Sea Lion at Large!

Yesterday a friend and I headed out to the Malibu Lagoon State Beach only to find if full. That is to be expected on a beautiful and cool California summer day! So, we continued south to the Santa Monica Pier, to wander around and to do some photography. I found this guy swimming around, snarfing up fish. Luckily I had autofocus on, and multiple exposure set on fast! I got all of these in about 20 seconds before he / she vanished underwater. Click on the first image to scroll through them.

Summer Path

I was going through some of my Instax photos taken earlier this summer. Here, a path nearby overgrown with mustard. Depending on how much water is available, mustard plants can be very short – or very tall.

I thought this could make a good study with a limited palette, and dryer brushes. Lots of things went through my head, actually. For example, plain batches of color. No pencil lines. Shadows using the underlying color of the ground or plants – i.e. burnt umber and ochre mixed with a bit of blue. Details in dry brush. Patience and wait to let things dry, or add blobs of color to enrich the damp paint. Dry brush over colors already laid in as a wash (like the tree and bush in midground and background).

Maybe I’ll take my Instax out for a walk today. And a dog.