NOVEMBER NIGHTS

16th Street

Sketching the beach and streets in Manhattan Beach. The light is beautiful at dusk and twilight. 

FALL 
Your body is a keyhole in the night sky. Gold-thinned November dusk, refulgent dogwood, red blushing yellow, It drinks: slow-savouring, deep-slouching autumn - citrine leaves,
red-rust, smeared with charcoal.

~ Luke Cumberland~

Manhattan Beach Pier Sunset

Manhattan Beach Pier Twilight

It is Remembrance Sunday in the UK and Veterans Day on Monday in the USA ~ we will remember....


They shall not grow old, as we that are left:Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningWe shall remember them.

~For The Fallen~ by Laurence Binyon

Manhattan Beach Pier  Dusk

OCTOBER ROAD

October Road

Keep me walking , October road.

Keep me walking in the sunshine, Yeah A little friend of mine October road.

~James Taylor~

And ~ To the Lighthouse

The two sketches below are of the same spot up on Palos Verdes Peninsula ~ I decided to play around with the colors a little and take out some of the detail in the second sketch ~ I am not really sure which is more successful? 

Pointe Vicente - Palos Verdes

sketch

EVENING GLOW

I am trying to capture the Fall light in these paintings. We have been experiencing some very hot temperatures in Los Angeles this past week. I honestly keep forgetting what time of year it is.... I know we are lucky but even my kids long for the cool days of autumn.... The grass is always greener....

The Strand  - Sunday Evening

A quote I recently read on Twitter and really liked.

"The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any consideration"
~Frida Kahlo~

Evening Glow - 15th and Highland

Capistrano Vista

Capistrano Eucalyptus

OCTOBER

Paintings/sketches that have taken from 10 minutes to an hour. 

Big Sur

Autumn Lane

Foothills

Conker

FALL SKETCHING

Maple Leaves

Wawona Covered Bridge Autumn

Our Garden Gate

The light is changing in California. Subtle changes are taking place as we head into Fall.  Cool mornings and the spiders are back - we continually walk into the web above our front gate! The sunsets are becoming pink and mauve with traces of clouds. Pumpkins are arriving in the local markets and slowly all my special Halloween ornaments are coming out of storage! - A favorite time of year for sure..... 

Convict Lake

WAWONA - Sketching in the Sierras

Old cabin in the Forest

Wawona - the place we always stay at in the summer when we go to Yosemite. It is so much quieter than the Valley in August - and Yosemite was particularly busy this year!
The swimming hole below is a special place for my family - we have spent many hours of solitude and fun at this special spot on the Merced! - It truly is a magical place to have a swim especially around 5:30/6pm as the sun starts to dip below the Wawona Dome.
We come and swim here every summer and I never want to leave this particular spot on the river. Many of the rocks still show the grinding holes where the local Indians sat to grind their acorns. You can almost feel their spirits watching.....

                     

Wawona swimming hole

The Merced

High Sierra Painting.

Meadow Path-Yosemite Valley

Me
Some sketches from my week in the High Sierra's! ---- I found painting in watercolor quite demanding this time, mainly because the temperatures were so high and the paint would dry instantly, leaving no room for moving the paint around the paper, doing a successful wash or even sitting for very long without feeling really uncomfortable.
We did have a wonderful time as always - some beautiful hikes with stunning views - and swimming in lakes and rivers which I think as I get older is one of the most liberating and enjoyable ways to enjoy nature! - The snow pack must have been less this past winter because the Merced was low enough for us to hop the rocks at the swimming hole. My son and daughters favorite rocks to sit on were exposed once again. When ever I visit our favorite swimming hole I am aware of the passage of time - my children couldn't even swim when we first arrived in Yosemite - now they snorkel,  duck and dive and jump the rocks. My daughter will have one last summer with us next year! - How time flies - but Yosemite will always be the same......

My sketchbooks!

                                                      Half Dome from Sentinal Dome.

Me at Taft Point

Tenaya Lake