The City Market in Charleston, South Carolina.

Pitt oil base pencils on CP watercolor Laloran sketchbook 5 in x 5 in.

 The free DASH bus took me to the City Market, what a convenient way to move in Charleston Historic Downtown. The four long buildings of the market in the three blocks weren’t crowded, it was cold on Monday, so to me it was paradise. Outside, the façade of main entrance on Meeting street could be deceiving, it looks like it has two floors but it’s only the ground floor where vendors offer their merchandise. 

Across the street from the main entrance its a Chase bank which stairs became my spot to sketch this market. I really thought about adding or not color to the sketch. In the end I didn’t, as you can see here. Perhaps I could later, as of now I like it as it is.

Chippewa Square in Savannah

Pitt oil base pencil, watercolor and color pencil on HP watercolor sketchbook 10 in x 7 in

One of the many square parks in Savannah has a statue of Gral. James Edward Oglethorpe. He was a philanthropist with commonwealth ideas ahead his time. His name is all over the city. This monument is in Chippewa Square (yes that one of the Forrest Gump film, btw the bench is there no more). The azaleas are full bloom, in February! People gather here to chat, rest, enjoy, sketch of course and to marry! It was late afternoon and I managed to finish the sketch with pencil. Believe it or not, there were mosquitos, and I cannot stand mosquito bites. I included a couple who just got married there, as Oglethorpe as a witness, it was just them, the judge and the photographer and his assistant.

We stayed in Savannah for 6 days, now that we are settled in the next city, I added color.

The Riverwalk of Savannah

 

Pitt oil base pencil and watercolor on CP sketchbook 5 in x 5 in 

The river walk in Savannah is a busy area. Not only for tourists but for cargo ships with containers. Being Savannah one of the busiest ports in the country, I saw several cargo ships passing bay on the Savannah River. The ships honks its blown sometimes. It was quite  entertaining. There are some cruising boats that resemble steamboats. I sat on bench and drew the Georgia Queen stern wheel, it was a little bit challenging but finished it.

Savannah’s Bonaventure Cemetery

 

Pitt oil base pencil and watercolor on HP watercolor sketchbook 10 in x 7 in

One of the top sites to visit that I heard over and over was the Bonaventure Cemetery. There’s a Historic section which has the most beautiful grave tombs, from vaults with stained glass windows and obelisks, to headstones, sculpted flowers, Celtic crosses, angels and the little girl Grace. This section has graves dated from the mid 1800’s and early 1900’s. Many are organized in numbered lots which hold multiple graves. The lots are surrounded by fences made of stone, iron (almost in decay) and copper like the one in the sketch. And of course lots of moss hanging from trees. It was 65° F and sunny, perfect for a peaceful walk on a Sunday afternoon in Savannah.

Lot number

Hello Savannah!

 

Pencil and watercolor on HP watercolor sketchbook 10 in x 7 in

We left Jacksonville, Florida and drove our way to North as the year gets warmer, the city of Savannah turned out to be so beautiful. This time of the year is quite popular for visiting because of the agreeable temperatures. I walked Forsyth Park, one of twenty something square parks. A very walkable city with lots of streets paved with bricks, specially Jones St. The oak trees have moss and ferns hanging for the huge branches, they are so big that it was quite hard to fit them in my sketchbook, I really wanted to draw the fountain with a little more of detail, and this is the composition what I came out with. I was a good start Savannah!

Jacksonville from South Riverwalk

 

Pencil and watercolor on CP watercolor sketchbook Laloran 5 in x 5 in 

Xana and I met at the South Riverwalk at the Friendship Fountain. The view of downtown Jacksonville offered a perfect picture opportunity to sketch the city’s skyline. I didn’t finished my sketch then, but I returned with my hubby to finished it. The St John’s River was very calm, it always is, they call it the “lazy river”, it flows at a speed of 0.3 miles per hour!

This is a farewell to Jacksonville, a vibrant city with a young population, nice beaches and great food. Farewell JAX and to my fellow sketcher Xana for all the time and pointers about Jacksonville she shared with me!

Riverside Arts Market, JAX.

