San Luis Obispo Sketches

Here are some recent sketches made during a trip on the train to San Luis Obispo last month. The ride was five hours each way, which provided ample time to sketch scenes of passing scenery and the view on board. I used a 6” x 9” Aquabee sketchbook, which is fairly lightweight and easy to carry in my bag. I sketched everything with a Sanford Uniball Micro pen, enhancing some lines with a Pentel Sign pen for accents. I added color later, either in our hotel room, or back in the studio, referring to my iPhone photos as needed. Many times the digital images lacked the impact of my memory, so I increased the values, contrast and color brightness to make a better sketch. I find these little sketch trips valuable in helping my eye/hand coordination, improving my ability to sketch quickly, and providing me with many hours of practice.