Cerro de San Pedro

Graphite, watercolor and color pencil on Arches CP 7" x 10"

While I recover from a cold, I made this piece in my improvised studio, the living room of  my brother's. Cerro de San Pedro is a little mining town outside San Luis Potosi city. The population is very low, locals call it a ghost town. If you want to use your phone, there's no signal unless you pay a fee for private wi-fi. In recent years, people has spread the word about this town becoming alive and people come to visit and spend the day in the little main square and eat or drink at the few restaurants around it. Since there's no signal we opted for sitting down and have a nice conversation, drink soda, listening to the music, watching the trees moving with the wind and seeing other people enjoying themselves. This sketch above is one of the small streets that leads to the square. The action was behind me but I really liked the solitude and look of abandonment of this view.

Billboard

Ink and watercolor on Pentalic 7” x 10”

There are signs that show how cities evolve or change over time. Sierra Leona is a street with high traffic that is showing clearly this change in the city of San Luis Potosí. This area used to be exclusively a residential area, it still is, however many houses have been sold and converted into small bussines. The houses still inhabited by families have allowed companies to install billboards inside their home’s properties! This gives them an additional income for leasing part of their property but leave them with little front space left. This practice caught my eye. The big base of the billboard’s support can be seen in this sketch, this is one billboard of many. 

A trade with the barber.

Ink and watercolor 5” x 7”

This is the view across the street from the barbershop my husband likes to go sometimes here in San Luis Potosí city. There is a bench outside the barbershop where I sat to sketch. Minutes later the barber came out to check what I was doing, he wondered why I was sketching this corner, I saw it in his face, he didn’t bother to ask me nor did I explain the urban sketching concept. When he was done with my husband he saw this sketch and liked it. He liked it so much that he asked if I could sketch the indoor of the barbershop next time, he promised he would frame the sketch to display it on the walls of the barbershop and oferred my husband a free service next visit. How could I refuse that? So I immediately said yes!

Artist's problems.

Color pencil on Cardstock 5" x 7 "in

It is one of those boring afternoons or evenings when the sound of the TV becomes a background sound that I hear but don't watch. This strangely comforts me and sets the tone to start doodling. Does this happen to you? I find color pencils very suitable for the task when this happens. 

Some Christmas images I've seen here and there stuck with me and unconsciously came out when I started doodling. Filling the shapes with color is what I love the most, making line after line until the shape reaches the desired shade and tone. It is Zen time! However, it troubles me to figure out what I like the most, the process or the result.  Oh artists' problems.

Color pencil on Cardstock 7" x 5 "in

Greeting cards.

These are two greeting cards I made for two of my dearest friends who always send me beautiful greeting cards for every occasion throughout the year. I'm humbled by the care they put into our friendship. One lives in Arizona and the other one loves Maine.

Color pencil on tone cardstock paper 5" x 7"

The intention here was to draw a landscape in a very illuminated night by the moonlight. The tone paper came out blueish in the digital images, but the paper is more like dark grey blue. The moon circles were made hand free, it's easy to make an almost perfect circle when you repeatedly draw in the same spot until it comes out nicely round. I'm sure there's no secret here. 

I hope my friends like them.

Color pencil on tone cardstock paper 5" x 7"

Eggs

Fineliner ink pen and watercolor on A5 Hahnemuhle Watercolor Book

This morning my brother and I had a conversation about the shelf life of eggs. He asked me what's the shelf life of eggs at room temperature. None of us knew. People who buy eggs in the supermarkets, like me, probably never noticed that eggs are always in the refrigerator, I assume it is considered standard here, but then he reminded me that in the supermarkets in Mexico you can actually find piles of eggs non refrigerated. It was true, I forgot! The thing is that if you goggle the shelf life of eggs, you'll find that the recommendation is, to store eggs at room temperature for a single digit number of days, and over a month if stored refrigerated. I probably ate non refrigerated eggs during my life in Mexico and never had any illness due to bad eggs! Lucky me. Anyway, this is the kind conversations we have sometimes in our family.

