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Wednesday, December 28, 2016

G7 Plaza


I wanted to try the samples of Stonehenge watercolor paper I received few weeks ago. I sat across the street from this building to sketch and try the 600 gr paper. The paper feels smooth for ink lines and behaves very well with watercolor paint. It allows color blending and graded washes, two of the watercolor techniques I use the most. I think it is a great affordable alternative for other high quality papers like Arches, Fabriano Artistico o Moleskine. The building is new, it will be known as G7, it is still under construction and although some spaces are ready for use, it will be completed in February next year. How do I know this? Well, the architect and designer told me himself. He approached to me to tell me the sketch was nice. I recognized him immediately. He've been acquaitances for years, also his brother an engineer. His brother and I started greeting each other either because we were neighbors or because we both had dogs or because we went to the same university, I don't remember. Armando, the architect, told me it took him 4 months to come out with this design. It took him and his brother about two years to complete the project. I thought the building was named G7 because it looks like a big G from where I was seated and 7 because of the number of spaces for rent (or sale, I'm not sure) were 7. But he corrected me saying it was 6 spaces instead. He named it G7 because G is the seventh letter of the alphabet. I asked if the biggest space was meant to be a restaurant, he said it would be more suitable for a cafe. Mmhhh....coffee, I can smell it now. I hope business establish here soon and bring this corner to life. Creative and talented architects like Armando Castanon Ruiz are making contibutions to the city of San Luis Potosi to make it look like a modern city. He was kind to pose for a photo. 

Arch. Armando Castanon Ruiz and his building G7


Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Getting ready for Christmas Eve


It's always exciting to see your beloved ones during the winter Holidays and getting ready for it. Bob likes to go to the barber for a shave. I have mentioned this numerous times on this blog so today it is not the exception. The view I had this time was different. Here, the sketch shows the top of his head. The barber had more space to move around Bob this way, away from the mirror. And just like that I sketched the interesting view. Indecision can be a bummer. I couldn't decide if I wanted to show the coat of the barber or the right side of the chair. I sketched the head of the barber over the frame of the mirror and a little stamp with an image of a saint in the right top corner of the mirror. Probably the saint of the barbers, for good luck I guess. The thing is that we both were ready to see family on Christmas Eve, I with a big smile of joy and Bob also, with a good shave.

Friday, December 23, 2016

Sunny and warmer Christmas


I had some minutes to sketch this view at O'hare in Chicago. It was sunny but very cold. There was no one outside, which is understandable. This winter started quite cold this year. Let's say to nights after we left the temperature dropped to -28°F or -33°C. We are fortunate to spend sometime in the warmer South. 

I have to offer an apology for the quality of the images. I don't have a scanner at hand but you get the idea of what the sketches are all about though. 



After we settled, we ate at a place which I like a lot, it's relatively new (opened over two years ago). It's an every day restaurant which offers good food for an affordable price. This restaurant is located under a new venue which I sketched two years ago while it was being remodeled. Click here to read about it. It is finished now. I took a look at the facilities. I came inside from the garage of the restaurant. A cleaning lady was cleaning the floor and told me they opened few months ago, there has been 4 or 5 events already. The new name is Regina. It's nice to see the final product. I realized that when I sketched the place two years ago, it was almost finished.

Sunny and warm Mexico, I'm glad to be back. 

Happy Holidays.

Monday, December 12, 2016

Sketchers' priorities

As the day of my trip gets closer, I've been thinking on the preparations that need to be done. The first group of things I wanted to get ready was my sketching materials. Yes, it's my priority. Every time I go through this process I tend to gather the same items, but always new stuff appear on my way. First I'm taking paper and link. 



The sketchbooks seem to be too many, but I like to have different sizes available. My small collection of pens, which of course every pen has its' own properties. My watercolor brushes and aqua brushes. I normally use Carbon Platinum Ink, but I also decided to bring Noodler's waterproof, which is not in the photo. Turns out that the Sailor Green Pen with bent nib uses A LOT of ink, and that's what the Noodler's ink is for. 

Then, it was time to choose a watercolor palette and refill its wells. I normally use two, but the more I looked among the stored stuff I have, the more palettes I found. Incredible. The dangers of being addictive to color (or is it shopping?) I found seven. I never thought I had these many. But I think that many of us have gone through this eternal voyage in search of the Holy Grial, that is to find the art materials that we are more comfortable with, right? 

  
Well, after a serious thought I made my decision. I'm taking two palettes, one is the Cotman travel palette with artist Winsor & Newton paint, and the other is the 6 color essential Daniel Smith Extra Fine watercolor that I recently bought and that I have to try. I used an old medicine case with 6 wells and I'm also bringing a mixing palette made of  plastic with also 6 wells, it's light weight and flat.

Then, something unexpected happened today. I received by mail, samples of a new watercolor paper that I thought were lost, since I requested it 6 or 8 weeks ago! Thank you Cathy Johnson for telling us about it! Legion is the maker.

The incertitude of the unknown subjects of the upcoming sketches I will make with these materials is so exciting!

It feels likes Christmas already! 




Saturday, December 10, 2016

My snow boots.


Nobody wants to hear it, but winter is here, as of right now it's snowing. I got my first snow boots ever three years ago, I got tired of having my shoes wet and cold. I never used them until now. The last 2 winters I traveled South before the first snow fell, but this winter, it has snowed twice already. Of course I was happy as a child in Christmas for I finally have a reason to wear them. My bulky, fluffy, waterproof and warm boots. There are two parts of my body I hate it to be cold, my back and my feet, and that includes my ankles. Although I'll go South in few days, I got to be ready for this. I am....even if it is for a short time. 

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

A different supper.


I was shopping my groceries. Most of times I make a stop at the office section. There's paper, pens, colors and markers among other stuff. Most of the Moleskine journals were ruled, but digging among those I found the blank Art Plus. I thought it would be nice to have a small size one (almost A6) in my everyday purse without carrying my watercolors. Many times I do inked sketches on  location and then I add watercolor to it later at home. Although this blog is about ink and colored sketches, this doesn't mean I have to make both ink and watercolor sketches all the time, so I figured I will allow myself to post only inked sketches more often. It's convenient time wise. Also it will be a good exercise to practice values with ink. By the way this young man was enjoying his soup for supper. My hubby and I had something in mind quite different for supper at that moment, we had pastry and hot chocolate. Hmmm....the child on us made us make that decision to keep us warm on a cooooold day.