Horses on Duty

What I love about being an urban sketcher is that I have many opportunities to learn from people and their work. How interesting is the job of the mounted police in the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) for example! I always thought that horses were just a decorative element in the police departments but I learnt that their work is very important and useful in the city. Mounted Police are excellent for controlling crowds in pedestrian areas: it offers the police great visibility and the people can easily see them from a distance. Also the contact between police and people is more direct in that way. The day I went to the barn to sketch Constable Coombs and Day, they were preparing the horses for an important event at Government House.

Constable Day is cleaning Dobbin for work. She and Dobbin have been working together since April 2009. Dobbin is a five year old black male Percheron, born in Ontario. Dobbin stands 17.3 hands high and weights 1850 lbs.

Fraize is a 12 year old Percheron. He is 17 hands high and weights 1912 pounds.

On June 27 2011 at 6 PM there was a reception for the Governor General in the Government House in St. John's. All the Lieutenant Governors of Canada were present there. Constable Coombs and Day with Fraize and Dobbin from the Mounted Unit guarded the entrance.
Here is a link to the RNC if you want to know more about the Mounted Unit.
I also publish this in www.urbansketchers.org

Open house Exhibition

Hi blog readers I am doing a small exhibition at my parents house in St. John's. Thurday June 30 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM If you one want to come and see it please contact me (On the top of the blog middle tab) to send you the address.I will sell some watercolors, prints and reproductions of my work.
Here is one of the paintings you could see here.

Saturday Farm Market in St. John's

Last Saturday I got a stand at the Farm Market. Here a few things that you can do while visiting the Farm Market.

Buy flowers and vegetables from the wonderful girls from the organic farm.

Have a coffee and eat

Meet friends

Play sacky sack

Spend time with your family

Repair your bike at Ordinary Spokes

Delight: Bay Robert's View

I paint urban landscapes, I don't paint nature. However last time that I was in Bay Roberts standing on a hill facing the see, surrounded by the amazing colors of lichen growing between the rock I have the urge painted it, at least I gave it a try, I felt challanged to reproduced this imposible colors...
First I did a sketch in my moleskine, that I alredy posted in my blog. But the next day I have to come back again to do a bigger watercolor. Gosh! I love painting outdooors!

The War Memorial in St. John's

Probably is the port view or the fine sculpture, but the War memorial is a nice spot in the city. In sunny days kids play around with their skateboards.

Patsy Cline in the Masonic Temple

One of the most intriguing buildings in St. John's is the Masonic Temple (I painted it here). One day when I was painting on Gower St. I meet Peter Halley. Peter told me that they bought the building 3 years ago and since then they offer shows and musicals there. I think it is great that such an interesting building it is open to the public filled with new life. He invited me to visit their new show Patsy Cline. I never heard anything about Patsy Cline before (yes, it is true) but I enjoyed the show a lot. Ms. Shelley Neville was fantastic impersonating Patsy. Not only she had a great voice but she also played very well Patsy's evolution from a country girl to a star.
Peter Halley played the radio moderator. He established from the beginning a good link with the audience and narrated Patsy's life with a lot of humor. I had a great time!

The port of St . John's

A port is a living organism. Every day changes. St. John's port offers a very recognizable skyline, but the boats are always different. My favorite are the small fishing boats

I also posted this a few days ago in the www.urbansketchers.org where I am correspondent. The blog has around 4000 followers spread in the whole world. You can see drawings from urban life in Berlin, Tokio Paris, Seattle, etc. and for a short time while I am here also from St. John's, Newfoundland.

Packing my bags

Well, time flies. It is almost July and I will be leaving St. John's soon. I had painted a lot during this time and I have to confess that I enjoy so much exploring this city. I am also very grateful to the people of Newfoundland that follow my blog. I got this wonderful comment the other day from Jenny from St. John's. Check here. It really touched me. Because it is not only about me painting, but it is also that I want to share what I do with others, specially with the people of the place where I am. Comments and feedback is such a precious thing. It is the only way to get to know and understand a community.

By the way, I have many painting to sell before I leave, my bags are full and I don't want to carry an extra weight. Contact me for that. You can also can buy prints from my work in fineartamerica.com

Like this here:

Study of a cat

The cat's name is Toma and as every character in St. John's he has a story. Toma used to live on the streets and was know as the terror of the neighborhood. When Natalie took him to her home the cat was in a very bad condition. However a good home, food and affection had transformed this cat in a very beautiful animal.

A sailboat from Denmark in St. John's

Joy told me the other day that she meet some people from Denmark in Rocket Cafe. They were here in St. John's with a small sailboat. They were waiting a few days in the city until the wind change and they could sail and cross the atlantic back to Copenhagen. Last Wednesday the boat was still there.

Tuesday Night in Georgetown bar

I already wrote about the music. People in St. John's are crazy about music; people love to gather and play together. This sketch is in Georgetown Bar.


Here the whole group around the table

Tuesdays in Rocket

St. John's is full with music. Every Tuesday around noon people meet in Rocket Cafe to play traditional Newfoundland music.

