Olvera Street

...is a place I return to sketch again and again, and as I continued to prepare to teach my workshop at the Urban Sketchers Singapore Symposium, I spent several days sketching here.  One of my favorite locations, Olvera Street is the oldest part of Los Angeles--at the center of El Pueblo de Los Angeles.  It's certainly popular with tourists who arrive by the busloads and quickly leave after buying something from the colorful market stalls, but the visitor in a hurry might miss the real sense of community here!

At one end of the street is the Plaza, graced by several large Moreton Bay Fig trees...this particular tree feels like the heart of the Plaza, and I notice that besides the tourists who visit, there are lots of "regulars" who come to sit here in the shade.  Sketched here with pencil, watercolor and gouache on tan paper...

On some afternoons, Aztec Dancers perform in the center of the Plaza, to the delight of children who visit in large school groups...a quick pencil sketch...
















One afternoon as I sat sketching, a fancy black tour bus pulled up nearby with "La Adictiva" emblazoned on the side...and 17 or so men in spectacular studded suits jumped out and lined up in front of me to be interviewed by a glamorous reporter from Spanish language TV Telemundo.  I sketched as fast as I could, while others took photos of what I discovered is a very popular Mexican banda.  I was pointed out to the reporter, and was suddenly pulled off my stool with my sketchbook to have my picture taken with the Banda!

I did lots of thumbnail sketches of visitors and the beautiful architecture at Olvera Street, preparing for my Singapore workshop--in black and white...

...Practicing massing light and dark with ink, then adding mid-tone watercolor wash...

...and adding a punch of color for emphasis...





Sometimes working from the outside in (starting with a border) to frame a little composition, and sometimes working from inside out (starting with an interesting spot and moving out, composing in a freeform pattern)

Here, a relaxed sketch in pencil, watercolor and gouache over lunch as I watch a stream of visitors posing on the stuffed donkey to have their pictures taken in fancy sombreros...as I child I had my picture taken here on a real donkey!

And finally, my favorite Olvera Street moment--late afternoon on Friday in the Plaza, wonderful cumbia music begins to play and couples start dancing in the shade of the huge fig tree--first just a few, then lots of them...