Counting down... home stretch!

77 out of 80 required with 3.5 weeks to go.  Sketchbook is about half done, I put 80 pages in there so 160 pages front/back.  We'll see how far I get!  Hoping I can get 2/3's through. ^_^

Recent sketches were from the wineries and Firestone brewery in Paso Robles and some trees from around my house and at the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Jose.  Really nice place to sit and draw; never even knew it was there!

Did some gestures of the women's inline hockey team, Pandemonium (yellow) on which one of my really good friends plays.  I need to get back to doing those to stay in practice.

Think for the rest of the summer I'm going to focus on perspective and people. =)

Recent sketches:

Coffee Shops and Life on the Coast

Visiting one of my high school friends down in San Luis Obispo with a few of my other high school friends and having a great time. This morning a few of us went out to Morro Bay to kayak but since I get seasick and one of my friends can't swim, he kept me company on a pier reading while I got some painting done of the bay.  We then went to the Cracked Crab in Pismo and fiended on well... crab :-D
Finished it off with the Dark Knight Rises and.... oh jeebus, that movie was ridiculously good.  It was pretty much everything I had hoped the end of the trilogy to be.  I can't wait to see it again soon. ^_^

Sketches from a coffee shop midweek with a good friend and from today:

Sketching on the trail ^_^

Took the mountain bike and sketchbook up to Saratoga Gap today.  My sore knee from yesterday kinda bugged but soon as I got moving and the blood flowing, it loosened up nicely.

Was colder than I expected and wanted to stay longer but the afternoon chill got the better of me and I took off before the evening set in.  Got some fun sketches in though; I need to pick up a small portable stool that I can pack along with my camelbak so I can just stop on the side of the trail and not have to worry about bugs or poison oak on my bum. ^_^

Perfect place to paint forest scenes, I definitely need to go back soon.  Took a bunch of pics but after painting from life so much... they really don't do the scene justice and you lose so much detail in a photo.

Sketches from today and a few days ago:

Little artists... so inspiring!

59 out of 80 required pages so far.  Keeping it going! ^_^

Cutest thing happened at the Oakland Zoo this past Monday.  Aaron and I were camped out in front of the alligator pen and sketching and this little guy (couldn't have been more than 8 or 9) comes running up with his own pad of paper and pencil, plops down, and starts drawing too.  I peer at him curiously and watch for a few moments, look up and see his mother standing behind him.  She smiles and says, "yeah, that's just his thing".  Was really awesome to watch.

Enjoying watercolors more and more; think I might unbind my sketchbook and replace the remaining pages with watercolor paper.

Anyways, sketches over the past couple of days below.

4th of July Fireworks, Egyptians and Oracle towers

Just some more sketches from the week.  4th of July was a lot of fun; my sister is in town with her family and we lit some small fireworks before heading out to see the big ones.  Did some tree studies in my parents backyard during the bbq as well.

Thurs, Andy, Taylor, Jon and I hit the Egyptian museum in San Jose.  It's gorgeous there and tons of stuff to draw.  Definitely going to have to return.  I didn't actually draw/paint anything on the grounds but there was a beautiful building across the street which happened to be a junior high school that I had to paint. =)

Today I started a sketch of Grey sleeping but he woke up midway.  Had an opportunity to do quick landscape of the Oracle buildings too as I was parked at the farmers market near my parents house. ^_^

Another kinda cool thing was the quick watercolor I did of the Silver Creek Sportsplex.  They liked it so much they asked to use it as their cover for their facebook page. ^_^
You can see it here: http://www.facebook.com/GoToPlex

Sketches of the week below:

Sunny days and Kelp Forests

Had a lovely enjoyable week of sketching.  Spent a sunny summer day on the beach with one of my great friends Lacey (who was supposed to be drawing but slept instead. ^_^),  then we had sushi with Kurt and caught Brave right after.  Great day!

Monday's sketchbook day was at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  I can't tell you how much fun that was and it was awesome how many people stopped by while we were drawing just to stare and compliment. ^_^

Finished the day by stopping by Silver Creek Sportsplex to play some hockey.  Had some time before clinic so I drove up the hill and drew the Plex from above.  Bad perspective but I'm not too sad on how it turned out.  Feeling better day by day.  Every morning is a new day; the sun is shining and the world is there to be drawn.

Some of my favorite pages from the last week below: