FULLERTON TRAIN STATION

Fullerton Train Station

Graphite

Ivy likes this walk she sees people getting off the train and she think they are all coming to see her.

VIRTUAL PAINTOUT AND FULLERTON RAILROAD BUILDINGS

VIRTUAL PAINTOUT

The 'VIRTUAL PAINTOUT' (http://virtualpaintout.blogspot.com/) was over in Belfast Ireland. There was so much green and the country is beautiful, lush and rural. I enjoyed my visit and appreciate Bill Guffey's blog site and the work he does to pull this off every month. If you haven't tried it you are missing a fun challenge.

Fullerton buildings along the train tracks.

Mixed Media

Ivy and I walked to the Fullerton Train Station to sketch today, because I had stopped near this area a few days ago and wanted to come back to do more sketching. These buildings are so textural and I am continuing to use the art set with crayon, pencil, oil pastel and felt pens. It’s a bit of a challenge using unfamiliar tools.

FULLERTON RAILWAYS

I stopped along the railroad tracks to take a break and sketch this group of buildings.  All I had in the car were crayons.  I don't know what the people were doing in these businesses but there was a lot of yelling going on.  I could hear them even from my, across the railroad tracks, 2 streets and a field away, parked car.

Fullerton Arboretum

The Fullerton Arboretum is a wonderful place to walk and commune with nature. I walked the grounds looking at everything and then found this shady place to sit and sketch. I could easily spend another few hours on this but life calls.

Brea Hills

Brea, California

Mixed Media

This is a view of Brea and maybe La Habra Hts. from the parking lot of a favorite hardware store I frequent.  When you live in a home there is always something to repair.  That's my excercise for today. 

HOME REPAIR!

The Garden Gate

I found this gate on my walk last week and started it then but didn't have enough time to finish until today.  I know that I would like the people in this house.  Have a great weekend everyone.

The Lamp Post

The weather is cool in the mornings now. When I got up this morning it was about 57 F and when I started walking it was dark!! Sooooo, I left the sketch book at home and when I got home I walked back out to catch this lamp post. The time will change soon, let's see spring forward fall back. I don't like dark mornings. I like to wake to the light streaming in through the windows and birds singing.

Miles to go. Hours of Practice.

Let me introduce you to Miles and his people. When Ivy and I walk we meet many dogs and their people. The dogs greet the dogs, the people greet the people and the people greet the dogs and the dogs greet the people. Not always in that order.

Practicing is what skill is all about. You practice until it becomes second nature and you don't have to think about what you are seeing, it just comes out of your hand. Like driving a car. You don't think ....Ok, now I need to put on the turn light to signal that I am going to turn. You see what is up ahead and your hand turns on the signal and your other hand stays on the wheel (while your head cradles the cell phone, and you tell the kids to sit down and be quiet, being careful not to spill your hot coffee between you knees) while your eyes search in all directions to see if it is safe. Creating art is like that. You don't think....Ok now I am going to make this line straight until it curves to look like an arm. At first you think those thoughts but after practicing forever your eye sees arm and your hand creates the line that represents arm in a way you have done it before that looks like an arm.



Why am I telling you all of this? Because, I was practicing sketching yesterday by drawing from the TV. Here are just two pages of the many pages of sketches I did while watching the gymnastic competition on television. 

Muckenthaler Stone Garden Room

The Muckenthaler Cultural Center is an Italian Renaissance-style structure in Fullerton built on eight acres located atop a hill in Fullerton. This little outdoor room has been a forte to many a child growing up in this neighborhood as well as a beautiful back drop for a wedding picture or a glass of wine. Ivy and I walk by here often and today I sketched it with my new pen. I loooooove my new pen!

THE NEW PEN

I attended the Art Expo in Pasadena, Califronia, this afternoon, expressly to find a fountain pen that would be refillable, resist drying out or clogging when I sketch out in nature and was reasonably priced. Well, I found it is a Lamy with a refill adapter and it’s wonderful. The nib is not too thick, soft and flowing on any paper and the ink is water proof so I can watercolor wash over it.

The ink is India Black with No-Shellac so it won't clog the pen.

I was also able to replenish my palette and got some disposable drawing pens. I am posting the test results of the colors and disposable pens. I should be good for awhile.

 

I also found a small flat brush for my paint box.  Very cute!!!

Dark Rain Clouds

Well the rain came and went.  Yesterday evening, after my walk, I found the sun setting while the sky was filled with dark clouds. It was just to good to pass up a painting like this so I dashed home and got my paint box just to see if I could capture just a hint of the dramatic view. The sun was setting and some of the light rays highlighted just a few trees making them glow while being accented by the dark as night back drop.

