Early this morning I took my rescue pack (art on the go) out to squat in front of this building known as The Spa. Soon into my sketching a resort employee driving a cart offered to bring me a chair to sit in. About an hour later the Spa manager offered to let me come in to the Sanctuary to do my art there. It is interesting when you take the risk to "be an artist" in public what kind of people come by to watch. Anyway I spent a couple of hours on this and then we had to come home so I finished it this afternoon at home. It is a bit larger than this....my scanner needs to expand a bit to get it all. It is 15" x 11"...a little big for me. It was a good art weekend.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
La Quinta
I decided to tag along with Ryan this weekend to La Quinta. He flew out to attend a high school friend's wedding in the desert and I was welcomed along. He had social events all day on Saturday....I had nothing to do.....but sketch and paint. It was the best studio imaginable. This resort was built in 1926 with a Spanish colonial design and was full of charm. All of the buildings were white stucco....lots of curved details. The roofs were all tile. I studied them carefully and the technique of an authentic tile roof is amazing. All of the window frames and shutters were a beautiful cobalt blue. These elements were repeated in all of the structures whether build in 85 years ago or 10 years ago. The Santa Rosa mountains back this resort as most of La Quinta. This sketch took more than my normal 20 minutes but I had the whole afternoon. Lots of work on the roof.
It was a fast but very relaxing trip. I am grateful for Ryan letting me tag a long. Happy Birthday Ryan!
tile roof detail
All of the roofs were terra cotta tiles. They were beautiful and extremely functional providing insulation from the desert heat.


