The thing that I really love about en plein air or urban sketching is how it captures the feel of a place and of a moment. It’s immediate. It’s about sensation not just the view.

I posted a few sketches I did while I was out for a bike ride. It was my longest ride since my knee injury and I ended the ride with a quick loop around Winter Island and then out to Juniper Point.  There’s a spot on the way into Juniper Point where the community has placed a series of benches to look over the water, back toward Winter Island and Marblehead. It’s a nice view.

I did a couple of sketches of the backside of the boat sales and repair place. A place that on the street side has a tall privacy fence. The backside is a view of quanset huts and a variety of sheds. 

These sketches were intended to use as the basis of a final piece. (this has been a goal for this week- to take a sketch and use it to create a final mixed media piece.)  I liked the layout but wanted more sky. I turned my watercolor sheet to portrait instead of landscape and kept most of the image toward the bottom of the page.

I used these two sketches to keep the light and shadows where they belong.

I think I did a good job on this one and really like how the blues and purples and browns make the dark darks while the sunlight is warm. The sky could have been more dramatic, but ah well, it was a simple bright sunny day.