A Last Look at Barcelona...

Stretching it out a bit, I suppose, so that the feeling of being there lasts a very long time!  What a truly amazing and beautiful city--I dreamed of visiting Barcelona for many years to see Antoni Gaudi's work, but discovered so much more.  And of course, so much more to return to see!

The most well-known of Gaudi's buildings is La Sagrada Familia, the great cathedral that has been a work in progress for 131 years, being entirely built from donations...
I was so fortunate to get a free ticket to the Sunday afternoon International Mass from my hotel--I came in expecting to sit in the back to sketch, but was instead kindly ushered up to the front!  This is an indescribably moving place--a church of nature unlike anything else...

Gaudi's Park Guell is an enchanted world...a place where I could spend many days.  Musicians are playing all over the park, which adds to its magic.  I sat for a long in the shade of the rocky colonnade listening to the hypnotic sound of a "hang", which looks and sounds a bit like a Caribbean steel drum...

Gaudi lived in the house at right from 1906 to 1926, on the left is one of the delightful "gingerbread" houses at the entrance to Park Guell, sketched from the outdoor cafe...

Gaudi's Casa Batllo, sketched as day turned into night, so its iridescent beauty became even more shadowy and mysterious...































                                           



The day after the Symposium, some of my fellow sketchers and I set off at a more relaxed pace to the Parc del Laberint d'Horta--the Labyrinth Park, a historical garden with a maze, palace and pavilions--lovely!  (Made me think a bit of a more exotic Huntington Gardens...)






















And a couple of quick evening sketches...a view at dusk from Montjuic of the city below and La Sagrada Familia, and the Moorish fortress on Montjuic lit up at night...

Sketching in Barcelona

I was so happy to take part in the most recent Urban Sketchers Symposium in Barcelona as a workshop instructor.  I can hardly describe how wonderful it was to meet so many of my fellow sketchers whose work I've followed for years, with a feeling of familiarity--and even better to finally meet face to face, however briefly!  Besides teaching 3 sessions of my workshop "Panorama in Light and Shade", I had the great opportunity to take workshops from 2 artists I admire very much, Melanie Reim of New York and Luis Ruiz of Malaga, Spain.  So great to see how other artists work and try new ways of seeing...the spirit of experimentation was everywhere!

From Melanie's workshop, "Channeling Picasso"...quick sketching what appeared about to be a police action on busy Las Ramblas with brush and ink...














Some sketches from Luis Ruiz's workshop "Actors and Stage", in a slightly quieter part of the city, lovely Pla dels Angels...

As afternoon turned into evening after my workshop, I took some time to work a bit more on a demo sketch I'd started, and mostly just soak up the fact that I was there in this lovely place, at the harbor of Barcelona.  My workshop focused on creating patterns of light and dark values across the page--starting with a monochrome palette, and then making the transition to color by observing warm and cool colors--and the effects of atmosphere in the landscape.  Here I'm working with a split complementary palette--blues and warm earth colors...

There were nightly sessions of "drink and draw"...with company in which it was polite to stop talking and just sketch!

...experimenting with some of the 
great "giveaways", like brush pens...



...even drawing my food, something I don't usually have the patience to do, but couldn't resist the array of fresh grilled vegetables!  This was at a tapas bar in the wonderful marketplace La Boqueria...

...and another sketch at La Boqueria...

...waiting in line at the Picasso Museum, in a narrow street in Barri Gotic, the ancient city center, and sketching fellow sketchers at our "base camp", the Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona...
More of Barcelona later on...

 

More Sketches at Echo Park

...still getting ready for my workshop at the Urban Sketchers Symposium!  I'll be posting sketches from Barcelona very soon (sorry to be late in updating here!)

A panorama view of the lake and the fountain with downtown Los Angeles in the background.  Echo Park reopened in June after being closed for 2 years while the lake was drained.  Today it looks fresh and beautiful!

 I fed the ducks here as a child...this fellow was clearly hoping I had a snack for him, and let me sketch him for a bit...

