Exercise. Loose brush strokes.

Pencil and watercolor on Cold Press watercolor paper 7 in x 7 in

A made a warm color painting from a virtual scene, this is San Miguel de Allende. I normally work on a table with the paper flat. For a change, I set the paper on a inclined surface instead of horizontal. In order to have loose strokes, I held the brush to control my arm and hand, instead of my wrist. This time I used cold press watercolor paper and used more watercolor techniques. I applied wet in wet paint in the first wash, then wet on dry to paint the main shapes, then the darker details with a smaller brush. Results vary not only with the use of different materials but with different set ups. I liked this exercise.

Snow? Yes, but not in my head.

Gouache and color pencil on smooth Bristol 5 in x 17 in

Ooooh, so much snow. I NEED color! I have it in my head, bright green grass with some leaves and tiny imaginary flowers. Doodling with gouache means no planning, no composition, no choosing palette,  no nothing, soooo liberating. Did my imaginary spring successfully translated into paper, I think so! The result? Here, a sneak peak of a colorful future while we wait for the snow to melt. 

Hot sauces

Pencil, watercolor and color pencil on Stillman&Birn Alpha Series  A4

These sauces are in my fridge. All spicy. It’s a sketch I did sometime last year but didn’t finish it. I used washi tape to frame the bottles, more color yeah! Then I edited it with Procreate. 

Me like now.

Snow

Pencil and watercolor on Stillman&Birn Alpha Series 6 in x 6 in

I  don’t remember seeing so much snow since I moved to this country. I was amazed the first 2 or 3 winters, then I didn’t like it. This year I actually started to enjoy it again until Mother Nature reminded me how long winters can be here, now I’m fed up with it. But....when you try to find beauty in these dull days, you can actually find it. I sketched the outside view from one of the windows of my house. Once it was finished, I observed it in detail and it actually pleased my eyes and made me feel good. I’ll stick to that, cheers to sketching.

Exercise. Photo vs scanner.

Capilla de la Santa Casa de Loreto, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
Ink, watercolor and color pencils on HP watercolor paper, 10 in x 7 in

I’ve been here many times but I’ve never sketched it until now, during the pandemic at home. The colors of Mexico are perfect to paint a scene on snowy winters. It’s been snowing fairly often, 4 inches a couples of days ago and 12 inches before that. I cannot complain though, the light reflected by the snow in a cast day is perfect to take photos. My tablet’s camera is better than my scanner, the colors are more vivid. I cannot flat the paper as I do in a scanner, sometimes cropping the edges of the image is necessary to square it but it’s worth not to get into the process of editing, ugh. 

Here’s the comparison of images. Can you see the difference?