The light in Cadiz!

We’ve just finished our urban sketchers workshop in Cadiz. Such a great place in the Atlantic. It was carnival and people were out and about enjoying the streets, singing together, enjoying the fun, moving about.

Two sunsets, with that fantastic light of Cadiz, set the beginning and the end of the course, one , my first evening by the sea, in playa Caleta enjoying the colours and talking about what is to come.

The last evening, from Celia’s terrace, trying to capture the light and the towers, the torre Tavira and its neighbour merchant tower in the approaching sunset.

With them a desire to go back and paint and draw more.
What a fantastic city! Can wait to go back.

Tokyo - Japan - Feb 2017

Tokyo was a revelation, huge but ordered, quiet and clean. 

A quick four days visit, for the occasion of the marathon that my mother in law was running. I managed to catch up with Kumi of the local urban sketchers and enjoyed a day drawing the Tsukiji Hongan-ji temple where there was a Sunday ceremony inside (imagine the incense smell and soft chanting) and the view down from the Tokyu Plaza Ginza shopping mall from where the cars and people appear tiny.

Tokyo Marathon - cyclists

Tsukiji Hongan-ji Ceremony

Tsukiji Hongan-ji - Drum

Tsukiji Hongan ji - Exterior

View from Tokyu Plaza Ginza

We also managed to catch up with architecture views that I remember from my student's days, the Tokyo International Forum and some more historical temples, Senso-ji.  

The views from the top of the Tokyo Sky Tree (that appears in the Senso-ji sketch) showed the enormity of the city, no end in sight.   

Tokyo Forum

Senso-ji

Taking a line for a walk.

Experimentation is something crutial to develop the way we work and taking us out of our comfort zone.

In the last few months, I've been learning to sew. I love it! Creating something three dimensional and usable out of flat material is very exciting. I'll continue to make things.

But, the purpose of my learning was to learn free sewing and finally, this week was the moment - on a background  of watercolour, a vase of flowers sketched last week.

The freedom of free stitching is exhilarating, there is control but the line takes precedent, it just goes on on a walk, comes back to and fro and goes over the previous path.
It is something i normally do with a pen, or pencil, but in the beauty of the sewn line is that it is constant, but wobbly.  The thread was multicolour so i was not able to control the colour of line that much and it produced contrasts with the painted surface that were unexpected but enjoyable.

 I also tackled a simpler drawing over an orange satsuma drawing with repeated lines to create the shadows. It made me worry about the strength of the paper and whether it would desintegrate under the needle - new methods, new worries...

 And where will I go next?

Watercolours - testing various paints

I paint and sketch in watercolour since the 1990s and I love the quality and immediacy that watercolours give.

Through the years I've used some various makes of watercolour and always love trying new makes.  However, I tend to revert to W&N and I wanted to explore why.

I've done a little test of painting the same view (a tree in the cemetery near my house) in various makes that I've currently have on stock and on the same paper, following the same process (colour first,  a few w/colour pencil marks and at least two other watercolour paint layers. The makes : Kreme Pigmente,  Winsor & Newton, Daniel Smith (colour chart), Vallejo (liquid watercolour).

 

Here is what I've found :

Kremer

 

More pigmented.
Less translucent and therefore less layers, less subtlety possible.
Grainy and some interesting unexpected effects.
Some colour mixing (off paper) but opacity does not allow clean mixing.
Good earthy colours to use straight off palette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winsor & Newton

This is what I am used to.

Translucent and good mixing possibilities off paper (I mix my greens).
Multiple layering retains freshness
Little graininess on most colours
Good reaction with w/c pencils

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel Smith

 

Clean colours with little graininess

It takes longer to dry so got quite a bit of wet on wet effect on paper.
I did not mixed the colours ad limited supply of  paint (sample palette of 238 colours).
Multiple layers retain freshness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vallejo

 

Liquid watercolour applied with water brush (the others were with normal brushes)
Vibrant colours (not light fast so not archival) very punchy!
More chaotic mixing on paper only - but fun.
Mixing before painting possible.
Less layers possible - as freshness and vibrancy would disappear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favourites:

I will stick to W&N for painting but may add the odd colour from other makes for effect, specific colours.

On the road, and on my sketchbook  I'll keep using Vallejo amazing bright colours - their light and vibrancy appeal to me.

Summer into Autumn

I've had a great summer teaching two urban sketching courses in Oxford and Segovia. It is exhilarating seeing people's confidence come alive and enjoying playing with watercolour and mark making.
He tenido un verano fructífero ensenando dos talleres de dibujo urbano en Oxford y Segovia. Recompensa ver como los participantes ganan confianza y aprenden a relajarse usando acuarelas y dibujando. 

Oxford 2015

Segovia 2015

Segovia 2015

On the trip going and coming back from Spain, I started and continued sketching non stop and recorded most of our stopovers from Angouleme to Sos del Rey Catolico, Zaragoza to Colliure, Carcassone to Millau and more. Here I show only a few from the begining and i will upload some more soon.
En el viaje de ida y vuelta de España, empece y seguí dibujando y recopile casi todos los lugares en los que paramos, de Angouleme a Sos del Rey Católico, de Zaragoza a Colluire, Carcassone a Millau y mas.  Aquí muestro solo algunos de los dibujos del principio pero ya ire subiendo mas.

