Last Summer Days

I painted with the California Art Club this Saturday at La Jolla Cove.  It was a perfect morning, we had a Santa Ana condition - so with the warm wind the usual marine layer was nowhere in sight.  I have been focusing on painting and drawing figures lately.  I did a few practice sketches which I won't post here, and then went on to paint this brother and sister, playing in the shallow waters of the cove.  The boy, older, sat most of the time while his sister was more interested in running around in the shallow water.  And that's the fun about sketching people that are not sitting for you - trying to get the gesture, the proportions in the moment.  

Below are some 10 minute oil sketches I did of my daughter, well, more like 12-15 minutes sketches but by the last one I got down to 12 minutes.  In 10 minutes all I'm trying to do is get the gesture, the proportions and the values (light/dark).  Nothing else.  The last one is a sketch of my daughter, Ali, using Casein paint.