The vast majority of my recent sketches show only people doing things, athletes, musicians, etc. I haven’t sketched places in a while. So I felt I needed to practice drawing people as if I would be adding the figures when sketching a space. Here are few quick tips for when adding people to sketches: The horizon line is pretty much at eye level of all the figures standing, either close to us or far away. I like to vary a few, like some shorter ladies and maybe some taller guys

I have been missing my homeland. I was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico but moved to the states five years ago. I don’t regret the move at all, as I’ve met fantastic people and lots of doors have opened. But I miss my hometown –the warmth of the people, the smell of the ocean, the taste of the food, the sound of the coquís. Today I dug out some previous sketches I had done in Old San Juan, where I used to work and sketched regularly. These sketches were done April 16,

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

This week I’ve re-taken sketching at lunchtime, practicing with graphite some non-architectural subjects. These sketches were done in about 5 minutes each, except the last one, that took me twenty minutes. #sketching #loose #PuertoRico #garabatos #pencil #bocetos #sketch #graphite #dibujo #drawing

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

#Trees #sketching #loose #PuertoRico #garabatos #pencil #bocetos #sketch #graphite #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

Today we sketched at the Puerto Rico Coffee Expo, an event that is commemorating the 275th anniversary of the coffee industry in Puerto Rico.  It is being held at the PR Convention Center.  Tomorrow the organizers will be breaking the Guinness World Record for the biggest cup of coffee, which they were already brewing on several makers.  They will be serving 50 thousand cups of coffee!  It is a humongous cup, see the link. A friend of mine is one of the organizers, so he welc

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

Yesterday our sketching group, Garabateando.com, met at Galería Paseos, a shopping center in San Juan.  We had been invited by the owner of Celestino Art Gallery, Junior Ortiz, to meet them while some of the exposing artists had a painting session right there in the mall.  Junior is also known in the local air waves as Junior Celestino, a radio show host I have been listening for years.  What I didn’t know is that he was an artist as well as an entrepreneur.  His gallery and

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

Here are some of my recent digital doodles made on my iPad, using my favorite drawing app.  It’s called ASKetch.  It is extremely simple and straightforward, and that is exactly the beauty of it.  I also like that it doesn’t try to emulate different kinds of brushes and media… you can make strokes that may resemble charcoal or graphite, but with not quite the same.  I will be using it more, trying to push its possibilities. #sketching #loose #PuertoRico #garabatos #Ipad2 #boc

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

I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy sketching with pencil, same old #2 pencil we were forced to use for math classes in grade school.  I’ll be using pencil a bit more, to practice value, shades and shadows.  Call me crazy, but I do love the smell of a freshly sharpened pencil and the whisper it makes when shading on paper.  Yes, there is the downside of the smudging, especially for us lefties, but it is cheap, versatile and easy to get.  By the way, my favorites were Bero

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

Today we stopped at Starbucks for a quick sketching session.  I’m not that crazy about Starbucks, but it is comfortable, I can get some coffee and most patrons are so still that it can be a good practice spot.  Right now I’m trying to be loose while adding a little precision and detail.  Here is my sketch: #sketching #waterbrush #loose #PuertoRico #Yarka #bocetos #sketch #felttippen #watercolours #watercolors #dibujo #drawing

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