We spent this past weekend participating in the event called “La Campechada”, a multi-disciplinary union of artists, musicians, performers, urban artists and actors remembering José Campeche y Jordán, considered one of Americas most important artists of the 18th century. It was celebrated in Old San Juan, where Campeche spent his life. It was a very well planned event, so kudos to the creators from the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico. Our sketching group “Garabateando.com” spent

Last Saturday we met at la Plaza Colón in Old San Juan.  I also sketched the Casino de Puerto Rico which is in front and also moved to the Castillo San Cristóbal nearby.  Here are some of my sketches: Plaza Colón Casino de PR Castillo San Cristóbal #garabateandocom #sketching #Sennelier #loose #PuertoRico #garabatos #ViejoSanJuan #architecture #OldSanJuan #Yarka #bocetos #sketch #watercolours #watercolors #dibujo #drawing

Yesterday we met at the Cathedral in Old San Juan.  Sketchcrawl 33 was also held yesterday, so we participated in it as well.  We also sketched some of the neighboring buildings. I was using a few new tube watercolors I had filled half pans with and put in my travel tin.  I am looking to make brighter and more colorful sketches, so I changed my palette a bit.  Let’s see how it goes. Here are some of my sketches: Catedral de San Juan Catedral de San Juan- Interior Hotel El Con

I always tend to sketch architectural subjects, buildings, sculptures or spaces; of course, that’s what I’ve practiced for years.  One of the coolest things about the blogging communities and forums is that you get to see what other people who share your interests are doing.  I see a lot of incredible sketches by great artists whose subjects are objects or people from their daily life.  Rather than being ordinary or mundane, their subjects are very interesting, dynamic and vi

Today we went sketching to the Ashford Avenue in Condado, a couple blocks from where I sketched yesterday.  I did a few sketches, but probably the one I loved the most is the one I gave as a gift.  We met a family, friends of ours from school, and one of the daughters was celebrating her 4th birthday today.  She had just received a dog balloon animal, and she asked me to sketch it for her; I gladly did.  I liked it a lot, but not more than her, who asked me to sign it for her

Today I went to Condado for Park(ing) Day, a worldwide event in which citizens transform metered parking spots into temporary parks for the public good.  The Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico Graduate School of Landscape Architecture students, through their ALAS organization, started promoting this event locally two years ago, but this year, the participation of students from every design school in the country was a premonition that it could be something special.  The oth

We had planned to go sketch at the historic Cemetery of San Juan, but it happens that it is closed on Saturdays at noon.  We tried to sketch it from the nearby hills, after all it is a wonderful view of the Atlantic Ocean, the San Felipe del Morro fort and part of the cemetery viewed from above.  I hadn’t finished my first sketch when it started to rain really  intense.  We took shelter at the nearby Cuartel de Ballajá, and did a few sketches there.  Today I went again to Old

Here are a couple more sketches made on the iPad, the courtyards of both buildings of the Escuela de Artes Plásticas in San Juan.  Each took about 25 minutes. #sketching #loose #PuertoRico #garabatos #ViejoSanJuan #Ipad2 #architecture #OldSanJuan #ASKetch #bocetos #sketch #dibujo #EscueladeArtesPlásticasdePuertoRico #drawing #stylus

Last March I posted my experience sketching with Prof. Tom Leytham from Norwich University and his class.  I credit Tom for helping me loosen up as well as making the sketching process much more enjoyable.  I finally understood that the important thing about a sketch is that it is a personal interpretation of the energy of a subject, be it a space, building or object. While sketching at the Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan, Tom asked me to try his beloved Sailor

Today I also sketched for the first time with oil pastels.  I have been exploring different media and decided to try something new.  I bought the cheapest set in the store, so I knew they wouldn’t behave as well as if they were artist grade, but I’m not going to spend on professional pastels if I wasn’t going to like it.  Also, I’ve always sketched pretty small, so it also is part of an effort on sketching bigger. We went to sketch to the Plaza de Guaynabo, a really small and

