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Sunset in Death Valley.
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The stream. Watercolor with white gouache.
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Late afternoon sketches in Central California.
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Pyramid Lake in Southern California.
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Creekbed in Angeles Crest Forrest. This is as far as I got before it started to rain.
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Moleskine sketch of Towsley Canyon Creek.
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A demo for you this week. This is a canyon in Arches National Park, Utah and was done in watercolor with white gouache.

I don't usually work on black paper but sometimes it's a nice way to frame a very luminous or atmospheric subject.

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San Pedro industrial plant at dusk.
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San Pedro shipping yard.
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Brush pen sketches.
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San Pedro shipping yard.
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Cambodian ruins.
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View from my folks home outside of Coalinga in central California.
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Spring thistle.
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The peach trees in our back yard are in bloom.
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Stone Path.
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Cambria rocks on the Central California Coast.
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Tree grove at the Los Osos State Beach on the California Central Coast.
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Corcovado falls, Costa Rica.
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Naples marina, Long beach CA.
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If you've made the drive from central California to LA, you've probably seen this scene as you approached the Grapevine at dusk.
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A quick one before the rain came down.
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Mausoleum.
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Something a little closer to traditional watercolor technique for this week.
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On my way back from Christmas in Utah I took a diversion into Death Valley.
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Wasatch Mountain range in Utah where I spent my Christmas vacation.

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Dusk in Sand Piper Park, Redwood Shores Ca.
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If you've ever made the drive from LA to Vegas you've seen this cement factory on the way.
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More sketches from around the neighborhood.
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Neighborhood house.
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More from the hills of North central California outside the town of Coalinga.
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I've sometimes heard complaints about the dusty landscape of Coalinga (central California) where I grew up but I don't share those sentiments.
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Bangkok
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Angeles National Forest Northeast of Los Angeles.
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More moleskine painting
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Though I usually use a craft paper sketch book to paint in, I also enjoy carrying around a small moleskine, it's just so handy! So, some years ago I decided to put together a pocket size watercolor kit for the moleskine. This is what I came up with.

The case is a samsonite camera case and the drawings are in black prismacolor pencils.

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A few more Grand Canyon sketches.

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Arizona canyon at dusk.

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Late afternoon in Zion National park, Utah.
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In the middle of Arizona page 2.
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Somewhere in the middle of Arizona.
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Outside Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park, Utah
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I have more sketches of the Grand Canyon I'll post later, but for this week, let's jump over to Bryce Canyon.
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Continuing Grand Canyon sketches.
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I spent my summer vacation touring the national parks of Arizona and Utah. We'll start with the Grand Canyon. These were painted in a heavyweight black paper scrapbook. The dark paper seemed to suit the subject as there was so much light bouncing around in the shadows. I "borrowed" the black paper idea from one of my former students Chris Sears.

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These are my demo sketches from our landscape sketching class trip to Eaton Canyon in Pasadena. Good times.

And for those of you who have been asking for higher res images, the middle one is for you.
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Rocks in Angeles Crest Forest.
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Late afternoon outside Coalinga in central California.
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This will be the final Death Valley post for awhile; we'll move on to a new subject next week. If the sketches here feel a little different than the previous posts, it's because they were done many years earlier. These were done in acrylic on a Prince of Egypt art department trip in 1997. We didn't get to go to Egypt but did spend a week in Death Valley studying the desert landscape. The top one predates a sandstorm by about 10 minutes, the textures you see on it were created when it blew over into the sand. Great trip.
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Dusk in Death Valley.
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Continuing the Death Valley posts. These and the previous are from a trip there during Christmas break a few years back.
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Again in Death Valley. This is the opposite view of the previous post.
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Death Valley. Looking out from the mouth of Mosaic Canyon.
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More from Death Valley
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Near the entrance to Death Valley
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Lake Arrowhead California after sunset.
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Canyons outside of Hurricane Utah.
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Northern California pond. You have to paint quick when it's getting dark.
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Costa Rican waterfall
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Corcovado Rain Forest stream, Costa Rica.
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Santa Clara hills

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Northern California woods.
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From a trip to Costa Rica.
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The flowers have come into bloom here in the Santa Clarita valley.
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Hegben Lake, Montana.

This is from a particularly memorable 2 1/2 week painting trip where I toured the national parks of Utah (previous post), drove through Montana to Glacier National Park and back to California.

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Late afternoon in Zion Canyon, Utah.
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An afternoon of painting at Vasquez Rocks.
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Vasquez Rocks, north of Los Angeles on an overcast evening.
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View from Mulholland drive.