As simple as an egg shape is, so the approach to sketch it could be, however, it was very hard to resist the temptation to add more than two strokes of color! 

There, my eggs a la watercolor.

Slow is good.

Pen&Ink and Color pencils on sketch paper 8" x 11"

This is a sketch I did 2 years ago in ink but I colored it today. I noticed my color pencil drawings are becoming very detailed versus the watercolor I've done lately. I think it is the fact that the fine point of the pencil covers less surface area than a watercolor brush stroke. This makes me slow down, it makes me observe often in more detail and think about what areas need adjustments.  Although I have a fair selection of color pencils, I still blend or layer different colors, I still think like watercolor paint. Since I don't need to be in my studio to color drawing, I sit next to my husband in the coach and listen to him or the tv while I color the sketch. I enjoy the slow process, I enjoy it very much.

Pears

Sepia Ink and color pencil on A5 Leuchtturm1917

One of my dear friends sent me a gift by mail on Halloween. It was a beautiful box with pears from Oregon, Harry and David. Beautifully wrapped and packed, we tasted one per day, fully ripe, juicy and sweet. I hope this drawing makes pears look as good as they taste. Anything I want to remember makes it into my sketchbook, specially the gift of friendship. Thanks so much P. 

The tale of a flannel throw blanquet

Pen, ink and watercolor on Handbook 8" x 16"

This is my recent quilt project. A flannel throw blanket for dad fully designed by truely yours. 

I asked him if he would prefer a color and he asked for a beige or brown color. Well I couldn't do that fully, he doesn't know I threw few colors in there yet, ha!

I jumped into the unknown, a bigger quilt project which turned out to be more time consuming than I calculated, but I like challenges and changes that spices my hobbies. The sketch above shows the pile of squares. Cutting takes a looong time! This was the only sketch I did of the project, I did it as a break form all that fabric dizziness.

Next you will see photos.  

For the lack of a big table I worked on the floor. I laid the fabric squares and played with composition considering value as a did in my pillow project.

Here I secured the three layers of the quilt with safety pins.

I drew circles with watercolor pencil. I tasted it before, it washes away. Who knew this drawing tool would be useful for other than drawing on paper!

And then the fun begun, for the first time I tried hand quilting. Only thing is that flannel releases a lot of lint, which I think I was breathing in, ugh!

The back of the quilt isn't perfect, has some wrinkles here and there, well not really, they are all over, but they add the charm of a handmade product.

 It's cozy and warm.

Do you see how the watercolor pencil lines disappeared after the wash?

I was warned this 54" x 72" blanket would shrink 2" or 3". I was advised to wash the fabric first, but I didn't listen. The flannel shrunk 5" and 7" respectively! That's 10%! Funny fact. While making this I complained to my husband numerous times this blanket was too big! It shrunk to the size I liked it best! This mistake worked in my favor but I learned my lesson.

Now that the blanket is washed and smells nicely, I folded and stored it to bring it with me in my next visit to dad. 

Now I need to "unquilt" my head. This project was very satisfactory but I went beyond my limits. I should take a break before I do a new one. Now....back to sketching!

A colorful upgrade.

Those color pencil samples given to us during workshops and reading great reviews online convinced me to upgrade my color pencils from 12 children prismacolor to pro 60 Faber Castell Polychromos. 🎼It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas 🎼🎄 

I doodled these two imaginary people.

Direct gouache and color pencil on Smooth Bristol 5" x 5"

Seriously. What's with the gray hair? Is it self projection? These were unconsciously done with direct gouache paint. No lines. Details in color pencil. These new color pencils are a joy to use!

Direct gouache and color pencil on Smooth Bristol 5" x 5"

The importance of value

This post is not about watercolor, it's about quilting.....BUT they are intimately related. I'll explain.

