Coffee time

When the day's temperature drops from beautiful 70 F to 46 F it's time for coffee....and a sketch. 

Auschwitz Sketchbook

A book came to my hands today. The Auschwitz Sketchbook, ©Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. My brother's friend visited Poland this year and brought him this book. As soon as I browsed it I thought it was a real treasure. The sketches were made by a camp prisoner which name is unknown, the sketches show only its name's initials MM. It was found by a vigilant prisoner named Josef Odi near the gas chambers in 1947. It was made in a small sketchbook 13.5 cm x 20.7 cm with pencil and some with color pencil. It is an exceptional collection of sketches given the undeniable danger. It is to me, a fascination what this brave artist sketched on location, risking its life. I cannot wait to read it.

Construction workers

Sketching through a window and feeling like a spy, I sketched these construction workers. The fresh mix of concrete was transferred from the street floor to a house's second floor through a series of orchestrated movements of a construction workers' team. One of them filled buckets with concrete, two more carried it to the forth worker who was pouring it on the second floor while a fifth one spread it. Lots of muscle moving rhythmically like a song, a song I could dance to the rhythm of my pen.

Senior ladies lunch.

This afternoon at lunch, a group of senior ladies were next to my table. They looked so low key, talking with a moderate voice, showing family photos to each other and handling skillfully their i-phones. Did you notice the ghost on the right? It's a false start covered with white ink. I tried to hide it with the pen! What was I thinking?

Well, I can erase it and improve it. Case closed.

10 year journey sketching

It was until I recycled an spiral wire bound from a old sketch book that reminded me that I have been sketching for 10 years. While browsing the pages of this sketchbook I realized I went through a process of learning which it may be familiar to many fellow sketchers. 

The influences of work of other artists, reading books related to art, trying different media to find the one you are comfortable with, had led me what I do now. Over the years you develop your own style. Have I accomplish that? I don't know, I'm still working on that.

I would like to share here my earlier sketches from 2007, this year was an important one; it was a time in which I rediscovered the infinite possibilities of expressing myself through drawing, learning what were the subjects of my interest, but mainly trying to understand why I was doing it. 

Everything started with the humble pencil, putting on paper everything, everywhere from live or from photos.

Things

people,

places I visited,

animals,

I understood the use of thumbnails,

I started my love affair with ink,

and I wasn't shy about color anymore.

To think over the roads this activity has led to me to and the people I have met, has enriched my life in ways I never thought possible. I'll keep doing it, hopefully, to evolve to a better artist and a better person.

The organist at Rialto Theater

We arrived early to the Rialto SquareTheater in Joliet. An organist played Christmas theme music while the show started. What to do? What to do? My pocket size Stilman&Birman comes out of my purse dancing, my pen smiles at me and makes me smile also. Let's sketch...ahhh..so be it.