Broadway between 6th and 7th - 26-27 July 2012

Broadway between 6th and 7th, ink on paper in Sketchbook No. 62, 26-27 July 2012, about 11″x17″

This is a two-page brush-pen piece I did sketching in downtown Los Angeles. I started it Thursday afternoon, and was about two-thirds done when the light started to have changed too much to continue, then I went back to the same spot on Friday afternoon and finished it off. It’s pretty rare for me to spend more than one sitting on a sketch.

The buildings are excellent on Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. The drawing shows nearly the entire block on the east side of Broadway between 6th Street and 7th Street, though on the very right edge there are a couple buildings just south of 7th.

I took these three photos of the buildings in the image… not so great cell photos… that don’t quite do the places justice… but it’s what I had on hand.

Payless Shoe Source building at 612 S Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles

What attracted me to draw this space were these incredibly-detailed spiraling columns on what’s today a Payless Shoe Source building at 612 S. Broadway, which was Desmond’s department store.

Mainly the Palace building at 630 S. Broadway, with some adjacent buildings

The Downtown Palace Theater was built in 1911 – for vaudeville performances. It was originally the Orpheum – then later renamed to The Palace. Below is the front; it’s a really gorgeous building that my sketch and photos don’t quite capture.

Straight-on view of the Palace Theater at 630 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles

It’s drawn across two pages in my sketchbook No. 62 – which I am nearly done with, in pretty much record time. I’ve been sketching a lot and not spending too much time doing work at home – where I usually do stuff in India ink and watercolor. More sketchbook images here.

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