 

Pitt oil base pencil and watercolor on HP watercolor sketchbook 10 in x 7 in

The Riverside Arts Market sets up every Saturday from 10 am to 3:00 pm. It’s located under an I-95 pass way, that’s a great idea for the soaring heat of summer. Various merchandise are sold. Fresh veggies, baked and preserved goods, crafts, paintings and drawings. There are also food trucks and even a designated area next to the St. John River to listening to live music. It’s not very big but enough to keep you busy for hours. 

There was however lots of people to sketch.

Barbershop in Avondale

 

Pitt oil base pencil and watercolor on CP Laloran sketchbook 5 in x 5 in

In need of a haircut, we found a barbershop near the place where we had lunch in Avondale, JAX, just across the street. We didn’t read reviews or had a concern about ratings, we just needed to get rid of some hair, pronto! 

As we stepped in the barbershop, it looked like an old building was renovated but I’m not sure about that, we were in a street mall. Anyway they did a good job with renovations, it was very grand, Southern. It was a blend of feminine and masculine elements. While I waited, women and men showed up. We’ll done, nice building, mix clientele and good haircut.

Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida

Pitt oil pencil and watercolor on CP watercolor sketchbook 5 in x 5 in

St. Augustine, Florida is oldest city in the United States. It is the longest continually inhabited European founded city in the United States. It’s a beautiful city with many buildings of Spanish Architecture and many attractions like the old town and the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, a fort which is considered the oldest fort made of stone in the United States. Yes, it’s a city with many “the oldest” and many “first”. British and Spanish so fought over it many times, but why? 

Here it’s a little bit of history, where a nature fact shapes the history of h the city. Ponce de León, an Spanish explorer observed for the first time the Gulf Stream in 1513. This warm current would help the ships return to Europe faster, weeks faster. Then Pedro Menéndez de Áviles founded St. Augustine in 1565. Turns out that St. Augustine was an strategic city because it was the last stop to catch the Gulf Stream towards Europe. 

Aha!

So many battles made the Spanish Queen authorized the construction of a fort made of stone to protect the city, the Castillo de San Marcos. The stone available was coquina, and here my writing becomes technical. Coquina is a rock naturally formed by limestone and fossilized shells. Coquina is very soft when first quarried, and so is left to dry for one to three years before use in building. Coquina was handy to build forts with because heavy cannon balls would sink into coquina instead of fracturing or breaking the structure. The fort/castle was never taken.

So I visited the fort, Castillo de San Marcos, which construction began in 1672 and was completed in 1695. I made a drawing of the fort, a view from the second floor or the roof really, that would significantly helped me remember such fascinating facts about this city. There are plenty of places to visit, magnificent buildings that came later and how clever and wealthy men wrote the history of this city, but one day visit can only that far. 

Bold Bean Coffee Roasters

 

Pitt oil pencil and watercolor on CP sketchbook 5 in x 5 in

Last sketch I did in a coffee shop I focused on the people only, it didn’t said much  about the place. This time although I spent my time chatting with my fellow sketcher Xana, I took a picture of the place to draw it later. This time I used Pitt oil pencil to make beautiful lines and for the shadows I used a mix of Prussian Blue and Lamp Black instead of my usual purple mix made with Crimson and Ultramarine. I left the outdoor blank, it was irrelevant, the interior of the cafe was what I was interested in. The people, the brick wall, the dark frames of door and windows, the plant pots everywhere and the island made of wood. It’s lovely group of organic materials which makes the place nice to enjoy the aroma of coffee. 

Downtown Jacksonville, Florida

Pen&ink and watercolor on HP 7 in x 7 in

We went to the MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Jacksonville, located in the corner of Ocean St and Duval St. The museum is ok, with small diversified collections. The museum extends its collection outdoors across the street to a square park. Here is where you find that face with an open mouth that seems to swallow tourists. 

We were disappointed that the streets in downtown were empty, it felt a little bit eerie, perhaps due to the fact that it was weekend. We saw two, perhaps three persons on the streets. Quite strange for a big city. We arrived at open time and little by little people started to arrive to the museum. 

Once outside, I found a view of Duval St looking towards East that I could draw later. The building on the sketch reads City Hall and have tall palm trees and one can see the towers of two churches in the background. I could add the post lamps but the drawing was getting to busy, as busy as this sketch is, I’m glad I did a drawing of the area we visited.

