By the Bay

 

By the Bay
Watercolor on 8" x 8" cold press paper

Just a little quick sketch of a place I have come to love these past few years. Iowa, I still love your tallgrass prairies, but SF Bay, you have also captured my heart. 

The Joy of Painting Outdoors

 

Garden of the Gods 2
8" x 8"
in Field Watercolor Journal with Fluid cold press watercolor paper

When sketching outdoors, I often sketch a drawing in pencil or pen, take photos of the scene, and then add the paint in my office/studio. 

But last weekend while in Colorado Springs for a wedding, I visited the Garden of the Gods and took along my w/c paints, brushes, and folding metal palette. I settled into my folding chair in a shaded area just off a walking path. 

It was morning but getting hot already, so the shade felt good. I went to work, mostly oblivious of passersby.  

First I drew the sketch below in pencil and added color. (Later in our hotel room, I added the ink lines and the writing.) 

Then I drew in pencil the scene above and began to add paint. That's when I had the nice conversation, described below with the lady from southern India. 

Garden of the Gods1
in 5" x 8" Dylusions Creative Journal Sketchbook

The last painting, below, I created in the hotel room from a photo I'd taken that morning. Not quite the same as creating it on location, but by the time I spied this formation called "Three Graces," it was getting too hot and there was no shade near that spot.

It can be a hassle to lug the extra supplies for "real" painting when outdoors, but there's a real joy that immersive experience when you have the time. And sometimes you can have some great conversations about art, which can serve as a sort of social currency toward a meaningful connection.   

Garden of the Gods 3, "Three Graces"
5" x 8"
in Field Watercolor Journal with Fluid cold press watercolor paper