Model Study with Sam

Rainy day today. Ivy and I had our walk and then I spent a little time sketching Sam. He decided to model for me and I took the opportunity to practice my fast sketching.

Clouds...The rain is coming.

This painting is done while sitting on a hill in Fullerton looking toward the San Bernardino Mountains and San Gorgonio Mountains. The weather man has predicted rain tomorrow. Only a 1/4 inch but rain just the same. We will see.

Poor Puppy

Well this photo is going to take a little explaining.


Sunday a friend stopped by to show me her honey bees that she had in a glass display box with 'the works' honey comb, bees and very loud buzzing. Well, Ivy is a rescue Greyhound and I have to assume that her first 5 years (while spending her time in her crate) her favorite thing was to catch flies. When she came to live at her forever home (my house) she found that I had flies that would bite back. BEES! In fact the only time she has ever barked was on the occasion that she finds a bee. When the bee box was brought in and Ivy could see them bustling about inside and she heard the very loud bee sound coming from the vicinity of the box, she became very distressed, curious but distressed.

Ok the picture came later after everyone including the bees had left. Ivy just needed some comfort as we would all have needed after a particularly difficult and stressful day. She went outside and got her big juicy, greasy fresh bone and wanted to bring it inside (not allowed). You can see by her pleading eyes that she fully expected to be let in with that bloody bone. Look at those eyes. I went out and sat with her, for a while, so she could feel the comfort of sitting with a friend and having a gnaw on something gooey.

We all have ways of self soothing and I certainly am one for gnawing on something gooey after a stressful day.

Fullerton Hill Top View

This is a lovely walking trail. New smells for Ivy and new views for me. Very little shade though so this is a walk for cooler days. I know it will warm up again but for now it seems like autumn and winter is coming. This ink sketch is looking toward the cities of Anaheim with a view of the Honda Center and Angel Stadium, Orange and Santa Ana.

Last of the Tomatoes

The house is too cold now so I have been taking refuge in a nice warm place on a chair in the back patio to sit for a fast sketch while enjoying a break from everyday activities. Behind this chair is the tomato plant that has given me tomatoes all summer. Now, with the shortening of the daylight, the tomato blooms are setting less fruit so these may be the last tomatoes of summer.

Fruit

I pulled out a piece of Yupo last night and this is what happened.  I love working with it. I have been using Yupo for a few years and love the way it takes watercolor pigment and stays unaffected by multiple applications of color. I use it mostly for my ocean scenes, you can see one here. I have to paint flat because until the paint dries it will move. I have had paintings run off the paper while carrying them back to the car. Also while camping at the Grand Canyon during a rainy night my painting became damp again and stuck to other papers. What I like about it is that you can continue to add color without the paper being affected by scrubbing or reworking and the paint continues to stay fresh and transparent. I love that the paint does its own thing and find it very entertaining to continue to work like sculpting till I find a visual result I like.

Cloud study Bastenchury and St. College

The clouds are finally here. This is as close as California has come to rain for awhile. I enjoyed a sketch and the view today, but no rain as suggested by the weather man.

Santa Ana Winds

The wind is blowing in from the desert so I had to sketch the movement of the trees. The humidity drops and the heat skyrockets with these winds. I tried to paint outdoors but I couldn't get enough water on the paper and a few times I loaded my brush with luscious color and by the time my brush touched the paper it had dried hard as a stick.

Early Morning Sun

I ended my early morning walk at the neighborhood Starbucks and a sketch.

Laguna Lake

I have been walking every morning trying to increase my endurance.  My goal is to walk to Laguna Lake and back some day.  It's a 9 mile walk and I am not up to it yet but soon.  Today I drove to the lake and was able to sketch for a little while enjoying the trees, water reflections and the clear sky.

Lisbon, Portugal

This is my The Virtual Paintout challenge contribution for Bill Guffey's blog site. If you haven't tried this, well you just have to. I don't usually paint from pictures because when I see the picture it feels like it has all ready been done and then I lose interest in painting it. But for the challenge I did. I of course don't feel I did the picture justice but I took up the challenge and painted it just as I saw it. The address is, Travessa do Paraiso, Lisbon, 1100, Portugal.  Look it up on Google Maps and take a look. 


I am so fascinated that you can just grab the little yellow guy (in Googlemaps) drag him to any blue highlighted street and Google will provide, for you, an eye level street photograph of anywhere in the world. Well almost anywhere. I feel like I have actually been to these far off places, instead, as my brother-in-law brought to my attention that I was only there virtually.

