Would you drink from a spring in the middle of Los Angeles? I did. It tasted fairly neutral, and I didn’t get sick. In fact, someone in the museum told my friend the water was reputed to be heal joint and muscle pain. Regardless, it was nice to drink water straight from the ground in the middle of a metropolis, with no ill-effects.
I went to my first Urban Sketchers event in a year; we met at Kuruvunga Village Springs, which is only a 30 minute drive from home, but I’d somehow never heard of it before. This very large dragon tree caught my attention.
A couple of fun things happened when I arrived. First I saw a guy I worked with years ago, and his wife, and we had a nice catchup. He was just randomly visiting the springs that day, nothing to do with USK. Then, I overheard one of the other sketchers mention John Muir Laws, so I sidled over and told her about our new nature journal club. She was very interested and said she’ll come along. Yay!
We stopped in Ventura on the way home and ate a lovely dinner here. Quick sketch of the friends at a neighbouring table before our food arrived.
I dropped my car at the mechanic and walked to the dentist. On the way, I noticed these two people sitting back to back outside a coffee shop — I wonder if their morning would have gone differently if they’d sat face to face? I sketched them for ten minutes or so, until they went their separate ways.
Arriving at the dentist waiting room, I had just enough time to sketch the ubiquitous fake plant before I was called in.
I am not loving this new sketchbook. The cold pressed paper is much more textured than I’m used to. But rather than putting it back on the shelf, unused, I plan to fill it up quickly so I can move on to a preferred sketchbook sooner. It might be time to bring out little-used art tools and indulge in more experimentation and play.
Continuous line drawing with sailor fude fountain pen.
We met to walk, but it was drizzling so we decided to get coffee instead. The last time I was in this building in Playa del Rey (c. 2001), it was a night club. It has more charm now.
I made a rare trip deep into the metropolis to catch up with some loved ones in Silver Lake and Echo Park. Rising tall and skinny above the traffic, graffiti, noise and grit—palm trees as far as the eye can see.
I went to a new-to-me Mexican restaurant for lunch; my meal was delicious. I wondered at the preponderance of skulls in the decor, until I looked up the meaning of the establishment’s name and it all made sense.
While in town yesterday, I made a special stop at the Japanese market to get mirin, but they wouldn’t sell it to me without photo ID, which I’d accidentally left at home. However, the visit wasn’t wasted … king oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus eryngii) were on sale.