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A quickie from a trip to Lake Arrowhead, Ca. a few summers ago.
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Switzer Creek in Angeles Crest forest. This is gouache on illustration board from back in '99.

I've spent alot of time sketching in this area. It feels completely unlike LA but is only a 20 minute drive from Glendale where I lived for many years.
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Los Gatos Canyon mountains, outside Coalinga Ca.
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From a trip to Peru a few years ago.
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I spent this New years at 7,500 feet in Timberlakes, Utah. Beautiful and...COLD!
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The red bridge at Descanso gardens in North Glendale, Los Angeles.
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Swiss Lake.
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Several years ago I had a chance to visit Switzerland. A gorgeous country.

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Around the corner.
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Switzer creek in Angeles Crest Forest, California.
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Bay Cypress. Digital.

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Big Sur trees on the central California coast.
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Fall in Southern Utah.
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Corcovado rain forrest, Costa Rica.
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Bridalveil Falls Creek, Utah
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Pinacles National Monument, central California.
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Warthan Canyon at dusk, central California.
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Crystal springs reservoir outside Redwood City CA. Less is more.
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Our class went out sketching in Eaton Canyon, Pasadena last Saturday. This is my demo sketch. Good times.
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Dusk
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Montana de Oro beach on the central coast of California.
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A few more quick sketches from around the new homestead.
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I'm very excited to have recently moved to beautiful Castaic Lake at the northeast end of the LA basin. I hope to have stacks of sketches as the months go by. Here's the first.
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Zion National Park mountains.
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Another Utah sketch, somewhere near Bryce canyon. Trying to get the sunset colors before it's too dark.
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One day in Provo Canyon, Utah, 2003.

I set a goal to fill this little notebook in one day, hence the smaller than usual sketches. Didn't quite reach the goal but I did come up with these 12 scenes.
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More sketches of the Foothills outside Provo, Utah.

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Foothills outside Provo, Utah.

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More quick sketches from the street and industrial area just outside the studio grounds.
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More quick sketches from around the Pdi/Dreamworks grounds. Trees this time.
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We have plenty of flowers blooming around the office grounds. They make for a good opportunity to splash some watercolors around at lunchtime.

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Redwood Shores Marina.

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My time at Pdi Dreamworks in Redwood city is rapidly coming to a close, so I'd like to spend the next couple weeks posting lunchtime and evening sketches from around the studio grounds. We're adjacent to a bay marina which is where this one was done. It was the first I did here and I have to say, having come from the everpresent LA sun, I enjoyed the overcast.

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My Sister used to live in San Louis Obisbo on the central coast of California. She could drive to LA to visit me in about 3 1/2 hours but for some reason it always took me over 4 hrs to drive up and visit her. The reason of course is sketches like this. You can't make that drive without pulling over to paint those scenic seaside vistas.

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Here's another one. This is a beautiful spot on the big island; below the falls is a lava tube cave you can hike through. I didn't have a flashlight and came out with a bruised forehead.

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A quick sketch from a trip to Hawaii.

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Another sketch from the national parks of Utah. I did this one sitting in my car pulled over onto the shoulder of the road. The highway patrolman who stopped to see what I was up to didn't seem to like it.

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This is in Zion National Park, Utah. Though springtime, it was cold! A good motivator to be quick and keep it simple.

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More sketches of Cambodia. The ruins in this country are extraordinary. And in contrast to a few decades ago, it's become highly tourist friendly. Just watch out for mosquitos.

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From a trip to Cambodia in '03

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Welcome! I'm dusting off the ol' sketchbooks and getting the sketches online. I have to say that travelling with my painting sketchbook has been the most pleasurable part of being an artist and so I'm pleased to share my efforts with you.

Here are a few pics of the setup. I've got a water bin, an old listerine bottle to carry water in, masking tape, Winsor and Newton watercolors, white gouache, brushes (mostly Princeton and Robert Simmons white sable Flats), sketchbooks and a small hiking pack they all fit in. The sketchbooks are heavy weight, acid free craft paper made by Michael Roger Press and as it would happen, stopped being produced recently. Luckily I have several more stashed away. Canson makes a similar book that is currently available.

The studies are done small and quickly. Most are less than 3x5" and completed in 20 to 40 minutes.

My watercolor palette. All Winsor & Newton brand unless otherwise noted:
Permanent white designers gouache
winsor lemon
winsor yellow deep
yellow ochre
winsor orange
bright red
winsor red
permanent alizarin crimson
french ultramarine blue
pthalo blue (winsor blue greenshade)
pthalo green (winsor green blueshade)
permanent sap green
Pthalo yellow green (academy brand)
venetian red (light red or indian red)
raw umber
van dyke brown
ivory black

Enjoy!