California: Captured 3 Ways

My recent trip to California was to the Central Coast, staying in San Luis Obispo. It's a place I return to; it has a bit of Brigadoon magic for me. I travel with probably way too many different medium. (I never have mastered the travel-light mode.) But sometimes circumstance and time calls for one medium and then sometimes another. So here are 3 different ways of representing my week long time there.

"South Hill View and Sweet Pea Bouquet". NEOCOLOR II WAX PASTELS on black paper.  From the house where we stayed, looking across the foothills to the Santa Lucia Mountains. The bouquet was purchased from a white haired woman at the farmers market, whose clothes matched the colors of her flowers. For  more Inside/Outside drawings go here.

"South Hill Neighborhood".  Another from the house in San Luis  Obispo, this time in WATERCOLOR.  Looking across the adjoining open space preserve into the neighborhood below and the foothills beyond, it's 45 degrees to the right of the Neocolor above.

"Morro Rock from Black Hill". 15 miles to the coast from San Luis Obispo is Morro Bay.   Hiking to the top of Black Hill on a glorious clear day, I was rewarded with the view of the last visible, of  a string,  extinct volcano that defines this region and the Pacific Ocean. My pocket-size moleskine and a stick of WATER SOLUBLE 9B GRAPHITE STICK was all I carried. Maybe on another trip, I'll lug my easel and Neocolor II or watercolors up there. For now, small, fast sketches are  a great part of my process.

If you'd like to see more from this trip they're on my flickr photostream. Comments or critique are always appreciated!