Summer Vacation!

Pix from Aveiro Portugal

This was a stunning scene combining multiple styles of architecture with the canal and the "moliceiro" boats. Looks a lot like Venice, so they call this little town the "Venice of Portugal". Another river town with tidal marshes and beach towns at the end of it. This town started by drying salt from seawater, for which they still are famous. Three media here: various color pens first, then watercolor pencil washed and dry (traditional watercolor pencil and Inktense ink pencils), then some transparent watercolor.

We took the bus through the built up delta towns to their beach town at the end, Costa Nova. CN is famous for all these brightly painted, fanciful or plain striped and colored houses. This is done completely and only in colored inks.

Pix from Tavira Portugal

From a hilltop in little Tavira, a river fishing town near a large beach island and national park tidal area, I spied this view of a steeple top, some typical roofs (upturned edges in Asian style), with a view of the town in the background. Technique is mixed media. Primarily pen and wash (2-3 pen colors), but with transparent watercolor as well as watercolor pencil washed.

I couldn't pass up a B&W sketch of this lovely little church with so many typical Portuguese elements. Intended to paint it in, but liked the chiaroscuro better. Just pen and ink, plain and simple.

Pix from Sevilla

After viewing many beautiful street scenes and then the Alcazar Real in Sevilla, I was moved to paint only this little vignette. In the thick castle walls, dark on the inside, there was this sharp little window (no glass, open to the wind) with a small plant growing in it. This is done with watercolor pencil, in some places dry and others washed.

Pix from Granada

The first picture was done from the bottom of the hill by the Darra River in Granada. There is an elaborate quai system with some old stone bridges and houses that creep up the hillsides. Then a steep forested stretch, before you come upon the castle walls of the famous Alhambra. This was part of that scene. This one is my standard pen and wash technique, ink and transparent watercolor.

The second one is from above and across the river at the San Nicholas view point, the most commonly painted or photographed view of the Alhambra Palace. I made sure to include a representation of the snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains in the background, though this isn't an exact representation, rather a composite of two viewpoints. The technique was intended to use more wet-in-wet technique and less defined edges, with just a bit of pen for detail. This is actually almost totally a transparent watercolor, with only a few lines added in pen.

Pix from Madrid

"El Pintor", "the painter", is me! I was starting to get in the swing and saw this typical Art Nouveau street scene on Gran Via, where our hotel was situated. This was a view through the street level lounge large picture windows. While I was painting, people on the street side were watching and commenting as they went by the window. One artist came into the hotel to speak with me and to share information. The next day in the small eateries around the corner one of the waiters started to pantomime something to me. He kept squinting at the wall, sizing it up with his hands, then took up a pastry brush and started to slap at the wall. Then he pointed to me and said, "El Pintor!" Apparently more people were observing me than I'd realized.... This is a simple pen and wash technique with ink and transparent watercolor.