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CA Sketchcation, Santa Barbara: "Sunlight! It does Exist!"

A big perk of Santa Barbara was I stayed over two nights, so I got to spend a full day sketching there before moving on. A second big perk was a FULL DAY OF SUNLIGHT! Up until this point I wasn't seeing much if any sun until the afternoon, and even then it was partly cloudy. It was also finally in the 60's and 70's and warm enough to wear shorts. I finally felt like I was in California! Turns out the Beach Boys had some good points.

Before I ventured too far I decided to do a warm-up sketch in the downtown shopping area. When I wasn't even finished with the underlying sketch, a delivery truck pulled up directly in front of me. The delivery guy was really apologetic, but literally had no other place to park. I decided to continue on by memory and hope he'd finish his delivery. It turns out I paint faster than the FedEx guy delivers and finished the entire sketch by memory before the truck moved. I think I did pretty well, all things considered!

After visiting the Historical Museum, I wandered over to the courthouse. The courthouse is an amazingly beautiful building, full of Spanish tile and wandering tourists. You can climb up to the tower for a 360 degree view of the city. I camped out on the front lawn and did this sketch, which is probably my favorite sketch of the trip.

Having spent about an hour sitting in the hot sun, I was ready for a late lunch and some shade. I was passing a pizza place and as I was going inside a man was walking out, and he looked surprised. I asked if they were open and he said they were closing because it was empty, but he'd grab a menu and I could take a seat at their Italian restaurant next door. So I walked into the restaurant which was much fancier than me, and took a seat. This all ended up being a wonderful happenstance, because I not only had delicious bread and a phenomenal sandwich, but I had a full view of the bar! I sketched while I was waiting and between halves of my sandwich.

Since I was staying in nearby Summerland, once I had my fill of Spanish style architecture and was tired of meandering through gardens , I went to the beach closer to where I was staying. It was late afternoon and the sun was getting low in the sky. I did a couple of sketches from the beach, one of the waves and one of the view in the distance.

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