Museo Casa de Tostado

Today was a travel day so not much time to sketch. I had to get up at 3:30 a.m. to catch my flights to Santo Domingo and didn’t arrive until 5 p.m. at the hotel. But of course the first thing I had to do was find my way to the Centro cultural de Espana to check in at the symposium and pick up my tote bag of sketch books! This little drawing is done in the linen covered book in the photo below. More tomorrow after a night of sleep!

A little bit of chaos

This seemed like the perfect scene to sketch today. A little bit of structure amidst all the chaos. And that is how my day feels as I prepare for tomorrow’s departure for the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. I haven’t been a student in a long time but it feels like I’m getting ready for the first day of school. I have all my supplies in my bag and I’m off to meet and sketch with people from around the world — people whose work I greatly admire. There is a lot of chaos as I decide what to pack for my sketching adventure and I’m not quite sure, really, if there is any structure in all this.

I will be relying on WiFi connections to post for the next 10 days so let’s hope that technology doesn’t let me down. If I miss a post or two it won’t be because of lack of sketches, that’s for certain. Santo Domingo is a Unesco World Heritage site and we’ll be having workshops in the Colonial Zone so watch for lots of architecture and people sketches (hopefully!). Hasta luego!

All circles

Repetition gives a painting unity. I have probably written this many times. My friend Alison asked me why I chose this little scene in her driveway today and I answered that it was because I liked the play of light and shadow on the barrels. But after I scanned this I realized how many circles there were in this — the barrels, the logs from the woodpile in the back, the cut log on the ground, the potted plant and even the hole in the barrel. All circles.

Shipwright

I found this wonderful little arrangement at the Beaconsfield Yacht Club. I went there with the intention of painting the boats but when I saw this I changed my mind. How could I resist those three pails in primary colours?

Today is the third and final day of paper comparisons. This was painted on a block of Fabriano Watercolour Studio and I was quite disappointed with this paper. I’m not satisfied with the texture of the paper itself (look at the top left corner of the painting to see what I mean) and it didn’t carry a wash well at all. It would probably be fine for a quick sketch but not for something with more subtle watercolour effects and washes. So this will not be in my bag to Santo Domingo this week. It was fine for small flat areas like in the pails but I found that when I tried to apply a large wash the edges dried too quickly. It could be because this paper has only 20% cotton content and I am used to paper made with 100% cotton.

Le temps des fraises au Marché Jean Talon

Day 2 of my paper experiment: This new pad I am trying is the Arches “Carnet de Voyage”. A nice little travel book, size 6″ x 10″, with 140 lb cold pressed paper. I tried it first for my Jean Talon Market sketch and then again once I got home I did a little study of the berries I bought there. I’m really satisfied with the paper in this and I think I like it even better than the Strathmore from yesterday. This will definitely be in the bag for my symposium trip.

Here are the strawberries I painted quickly before they turned to jam in the heat.

Two kinds of basil

It may not seem like it from this painting but I was so busy today I didn’t get around to doing my daily sketch until it was almost dark outside. The light was fading quickly as I was working and I wasn’t really sure how the colours would look until I came inside. But I think having a time restraint can be a good thing. It means you don’t have time to overwork things, you put the right values down from the start and that means your watercolour has a chance of remaining fresh.

I am trying out a few new supplies before I go to Santo Domingo. It’s true that I have been a little bit obsessed with my Moleskines of late but I bought three new types of watercolour pads and this was the first one I am testing. The paper is Strathmore Windpower Watercolor and as far as I could tell in the almost dark, it took the paint really well. I also bought a few new synthetic brushes that I noticed Marc Holmes working with the other day. My small sable brushes have lost their points and this inexpensive Omer de Serres brush did a great job of both holding the paint and creating fine lines like those on the big clay pot. It’s a bit stiffer than the sables I’m used to but that makes it almost like a brush pen. Tomorrow I’ll probably try out the Fabriano pad I bought and then Sunday I’ll give the Arches paper a try.

Man resting and a new workshop announcement!

Today my choice of colours is super saturated, mostly because I felt that one of my paintings from yesterday was too pale and a little bit timid. So I went in the opposite direction today. This was sketched at Westmount Park in Montreal and that will be one of the sites for my August workshop.

The two-day workshop will take place on August 16 and 17 (Thursday and Friday) and will be held at one Montreal location (Westmount Park) and one West Island location (Baie d’Urfé Town Hall). For more info or to register contact me at sblaukopf (at) gmail (dot) com.

Silo No 5

I haven’t painted anything industrial in quite some time and I was really missing it. So when Marc Taro Holmes suggested we meet in Old Montreal to sketch near this spot I was quite excited because I have been wanting to get a good look at Silo No 5. It was only after I returned home and did a bit of research that I learned that this is yet another building on Heritage Montreal’s endangered list.

Marc and I are preparing our August workshop in Portland, Oregon and Marc is also one of the instructors at the Urban Sketchers Symposium we both will be attending in Santo Domingo next week. We spent most of the day today sketching at various locations in the Old Port and with the high heat and humidity I think it was good practice for both of us.

Where did she go?

I found a new place where people (including me) sit still for a very long time — the beach! This is the first time I post a series of drawings. This lady was sitting right in front of me so I drew her once when she arrived in the morning (she still had her coffee), then she disappeared for a very long time (it was a bit worrisome!) so I drew her chair and bag, and finally when she returned from her walk (??) and turned her chair to face the sun. The first drawing is done with my Muji B pencil, the second is with my Lamy Safari pen and wash and the last one (my favorite) is with a Micron pen and wash.

Bridge repair

I haven’t travelled through Vermont since the flooding from Hurricane Irene last August. The covered bridge in Queechee was almost wiped out when the Ottaqueechee River rose 25 feet but it looks like it’s almost rebuilt now.

Due to some technical problems yesterday my beach painting post was really blurry. Now that I have returned from my weekend in Massachusetts the sketches from the last three days have been scanned and reposted. Hopefully they look a little brighter and a tiny bit sharper too.