Drawing on what you know and feel

Vanishing California, pastel, private collection

Sketch of Redlands' Citus, drawing, 8' x 10'

I was searching through a drawer of drawings recently and found this sketch created some years back while out painting with a buddy, Dr. George Riday. The quick sketch records a scene that is vanishing from Southern California: citrus groves; residential and commercial construction have been encroaching over the years. George and other good friends have joined me on many occasions to enjoy and render the patterns and rhythms of the citrus groves in and around the City of Redlands.

Months after this sketch was created I used it to create a demonstration painting before an art association in the City of Upland. That painting (top image) began with me composing the subject in a few loose brush strokes and simplified shapes on a tan-colored Museum Board. (See the top, shadowy part of the palm on the right for an idea how I applied the watercolor to describe my subject in rough shorthand).

Next, over this (dried) watercolor I applied soft pastel in colors to convey the quiet intensity of a hazy morning's sun and the warmth of adult and childhood experiences growing up in California.