Day 17 of 50: Pescadero, Portable, Simple

It rained today for the first time in a long time.

It was also a Plein Air Painting day, when I had hoped to join a group of outdoor painting enthusiasts for the afternoon in Pescadero. I hemmed and hawed, and ultimately decided to just go, and bring a very simple setup in case I ended up sitting inside and sketching at a table.

I am so glad I did. It wasn’t raining in Pescadero, and I finished two pieces and most of a third.

I remembered that when I traveled to Thailand and lived in a bamboo hut in Laos, I had a very simple art setup and I was very happy. I made art that I loved and was proud of, and it didn’t involve any complicated steps. Just me and a sketchbook and a few things.

So that’s what I brought today. My watercolor set, my water brush, a pencil, some Micron waterproof ink pens, and my InkTense blocks. I worked on a pad of 6″x6″ watercolor paper attached to a clipboard.

Here’s what I got in 3 hours:

Pencil sketch

Photo from where I was sitting

“Arcangeli’s Market” – Ink, watercolor

Ink over pencil sketch

Photo from where I was sitting

“Pescadero Community Church” – ink, watercolor

Pencil sketch

Photo from where I was sitting

“Duarte’s Tavern” – ink (watercolor to be added)

Interesting practice. I think I’ll do it more.

1. Simplicity – working with fewer materials frees me to do more observing and being still

2. Making art on location, outdoors – sitting still with the subject, and being there are so different from memory or a photograph

3. Finishing in one sitting – usually not possible with the way I work in mixed media, this felt really good!

I am excited.

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