Fullerton at Bastanchury and St. College

I have painted this view before and will probably paint it again. This is in Fullerton facing west (sort of) toward Los Angeles. I had gone out to dinner with a friend and when I left the restaurant just wasn’t ready to go home. I drove to this walking trail that has almost a complete 360 degree view. It was a lovely evening while I waited for the sun to set and the lights in the houses to come on. I walked the trail for just under an hour. Very relaxing.

Foggy Morning Hiltcher Park Trail

I have sketched and posted this tree before but the subject is such a strong contrast of light and dark that I am drawn to it over and over again.  I sketched it a few days ago, then did an ink wash yesterday and then today I planned on painting the strong values.  I was surprised to find the misty fog in the background and less contrast.  I guess I will be painting it again.  I don't quite have it yet.

Last Roses of Summer

This is Missy finding my bouquet of the last roses of summer.

She is my drain pipe kitty. When she was just a kitten born to a feral mother she was captured and adopted into my household. She was hiding in a drain pipe but only her head fit and her little body was quite visible so I picked up her tiny spitting hissing self and took her home. I should have know at that time that she was possibly slow in the comprehension department with our first encounter.  Later I was assured by her various actions that she was indeed possessed with short term memory problems like Dora in Finding Nemo.

This is a photograph of the bouquet I gathered from one of my favorite rose bushes. .

Missy has had the opportunity of finding these flowers over and over again all this morning

The Adventures of the Meandering Molskin

Well I have finally joined with 4 others to paint in a Japanese fold-out Molskine.

It is surprising; something so small can cause such stress. I am also surprised that this is something that I initiated. I had put it off because I thought it would be too hard, or stressful, or I’m not good enough or who would want to be in my book and all that other stuff that runs through an artist’s mind when they first look at a clean white piece of paper or canvas and realized they aren’t an artist after all.

Then I just thought I can make myself scrub a toilet or clean up after a baby or a husband for that matter. I should be able to make myself do something I like.

Sooooooooooooooo!

I started by asking Gemma @ http://www.sandyfloorboards.blogspot.com/ and Anna @ http://www.annaquarelles.blogspot.com/ If they would be interested.  They both stepped up as the friends that they are and said anytime anywhere. I asked them both to invite one person. Gemma brought Kim @ http://yarrow-retreat.blogspot.com/  and Anna asked Dolors @ http://www.dolorsbarberan.es/ . Gemma helped me with the name because she is a famous poet and writer.

Now with everyone on board the new blog site is up and running. http://www.theadventuresofameanderingmoleskin.blogspot.com/ 

We begin in October by finding a theme for our book, paint our first 6 pages and then send our treasures on to the next person.

So exciting!!!!!!

You can all follow along if you would like. Just follow the blog site and enjoy. I will.

Leaves

Last week these leaves were just starting to poke out of the ground so today I brought my paints to capture the amazing colors. I had sketched them a few days ago and now after painting them I think I need this plant in my yard. A few weeks ago this area was covered by a huge Bougainville with massive blooms of that color my uncle used to call " GD" Purple. I can hardly call the color by any other name after he christened it that name. So in my head it is GD Purple. Anyway, the Bougainville was removed leaving the ground devoid of any vegetation. I guess this plant and its magnificent colored leaves lay dormant until the light coaxed it out of the ground. Now it’s acting like it has always been there and owns the place.

24th SKETCHCRAWL

Today was the 24th Annual Sketchcrawl. I met with Paul, John, Nikol and Marguerite in front of the Balboa Pavilion. Paul was the one that set it up on the Sketchcrawl site. This is the first time I have met with anyone from the web site and sketched. I know there is a huge population of artists in Orange County so I will continue talking it up and by next Sketchcrawl maybe there will be even more.

The day started with this view of Balboa Island. In the background the tall buildings are Newport Fashion Island on the main land. An adolescent pelican flew in, landing about 9 feet from me and began posing like he was trying out for the next Top Model program. I sketched furiously until he became bored and flew away.

This next sketch is the Main Street facing east toward the Balboa Pavilion. Years ago when I would bring the kids here there were trees lining the street and now they have all been removed. The trees reputedly were messy, hid the signage and they ruined the street and sidewalks. They were also beautiful, cooling and picturesque.

If you have read this far you deserve an explanation as to why I haven't posted for a while. My computer has been acting up and moving so slowly I could do house work in between applications. Just to let you know I don’t like house work. Then to top it off my Internet connection had gone screwy at the same time. So when I tried to fix one the other would foul the fix program. Well you get the idea. I will be catching up with the postings that were missed because even though I was unable to post I continued to walk Ivy, sketch and paint every day. The walking is for my body and my doctor and the painting and sketching is for my soul.

