Magnolia Cafe

I bought a small watercolor notebook from Japan-"Hokusai" -so I could paint this coconut cake from Magnolia Cafe.

Day 1 New York

Had cocktails at Pastis before heading over to BuddhaBar, a large restaurant in the meat packing district with a giant Buddha inside. Definately not LA. Very red. Very dark. I painted our edamame without seeing the paint. Took only a small Moleskine, and we all know how badly the paper takes watercolor.
Photo of central park in rain.

Chinatown galleries in LA

Searching for good painting shows in China town. (We did find one). Some rum drinking advice from a very good artist at another very good artist's house and when I have time to figure out how to link their websites to this sentence, I will.
Am off to New York for a week. I hope to post some NYC sketches when I get back.

Life Drawing Finally

"Woman with dark hair".
Now that life drawing sessions are every other week, they are very precious, plus it takes longer to get rid of the stiffness. These are 5 minute poses. Stabilo on Animation paper. I missed the session two weeks ago, and will miss the one in two weeks both due to being out of town. It drives me crazy to miss these. I need to find more sessions to sneak into, although it would be weird to draw with another group.

Sycamore leaves

Buttonwood for BSF. This was shot through glass as it is already framed and hanging. Watercolor on Arches, 10x10".

late october weather

The sky is finally blue after a couple of days of smoke and haze. These last orange/violet clouds were only for early risers. They were completely gone by 8am. These views are out the kitchen window. The green is the tops of my citrus trees. The mts. are the Verdugos looking southwest. The sketchbook is the Hand Book Journal - not good watercolor paper. The paintbrushes are nice though, Isaby Kolinsky.

Leaving one sky for another

The Utah sky from my favorite restaurant, The Bit & Spur" in Springdale, and driving back into my home state of California which is on fire. These are the east side of the fires near Lake Arrowhead at first sight from I-15 (tuesday). Thought the freeway would be closed the closer I got, but I made it home.

Costume gesture drawing

These are quick (2 or 3 minute) sketches done with watercolor on animation paper, from the Thursday night gesture drawing sessions at Disney. If you want to see some good sketches, go to Mark or Cholki's blog. The links are on the right.
The model was wearing a transparent "korean summer gown" and had black underwear on.

More quick sketches

These are from last week. Disney has changed our weekly life drawing sessions to every other week. I guess the money was needed to revamp California Adventureland. The renovation is to cost $1.1 billion. I'm happy that the sessions weren't cancelled entirely.

more firefighter

Have too much freelance work to keep weather journal the past couple of weeks. All I am painting are fire fighters and birthday cards.

Friday life drawing

Took a break from freelance work to draw at noon at Disney. These are 5 minute poses. Stabilo on animation paper.

bananas

I have been painting alot but it's all digital (adobe photoshop) painting for freelance work.
Here's a digital wave and a watercolor banana.

Girl with Papaya

An older watercolor. The same girl who was the model for "neglected girl with astors and peonies". This is girl with Papaya. Am working on several watercolors and one oil and have nothing new to post today. This is 22 x30" on Arches Cold Press.

Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest

This is a watercolor 17 x 45" on Arches Hot Press.
It was done in studio from photos and a rough sketch. It's morning at Paramount Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains, the annual topanga banjo/fiddle contest and folk festival that happens in May.

Heat wave

Thank you C for saving me from this heat wave! Had a blast in Laguna Beach.

Figs

I'm working on a large painting, two actually, but took a break to paint figs from the neighbor's tree.
watercolor on arches hot press. 8x10"

friday lunchtime drawing

three drawings from the friday lunchtime drawing session.
2 or 5 minute poses. The middle pose is very similar to a pose from another model a couple of weeks ago. I feel lucky to be sitting where I was when those happen. Stabilo aquarellable on animation paper. These are bigger than usual, about 16 x 7".

Friday figure drawing

This last pose is that great pose that we all loved, (except for the model who said, "never again"). These are all either 1, 3 or 5 minutes. There is one of each. Maybe you could figure which is which. I struggle with the 1 minute poses, but it's a great challenge.

Hot weather for sketchbook

A couple of pages of the weather sketchbook, which is really a Handbook Journal, although the size is 5x7" landscape size which I really don't like - too wide. My answer to Cin's comment/question about if I like these journals, is yes, I do like them. My favorite is the 5x5" one. The paper is nicer than Moleskine for a watercolor wash. They are good for quick sketches, and not for finished watercolor paintings however, which is hard for me to remember that that is the purpose of a sketchbook, to work out ideas, and capture quick images. Sometimes I find myself trying to make a finished painting in them. The Handbook Journal paper absorbs the pigment in a nice way. You can see the difference in the august 13 squash in journal, then on Arches cold press paper. Both paintings have the same Holbein Aureolin yellow watercolor paint.

Neglected girl with peonies and asters

I'm trying to organize my blog because I'm still too lazy to make a proper website, but want to include some older paintings, now that I have this label list on the right (and also the bottom which I can't seem to get rid of). This painting is called "Neglected girl" a portrait of a girl who lives in my neighborhood. It's a large watercolor on Arches Hot Press (from a roll) 40x45". It's too large to frame and send away for a show, but sits neglected in my studio.