IN FRONT OF A WINDOW

from Christy's art studio

Doesn't this scene make you want to sit down and read a book, sketch a tree outside the window, paint swatches of color or write about another episode of your life? I can't think of a better way to spend a Spring afternoon then with a cup of tea and your favorite creative supplies.

Recently I sat in a California Watercolor Society workshop with 20 others. We had paints, brushes, water cans and paper ready for a three-day Watercolor Sketching workshop presented by Brenda Swenson. She asked us to bring small objects and we spread them out on open shelving in the back of the room. Our assignment: take one object and give yourself 3 minutes to draw the object with a marking pen using the contour drawing technique, which follows the edges of an object without picking up the pen. Once the drawing was done we added color to accent the object. We didn't need to completely fill in between the lines nor did we need to worry about backgrounds.

I picked one of my favorite wind-up toys that I brought and a couple of plastic tomatoes. Here is the result:

Brenda then gave us the chose of a slew of photographs to pick from. I selected an image of old Pasadena. First I sketched the picture with a marking pen. Instead of painting a complete likeness, Brenda suggested that we pick out objects in the photo and rearrange them into a pleasing design.

I changed the placement of the Colorado Street Bridge, modernized its columns and place the old Green Hotel in front of it. It still reminds me of Arroyo Seco, the Rose Bowl and old Pasadena where we used to go for shopping trips and a meal at Bob's Big Boy on Colorado Boulevard.

Here are the supplies I used for the workshop:

Staedler's pigment liner (waterproof) 0.3 & 0.7

Tradio marker (not waterproof)

#12 Miller's pseudo sable

#6 Dynasty Black Gold

Kneaded eraser

Daniel Smith & Winsor Newton watercolors

Want to try a watercolor sketching workshop?  Four excellent instructors:
Brenda Swenson:  https://www.swensonsart.net/events.html

Liz Steel, an Australian, who teaches online classes & offerssketching tours:  https://sketchingnow.com

Cathy Johnson, whose books offer exercises and tips: http://www.cathyjohnson.info

Charles O'Shields, who offers challenges and daily prompts to get you started on a daily practice:   https://doodlewash.com/watercolor-art-challenges/


Interested in finding out what happened to Bob's Big Boy and the special sauce they are known for?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Boy_Restaurants