A weekend of climbing at Bowman Valley, CA

James and I went rock climbing with a MeetUp group this weekend. Even though I knew I might not have much time sketching, I still brought my kit with me.

Bowman Valley is near the north end of Lake Tahoe. While the Bay Area has been dry since late April, the forest in Bowman Valley seem to be getting abundant of water. The landscape is charming but I couldn't see much from the climbing spot. Therefore I decided to focus on what was around me and of course, the climbers were my ideal subjects.

Just the day before we left for climbing, I stumbled upon Jane Blundell's article about the advantages of partially -filled pans. There were a few pans on my pallet that needed refilling so I filled those pans with tube colors by following Jane's suggestion. It worked wonders! My brush was loaded with paint more easily.

My Kuretake brush pen with water-soluble ink and pilot waterbrush were also great for quick sketches between climbs.

 I was happy that there was still enough day light for me to sketch after climbing. I wanted to give the picture the arvo feeling so I painted the sky orange even though it was still quite blue at the time. I also removed quite a lot of rocks while painting the stream. I wanted to focus on the running water as well as the big rocks around it. Hopefully that's a good step towards painting what I want to see instead of just what I see.