Sewing is my other hobby, I find it quite entertaining, I would say therapeutic. I've been doing that lately, learning how to quilt. 

My bedroom was in need of an accent color pillow. Choosing the fabric was a challenge, can you imagine the thousands of patterns available? That would be nuts! It helped me to narrow the choices, having in mind the colors of the rug area I wanted to coordinate the pillow with. The lady in the fabric store guided me in this matter, she chose an "anchor" fabric which had all the colors of the rug area. She wanted to make sure I  include different values to create contrast, light, medium and dark and different patterns in different sizes. Wait a minute.....I had an a-ha moment! She was basically applying the principles and elements of design! I knew this from sketching! It is a puzzle game of creating something that look beautiful and interesting. With that in mind I made sure to include various prints in the fabric, from solid to big patterns. Once the fabric was cut in squares, I layered the squares and played with composition.

It was a little confusing, so I did what I learned in a quilting tutorial, I took a photo in black and white to see the pattern of value, which is the same that we do when sketching, we squint our eyes to see values. After several tries, I came up with this composition which I think was a good one.

I did the same with some scraps of fabric to make place mats.

Now I'm doing some more, with a package of a palette already coordinated. 

Considering value is very important, more than the choice of color. It could apply to any creative project you could think of! As I learned. So let the fun continue!

Poses of a morning

Ink on Koh-i-noor Bristol Smooth 5.5" x 8.5"

I enjoyed sketching the multiple poses my husband had on the couch in just few minutes this morning. Black and white seemed beautiful so I left it as is.

Daggers and flowers

Gouache on Arches CP 8” x 10

Doodling I ended up with this piece. I used the new adquired dagger brushes, which are a little bit awkward to use, but I have yet to discover its qualities. I got one a blend of synthetic and natural hair for watercolor and one fully synthetic for gouache. The other is a liner I wanted so badly because I’m tired of trying to make clean long  lines with a synthetic liner which it never holds enough wash, it hopefully will do. 

CAPA Historic Homes of Joliet

Prarie Style House in Wester Avenue, Joliet, IL
Pen, Ink and Watercolor on Hahnemuhle Sketch&Note Booklet A6

CAPA stands for Cathedral Area Preservation Area, it's a Joliet non profit neighborhood organization to help preserve the historic homes in that area. This organization plans an event called This Olde Housewalk every other year, in which 5 or 6 homes are selected at a time opened to the general public. I attended this event for the first time. I don't know how these owners can deal with hundreds of strange visitors passing through every single room of their houses, stepping into rugs, touching the walls, etc. Well, I'm glad they are OK with this, otherwise we couldn't see beautiful restored home and others in the process of restoration. It is a unique opportunity to admire the surviving homes with several architectural styles built in the United Sates from the mid 1800's to the early 1900's. Joliet was a wealthy town during and after the Industrial Revolution. A good number of houses are beautiful examples of pure or blend styles like Italianate, Queen Ann, Classic, Tudor, Prairie among others.  The first home I visited is the sketch above. I sketched the house after I visited it; the last home I visited is the next sketch, I sketched it while waiting to enter the house. I'd like to share the link of an interesting book about houses in this area if you are a Joliet resident and/or you would like to get it. It's titled Historic Impressions, The history and Architecture of Joliet Homes by P. Seth Magosky, I have it and it's fascinating. 

The tour was interesting and the day was fun.

Tudor Style House in West Acres Rd. Joliet, IL
Pen, Ink and Watercolor on Hahnemuhle Sketch&Note Booklet A6

Gouache trees.