Two views of the "Lady of the Lake" who presides over the park...a 1930's WPA-era statue by Ada May Sharpless...

 Around noon on a hot summer day you begin to hear the bells ringing--the popsicle sellers start making the rounds of the park with their carts.  A great way to beat the heat--a mango chile popsicle!











Before the park closed, the garden of floating lotuses that practically filled the lake in late summer mysteriously disappeared.  Happily, they are returning!  On a very hot day, in spite of the "no swimming" signs, many just couldn't resist a dip in that fresh-looking lake...

 

I was preparing to leave the park, and a vision appeared across the lake...a Quinceanera arrived with her attendants and photographer in a magnicent turquoise float of a gown. Her damas wore paler shades of turquoise, and her chambelanes were elegant in black suits in spite of the hot afternoon...

And finally, a panorama sketch that was part of a step by step process of moving into color while thinking in values with a limited palette of complimentary colors...

Getting Ready...

In anticipation of teaching workshops, "Panorama in Light and Shade", I made lots of practice sketches--especially sketches that break down the process of seeing value and creating paths of light and shade across the page--easiest to do in quick thumbnails.  I bought some carpenter's pencils awhile back to experiment with--great because they practically force you to draw with bold strokes, and defy detail...so thought that would make a good workshop tool...

Sketching here at Barnsdall Park in
Los Angeles...

 ...and a few more at newly re-opened Echo Park...

Easiest to see values when working with one color, so next step was moving to watercolor washes--a good way to think shape and value, and notice the effects of atmosphere and distance on the landscape (aerial perspective!)...

 While I was thinking about panoramas, I also had to sketch interesting stories and details that suddenly appear...


I came to the conclusion that a good way to introduce color while maintaining a range of values is to think warm/cool.  I like a split-complementary palette...and look for the color I see in the atmosphere...

Urban Landscape

I enjoy drawing just about every aspect of the city, especially
the physical landscape--the land and trees as well as the people,
cars and the built environment that make up an
urban landscape.  Whether it's a bit of cultivated landscape,
like the Los Angeles Arboretum...

...the hills of Northeast Los Angeles at different times of day, or the landscape of a parking lots...I look for the passages of light and shadow...

I like the sometimes weird mash-up of signs, cars and buildings in Los Angeles, like this little
landmark on Hollywood Blvd., Machos Tacos...

I began thinking seriously about panoramic views  

in anticipation of teaching workshops...
what makes the eye move across the page, 

or draws the eye in...

A quick view of downtown Los Angeles at dusk, and views from Barnsdall Park, 

Griffith Observatory and the Santa Monica Pier...

Sketchcrawls...

Every few months or so, there's a Worldwide Sketchcrawl, and groups from all over the world venture out into their cities to sketch.  As a generally lone sketcher, I know I probably won't sketch in the same single-minded way I do on my own, but I so enjoy the camaraderie!

In January, we visited downtown Los Angeles--some favorite locations of mine, and some new surprises...like the annual temporary ice rink in Pershing Square!  And this is one of the great things about a Sketchcrawl...discovering (or rediscovering) something in your own home town...

 The ice rink surrounded by downtown buildings and palms...


and sketching over a Salvadoran lunch at an eating area next to the Grand Central Market...























I was so taken with the ice rink, that I had to come back the next day (last day "Downtown on Ice" for the season) to do a little more sketching...

For the 39th Worldwide Sketchcrawl, our usual leader and organizer, my fellow Urban Sketchers correspondent Shiho Nakaza planned a great day at the Downtown Burbank Arts Festival which featured the Creative Talent Network--since many of the group are in animation.  I admit to doing more chatting and perusing art and books than actual sketching...some quick sketches here...

...the stone horses that guard the entrance to P.F. Chang's China Bistro...

 ...a jazz band playing in front of a shopping center...

Cowboy John...a great character model posing for anyone who wanted to sketch...seated in front of the Bank of the West...