Watercolor Paintings

I'm taking a break from traditional sketching this summer to learn more about painting. It requires the same skills (composition, simplifying forms, value contrast) with the added challenges of mixing wet media, understanding drying times, and color contrast.

These were all done in Burlingame, California at various times of the day.

Sketchbook: Architecture

Beautiful old San Francisco Eastlake on a corner lot in Pacific Heights. Fresh coat of mint green paint. 

The Burlingame Episcopalian Church

Carolands Gate House

I took the plunge into the world of Plein Air recently. This is an 8x10 oil on hardboard. It's pretty rough. This is really my first oil ever. It's going to take a lot of practice to get good at this.

On another note, somebody called the cops on me and my friend. The citizens of Hillsborough sent a clear message. Oil painting of historical buildings which happen to be near elementary schools will NOT be tolerated. Anyway, here is my friend Brandon Jones's digital painting from that morning.

City Sketches

More sketches from my corner of the universe.

This is kinda different because it was drawn on a piece of animation paper on a clipboard with a brush pen.

City Sketches

The picnic spot above 5 Guys Burger where the high school kids hang out. 

Mountain Lake park bench.

View of the Transamerica Pyramid from Washington and Taylor. 

The edge of the Presidio at night as the streetlights are coming on. 

City Life Sketches

Some recent sketches around SF and Burlingame.

Cities

A bunch of recent city sketches. These are mostly done in the morning before work or on the weekends before breakfast.

Some Sketches of Buildings and an Old Volvo

Out and about. Practicing perspective.

Just a Parking Lot

When you don't feel like sitting on the ground, a parking lot sketch from a nice table seems okay.

The Château in Burlingame

In a nice neighborhood downtown Burlingame, California

One Cool Thing About Getting To Work Early

Time to sketch in the morning.

Burlingame Train Station

This is a digital plein air done in Photoshop on a Macbook Pro 15". I used a black Shade Box based on this design from The Digital Plein Air Society. It's still ridiculously hard to paint from life.

The glare on my Macbook was so damn bright, even with the Shade Box, that I didn't realize how dull the color was until I got back to the office. I had to lower the brightness and increase the contrast to make this look half decent.

Sketching From Life

Burlingame donut shop. The Subaru was a separate sketch.

Fun designs on these planes.

This is about as quaint as it gets in L.A.

Tree Lined Streets of Burlingame

Church and Truck

Prismacolor Marker

Burlingame: More of the Game

Update: This was sketched shortly before the Safeway was demolished, where the Chase Bank now stands, I believe.

Burlingame BevMo Sketch

Pencil Sketch line drawing with flat value painted in Photoshop.

Airport Sketch: LAX to SFO

Airport sketch. Waiting to go home.


Burlingame, California. Nice old Craftsman homes.

Burlingame Cal Train Station

And behind the post office

Burlingame: Trees on Chapin