Buen Dia Cafe

This painting is from a reference photo of a lovely restaurant in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. We stopped in to have a coffee and watch people walk by. While we were enjoying our coffee we were serenaded by two young musicians playing a violin and an accordion. SMA is always full of wonderful surprises.

"Buen Dia Cafe"

13 1/2" x 10 1/2" water colour 

#20115218

Sketch book travels, SMA #6

We went on a Sunday hike, first meeting the group at a local gas station, breaking into groups for the different hikes and car pooling. This time and last time we were lucky enough to get a ride from Tizianna. It was so beautiful, I took so many photos of the "Canada de la Virgen" hike that I could do a whole series of paintings. This is a sketch of the red ant hills that were piled high with the same sized rocks that the ants had broken down and pushed out the hole to make quite a pile, I was wowed by the feat! There were also some flowers blooming all around to create quite a contrast.










This sketch is an urban sketch (done on location). We usually have a happy hour game of crib and from my vantage point I get to see beautiful sunset colours in the sky out of our rental front room window. After crib I sketched this then used water colour and ink. This is not done in my sketch book but on water colour paper that fits in my book. I can't blend colours in my sketch book and wanted to get the beautiful orange to blue sky.

Sketch book travels, SMA #5

These sketches are photo based of our travels around town (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico). As we are walking around town I am always on the look out for things that interest me or will  be a great reminder of our time here. The first sketch is a view of people walking and looking at their phone, oblivious to their beautiful surroundings.

 My husband Gord has been taken twice weekly Spanish classes from Javier at the Don Luis restaurant. As am not at that level I have been quietly sitting and listening in and drawing. This is a sketch of the table. Usually I also try and sketch patrons in another sketch book that I am drawing live subjects.

This sketch is of an elderly lady in the Dia de Revolution parade that went for miles. This group of seniors swished their dresses and danced the whole parade (miles!), I was so impressed!

Sometimes you come across something so simple it makes an impact and had me writing stories in my head long after viewing it.

Sketch book travels, SMA 4

Colleen drove Gord and I to the monolith Bernal and we hiked as far as we were allowed to go after an wonderful and tasty coffee and breakfast. After the hike we celebrated at a roof top patio enjoying XX Ambar cervesas with tasty salsa and chips. By the time we got home it was dark and we were tired and happy.

This sketch in my book is of a local lady selling hand made dolls. She had a basket of small ones neatly lined up as well as larger ones peeking out of her full bag on her back. The colour of the walls are painted the old colonial colours as it is a heritage sight in the old part of town. Very colourful and busy with vendors, locals and tourists from Mexico and abroad.  My sketch book does not have water colour paper so blending is a real challenge. I love the warmth and memories this provides.

Sketch book travels SMA #2

 This is a watercolour/pen sketch of the Parroquia in the town centre of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. We walked around on our first night here and of course the square is where you want to walk to, the sights are amazing.


The second sketch book entry below is of the house right next door and the view from the upstairs balcony (no one was renting it).

The third entry below using both pages is a view of the town square from the upstairs flat balcony. I stood with my sketch book on the edge of the balcony and happily sketched the views before me. I may use water colour to colour it in from a photo. This is a great example of urban sketching.

Donna Dickson painting workshop - Day 2 and 3

After a lunch out together, the afternoon was challenging. We had a much more difficult San Miguel de Allende street scene to draw out and then work on painting the dark sky, mottled plaster building, perspective and people. This was completely out of my comfort zone but I was here to learn so I took a big breath and began. Once again, we all painted from the same photo reference Donna provided.  I used one of  Donna's palettes and enjoyed the large mixing areas as well as her paints. Both these were done on 14" x 11"  Arches water colour paper.

This SMA street scene below was more challenging than it looks. Having to get perspective right, plaster buildings that make sense, crooked light posts, multiple sized flags and shadows were really challenging! Donna's demo's, instruction and encouragement made this class a really enjoyable learning experience. I would really recommend taking her class regardless of what your level of painting is, so much to learn and do. I really loved the local scenes and references. Donna also supplied a piece of local Mexican water colour paper which was different to paint on.

Paintings done by the class. You can see the variety of colours, sizes and centre of interest everyone chose. Amazing how different each painting is.

Travel sketching - San Miguel de Allende (2)

I was lucky enough to join Colleen in her studio class with Ernesto Folch. Everyone was working on their own individual pieces (mostly abstract) in acrylic. It was a real treat to be a "fly on the wall" and hear the teaching and watch everyone work. One artist even stood on a stool to paint. I brought my water colours and worked on my journal.

A place not to be missed in SMA is the Aurora Fabrica, an old textile mill that is now a very large art gallery with a lot of studios, in fact to much to see in one day. The work is varied with textile, paintings, sculpture etc. Some are galleries as well as working studios. Two of my favorite Mexican artists are Juan Diaz Durian and Juan Zaragoza.

The trouble with sketching people is that they move to much or leave altogether! This was the case while we were waiting for our breakfast in this tiny restaurant. Unfortunately pencil sketches do not show up well on this cream coloured paper when photographed.