Last Saturday our sketching group Garabateando.com went to my Alma Mater, the University of Puerto Rico; it is affectionately called iupi, “short” for UPR.  We met at the historic quadrangle, where the traditional clock tower, designed in the 1930’s by architect Pedro de Castro, is evidently the most important structure. I’d had sketched there probably dozens of times, but it was the first time that it wasn’t part of a class.  It’s a pity that it was raining, as there were ot

Well, I had never tasted any of the two “artisanal” beers they had, so I tried them both.  I googled one of them, Blue Moon beer and it’s apparently brewed by Coors Brewing Company… However, it is an unfiltered beer with cloudy appearance, spiced with coriander and orange peel, so it is an unusual enough beer to feel special.  I liked it; a bit sweet to my taste, but I could have a couple some other day.  We also ordered something to eat I can’t remember now, but it was good

Yesterday our sketching group “garabateando.com” moved to La Placita de Santurce. La Placita creates an interesting dynamic that has become one of the top meeting and entertainment spots in the metro area. Here is the refurbished building of La Plaza del Mercado, an early 20th century marketplace, and its small square or “placita”. Plenty of small bars and restaurants surround the square, so it is definitely one of the places to visit if you come to Puerto Rico. By the way

I’m a week late on posting this, so I better get going. Last Saturday we had our 2nd official Garabateando.com event at the Puerta de San Juan in Old San Juan. It was nice that my father-in-law spent a little time with us, but it was really a nice surprise that he sketched a little. That is what we’re all about, that people at least do a couple of scribbles with us, so it meant a lot to us that he did. We were there for almost two hours, and we tried to get to sketch at t

Yesterday we held our first official event of our sketching group Garabateando.com in Ponce, PR. This weekend we were in Ponce, PR because the annual architects’ convention was held there. So early in the morning we went to the convention. My wife and I both had polo shirts embroidered with our logo, which drew some interest among our friends and several of the exhibitors. They said the idea seemed fun, so we expect some of them to join us in future dates. We had lunch and th

Two friends of mine, architects Alexandra Betancourt and Maitée Hernández started an amazing project about a year ago called Taller (D)Espacio. Located in Santurce, PR, they introduce youngsters to an impressive array of art, design and architectural experiences usually reserved for first year design studios at architecture schools. However, their students range from seven to sixteen years of age. Yes… Seven! They asked me if I could spend a session with them as a guest instr

Today I went with my wife to Old San Juan with our sketching materials.  On the way there, my car broke down, but I managed to get to the parking lot at La Puntilla and left it there… hope it is still there tomorrow morning.  We went to a very nice coffee-house called Cuatro Sombras in Calle Recinto Sur #259.  The coffee was not the best I’ve had, but the experience was so good that I’m giving it another try some day soon… maybe the barista was new… There they have this stunn

I’m in love with the iPad2… I just downloaded an app called ASKetch after reading a review of it. This was my first sketch with it; the app is extremely simple and it just simply works. It feels like if you were using graphite. You control the darkness by pinching: a small circle draws very dark and vice versa. It isn’t pretentious, only a handful of tools, but it gave me a very good first impression. And for $0.99, it is a bargain. Maybe the iPad won’t replace my sketchbo

I only could sketch for a couple of hours, as I had a class, but my industrial design students joined me at the end of the class and participated as well.  I always had wanted to sketch the courtyard of the building I teach at, which is the restored building of Hospital de la Concepción.  The second sketch is a view of the gallery around the courtyard.  The third sketch is the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, as seen from the main building of the School of Fine Arts of Puerto R

A good thing about virtual paintouts is that you can go “exploring” other countries without having to do it physically.  However, sometimes I want to sketch interesting places or buildings and not necessarily streets, which is, well… Google’s Street View forte.  But I remembered seeing the Colosseum in Rome as the opening screen, so maybe “Street View” is not limited to streets. So I searched online for traditional Japanese architecture.  I remember when in architecture schoo