Sketching in Lodi - Part III

Lunch during the workshop was alone time for me. Since we were having wonderful spring-like weather that day, I opted to sit in one of Downtown Lodi's open air eateries. The sandwiches at the Dancing Fox (Winery, Bakery Eatery) were scrumptious and the sidewalk seating under a large market umbrella was just the thing for sketching while I waited for my lunch. Above is the view from my table across the street and the House of Clocks storefront. I'm thinking I might go inside one day to sketch some fancy timepieces!

I inked these sketches and added colors later. Usually if I am working fairly leisurely, I will sketch first in pencil. If I am in a Sketchcrawl situation I tend to use ballpoint pen or other. I guess I'm afraid of smudging off the pencil when I'm moving fast in this little sketchbook. I like this sign over the door at the Dancing Fox. I did a sketch of it in my Moleskine but I misjudged the size and only captured 3/4 of it! So no posting that one...Oh heck - why not!

Below is the view I had while waiting - I'm glad the people sitting in front of me left before I sat down so I could quickly include their dishes. Business was brisker in the side garden area behind me - most customers preferred the shadier spots there. The waitress would walk back and forth between my table and the other customers seated behind me and at the far table. The Dancing Fox website has a cute little tale about their logo here.

Watercolor and ink sketches by Janice L-H

Hanging Out At Lodi, Again...Part II

Living in a semi-rural part of the California Delta, you always have to be ready to travel a bit for your entertainment, fine dining and shopping. We are about 25 miles from anywhere so when I'm out art gallery hopping, sketchcrawling or looking for a bite to eat, I'm pretty much doing that while on the road.
This time I was visiting the town of Lodi, CA.

Lodi is in the upper part of the Central Valley, a city of farmlands, dairies, wineries (lots of wineries) and residential homes mostly located along Hwy 12 between Interstate Hwy 5 and Hwy 99. It's a nice drive with views of vineyards, strawberry patches, marshlands and Mt. Diablo in the distant south. I especially like hanging out in the older part of town with it's distinctive architecture on 100 year old buildings and historical areas. Did you know the first A&W Rootbeer was sold in Lodi? (Yup, neither did I but Huell Howser can't be wrong!) The picture below is by the train station and entrance to the old part of town.

Back in July I attended a pastel workshop in Lodi and enjoyed a preworkshop day of shopping and lunch at the Lodi Beer Co. on S. School Street: that's me in the mirror below taking the picture. We sat across from the enormous brew vats (beer made on the premises).

The burgers and onion rings were enormous!

Land's End, San Francisco with NBPAP - July 31st, 2011

Sunday was cold and windy on the coast (with just a bit of the drizzly rainy fog to keep my pastels in their box!). The SF Marathon was earlier that morning so traffic was still kind of messing things up downtown.
The views from Land's End were somewhat curtailed and the Golden Gate Bridge played hide and seek all day, frustrating many of the artists. However this area always has tourists and other visitors drawn to its trails even in weather like this.

I rather like the graphics on this very truthful sign (an unlucky few had already lost their lives this year from falls from the cliffs).

Most of the painters had arrived by noontime and while I was waiting for the clouds to lift (just a little, please) my hubby and I went over to the Seal Rock Inn for lunch (and to get warm). Poor guy, everytime he tries to join me in a painting outing it is either stifingly hot, bitterly cold, or tied up in endless traffic. The Cliff House food was a tad too expensive and Louis' Restaurant was not yet open for business after its recent remodel.

We had walked part of the trail at Land's End earlier to try and scope out some good views but I settled on this view in the parking lot overlooking the ruins of the old Sutro Baths and Seal Rocks. I had brought my Canson Watercolor SF Sketchbook to work in since the weather wasn't cooperating.

There was a fairly large turnout this day of painters (despite the weather). We are a hardy bunch!

For more pictures and a look at the other paintings created that day - visit the North Bay Plein Air Painters Blog.

Botanical Gardens in Tilden Park, Berkeley, CA

Workshop/Demonstration by Artist Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez:

Membership in the East Bay Plein Air Painters has many benefits. The ability to paint a couple of times a month with various talented artists and the yearly dues gives the membership access to workshops/demonstrations during the paint-out schedules. This year's workshop/demonstration was conducted by local artist Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez* at Tilden Park's Botanical Gardens.

It was a overcast and cool day (usual in California for the Berkeley Hills area in the summer). The demonstration was one of the best I've attended. Rebeca gave us a running commentary of her process in capturing the scene before us in her painting. She explained her techniques with acrylic painting methods and gave us all pointers on composition, value and color harmony.

After the demo, I was able to get about the Garden and attempt some sketches of the various flora and fauna (as well as see what the painters were up to!). Even on a foggy day - there were marvelous views along the winding and climbing pathways.

Later I added some pen and watercolor to my pencil sketches and went back down to the "flatlands" for a bite to eat.
Here's a sketch that I made from photos of Rebeca (and a hummingbird that was spying on one of the artists at work that day). The hummingbird sat very still on that branch so I could get a zoom photo of it.

* Rebeca is also one of the founding artists of a similarly named plein air group (the collaborative East Bay Painters). Check out their blogs: East Bay Landscape Painters and the East Bay Figure Painting.

Sketchcrawl 32 - July 23, 2011

Berkeley Horticultural Garden (Tilden Park)

Sketchcrawl Saturday found me in Berkeley with the East Bay Plein air Painters at a workshop (more about that later). Anyway, after the demonstration I had a chance to get around the garden and very quickly pencil in some impressions (ink and color added at home).

This sketch was of some interesting trees in the meadow area that had a very colorful orange litchen or moss growing on it.
The flowers below were found all over the garden entrance. The white ones are Matilija Poppies and they can get very large.

After the workshop I had dinner at Nation's Giant Hamburgers in El Cerrito.
I had a lot more time to sketch and ink in the burger place. The burger was tasty too!

Pastel Workshop at Knowlton Gallery - Lodi Part I

July 16th & 17th - Lodi
I attended a pastel workshop given by Gil Dellinger in Lodi. Gil is one of the premier pastel artists in California and exhibits his work nationally and internationally. We are lucky to have him available for this workshop through Knowlton Gallery (one of my favorite galleries). Here he is demonstrating his pastel technique to the class. His completed pastel painting of Lake Louise is included below.



Below are my efforts in this class - somewhat different from my usual pastel paintings. I found it difficult to work from photographs I hadn't taken. Gil provided the class with excellent photos he had taken as subject matter (or we could bring in one of our own).

"Cows in Autumn" (9" x 12" pastel on Canson paper - Artist Janice L-H)

In this second painting - it was the first time I had worked with the sandpaper surfaced paper and it was from one of my own photos taken earlier.

"View from the Castella Moat" (9"x 12"pastel on Wallis paper - Artist Janice L-H)

My fingers got a little raw from using them to blend on this paper! Next time I need to invest in finger cots!

I hope that I will be able to work more like this on location - with a bit of my usual style added in!

Here are a couple of blog post by terrific local artists on painting from photo references:

Sergio Lopez and Terry Miura.

Sketching in Isleton on a hot June day

The day after the Davis Sketchcrawl, I drove up to the little Delta community of Isleton. Known for their "Cajun Festival" in the summertime, the Benicia Plein Air Painters were gathering for one of their weekly Sunday paintouts. I arrived a little late, but was able to get in a couple of sketches before I had to head out home.