but I think the reimagined furniture and moody gouache paint in the sketch above does so more effectively.
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Deliberate Sketching 