Until I get settled, can't share any of the color and ambience, but...
Gestures like this quickie above are the drawing equivalent of what my photo instructor called "grab shots." But sometimes I get an urge to enlarge a tiny quickie like this, so that it covers an entire wall, because it seems that only in a little sketch can you get that spontaneous feeling or the largeness of the feeling you are actually trying to express. The ocean is SO BIG, and my sketchpad so small. 
Took a week to go to Laguna Beach, and spent the time with sensors on full alert. A former Californian, I'd never been to L.B. before. It sort of reminded me of the Sixties, only lots more expensive! Was everyone so beautiful then? Took lots of pictures: of ambience, light effects, reflections, buildings under construction, plants, people, and events. Remembered to draw: in the room, at the beach, anywhere I could. I drew in public too: what challenge number is that? There was time of course to play in the surf, too! It's amazing how a change of place shakes up your way of seeing. For me, it was like suddenly rediscovering color, and I want to surf that wave of energy for as long as it lasts. 
Another attempt at the rock challenge. It's kind of therapeutic, figuring out the relationships between things or setting up a still life and deciding why you did it that way.
Here's the second example of drawing directly into a book. Paper is a little bit slick, but erases OK. And 600 pages isn't so bad if you do two-page spreads all the time: that drops it to 300 drawings.
This idea offers some intriguing features: textural interest, compact format, literary interest, recycling cachet, iconoclastic pleasure, and the everydayness of just doing a drawing no matter what. A constant reader, this is just one more book-thing I can do.
#119 - Draw some rocks:
When weeding books at the library, we sometimes discard books too old or damaged. I've noticed that the end papers of many discarded books are pretty nice paper. Usually there are 2-3 blank pages at each end of the book. First I tore out some of these and saved them for drawings. Then I bought a copy of "After the War" by Richard Marius at our booksale. Started drawing directly in the book with Prismacolor pencils. It's a lot of fun and makes taking along a sketchbook easier, though I expect people in general are shocked to see someone "defacing a book." From my viewpoint, it gives me a nice, bohemian, literate sense of recycling. It's tempting to read the page first to see if it "suggests" but I'm gonna resist that as really not relevant or maybe should be left to serendipity. Fun to read later, what's underneath the drawing and be surprised.
attack the business of drawing every day. That doesn't mean I won't read too, but in Artist's Way, Julia Cameron talks about "creatives" using reading as a way to avoid doing art we know we want and need to do. Working in a library makes that a nice little excuse, but to tell the truth, I know it's a dodge.
The problem starts when you see something like pigeons (click) with your mind. A weird feeling of obligation develops, like you owe someone something. The scene demands something of you, so you feel uncomfortable. There is suspense, as you wonder if the impression is going to get away from you. Gotta fix that feeling ... so you draw it - write it - think it - even sing it. 