You can buy a print of this in the following link. If you want a print of any of the images of this blog and you don't find it on that link, please contact me.

St John's watercolor

A view from the Rooms, third floor. It was a rainy day and the fog was covering the Harbor. It is good to have a warm place where you can draw in rainy days. People tend not to see around when it rains. The afternoon light filters through the fog and the green shines in a surreal glow.

Group of 77

St. John's is full of art, music and creativity. There is an artist group called 77 that meets twice a week to paint with a model. Some times naked some times dressed. It is open to everybody that wants to draw. (it just cost 5 dollars to participate. The money is to pay the model. First time is free) The group was founded in 1977 and the first meetings where in a house with the number 77. Last Thursday the model didn't come so we took turns to pose. The other artist asked me to hold my sketchbook while modeling. I couldn't move my head or my position so this is what I managed to draw from my restricted view.

Peter in his kitchen

I asked Peter if I could made a portrait of him after I saw standing in front of a window. He asked me if he could write something while I painted him. He keeps journals. This one is the third he is filling with his though. He started sometime ago when he became a journal as a present. His handwriting is very small and quite nice. The kitchen is very gemuetlich and the afternoon light falls over the kitchen table.

I avoid drawing when I do my watercolors. I try to work with shapes and not lines.

St. John's Houses

This painting is for sale

The Battery

I did this watercolor based on a sketch done on site, you can see it in a previous post in my blog. By the way this painting is for sale.

A view from the Rooms

The Bay of St. John's. On the right side you can see Signal Hill. From the building on top Marconi send the first signal through the Atlantic. The port was very important in the WWII . The German's submarines were stopped with an underwater chain in the entrance of the bay.

Two navy boats were at the Port

One of the things I have learned by the urban sketchers is to draw things that sometimes I would normally not do, because they are too complicated or not interesting to me. Navy boats are really complicated, there are too big and have a lot of funny stuff on the deck. I gave them a try and painted the boats.

This one is from the deck facing the other boat. Just watercolor without any drawing. I found the Canadian flag is an interesting element to paint. Remember what I wrote about the red color?

Again just watercolor with the waterbrush on my Moleskine Sketchbook

I decided to do one with pen to catch more detail in case I decided to do a bigger watercolor later.

Product placement

Here is Dave, the employee of the month in Rocket. I saw a cartoon with a mug with the employee of the month. I asked Dave if I could do a new one.
He was cleaning the coffee maschine with a brush when I draw it. So wow! now my art is expose in a public place!!! You can see it in the coffee corner in the Rocket Cafe.


Ps: How many people that read my blog are from St. John's?

Policeman and horse in St. John's

Last Saturday walking downtown, I met a police officer riding a horse.

Farm Market

Last Saturday the Farm Market opened in St. John's. I was very exited since I love to draw markets. Some people will remember my sketches in the markets in Sicily, in Oman and in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Well here I have to confess that I was a little disappointed since there weren't much vegetables around.
But it seems to be a very nice place to gather when the weather is good, and the amount of people that was there, shows that there is a need for a market in St. John's.

This guy was selling organic herbs> I painted the herbs with the rest of some kelp shot (some kind of grass juice)

There was also this association that repairs bikes

The couple was selling turnips and some plants.

Port of St. John's

This watercolor is based on a sketch I did when I got on board of the Schooner Santa Maria Manuela from Portugal.

St. John's Cathedral

This is the biggest Watercolor I have ever done. It is one sheet of watercolor paper. How big a sheet is? Make sure you click in the image to get a close up, because the good thing about big watercolor is that you get very interesting textures. Here for example I am very proud of the shadows in the street done buy a water-spray bottle.

Long Hill

Do you remember the sketches I did before for this painting? this is the final watercolor.

By the way we are already in June, that mean that I have less that 45 days to finish this project. I will be leaving on July 10. If you know some corners of St. John's that I should sketch, let me know.

Tuesdays in Rocket

Maybe is too much Rocket Cafe. But you probably have already noticed that this is my favorite place and I like to hang around there. Well not only they have a good coffee but it seems to attract very interesting people, and for me many subjects to draw.

A girl knitting in the bow window. The light is perfect there and people who sit there are something special, cause they always do something creative.

Tuesday is the day when people can come and play traditional Newfoundland music. It is not a show, they just sit in a table and start playing and of course the guests enjoy the music (I noticed also that many people came extra for that)

Two ladies wonderfully dressed in bright colors were enjoying the music.

The Kirk

The rain surprised me while painting The Kirk last Saturday, you can notice the rain drops on the watercolor. I like the texture!

I was so fascinated by the view that I painted again at home. Both paintings are very similar but different at the same time. It is a nice view of the city. Probably I will paint it a few more times.

Which one do you prefer?

Rocket cafe again

Maybe you remember this image. This watercolor 11" x 11" is based on small sketch I did on my Moleskine. I am trying to use my small sketches to do bigger watercolors.