Gouache and watercolor pencil on Bristol 11" x 14"

The idea of getting familiar with a new media is intimidating to me. And we know that the more you practice the more you know how it behaves. It will take me time to master for sure, but after this result I feel hopeful. These is a good variety of trees in my backyard and on a rainy day like today, I thought this would be a good time to practice gouache from  the comfort of my couch. Drawing trees are very forgiven, you can play with lines and textures and it still looks like a tree, but making them look interesting is the real challenge. I wish I made darker greens for the pine trees, but the trees looked more or less in the same value today and that's how I put it on paper. Speaking of paper, I used Smooth Bristol 100 lb instead of watercolor paper because it was the only paper I had large enough to work with gouache. I noticed it takes longer to dry, but time is not an issue when I'm at home. I used the hairdryer anyway. Bristol works for gouache, I find it suitable although it buckles a little. The bright colors and graphic look are lovely. I don't know if I will take gouache to sketch outdoors. I need a lot of water to rinse the paint off the brushes. We'll see, it is, however, a promising media to keep in my studio.

A limited palette.

Pencil and watercolor on Winsor and Newton CP paper 6" x 8"

It works. A limited palette works. I'm very pleased with the color coordination and the cohesiveness you can reach with a limited palette. I really liked the palette we used in Maru Godas' workshop. And although we used gouache, I have to give it a try to the transparent watercolor paint I already had. I skipped the use of Winsor Yellow for this exercise.

Winsor and Newton limited watercolor paint palette.

I finished two pencil drawings I did in my visit to San Francisco at home. I specially liked the first sketch once colored. But I don't dislike the other one either.

Pencil and watercolor on Winsor and Newton CP paper 6" x 8"

A beautiful palette. 

On sale, 2 x 1.

Pen, ink and watercolor on Winsor &Newton CP paper 6" x 8"

There's a coffee shop with only two tables inside the grocery store in my neighborhood. I bought one of those new flavored drinks at the coffee shop in order to feel comfortable as a rightful user of one of the limited tables which I used to paint the entrance view of the grocery store. As you walk in the store, the sales signs bombard you (or at least that's what my radar is tuned on, ha!) While sketching I was making decisions about what fruit or vegetable on sale I was going to get. Who doesn't love sales? Who doesn't love sketching? There you have it. 2 x 1. Two things I like in one day.

San Francisco CA II Part 5 Gouache Like a Child with Maru Godas Workshop

We met at Arch Art Supplies in San Francisco. Maru Godas, an Spanish artist living in Barcelona introduced us to Gouache. An opaque watercolor medium which main characteristic is the matte finished. We started by making dry strokes and water wash stokes to produce a variety of textures and values with black gouache.

Next we did thumbnail sketches from black and white images in 2-3 minutes each, trying to include mixed textures.

The next step was to make a variety of greys with black and white paint. At this point we needed to pay attention at the consistency of the paint wash, which is creamy, in order to produce and even layer of paint. Right after we made another exercise, a thumbnail to apply the different grades of greys and textures.

Right after that we were introduced to a limited palette that she likes a lot, from where you can make mixes of paint to produce a wide variety of vibrant colors.

The brand we used has a good value, since the quality of the paint is good and price is reasonable.

We walked to the floating houses in Mission Bay. She told us to close our eyes, take a deep breath, picture the scene and image it in on our world, forgetting everything we know about how to draw or paint, to think like a child. There we did a couple of thumbnails in full color.

She suggested to make little dots of mixed paint on the side of the paper before painting our subject. This is useful to see if the paint, once dry, is the color we want. This is specially recommended since gouache paint dries darker that when it is wet. And by the way it dries faster than watercolor. Also she said color pencils (also watercolor pencils) and gouache are bests friends. Since color line brings the gouache paint to life, she recommended to use color pencil to make lines only to give information.

Before continuing to our panoramic or full size final painting, she shared with us more colors of  gouache paint. 

Time passed and I almost missed the group photo, but they found me to present to the group the final paint.

The workshop was fun and the 6 hours passed fast.

Photo by Maru Godas (in fact it was Ramon who took the photo, thanks Ramon!)

Maru is an exceptional warm and talented artist. I was very happy to be introduced to gouache by her in the beautiful city of San Francisco.