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. 

Bike and Sketch

One of the best things to add to riding a bike is a sketching stop! 

Bike and Sketch - Tree in a Garden

Gouache in my A3 sketchbook, some truth about my gouache palette in the photos below. I know I keep promising to fill a new palette with fresh gouache but somehow always end up with this old pencil box as a palette - and at this point, I think it is ok :)

Bike and Sketch: Somehow there is no time and then there is.

Rudbeckia hirta, commonly called black-eyed Susan caught my eye the other day. A short bike ride at the end of a rather long and complicated work day. It was another semi-planned semi-spontaneous ride with a semi-movable amount of art supplies (yes, I am still complaining about the size of my sketchbook and the fact that neither my foldable chair nor my water bottle can ride in the side pockets of the backpack if my sketchbook is inside). But I was super happy I went and super happy for the company!

I started by drawing an agave and then switched to stencils on the wonderfully abundant yellow flowers with dark shape centers - commonly called black-eyed Susans. And then I did a full-page take with gouache and stencils (and some color pencils at the end).

Bike and Sketch Adventures Continue! A House with Artichoke Front Yard

Extra long days (happy Summer Solstice a little over a week ago!) and extra large sketchbook with extra great company this week means I went to more biking adventures! 

This time - to paint wonderful purple artichoke flowers :) 

Gouache and stencils in my A3 SKetchbook - process photos are below. 

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?" :)

Bike and sketch outing with birdwatching.

I took my bike for some quality time together and we saw a pod of white pelicans, a commotion of coots, a raft of mallard ducks that were looking for mates, a gulp of cormorants drying off on what used to be a pier, and some great and snowy egrets. I am looking forward to a chance to use a word for multiple egrets nesting in one area - since I know where that rookery happens in May not far from me. 

September: Sunsets

All sorts of things happened this September. Just like the rest of this year it was filled with very much expected, completely outrageous, some unique and some crazy, a handful of surprising, a few scheduled, several sad, and many mundane events. Here are some of my favorite memories - of the wonderful sunsets I witnessed, all done on spontaneous bike tides. Here is to more! 

Dragonflies this year

There always were dragonflies around here - but this year it feels like they are everywhere! Dragonflies bump into me when I bike, they zoom by and pass when I run only to make a sharp turn and head the other way, they accompany me on my walks. But they are always too fast for me to even think about drawing them! 

Today I found a dead one and in perfect condition. I was voted out on taking it home with me to draw so I crouched on the sidewalk and spent a nice thirty minutes looking at this beauty. 

How plans change.

I planned to paint some sketches with gouache on my bike ride today: sprayed my pocket palette with lots of water, put it in a plastic bag and brought with me. But then everything changed: I found a dead seagull (passerby informed me that it's been there since yesterday) and a family of cottontails was grooming and grazing under a tree - and this is how I ended up without gouache sketch today!

Sketching birds at their morning routine.

Beautifully sunny and clear morning to ride a bike! I sketched a bunch of birds sitting on the half-submerged pipe. All the birds were pruning though I did not catch the angle of the blue heron's head so he is pretty static in my drawing.

 Here is a little collage of the process and details.