Drawing doggos at the beach-o #beachdog #doggo #watercolor #urbansketchers #kaimana #honolulu #hawaii (at Honolulu, Hawaii)
Beach Doggos
Category: Urban Sketches
Lava Rocks
Volcanic rock painting practice at Maniniowali Beach on the Big Island #urbansketchers #volcano #rock #sunset (at Maniniowali Beach)
Drawing Jam 2017
Karl and I rolled in a little later for Drawing Jam this year, but it worked out as we were able to find some good seats in the Costumed Poses room. I tend to rely a LOT on my lines, so I practiced with my color/value shapes instead.
I’ve hardly painted people with my watercolor kit, so this was good practice!
A Visit to Chicago
Chicago is such a beautiful city. The bridges, waterways, and trains against a historic backdrop make it all very enchanting. A quick rundown of the sketches I managed while we were doing our whirlwind tour there:
– I drew the watercolor sketch of DuSable Bridge from the Ghiradelli Cafe,
while waiting for my sister and her boyfriend to drop off the rental car. I started at sunset, but by the time I got to blocking in the colors it was already twilight/night. That’s what I get for being slow.
– The sketches from The Field Museum were from the mammals section. I was so impressed by the artistic taxidermy. Their poses were very dynamic (not captured in these sketches, hah.)
– The Goddess and The Baker is a cafe where we had a much appreciated breakfast after flying a red eye from Seattle. I loved the view of the ‘L’ / trains as they zipped across the skyline.
– The gesture drawings of passengers on the train are on the Blue Line from Chicago to the airport. There was one passenger I captured (top left with the mustache) who completely embarrassed himself the whole ride by fulfilling the whole loud American tourist stereotype. I felt so sorry for the poor British couple he was bothering. (At one point he said that he watched ‘Braveheart’ as a way to talk about Europe, yikes. My husband also noted that what that guy was drinking out of his Mountain Dew bottle didn’t look like Mountain Dew.)
Honolulu Sketches
Last July, we went to Hawaii for our friends’ wedding and then stayed the week to celebrate my birthday. My sister, who lives in Honolulu, is an amazing hostess and planned a very memorable birthday for me. We hiked up Diamond Head where the park stamp my sketchbook with the “Summit Finisher” stamp. I didn’t finish the sketch of Diamond Head Crater until yesterday (shame on me) though, using reference I photographed while we hiked there.
The 2nd drawing is of Lanikai beach which I did sketch on my birthday. It’s of the mokes (2 islands) and the little reef inbetween where we snorkeled.
The 3rd drawing was drawn at Waimanalo Beach where my husband and I spent the whole day. My sister recommended it as it was quiet and located in a small neighborhood. I saw 2 boats in the sand and thought it would be a fun challenge. The real the challenge, however, was the humidity that made both inking and watercoloring difficult.
The 4th drawing was at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. I learned so much about pineapples. I especially had no idea how they looked out in the wild or the fact there were so many kinds.
Dancing Santas
The day after Christmas, my family and I went to NYC to watch the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. The Rockettes are great and all, but I was completely mesmerized by the dancing Santas. I loved how hefty yet agile they were with their little boots and round bellies.
While we were watching, I whipped out my Galaxy Note 5 and did some quick gestures during their dance number with the Action Memo app + my stylus. (We were allowed to use our phones in the theater as long as there wasn’t flash.)
They’re pretty crude, but it was enough to flesh out later when I returned to WA. I pulled out my phone again to look at those gestures and with some quick photo reference of the clothing, I was able to make the final sketch with watercolor. The poses with the red arrows are the ones I used for that sketch.
I continue to be amazed by the Note 5. I love that I can take visual notes/gestures and use those to further explore an idea or use later for a character without feeling obligated to make it look true-to-life. I’m learning that it’s more important to capture what you want of the pose, whatever you find appealing to you, as opposed to being 100% accurate. It took me so long to understand this concept of extrapolation from the Schoolism gesture drawing class I took awhile back, but it’s finally starting to click.
Farmers’ Market phone doodles
I forgot my sketchbook, and I had time to kill before my haircut…so I doodled people at the Kirkland Farmers’ Market on my phone. I’m going to be sad when the market closes at the end of this month. Goodbye, summer.
Barnegat Lighthouse State Park Sketches
When I went to visit my hometown a couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of shadowing my youngest sister, Lauren, a wildlife biologist. She’s spending her summer surveying piping plovers, an endangered bird, along the NJ coast. Every day, she visits different beaches and counts plovers and their eggs, which are found among broken shells and sand.
We went to Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, known for “Old Barney”, the historic lighthouse that’s on the northern end of Long Beach Island. Originally, I was going to paint the lighthouse while Lauren worked, but I realized this is an amazing opportunity to record a “day in the life” of my sister. She pointed out shorebirds as we walked together.
Later, Lauren met up with 3 other biologists to put up an exclosure, a wire mesh fence that protects plovers’ nests from various predators. They had a small window to set this up, as setting up the exclosure prevents the plover from warming their eggs. I was so impressed by the whole process I couldn’t help myself from trying to capture it.
We ended the day with chicken wings at Chegg, an awesome way to end “Take your Ate to Work Day”! Thanks again, Yowen, for a fun day at the beach, much needed for this Seattle transplant. 😉
Center for Wooden Boats Sketch
The Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle is a neat place to wander around. It sits in Lake Union Park, a gorgeous park right on the lake. A few weeks ago, I biked from our house to visit my husband who works downtown. On the way back, I made a pit stop to paint at the park. I love looking at all the wooden boats parked there, and hearing the sound of the water lapping against the docks is very nostalgic for this Jersey Shore girl. 😉
Anniversary at Port Townsend
A couple watercolor sketches from our 3rd wedding anniversary trip back in March. We celebrated it in Port Townsend, WA, a charming historic town on the water. Port Townsend not only had a bustling downtown waterfront decorated with Victorian buildings, but they also served food using ingredients from the rich farmlands surrounding the port town.
The 1st sketch is from the patio of a cafe named “Sweet Laurette”. It was a beautiful day, so we had brunch and hung out with our dog. The 2nd sketch was from brunch the next day from the window of “Point Harbor Cafe”. The cafe sits right in the harbor across the water from the “Wooden Boat Center”.
I highly recommend visiting the town. It reminded me of Savannah with its waterfront and historical buildings, but with a PNW spin to it. It’s not too far of a drive from Seattle (about 2 hours or so) and worth a weekend visit.