Morning walk at Arroyo

This is the cross streets of Arroyo and Ramona. It is one of the favorite walking trails that Ivy and I use for our morning Sketchercise routes. I drew this after we got home from memory. I find it interesting that what I see doesn't show up in a camera lens or a photo. I'll take a photo next time I walk this way and then I will do a sketch on the spot to show the difference.

Off To Work

This is a sketch that I have been seeing every morning when Ivy and I go off for our walk. This man comes from behind and passes me riding into the sunrise. The shadow and the blackout conditions leaves an imprint when I close my eyes. When I got home I put it on paper. I don't quite know about the mechanics of the bicycle, but this is what I see in my minds eyes.

Anaheim Hills

The land is dry right now. This started as a study in browns. The camera doesn't quite capture the colors but the most important part about my day was the wind had shifted the smoke from the fires and I had clear blue sky with a few white clouds and fresh smelling air. I got out for a few hours today and schlepped all my stuff up this hill and sat in the shade under a big old oak tree. Martin (a fellow Sketcherciser) said while he was painting he “heard two horses chewing the apples which lay around mmpf mmpf” so I thought I would listen to what I could hear sitting under this wonderful tree. Here is what I wrote on the flip page of my sketch book as I continued to paint….. birds chirping, buzzing of insects, leaves in the breeze, a hawk above, cars from the 91 freeway in the distance, an airplane overhead, dogs barking, a scratching sound from something in the underbrush, bees on the sage off to my side, tires screeching, horns, bang, oh well so much for the peaceful outback. I think there was an accident on the freeway. There is a lizard on a rock in front of me that didn’t make a noise; oh here come the emergency vehicles because I hear sirens.
Funny the sounds don’t quite match the scene I painted.

Houses

The houses in Fullerton are always snuggled amongst trees and plants. I like the way these cottages feel so safe and protected. My son-in-law is a roofer and would cut any tree that touches the buildings. There must be a way of having it all, plants snuggling buildings and homes that are safe from nature.

Los Angeles County

The fire season is here and although it is early it seems we have this every year. Some place some where there will be fires in September. The weather is just right for it. Rain in the winter gives all the plants time to green up and grow. Then no rain for months, temps in the 100's, the hills turn brown and dry and then somehow, someone, something causes a spark and we have fires. This is a view from my side of the hill. It looked like a big white fluffy cloud at the top and when the sun started to set it changed the base to an orange glowing base with brown, grays..... well I had to paint it.

Eucalyptus

This is the eucalyptus that I have painted and sketched many times before and Ivy and I walk by every morning. Today I noticed this huge branch had broken and fallen probably during the night. Euc's do that, drop branches, that is, and when they fall there is a loud crack and then the branch comes crashing down. This particular spot is very good for dogs to sniff for long minutes on end. What if we would have been standing there when it decided to fall?

Interior

This is an interior update. I spent a few more hours on it and it is starting to be carved out of the page. It's interesting to see the places that need to have more work when it is this size.

I like how the door handle looks metallic.

Crepe Myrtle and lamp post

This is the last page of this sketch book. I always look forward to starting a new book with new paper and no bad drawings in it. However opening it for the first time is always a bit of a trauma. I will put this one away on a shelf and never look back. This blog has given me the opportunity of getting these sketches out in the open.
I have been working on a painting of the Crepe Myrtle trees in my area. From a distance they are a mass of color. So I thought I would sketch this one up close. It's a wonderful tree that is completely covered in light pink flowers and a smooth clean trunk. I like the way the lamp post is snuggled into the blooms. I have been Sketchercising (walking and sketching) with Ivy daily for months now and usually she is fine, but today I sat on a bench and while working on this Ivy whined the entire time. I think it was because I was also talking on the phone. I don’t think she approved.

Fullerton Police Department

While waiting to get my car repaired I sketched a portion of the police station across the street.

Parking lot

I needed to go grocery shopping yesterday but when I arrived I found that the store wasn’t going to open for another 30 min. So while waiting for it to open I sketched this parking lot. When the store finally opened I continued sketching because I was so into just putting in more and more lines. When I first started there weren't very many cars but as time went on the parking lot became full. This is so California with the palms and all the cars. I find it very difficult to find areas without cars.

Interior

This is an interior that I spent some time on today. This way of drawing is very time consuming and explorative. This is a wonderful way of passing time. When I start to draw the cares of the world dissolve and a Zen calm washes over me and I become absent from the everyday woes. I call it my mind vacation. I hope I get a chance to work on this in the future because there is still a lot of work to do.