JUNE LAKE, JEAN'S WINDOW VIEW, ink and watercolor

JUNE LAKE, JEAN'S WINDOW VIEW , pen and watercolor sketch in my sketchbook. I woke up the first morning, to THIS! Beautiful snow, we have up to 0 degrees Farenheit, wich is about minus 18 degrees Celsius! Cold, sunny and beautiful!

Birds come over to the bird feeders in the morning, squirrels and even bears!!!!

RAINBOW FALLS SKETCH, ink and watercolor

RAINBOW FALL SKETCH, ink and watercolor in my sketchbook.

Painted during Dr. Sharon Faff's conference about Hawaii, the big island, aboard Crown Princess cruiseship. I love to write comments, a summary of something she said, and sketch some of the slides/photographs she was showing during her explanations. One of the best thing of Princess Cruises is the lectures on board, by excellent experts, who are well informed and fun.

SAMOA BEACH SKETCH, ink and watercolor

SAMOA BEACH SKETCH, 4x10, ink and watercolor on a sketchbook page.
During my recent trip to Hawaii, Samoa, and the South Pacific islands of Tahiti, I sketched daily, sometimes a quick ink sketch with a bit of watercolor like this one, sometimes I did a more detailed watercolor. I will be publishing some of them on the blog in the next few days. Western Samoa and American Samoa are fascinating. The beach is white coral sand.

SEVILLA, FUENTE AVE. DE LA BORBOLLA, watercolor

SEVILLA, FUENTE AVE. DE LA BORBOLLA, watercolor, 4x6 in. painted in 2012, during a trip to Sevilla, Spain. I love to do small watercolors when traveling. Sometimes I do the drawing with a black ink pen, then watercolor, sometimes I do a quick sketch with a pencil.  It seems that this one didn't have a pen drawing.

LA ROUTE DES CYGNES, watercolor and ink sketch in my journal

LA ROUTE DES CYGNES,  ( The route of the swans, my translation) , watercolor and ink sketch from the book by René Hardy. This is a novelized version of the discovery of America by the Vikings. The story starts in the year 870, and it goes on until 1006. I read it in French, my own translation is "The route of the swans", but it may have a different title in English. It was a very entertaining book, about a fantastic story. The discovery of a whole new continent, while they were thinking they had just discovered new lands farther away.

ANTHURIUM, ink and watercolor sketch in my journal

ANTHURIUM, ink and watercolor sketch in my journal. The pot was made by my grandson, Matthew. Incredible, how this plant blooms. I received it as a gift three months ago, in early December, with five flowers. One died, one new came on, it still has five blooms!

No direct sunlight, I water it once a week with six ice-cubes! I enjoy it every day!

Richard Walker's Breakfast, ink and watercolor

Richard Walker's breakfast, in La Jolla, California, ink and watercolor in my sketchbook.

This morning we had a fabulous breakfast here. I did this quick sketch of the view I had from my table, after breakfast. Suddenly this handsome man came to our table and introduced himself: he was Richard Walker, the owner of this and other establishments! What a surprise! Apparently our waitress had told him I was sketching. Delicious super-breakfast!

AND THE BIRDS RAINED DOWN, ink and watercolor in sketchbook

AND THE BIRDS RAINED DOWN, ink and watercolor in sketchbook, from the cover of the book, written by Jocelyne Saucier.

"Freedom is being able to choose your life. And your death."
"The eyes are what are most important in old people...."The eyes tell the story of their lives."
"Happiness needs only your consent."

Ms. Saucier won the Prix des Cinq Continents de la France with this book. It is a wonderful book I strongly recommend.

ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK, PRAHA, watercolor and ink sketch

ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK, PRAHA, watercolor and ink sketch.
Made in 1410, later perfected by the Master Clockmaker Hanuš, this clock was an incredible marvel of technology in its time, even today, combining technique with astrology and ancient religious symbols.  Lots of people wait every hour to see the 12 apostles march around, and hear the strikes of the hour. It surprised me that at ONE O'CLOCK, there was not ONE bell, but THIRTEEN. So it continues with "military time" till 24:00 hs = 24 bells striking. Beautiful! It is located in downtown Prague.

