Daytrip north, on a Monday a few weeks ago. Summer eats and a bike ride in Bodega Bay, then a longish drive home with a stop in Marshall (Tomales Bay).
Started this one outdoors in January, somewhere along the California coast in Montana de Oro State Park, on the trip where we went to San Luis Obispo. Went through lots of iterations before I was happy with it. "Rocky Cove," 6x8, oil.
You can walk the length of the main street in this little coastal town in a few minutes. The stiff breeze didn't stop us from enjoying a hearty lunch at Duarte's Tavern. And of course we stopped in at the little boutiques, visited the goat farm and watched tiny crabs in the tide pools at the beach. Later we feasted on Arcangeli Grocery artichoke bread and fresh Harley Farms goat cheese and tomato sauce.
California
Driving up the Pacific Coast Highway, in a Mustang, with a sketchbook
Saturday, August 31, 2013
A week in California is never enough. But when I found out I was going to a conference in Anaheim around my birthday, my immediate thought was: perfect excuse for M. and me to drive from LA to San Fran in a convertible (with shades and a scarf and a sketchbook, of course)!
Kicked off this coastal crawl with a mini Urban Sketchers reunion: Chris and Shiho met me at Downtown Disney in Anaheim (I was staying at the Grand Californian Hotel). We had dinner at Tortilla Jo's while we drew.
The conference ended on Monday night -- so Tuesday morning M. and I picked up our ride -- a black Mustang convertible -- and set off on Highway 1.
In Malibu, I found that I really like watching people surf, or at least attempt to surf.
We lunched in Santa Barbara, and I sat in the shadeless part of the park to sketch the Mission:
And then ... the fog rolled in. It pretty much sat on us for the rest of the trip. We never saw the top of Morro Rock (though we did kayak out to see the sea lions and the pelicans up close).
We spent most of Wednesday chasing gaps in the fog all the way from Morro Bay to Carmel. Don't get me wrong - Big Sur was still beautiful in its misty coyness. And it lifted enough for us to take the requisite souvenir photos of McWay Falls and the Bixby Bridge. But mostly we'd look to the left and see ... gauzy whiteness. So? We'll just have to go back another time.
Thursday was: Carmel-Monterey-Golden Gate Bridge-Sausalito-lunch in Napa-back to San Francisco for dinner-drop off car at SFO-get on redeye. All this with the Bay Bridge closed for the completion of the new eastern span!
But still, time for one last sketch to kiss California goodbye, from Bridgeway in Sausalito.
As Arnold says, "I'll be back."
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