West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl in San Diego

Here is a belated post about West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl that happened this summer. The Sketchcrawl took place in San Diego, which is a pleasant train ride away from Los Angeles. I sketched on the way to get ready, of course - I was passing by Oceanside, which lives up to its name.

As soon as I arrived in San Diego, I headed to Balboa Park to meet the group for some sketching. Balboa Park is very large, and has a lot of museums and gardens within its boundaries. I met my sketching friend Alice to do a quick watercolor study by the reflecting pond by the Botanical Building.

After a group photo and lunch, I sketched the dancers at international dance group. I'm not too happy about this one - sitting under one of those colorful umbrellas made the color shift on this sketch - but I still enjoy sketching to record my experiences.

Alice put her local knowledge of the city to good use and lead a small group of us to Alcazar Garden. I found a spot in the shade with a great view of Museum of Man. A small wedding was happening, so I included the couple in this sketch.

On the next day, the group went to Old Town. This is the "birthplace of California", where the Europeans first settled in 1850's. There is still a flavor of Old West along with strong Mexican influence in the buildings. After a bit of scouting, I settled on sketching the colorful scenery at Fiesta de Reyes plaza. I attempted to sketch the dancer in traditional Mexican costume as well.

 

Sketching as a group in a beautiful setting like San Diego is a great change of pace from my daily solo sketching at home. It was an ideal weekend getaway!