Watercolor Sketches

Doing some hard drive cleaning and organizing tonight and unearthed some drawings that time forgot. The thing with digital is it’s so easy to stash something somewhere (intentionally and inadvertently) and never find it again.

I made my first trip to the seaside city of Santa Barbara, California in 1994 and that visit made quite an impression on me. The inherent beauty of it’s location and it’s predominantly spanish-european architecture was impressive.

Julie and I dreamt of getting married there and indeed we did in 1996. We also talked about living there someday… that one will have to wait for a while but in the meantime, little vacations there will suffice.

Of course, it is a fantastic place to sketch and here are some samples from this past weekend.

Pencil on Handbook Journal mini-sketchbook from a rooftop vantage point.

Same sketch as above, with a a little Adobe Photoshop CS3 color

The view from our hotel room. Pencil and Windsor Newton Cotman pan Watercolors

on Moleskine Watercolor Pad

State Street views. Pencil and Watercolor on Mini Sketchbook

Another State street view. Pencil and Watercolor on Moleskine

watercolor pad.

I‘m back from a little R & R and feeling mighty good. It’s a really amazing what a little sun and some good island vibes can do to the soul. Maui, Hawaii is one of my favorite places to go on vacation either literally or mentally. So if you catch me gazing off into the distance, that’s probably where I am….

Of course I did my fair share of sketching so i’ll post some drawings soon.

It’s essential for any artist to always to find any excuse to sketch, (at least I do) so carrying a sketchbook should be standard operating procedure. It’s a great way to stay sharp and expand the inner visual vocabulary.

For weekend jaunts to wherever I always lug a backpack filled with sketchbooks, a pouch for my drawing implements and my Windsor & Newton Cotman mini-watercolor set. Sometimes the opportunity won’t be there but whenever I’m killing time somewhere I’ll reach into my bag and sketch whatever catches my eye.

Recently I dug up these 2 x 4 inch newsprint pads that my brother Ron gave me as souvenirs from one of his trips to Japan. The great thing about them is they’re small and compact and will fit easily in your pocket. Instead of a whole pouch of pens I’ll bring a 0.9mm Automatic Pencil, one ink pen and a waterbrush. The Cotman is around 6 x 3 x 2 inches and fits in my pants pocket as well.

This is a great alternative to carrying a bag of stuff, and personally, it eliminates the “I’m too lazy to lug a backpack so I won’t bring one” excuse as well.

These sketches are from Los Angeles’ historic Farmers Market. All sketched quickly by pencil on the above mentioned newsprint pads. Coloring done digitally via Photoshop with faux watercolor brushes.

I took a much needed break from all this digital hoopla i’ve been hyping for the past few months and went back to basics.

Though I still do a lot of drawing digitally, i’ve been balancing things out by sketching traditionally as well. There is nothing like the feel of real pencil, paper and watercolor. Drawing without the “undo” button also forces you to commit to a line. This keeps you sharp as well as economical and direct when laying down form.

The sketch is of the many quiet nooks around the grounds at the Dreamworks campus. I used a little Photoshop to correct levels and bring out shadows. Otherwise it’s pencil and water color on sketch paper.