Angouleme cathedral rear

Angouleme cathedral front

Sos del Rey Catolico

Segovia Acuarelas cuaderno grande

Estas son algunas de las acuarelas que hice en Julio en Segovia.

Las mas panorámicas las podéis ver AQUI
Algo se nota la influencia del simposio de Barcelona.

Here are some of the watercolours that I did in Segovia in July.

The larger panoramas you can see HERE
You can notice a bit the influence of The Barcelona simposium.

"Mi Cementerio" - Newtown Road Cemetery

Tengo que admitirlo - me encantan los cementerios. Vivo en frente de uno en Newbury (UK) y lo tengo muy dibujado. Es alargado, 18000 m2, y tiene dos secciones una de anglicanos y otra de "dissenters" (el resto de religiones y no religiones). Se cree que tiene unas once mil personas enterradas allí lo que es impresionante cuando se considera que la población en Newbury en el año 2001 rondaba los 28000!
I have to admit I really like cemeteries. I live opposite one in Newbury (UK) and I have draw in again and again. It is long and thin but large (18000 m2). It has two sections one for anglicans and one for dissenters (all other religions and non religions).  It seems that around 11000 people are buried here which is impressive considering that Newbury's population in 2001 was approximately 28000!

A lo largo del muro hay unos arboles maravillosos que cambian de aspecto según la temporada. En las últimas semanas han cambiando radicalmente porque les han podado drasticamente. Cuando anunciaron la poda,me dedique a dibujarlos casi cada día para no olvidar su esplendor.
Along the wall there are some old fantastic trees that change througout the year. In the last few weeks they have changed radically as they've been seriously pollarded. When they announced they'd be pollarded, I started to draw then almost daily not to forget their splendid presence.

La operación poda ha tardado más de una semana, casi dos y aquí hay algunos dibujillos del proceso, con una grúa telescópica y el señor desde lo alto cortaba las ramas, echaba las abajo donde tenían una trituradora que convertía los troncos en serrín. Un poco triste.
Han quedado bien pelados - como podéis ver. Menos mal que volverán a crecer, aunque llevara tiempo, pero son pacientes. Los veo ahí como guardas y presenciando un montón de sucesos - si pudieran hablar !!
It has taken more than a week  (almost two) to pollard them all, and here are some sketches of the process with a telescopic crane with a basket in the top from which one of the men saw the branches and let them drop down into a pile. They had also a chipper to make woodchip of all the cut wood. A little bit sad.
They have been left well trimmed, as you can see. Just as well they will grow again, although it will take some time but, they are pacient. I see them there keeping guard and witnessing all that happens, if they could talk!

Viaje a Toscana - 10 dias, 13 localidades, 33 acuarelas, 14 dibujos -- Trip to Tuscany, 10 days, 13 places, 33 watercolours, 14 drawings

Este viaje a Toscana ha sido interesante porque he visto sitios nuevos para mi, con mezcla de pueblos, ciudades, paisajes (tipicamente toscanos) - el tiempo ha sido estupendo y hemos podido approvechar para pintar y dibujar al maximo. Aqui van unas cuantas imagenes.

This trip to Tuscany has been interesting because i have seen new places, a good mix of villages, towns, cities and landscapes (typically tuscan) - the weather was excellent and we have been able to make the most of painting and drawing.
Here go a few images:

Para verlas todos los dibujos pincha en los enlaces abajo - To see all the drawings click in the link:

  Tuscany1, Tuscany2, Tuscany3

Las localidades en las imagenes en las tiras de los enlaces incluyen (en orden): Castelo St Angelo, Moltacino, St Quirico de Orcia, Pienza, Pitigliano, Sorano, campos del Castelo Banfi, Grosseto, Argentario, Giglio, Monte Antico (cerca de Paganico), Pari y muy brevemente Lucca.

The places in the linked picture strips include (in order): Castelo St Angelo, Moltacino, St Quirico de Orcia, Pienza, Pitigliano, Sorano, campos del Castelo Banfi, Grosseto, Argentario, Giglio, Monte Antico (cerca de Paganico), Pari and very briefly Lucca.

Deportes / Sports

Estamos acercandonos peligrosamente a las olimpiadas y todo el mundo pide dibujos relacionados con el deporte.We are getting close to the Olympics and everybody is asking for sporty sketches.Así que he estado asistiendo a entrenamientos de clubs locales de Natación y Esgrima. En principio es algo difícil porque se mueven continuamente pero intento captar la esencia del movimiento y la situación. Aquí van un par de ellos.
I have been attending training sessions of a couple of local clubs (Swimming and Fencing). At first it is quite difficult because they move continuously. I have tried to capture the essence of the movement and the sport situation.  Here go a few.

Conchas - Shells

No he podido dibujar mucho ultimamente lo que me tiene "contenta" pero el otro dia una amiga trajo una coleccion de conchas y lo pasamos muy bien pintandolas. Algunas son puntiagudas y otras suaves, y los colores van de suaves blancos a bronzes maravillosos.
I have not been able to draw much lately which makes me not too happy but the other day a friend brought a shell collectiion and we had a great time painting them. Some are sharp and others soft and the colours go from soft whites to wonderful bronze.