SEVILLA, VISTA DESDE LA CAMPANA, watercolor and ink

SEVILLA, VISTA DESDE LA CAMPANA, watercolor and ink, 6x9 in.
La Campana is a wonderful bar with outdoor tables, in the heart of Sevilla. This is where the classy calle Sierpes ends, and a few steps from this corner you can visit the 5 story high El Corte Inglés, and have a glass of Cava (champagne) in the terrazza, overlooking the city.

Or, from this same corner, you can walk a few steps in the opposite direction, and visit "Las Setas", and its incredible museum: Antiquarium de Sevilla. Either way, Sevilla has it all, ancient, ultramodern, and you hear English, French, and a few other languages as often as Spanish!

HOTEL LE PETIT TRIANON, St. Jean de Luz, France, ink and watercolor

Hotel Le Petit Trianon, St. Jean de Luz, France, ink and watercolor.

This is the view from the window of our hotel room in St. Jean de Luz, a few blocks from the Atlantic Ocean. This is a lovely town! This quick sketch is in my "carnet de voyages", travel sketchbook. Enjoy!!

SAN SEBASTIAN, INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, ink and watercolor wash

SAN SEBASTIAN, INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, ink and watercolor on my art-notebook. Last weekend, Lisa Marie Evans, filmmaker, multi-media artist and superstar, and I drove from the Pyrénées in France, to San Sebastián, in Spain.

We happened to arrive the first day of the San Sebastian International Film Festival. It was very interesting and fun. We saw some stars walking down the red carpet, tons of people everywhere, and one movie that day: HAPPY TO BE DIFFERENT, an Italian movie-documentary about older gay people who suffered discrimination from society, and even their own families, when they were younger,  in the 50s,  60s and 70s.  It was beautifully done, a wonderful movie.

PYRÉNÉES 2, ink and watercolor

PYRÉNÉES 2, ink and watercolor in my carnet de voyages (travel sketchbook). I flew into Toulouse,  France, and took the train to Lourdes. While I look at the window, I smile non-stop: The valleys, the Pyrénées mountains in the distance, trees, sometimes cows, horses, a small mountain town here and there, flowers, everything passes quickly while my eyes and my memory try to catch a rooftop or a creek.

I am home, when I arrive to the Pyrénées. The train stops : Muret, first stop. Later we continue, I can't read my book, I'm addicted to looking out the window, looking at these beautiful mountains I fell in love with ten years ago. I can't stop smiling. I am home.

One of THE MONUMENTS MEN's paintings: Cardinal Potier Gesvres, ink and watercolor

One of THE MONUMENTS MEN found paintings: Cardinal Potier Gesvres by Pompeo Batoni, 1758,  ink and watercolor sketch in my art-notebook.  I painted this quickly, standing in front of the original oil at the San Diego Museum of Art.

This is one of two paintings lawfully bought by the San Diego Museum of Art, in exhibition at the moment, which were once stolen and placed in salt mines by the Nazis during WWII. The movie: THE MONUMENTS MEN, just opened last week, tells the story of this terrible event, where thousands of paintings, sculptures, and other art objects had been confiscated and stolen by the Nazis, placed in underground mines, with the ulterior motive of creating a super-museum. "The Monuments Men", were a group of men and women who risked and sometimes lost their lives, protecting, searching and finding many of the art pieces.

BIRTHDAY TULIPS, ink and watercolor

Birthday Tulips, ink and watercolor on my art-notebook.

As I mentioned yesterday, I was reading THE BOTANY OF DESIRE by Michael Pollan. Chapter two: Desire: Beauty, is dedicated to the tulip. I learned that the word "tulip" comes from the Turkish: "turban", that it takes seven years before a tulip grown from seed flowers and shows its new colors, and that Jews and Christians alike discouraged flowers, believing that a devotion to flowers posed a challenge to monotheism. There were no flowers in Eden?!!!