Kayaking in Monterrey Bay

I recently spent some hours on the water - kayaking in Monterey Bay. It was a day with a perfectly gray morning and temperature, and a very gentle swell. I forgot my binoculars this time (which possibly contributed to drawing more) and took my "water" sketch kit consisting of a PVC support board, stone paper sketchbook (connected to each other with a rubber band), and a plastic mechanical pencil with a chisel lead - on a string, also connected to my board. 

There were several beautiful pods of sea otters, lots of sea lions jumping out of the water (at first I thought they were dolphins), and quite a few curious harbor seals. Tons of birds: brown pelicans, oystercatchers, double-crested cormorants, pushing brandt cormorants off the rock,  and some snowy plovers up close! Oh - and seagulls, so many seagulls. 

There were several types of jellyfish - notably the Purple-striped jelly (Chrysaora Colorata) - needless to say that I kept my hands out of the water while we were nearby! 

Here are my sketches as they looked right there in Monterey:


I had more pages with some sketches so "abrupt" that I did not even take pictures of them - but ended up joyfully adding color later at home - this is how watercolor and gouache act on stone paper:




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