California Vacation Ink and Watercolor Sketches

We just got back from a family vacation to California, My wife and I got the chance to ditch the kids and do a side trip to the coast by ourselves. Since I was did not have to chase crazy 3 year old boys around the beach I had time to do some sketching. Most of these were sketched on site and later painted at the hotel room. The First Stop was Carmel by the Sea, this was a quick sketch of the view from the hotel patio.

the town of Carmel is filled with art galleries and expensive restaurants it is great place to walk around I wish I had more time there to sketch this is one of the cute little restaurants.

Carmel is also home of the famous 17 mile drive. we decided to do it on bike instead of driving here are some sketches of the great ocean views.

Next was a long drive down Highway 1 to Pismo Beach, along the way we made several stops in Big Sur that provided a lot of inspiration for future paintings this stretch of Coastline was some of the most spectacular and rugged scenery I have seen on the Pacific coast. Here are a couple sketches from Pismo Beach

This was a great trip and I hope to do a few paintings based on these sketches and the hundred of photos we took, thanks for looking.