Dominican Republic

Final Sketches from Santo Domingo

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

At the bar, Meson de Luis, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

After the Challenge Through Limitations workshop with Nina Johansson, our group went to lunch at Meson de Luis, where we sampled the local delicacies: sancocho (a stew) and mofongo (a plaintain mash). I couldn't resist sketching the little boy sitting at the bar, watching cartoons as he ate lunch!

In keeping with tradition, the last afternoon of the Urban Sketching Symposium coincided with the 36th Worldwide Sketchcrawl. We gathered once again at the Parque Colon to draw and to take a group picture.

USK: Scene at Parque Colon, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

USK: View from Parque Colon, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

The next day, before leaving for the airport, M. and I went to the Fortaleza Ozama, the 16th century Spanish fortress at the entrance to Santo Domingo. It was too hot to sketch there, so I found some shade on a staircase overlooking a street. I was soon joined by fellow sketchers Lapin and Jason Das, so I did a quick drawing of Lapin as well!

Street view, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Lapin sketching in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

As a last memory, I made a rubbing of a manhole cover right outside the Hotel Frances where we stayed. Adios, Santo Domingo -- can't wait to hear where next year's symposium will be!

Manhole cover rubbing from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic


Dominican Republic

Urban Sketching Symposium - Santo Domingo: Day 3 Workshop

Monday, July 16, 2012

By this time, we were all used to emerging from the meat locker-coldness of our hotels into the oppressive soup that was the outside air. My morning session was the Challenge Through Limitations workshop at the ruins of the Hospital San Nicolas de Bari, where we were asked to draw with various constraints -- colored paper, only black and white, fat crayons, carpenter's pencils, and so forth. The first exercise was to "mess up" the pristine whiteness of the paper, using dirt, paint, and/or anything else at hand. We "ruined" two pieces of paper and then handed them to our partners, who had to sketch on top of whatever we'd done.

I chose to sketch on top of the scuffed paper with a black marker:

USK: Ruinas Nicolas de Bari using "pre-ruined" paper, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

USK: Ruinas Nicolas de Bari using "pre-ruined" paper, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Next, I attempted a green-on-green sketch, with blunt Neocolor I crayons on a piece of colored cardstock:

USK: View from near the Ruinas Nicolas de Bari, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Then I chose a carpenter's pencil and a white gel pen to create this sketch, in the Strathmore Toned Gray hardbound journal:

USK: Near Ruinas Nicolas de Bari, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

All this while attempting (unsuccessfully) to avoid getting tagged by pigeon droppings!

Dominican Republic

Urban Sketching Symposium - Santo Domingo Day 2

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Began the second day with the workshop "Improvising with Lines and Colors." We were given the task of playing with lines, colors, perspective and text.

Started off with a sketch of the Parque Colon using some distortion and limited colors.

USK: Parque Colon, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Then, I saw some men playing checkers (damas) so I sketched them with warm and cool colored pencils. Can you feel the heat of the game in the air?

USK: Checkers players at the Parque Colon, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

I also did a quick sketch of the square at the very end of the workshop:

USK: Parque Colon, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

The afternoon session was "Color Games." We started off using a warm color line and cool color line to draw the same scene, paying attention to how the colors we chose to color them in varied:

USK: Near Plaza Espana, using warm colored line, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

USK: Near Plaza Espana, using cool colored line, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Next we were asked to sketch the same scene using regular and then unnatural colors (that threatening sky did open up for a few minutes, but the showers stopped pretty quickly):

USK: Near Plaza Espana, regular colors, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

USK: Near Plaza Espana, crazy colors, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

For the last exercise, we paired off, drew something, and handed it to our partner to color in!

Here's my drawing of BJ, colored by her:

USK: Portrait swap - BJ, drawn by Suma, painted by BJ, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

And here's BJ's drawing of me, colored by me:

USK: Portrait swap - Suma, drawn by BJ, painted by Suma, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

Urban Sketching Symposium: Opening and Mercado Merengue Workshop

Friday, July 13, 2012

The symposium started with opening remarks from Gabi Campanario and the other organizers at the Centro Cultural De Espana.

USK: Symposium opening panel, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

I was glad to start my Santo Domingo experience with the workshop involving the most walking -- boy is it hot and humid here! The interior of the Mercado Modelo (a market where lots of handicrafts and other items are for sale) might not have been pulsing with energy, but the street life in front and back was just begging to be drawn. We started with some thumbnail sketches and then moved on to larger work, trying to capture the constant movement of vendors and buyers, onlookers and passerby.

USK: Thumbnails at Mercado Modelo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

USK: Fruit vendor behind Mercado Modelo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

USK: Vendors behind Mercado Modelo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

USK: Street behind Mercado Modelo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

USK: Vegetable market behind Mercado Modelo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

USK: Shredding cabbage, behind Mercado Modelo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

USK: In front of Mercado Modelo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

USK: Vendor in front of Mercado Modelo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

When we broke for lunch, I sketched the man weaving and selling palm frond hats on the side of the square -- he must have made one every 15 minutes he was so fast!

USK: Palm frond hat maker, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

And We're Here: 3rd Int'l Urban Sketching Symposium in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Arrived this afternoon in sunny, hot, humid Santo Domingo! My first impression: it looks a lot like India. So far we've checked in to the (gloriously air-conditioned) hotel, picked up the registration materials, and started to get acquainted with the narrow, picturesque streets of the Zona Colonial. Tonight was an ice-breaker/portrait party at Quintana Bar. We got there a bit late, and most seats were already taken, but I still got to meet some lovely sketchers and do a little bit of drawing, too. For the first time on my travels, I've lugged along an old scanner. Seems to do pretty well -- and certainly beats trying to take pictures of sketches with the camera held at odd angles from one foot above.

USK: Quintana Bar portrait party, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

And now to bed!

Franconia

Beating the Heat, Times Three

Monday, July 02, 2012

Escaped the soaring temperatures this past weekend in the lovely White Mountains of New Hampshire. Sketched this scene near Franconia Notch while sitting near the water on a little cooler (I'd forgotten to pack my folding stool).

White Mountains, Franconia Notch, New Hampshire

And here's a sketch from the watercolor class a few weeks ago in Bryant Park, New York:

Afternoon at Bryant Park, New York, NY

Still on the summer theme (yes, this is a catch-all post today!) here's a painting I did last year of some girls on our beach which somehow escaped the blog before.

Sisters on West Beach, Stamford, CT

Stay cool, everyone, and drink lots of water...