General Patton Memorial Museum

Middle of Nowhere

I found this spot by accident (I don't remember how); it's in the middle of nowhere, in the Chiriaco Summit, about an hour from the Arizona border. This is another place for military vehicles. But the cool part is it's mostly tanks, trucks, amphibious vehicles, and various things I can't identify. 
Here is a link as to why it is here. It's an interesting story. Lots of history.
Great research spot for these types of vehicles and to just get shape language to play with. This is not a government-funded museum. It's a little funky (in the best way). These are the best museums for sketching. The vehicles are just out in the field in the back and a small hangar. Not roped off. 
One of the exhibits I love is "The Big Map. It's a huge 3D "map". It shows the area this training facility encompasses. And it was huge. But it really gives you a sense of where places are with each other. From their website:

"One of our first exhibits was the Metropolitan Water District's Big Map. Built-in the 1920's to depict the 50,000 square miles of land surrounding the route of the proposed aqueduct, the 250,000 pieces were taken to Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress for the funds to build the aqueduct. Without the water from the aqueduct, Gen. Patton could not have located the DTC where he did."

Inside, they have a weapons wall. I'm not a gun guy, but I like drawing them. There are also weapons and artifacts throughout the building.

General George S. Patton Memorial Museum 62-510 Chiriaco Rd Chiriaco Summit, CA 92201

Monterey Bay

I've always wanted to visit here, so last summer I finally did. turned out it isn't one of my favorite spots. It really depends on exploring the surrounding areas, which are much more interesting than Monterey Bay's downtown. The area with the aquarium, etc., is extremely touristy — actually, really crowded with tourists. I stayed at a hotel right on the beach, thinking that being on the main strip would be fun. But it’s just not very interesting. It's a sea of souvenir shops, packed with people. None of it really inspired me to go out and draw or paint. I always say if you don't see anything to sketch, it's on you — it’s up to you as an artist to make it interesting. So, I broke my own rule. But when I drove around, I found some fun stuff. Just driving through the neighborhoods is fun. Old Fisherman's Wharf is cool, but again, touristy.

The drive up is worth it if you've never done the Pacific Coast Highway drive before. That was also why I wanted to go here. It's fun to do when you haven't in a while. Although I'm not much for the beach scenes (I know, what a buzzkill). I'd rather hit San Pedro and the Port of Los Angeles. I like the industrial scenes. More on that later.

You do see some really great scenery on the way up though.

The aquarium is cool. It could be a really interesting sketch spot.

I did like the mellow vibe around the area, off the main strip.

Salton Sea

I live between the desert and the mountains. The Salton Sea is close to me when I'm in the desert. It is an interesting landscape. Bombay Beach is a well-known spot here. It's sort of talked about like an "arts community". It feels more like people who are one step away from homelessness, and they sort of put the "arts" spin on all this. A lot of it is just junky broken down houses with no real zoning worries.

Still interesting though. On the beach, there are a lot of installations, etc. But the whole Salton Sea area is fun. They have one restaurant I know of, the "Ski Inn", which is more of a dive bar than anything else. When I went (only once), I was told the wait was 45 minutes for a burger. I said no thanks and left. It feels like one of those local places that take pride in being a little annoying. Like the places that cut off your tie. But not a bad sketch spot to draw the locals.

The Salton Sea itself is amazing and huge. Good place to bring a simple paint setup. The area all around the lake is interesting. I just like to cruise around, take side roads, and see what I discover. But remember, it's hot.

This guy was selling glassware in his yard. Good deals.

I also like to go past all this down to Brawley and down along the Mexican border. But that's another post.

March Field Air Museum

This spot seems to have gotten bigger since I last went (which was around 97 or so). It's all about planes here. The coolest part is that they are not all roped off and you can roam around them to get all sorts of cool angles and details. They even have benches scattered around. There is also an indoor building with other cool things to sketch.

They've got just about any kind of flying vehicle you could want. Helicopters, giant troop planes etc. 

It's right off the 215 in Riverside CA. Here's their website: http://www.marchfield.org/indexp1yourvisit.html
Map here: http://www.marchfield.org/map.html You can spend all day here. 

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park

This isn't a Southern California sketch spot, but it's too good to pass up. I stumbled onto this place on a work trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan. This was put together by Frederik Meijer of the Meijer retail chain. Here's the Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederik_Meijer_Gardens_and_Sculpture_Park

I thought this place was going to be small, it's huge! We walked around for at least two hours and you need a whole day. The Da Vinci Horse at the top of this post is amazing. Here's the story on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo%27s_horse
Here's the sculptor: http://www.studioequus.com/index.html
They have everything from monumental sculpture to the small Degas at left.
They also have a children's garden. An amphitheater that has concerts in the summer and an indoor sculpture collection and indoor garden area.
Grand Rapids as a whole was awesome. Great clean downtown area (another great sketch spot), good restaurants and in the summer it's beautiful. Great plein air spot. I brought my whole oil set up but didn't get a chance to paint. Bummer.
 But the sculpture garden is worth the trip alone. I've never seen anything like it. The park itself is big and open, and when I was there, not crowded. Even if you don't sketch it's like Disneyland for art lovers. I think it might be closed in the winter because of the snow but I'm not sure. Go. Now.
 Here's a few more shots:

Los Angeles County Natural History Museum

This place is a sketchers dream. Dinosaur bones, eagles, elephants, insects and on and on. The museum is in Exposition Park so you have to look at it as a whole. You also have the Air and Space museum and the California Science Center.

They now have a A12 Blackbird out front. Along with the planes already out in front of the air museum.

You need a whole day here. I lost a few hours sketching in one of the bird exhibits alone. There is a lot to sketch here, including The Colosseum. There is also a 747 near the Space Museum.

There is a huge rose garden in the center of the complex of buildings.

Lots of dino/animal bones to draw also. If you're studying anatomy this is a great place. As a matter of fact you can start researching just about any project here.
Here's a few sketches:

Info and directions here:
http://www.nhm.org/site/plan-your-visit/directions-parking

Bolsa Chica Wetlands

This is a cool spot across Pacific Coast Highway from Bolsa Chica State Beach. It has it's own free parking lot which is hard to find by the beach.
The draw here are all the different birds and big marshy environment. Here's the directions, hours, etc... www.bolsachica.org/org/about/hours.html

Here's a trail map: http://www.bolsachica.org/Explore/explore.html
Bring your oils or other paint gear, this is a great spot for painting, photography and just about anything.
Here's some bird info: http://www.bolsachica.org/Birders/index.html


Lots of restaurants in the area. Seal Beach and Huntington Beach are minutes away.