Jacksonville Arboretum and Botanical Gardens

Color pencil and watercolor on A5 Handbook Travelogue Sketchbook

The Arboretum was a nice place to visit. It was a weekday and it wasn’t crowded but by the time we left, there was no parking spot available. That day was one the warmest days since our stay and I guess people did exactly what we did, go out and enjoy the warm day. There are some benches very close to the edge of the lake, we stared at the fish and water lilies and turtles and floating leaves for a while, it was very relaxing. There are signs everywhere to warn people about alligators but we saw none. I did a painting of the lake back in our place, I spotted several turtles and other little animals in the clear water, I wasn’t sure how to show the floating  leaves in the water. The water was very still and the only way I could possibly find to show this was to draw water ripples. I think it turned out ok.

Neptune Beach

Pencil and watercolor on 5 in x 5 in CP sketchbook

Today was a great day to go the beach. The temperature finally warmed up so we went to Neptune Beach; it was not surprisingly crowded in the afternoon. The breeze (it was mildly windy though) was warm, the sun brutal but the clouds gave us a refreshing break. The water was very cold, I walked for good 15 minutes in the water to the point in which my feet felt a burn, they were actually red. Still some people went in the water full dive, specially kids. A

The cost line runs from North to South, people faced South to the sun, that’s why you can see the ocean on their side. I sketched some sun bathers who were facing me, one of them noticed me sketching him but he didn’t care. In the background, the water in this part of the Atlantic is brown/green color, this is due to the marshes of this area flow into the ocean. 

When we were leaving around 3 pm everyone felt a sudden cold wind that got us the chills, all of us we looked at each other, it was obvious, our faces showed “did you feel that?”, it was the perfect time for us to leave the beach. With the cold wind blowing in our back as we left the beach we thought we had a great beach day, not bad, not bad at all.

North view

South view.

Balis Park in San Marco

Pitt oil pencil and watercolor on A5 Handbook Travelogue Sketchbook 

I met again with Xana in Balis Park in San Marco today, another charming neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida. The park is small but very beautiful, it has enough trees to provide shelter from the sun. The triangular park is surrounded by small shops and restaurants. There are lots of views to sketch here. This time I used my Pitt oil pencil, I didn’t want to get lost in details, so finished the line work quite fast and added watercolor on location.

I wanted to include the fountain but I miscalculated the proportion of the gazebo, in terms of composition it’s a failure, but I went ahead anyway. I had some space blank on the right side of my sketch and decided to include an aerial vista of the gazebo and the fountain, even the location of Xana and me and our sketchbooks. I had a plenty source of water to refill my brush rinse cup from the fountain! The wind blew water into our sketchbooks sometimes, I bothered me at the beginning but then I let the water play with my water washes. You can see those marks in the top right corner on the sketch. Beautiful place for a beautiful sunny day in great company.

Bakelite radios

Pen&ink and watercolor on Hot Press 10 in x 7 in

 These radios are at the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida. The author put together two elements for this piece, an African American portrait and Bakelite radios. It was the group of radios which I thought I could be fun to sketch. I actually had to find out what Bakelite was. It’s a plastic which was produced in the 70’s which was very popular because it was easy to make objects of different shapes and forms but the process was very toxic so it’s not produced any more, therefore any piece made of Bakelite is a very desirable collectible.

For what I read, the dominant colors of Bakelite are brown, black, green and red. I applied a first layer of Buff Titanium to the radios and the floor to unified the pieces and to age them a little bit. The palette of this scene screams vintage. I enjoyed doing it, calmly, on a desk and several cups of coffee.

The shops of Avondale

Pen&ink and watercolor on A5 Handbook Travelogue Sketchbook

After breakfast at Southern Grounds & Co. in Avondale, here in Jacksonville, Florida, Xana and I sat by the window bar next to the window facing outdoors. This street mall hosts some of the restaurants dearly loved by locals. 

Some of the shops across the street were framed by a couple of trees, I loved the view to described the area. It was sunny and very pleasant.

By Xana Jazmín