Sans Souci Potsdam

For my birthday I went to Potsdam. This city, capital of the Brandenburg State, is only 30 minutes with the S-Bahn. It is a beautiful city with many old buildings. One of the most interesting Buildings is the Castle Sanssouci, residence from the Frederick the Great, King of Prussia.

The Tea Pavillion

The castle

The fountain and the gardens. A detail of the bank on the Forground.

Pizza Contadina and Fête de la Musique

Last Thursday there were musicians playing everywhere in Berlin. I went with a friend to eat something at the  Pizzeria in my corner. The pizza was very good and we enjoy also great music

Sketching under the rain

Rain is common in Berlin even in summer. I was walking in Alexander Platz and I saw this scene: the usually crowded square was empty and a lot of people were taking shelter under the World Clock. It was just a "sketch moment" . I stand under a building and started drawing.
When painting  rainy scenes the first question I ask myself is where are the reflections and how are they. You know dark colors surfaces reflect more than light colors surfaces. That is important for the composition since shadows or reflections could have the same or weight in the drawing as the object itself.

Here is a detail of the people.

I always use a Faber Castell Pitt Pen (in these case Sepia color) when working with watercolors (Windsor and Newton). The Pitt Pens are water resistant. The Sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Alpha

Bar Sketches

The bar Südblock is in  Kottbusser Tor. I went there  to watch a show. I had my sketchtools with me and I did some drawings.

By sketching bars and nightclubs interiors I prefer to capture the mood of the place. Color bridges are also important. Here the neon yellow that connects the two opposite characters gives the painting a strong horizontality. The sketch with its very artificial colors pushed me to explore more this area so I decided to painted a bigger watercolor

For the bigger watercolor 68x48 cm I used watercolor Crayons (Neoart aquarelle- Caran D'Ache) to sketch the scene. I spray with water to make the color mix randomly on the paper and later I apply watercolor in many layers.

I am very happy with result. I specially love the waiter in the background. He is the one that give depth to the painting.

Acrylics

I did some acrylics based on this sketches:

First painting:

I didn't find the first sketch  very dynamic so I change my position to get a different view.

I prefer to paint based on sketches. Through the sketches I am sure that I catch the important elements. I decide for the acrylic to distort the perspective in order to have a more dynamic image. I concentrate colors in the background and in one of the windows to create a diagonal balance in the painting.

Cafe Scandis Acrylic on canvas 140x70cm

Second Painting:

In this case is an interior. To keep the mood of the place I use warm shadows based on the red that is present on the interior design.

Cafe Hollywood Acrylic on canvas 100x50 cm

Mein Kiez / Mein Neighborhood / mi barrio

Hier wohne ich. hier fühle ich mich wohl!

I live here. Here I feel at home!

Yo vivo aqui , aqui me siento bien!

Aquarell matt naturweiss, 300g/m2 säurefrei und alterungsbeständig Papier  36 x 48 cm  For sale!