Urban Sketchers' Day Out

Today Urban Sketchers Los Angeles went more the back-to-nature route, meeting up at 10 a.m. at Placerita Canyon Nature Center up near Newhall to do a little hiking and sketching and painting. My hiking consisted of 300 yards straight uphill, followed by 300 yards straight back down that same hill, knees protesting the downhill direction. The rest of the two hours, I sketched.

I wasn't thrilled with my results; for one thing it was warm enough that all the little swarmy bugs came out to play, and oh do they love water and sweat, so I spent more time swatting than drawing!

First I tried a detailed pen drawing of a small area built for birds, with a bubbling fountain of rocks at its center (the very dark part is moss on the rocks, due to the moisture), and sat still long enough that I was able to capture two hummingbirds and a very loud blue jay there. (See if you can find them in the picture.) I watercolored it, then took the aforementioned abbreviated hike, and then sat back down to try a more expressionistic, paint-only oak tree.

Also not terribly successful; I enjoyed rendering the almost-black trunks, but had trouble conveying the foliage. But...it passed the time and brought me to within two pages of finishing out my current sketchbook, so it's all good. Another day, another drawing.