Held Oct. 1 on a Sunday at Central Park, Davis. Another artist and I drew portraits for 35 people in 4 1/2 hours. It was a wonderful time. We chatted with our sitters and found so many different stories. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.
Done mainly in pencils on Strathmore Toned Gray Paper. About 20 minutes each.
Here’s some of the drawings done.
This was a commissioned 8 x 10 inch painting of Gwapo, a water-loving dog. With each step featured here, I emailed the owner of the progress.
It begins with a photo provided by Gwapo’s owner, their German Shepherd mix. Gwapo loves the water and this is a favorite picture of him in the water.
I wanted the focus to be around his eyes. So his eyes are positioned in the upper third of the canvas and a third from the viewer’s left side. It’s a loose interpretation of where the golden mean is.
Shadow patterns are established. The background colors are put in lightly.
Areas in the light on Gwapo are more accurately painted in.
From this point I start refining the details of Gwapo’s fur. The color around the nose was off when I put in the nose color. So I had to make readjustment there with values of the nose and the surrounding area.
More color and more paint. And more detailed work around the ears and eyes.
When I’m somewhere satisfy with Gwapo, I began working more details in the water. Paying close attention to the circular pattern of the water, I had to redraw the ripples to line up correctly.
Completed painting of Gwapo.
(I may have to replaced this photo. It came out too light.)
Traveling from Davis, CA, I grabbed the chance to sketch alongside with the San Francisco urbansketchers as well as Liz Steel and Jane Blundell, notable urbansketchers both from Australia. I even met sketchers who came from Chico (3 hours away) and Washington.
The weather was surprisingly warm despite the 70 degree. About 60 or so sketchers gathered at Grace Cathedral at Nob Hill. Beautiful architecture and for those who love buildings it was a sketcher’s dream. For me I stuck close to simple subjects… a couple, a window, a door and a statue….All my urbansketches are done in a pocket size Moleskine watercolor sketchbook. “Keeping it simple” is my name.
As usual after three hours of sketching we all met at Huntington Park to share our sketching experiences and to meet up with old friends and get to know new ones.
A fellow urbansketcher gave me a Stillman & Birn sketchbook. It is their Beta series meant for mixed media with a soft cover. So I experimented.
Below are my initial watercolors. I tend to lay watercolor on heavy but I found the paper just did not soak up the watercolor. Too heavy and blotchy.
So I applied less watercolor. The next watercolors are more to my liking.
Less is more….
Let’s Draw Davis sketchcrawl group met at Community Park. Full of activity – soccer, swimming, tennis…
I captured this woman at Community Park swimming pool. I’m guessing she’s a grandmother watching her grandchild swimming
I’m into sketching people but not in groups. Too challenging. I find individuals who are not moving a lot and sketch them. I drew these parents at their child’s soccer photo shoot.
Old storage shed at Davis High School soccer field. When I see this, I remembered the time when my son was playing on the JV soccer team. The boys set on those beat up benches. After 10 years they are still beat up.
Monster tree! The roots are coming out of the ground. You can see this tree in front of the library.
Dozer passed away from a drowning. But his memory lives on.
I just finished an online workshop with Felicia Forte. She is a well-known representational oil painter whose works has been exhibited throughout the US as well as abroad. I had taken her workshop in Los Gatos, CA and felt that I can learned more from her. So I signed for her online classes.
There were many “aha” moments but the main point I have taken away from the sessions is that I need to pay more attention to clean brushstrokes and to be decisive in what colors I mixed. Below is a quick oil study that I did after finishing.
As part of the Yolo County Art & Ag Project, I was on a farm whom owner collected old cars. This is an artist’s dream. Old cars all lined up in various conditions.
Sketching at the local farmers’ market is drawing subject overload. A sketcher’s dream. So our local sketch group, Let’s Draw Davis, met there headed up by Pete Scully, a locally and maybe internationally known urbansketcher. (He also had published sketching books in which some of my sketches are in.)
I’ve been trying to get more quick sketch people in. I love sketching people performing, all dressed up or just behaving in a normal fashion. The arm of the band singer and the head of the nursing mother is a bit off but quick sketching is about capturing the gesture – no concern about getting the proportions right.
Check out my Flickr page for more sketches. Enjoy!
