Sketch of the Week: Going Incognito

My artist friend Melissa Kojima kindly invited me to Incognito art event at Santa Monica Museum of Art last weekend. I enjoyed her company and enjoyed looking at art - since they were not signed on the front (hence the title of the event), it allowed me to respond truthfully to which piece I like without thinking about who made them. The place was filled with people who were dressed as equally artfully as the exhibit, with press people with interesting gear among them. I sketched in the center of the space, which is quite unusual - the middle of the room was fairly empty from most people being closer to the walls to look at art.

Sketch of the Week: Life Painting Workshop

I got some practice drawing and painting live models recently. I tend to overwork my paintings with long poses, so I did a mix of quick sketches and painting from long poses. Of all the years I've been to life model workshops, this was the first time I painted a pregnant model.

I like this painting of the model that I did in a few minutes while she was checking her phone on her break better than the one above that I worked on for hours - that probably means I need to practice my painting techniques so that long paintings still keep the freshness of quick paintings! Of course I had to do a quick sketch of my fellow artists, too.

Sketch of the Week: Using "Wrong" Colors

I do a lot of sketches of people relaxing outdoors. One day I remembered that I had some colored Micron pens, so I tried coloring the shadows with "wrong" colors to mix it up a bit.

Sketch of the Week: Cycling to the Sea

This past Sunday was Ciclavia, when parts of Venice Blvd. was blocked off to car traffic for cyclists, skaters, joggers and walkers. I went on a 15-mile bike ride all the way from downtown L.A. to Venice for the first time, meeting friends along the way. I ended up biking very slowly since the route was packed with over 150,000 people. Even with the bike traffic, it didn't feel as oppressive as being stuck inside a car because people were chatting with each other, enjoying the sunshine, and feeling the ocean breeze as it got closer to the sea. This sketch below doesn't even begin to describe the amount of people who were there.

I started and ended the day at Culver City metro station, which was also full of people taking the metro across town with their bikes.
The metro station was the only place I had time to really sit and sketch - I never drew so many bicycles at once, and definitely need more practice!

It was fascinating to see bikes and their owners, similar to watching people and their pets. Speaking of pets: one lady had a rather ordinary bike - but was "wearing" live birds around her neck, and put them away in the birdcage before boarding the metro, counting them one by one, fifteen in all.

Sketch of the Week: 39th Worldwide Sketchcrawl at Downtown Burbank Arts Festival

39th Worldwide Sketchcrawl Day happened to fall on the same day as Downtown Burbank Arts Festival, so the Los Angeles sketchcrawl group checked it out. I enjoyed chatting with my artist friends but the day was more "crawl"ing up and down the street to look around rather than "sketch"ing for me - this is a compilation of what I managed to draw, with color added at home.

While the event covered only a few small city blocks, there were many activities: kids playing with hoops that make big bubbles, chalk artists drawing on the pavement, kids building wooden block castles, a 1931 Ford Model T on display (+ a police motorcycle), a costumed model, live band, and tables with artwork and books for sale.

Illustration Friday: Wild

I sketched the wild flowers that manage to bloom in an empty lot next to landscaped and not-so-wild palm trees lining a busy city street. Nature is amazing!

(For this week's Illustration Friday topic, Wild)

Sketch of the Week: An Afternoon at the Getty

I had a chance to stroll around the expansive outdoor space at the Getty Center after seeing an exhibit on medieval art. It made me feel peaceful to see people relaxing and taking in the view from the hilltop. I sketched these quickly on late afternoon, before sun went down and lights went up.