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Gouache Adventure on a Windy Summer Day

Recently I gave myself a gift of an afternoon of painting hills and water in the Baylands. It was windy (seasonally so) and pretty cold because of that. Everything was flying away. Gouache was drying so fast that I was having a hard time mixing it in the palette. But when I tucked my chair behind a wall, it was super hot (seasonally so), and my gouache was drying so fast I was having a hard time moving it on the page. And I missed that wind. But there were terns dropping in the water near me.

I had a great time!

Here are two sketches that came out of that outing.

Bike and Sketch

I rode my bike and stopped to sketch along the path. It was a good day to be out. Some process photos below.

This was a little more bike and sketch outing where bike works as a means to get to a sketching spot. As opposed to I go for a run or bike ride and sketch when I stop by for a quick rest / stretch. The inspiration for the expansion comes from Pedal&Paint outings by Mike Dutton, who is making very atmospheric and inspiring movies about his bike and paint process.

How wind helped me sketch.

It was a super windy day and I am not a big fan of the wind. But I wanted to make a quick sketch and because of the wind, it was a super quick one. I am happy I did it and like this more after I had time to be apart from it. I do not think it would have been better without the wind.

Thinking about putting a huge fan next to my work table to make myself stop earlier :)

Bike and Sketch Adventures.

Bike and sketch with my current large (A3) sketchbook and my propensity to take all my art supplies with me (a problem which I claim is a leftover from the stay-at-home covid era*) make for some interesting choices of stops: benches are preferred, sitting on the ground is great too though I take a lot of space around me. But so far I did not find a way to work in this sketchbook while standing and holding it. It is just physically really hard. I am yet to find a pay to prop it against the bike though - this is something I will try next.

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* though anything that lasts this long is no longer a leftover but a new reality - I should just give this new setup a name and then face it. Naming things is important for me - here are some options: "bring all you can paint with", "unlimited choices make you mad", "can you promise to use at least half of this?", "Imagine traveling with this all", "really? printmaking on a bike?" :)

100 Views of Silicon Valley: Baylands Park, Sunnyvale, California

I've finished my 100 views in June but with all the traveling stopped posting. Since then I found that many of the mini paintings I would like to re-paint or add/adjust - so this is a new stage of the project - and I will continue sharing it as it nears the conclusion of gathering all the images in one place.
This is a wonderfully spacious Baylands Park in Sunnyvale - place for runners, birdwatchers and people who enjoy looking at the hills at all seasons.