“The scariest thing about distance is that you don’t know whether they’ll miss you or forget you.” ~ Nicholas Sparks   

As part of my Daily Route, exercise and creative time are an important part of my afternoon (after my school work day ends at 3:15). I decided to combine both activities into one.

I planned to walk around my neighborhood and force myself to make one sketch per trip. I wanted to keep the loose and free style that I had been experimenting with over the weekend (see previous post: Sketch in the Time of Covid).

For my first attempt, I walked north on 27th until I hit Golden Gate Park. I entered the park, not knowing what my subject would be. I found myself drawn to the Polo Field which was now occupied by Canada geese. I sat in the bleachers in the northern side of the field, looking at a line of cypress trees and beyond then the rising trident that is Sutro Tower (which I have sketched many times).

After I did a quick pencil sketch, I laid in the sky and before the sky was completely dry, I painted in the trees with sap green and violet. The dark green grew into the sky like mold.

I then painted the lower scrubs and then the thin line of the footpath and finally at the bottom the bright green of the green. After the painting was mostly dry I added loose line work (again with a Micron 005). I loosely outlined the trees and scrubs and along the path, I added distant figures, my fellow San Franciscans, out to get some exercise.

I stopped and looked at my work. What I was really drawing was social distancing. The tiny figures were spaced out along the trail. They looked like isolated figures in the landscape. This sketch certainly captured this moment in time. A time of fear, anxiety, and isolation.

I add a few paint splatters add some motion and mood to the painting. It took about 25 minutes. Done!

The following day, Tuesday, I headed west down Moraga, toward the Pacific. As I crossed Sunset, it started to drizzle. And the closer I got to Ocean Beach, the more it rained.

I was not deterred, I kept walking. I was going to do my sketch no matter what the weather. Watercolor paining does prove to be challenging in rain. But at least I wanted to get in a sketch.

I crossed Great Highway and climbed up a dune to look out at Big Blue, which was now a dark blue-green furrowed with churning white. The Farallon Islands, which were visible on the horizon when I started my walk, were now shrouded.

I pulled out my Stillman & Birn Delta Series spiral sketchbook and started sketching with a Micron 005, I did not have time for a pencil sketch. The rain had abated a bit, it was now a intermittent drizzle and my pen lines ran and smudged. I loved this because it is a record of the making of this sketch and is now part of the process.

I again noticed walkers, spread out and isolated in the landscape, walking alone along Ocean Beach, despite the weather. Walking in rain is alway a wonderfully visceral experience and I see the rain did not deter other beach walkers. I would rather walk in rain than sit indoors.

It was the weekend and it was time to get out and bird and sketch. Both activities are paragons for social distancing.

Birding is done out in the open away from crowds of people. And for sketching, I sketched and painted in my car, to avoid people peering over my shoulder and breathing on my ear and asking, “Whadaya doing?”

After my humble breakfast of oatmeal and instant coffee, I headed down the coast on Highway 1 into San Mateo County. I planned to sketch and bird my way down the coast as far at Gazos Creek.

Most of the parking lots were closed and traffic was light. My first stop was at Devil’s Slide and I sketched the coastline with the ruined World War II bunker. I worked quickly, finishing the pencil sketch, line work, and painting in 15 minutes. I was able to do this because I worked wet-on-wet (not waiting for the paint to dry before adding another tone or color) and painted the scene just in sepia. In the end I was not trilled with the sketch. It was too standard and didn’t really leap off the page. So I looked at it as a warm up to get my sketching muscles moving!

I drove south through Pillar Point and Half Moon Bay and pulled off Highway 1 at Pigeon Point. I pulled off the road on a dirt shoulder. Through the windshield was Pigeon Point Lighthouse and the sprawling buildings at it’s base. Now it was time to sketch.

I started with purpose. I wanted to be freer and looser in my line work and painting. I first loosely sketched in the scene in pencil and then I wet the sky with clean water. I laid in Payne’s gray and purple clouds with no regard for the actual color or if paint crossed the line work into the lighthouse. I boldly painted one side of the tower in purple. I was not going for a realistic color palette but painting from a place of emotion and playfulness. I guess that what happens when you are cooped up at home for the last three days, peering at screens. I painted wet-on-wet, not caring if the color ran together or if I created blooms. There was a true sense of improvisation in this painting and I loved it! I flicked a loaded brush on the paper creating emotive paint splatter. I was painting like a kindergartner!

I after laying down the paint, I did a brief seawatch through the passenger side window. No northern fulmars or kittiwakes. I returned to the painting, which was still wet. I chose to use a Micron 005 (a very fine line) to loosely sketch in the forms, leaving broken lines and child-like scribbles. I completed the sketch in about 15 minutes. Done!

After a proper seawatch with my scope, where I did see a dark morph northern fulmar, about 300 yards from shore. I headed south to Gazos Creek, took a left at Gazos Creek Road and did some bucolic driving towards Butano State Park and Pescadero.

I drove through Pescadero and headed north on Stage Road. At the intersection of San Gregorio Road I found my next subject to sketch: the San Gregorio General Store. The store was opened in 1889 and was across the rode from the stage coach stop.

This buidling, which also houses the tiny post office, is literally a general store where they sell everything: books, brooms, beer, hats, gloves, scarves, groceries, seeds, rakes, hoes, pottery, glassware, cast iron skillets, postcards, posters, and the kitchen sink. Today the store was closed and would not reopen again until April 7 (hopefully). Apparently the San Gregorio General Store is considered a “non-essential” business. That could have fooled me!