Sunday Afternoon at Manoa Park

AJ: Today I realized that I haven’t sketched since the first week of January! That’s deadly … especially for a beginner. My hands felt out of control and I got overwhelmed by the detail in front of me. I decided to be practical and focus more on the experience than the art with the hope that future outings would go smoother.

This afternoon, Manoa Park was rather windy and there were even a few episodes of light rain. Two teams were facing off on one of the baseball fields. I wanted to sketch some outfielders with their generous stationary moments … but the teams were finished after we had only observed one inning and I had not even put pen to paper once.

Next, we aimed for a playground structure to capture the action, shapes, and colors there. Again, I mostly observed my surroundings and only placed a few lines (“chicken scratches”) on my paper. It was great to observe my surroundings and I plan on heading out again this coming week to gently get my momentum going.

Harald: Never one to be intimidated by insurmountable challenges, I tried out my brand new mini-watercolor set. First lesson: watercolors need practice. I initially wanted to create a very abstract view of the playground, but a combination of too much attention to detail and profound ignorance of the medium resulted in something that is perhaps better described as naive art. I thoroughly enjoyed the exercise though and shall keep trying.

Sebastian: Even though intermittent rain and high wind presented challenges, I managed to at least outline the scene at the baseball game before it wrapped up. With the vibrant colors of the baseball team’s jerseys and the playground nearby, I had the opportunity to use some undiluted, unmixed colors straight from my set.

I used watercolor and pen on dry-media, acid-free, heavyweight 9x6in. paper.