Studies in the garden

What a pleasure it's been to teach workshops at Descanso Gardens in La Canada...and a great place to try out different ways of using color...but mostly a lovely, relaxing place to sketch!










Watching people (and crows) at the cafe...

...and a school group entranced by the back hoe in the Rose Garden...







I couldn't resist the way the reds played off the greens in the cafe...

 Saturated colors on a warm day in the Japanese Garden...

...and an experiment with super-saturated QOR colors in the cafe...

 In late fall, the gingkoes are glowing gold...

Out sketching people...

in springtime--
at Descanso Gardens in La Canada...
on a warm weekend afternoon, the entrance is buzzing with visitors...

climbing on rocks
at the waterfall...

 ...in the Japanese Garden, a couple poses for a photo, and seems to merge into one...

...and on a quiet Memorial Day afternoon,
Descanso is a wonderful place to sit or wander, and remember...

People

...in a panoramic sketchbook format, thinking of ways to create more of a story...

At the Getty Center...

India Sweet and Spices, a big Indian grocery store with a vegetarian restaurant...a picture of Yogananda smiles beneficently from behind the counter and a grandmother sits and watches all that happens.  All kinds of people shop in here for treats and delicacies, and watch musicals from Bollywood...















At the eastern end of Echo Park on Sunset is a great taco restaurant...Guisados.  Office workers from downtown gather here for lunch...

Olvera Street, the oldest part of Los Angeles...a great place for a post-Barcelona Urban Sketchers reunion with Shiho, Chris and John...

  ...and then in anticipation of teaching a sketching on location workshop at Descanso Gardens again, I spent some time in the garden, making small sketches, back to the basics of line, shape and tone (which I never get tired of!)

           

Spring

...and people are out enjoying the weather, and I'm out sketching!  Not like Southern Californians are stuck indoors in the winter, but there is something about the newness of spring...

at the L.A. Arboretum...

 Enjoying all those blooming pink trees...

on a street in Montrose...

...and at Descanso Gardens in La Canada, where this flowering cherry holds court
on the main lawn...

Spring Break brings the hikers and rock climbers to Joshua Tree National Park...

People Watching and Sketching...

on the street...

at the Huntington...

at Descanso Gardens

on Mother's Day... 

At the Renaissance Faire...Moonie performing and a Jack Sparrow look-alike...

working...

on the street and at The Huntington...