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!

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.