Sketching in the Dark

I just came back from nearly two weeks of a difficult trip to Texas.  One of the few bright spots was in San Antonio, joining a small crowd in the cool night air to see a new laser light show that is projected onto the facade of the old San Fernando Cathedral downtown.  It was quite amazing!  

I decided to sit on the ground and sketch, even though I could barely make out what I was drawing and DEFINITELY couldn't see what I was painting!!! I simply relied on knowing what colors were where on my palette. Had to paint it in one pass too, as at 9:00pm it wasn't going to dry to allow layering watercolor. 

I love doing this painting in the dark, as it's a wonderful and fun surprise to shine a light on it afterward and see how it came out!  A few people took photos of it, and I gave this sketch to my mom.

Lunch on the rainy San Antonio Riverwalk

At the end of February, I was in San Antonio TX to meet with the Gabriel Prize jury and present my project watercolors (after American Airlines LOST the paintings somewhere between Seattle and Dallas for 36 hours--talk about stress!!)

The weather was sadly very cold and very wet (where is the Texas sun when you need it?), so I sat inside and grabbed a quick lunch of beef brisket :) at The County Line on the Riverwalk.

I used a very muted painting palette of nickel azo yellow, cobalt blue and permanent alizarin crimson, the same colors I've asked the Good Bones workshop participants to use.  It's interesting to use these colors, as they each have very different characteristics.  Although you can't get a really good dark with these colors, it can be helpful to use a simple triad color palette as it gives you a harmonious painting.

Quick lunch on the rainy San Antonio Riverwalk. 

Along the San Antonio Riverwalk

I had to miss that rainy sketching at University Village because I was in San Antonio, TX visiting my mom and nursing a very, very bad cold that left me without much drawing umph.

The long sketch is at the Arneson River Theater in the heart of the San Antonio Riverwalk--still lush and beautiful after so many years. The rusted steel umbrellas are sketched during lunch at La Gloria, a great restaurant in The Pearl along the Riverwalk extension.

Was really great to see the sun for a change...

I leave for my three months in Paris on May 14!!!  I will be teaching a perspective sketching workshop in Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy (there are still spots if you are interested!),
and also feeling very lucky to have gotten into the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Barcelona!!!!  So excited!