The book "The Art of Urban Sketching" finally arrived!

Das Buch "The Art of Urban Sketching" ist endlich da.

My copy of The Art of Urban Sketching with my Abu Dhabi drawings arrived a few days ago . You can also buy the book in Amazon here.

Meine Kopie des Buches The Art of Urban Sketching mit meinen Abu Dhabi Zeichnungen kam vor ein paar Tagen! Ihr kann auch das Buch in Amazon kaufen hier.

Khalifa Street, Al Ain

I am still late with my post. I got a lot of drawings from Al Ain and the UAE that I guess would remain in my sketchbooks foreever since I am sketching a lot here in Newfoundland. However I wanted to share this little sketch of the main street of Al Ain: Khalifa Street. It is very lively with restaurants and shops and places to seat under the shadow. I did the sketch just with pen, and I didn't like it at first. Some time later I added color and now is one of my favorites.

Road Abu Dhabi- Al Ain

This sketch is dedicated to my good friend Wasel Safwan. He is an emirati and a fellow artist. He always was extremly kind to me making me feel confortable in the UAE. When he knew that I liked to explore and sketch his country, he tried always to show me new places and most important he helped me to understand his country. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and I will never see things like an emirati, but he helped me to appreciate so many things that I would have otherwise overlooked.

However he sometimes got surprised that I already knew some places. For esample this little snack bar in the Road Abu Dhabi - Al Ain. Usually the buses stop here for the passengers to take some tee. It is not a fancy place, on the contrary but it have the beauty to be authentic. I found the sketch the other day in a sketchbook that I mostly use for writting. So my friend here is the proof that I was there :-) (check the date)

Thank you, thank you very much.

Sharjah, UAE

I had heard a lot of good things about Sharjah, but it was not untill the Sharjah Art Bienale started that I decided to paid a visit to the city. Not many people know that Sharjah is the Emirate with the most museums. The culture was always in the interest of the rulers from Sharjah.

I was delighted by the collection of arabistic painters in the art museum. It is a great collection, with beautiful watercolors showing scenes from the past in the middle east. I spent a long time watching carefully these watercolors. They woke in me the desire to go to all those places, to see how are they like today and to paint them again.

Before entering the museum I got distracted by this scene of the boys playing cricket. The indian and pakistani population is very high in the UAE and along with their culture they have also contribute with their love for the cricket. You find people playing cricket in the parks everywhere in the UAE.

The old buildings in the background host the art works for Art Sharjah Bienale exhibition. (You can see that I included the red and blue banners that announces the Bienale) All the elements together: Old buildings, heritage, new modern culture and popular culture are what I always look to portrait in my drawings.

PS: The drawing was done in March before leaving the UAE. I still have many unposted sketches and it is a pity to leave them on the sketchbooks. Some times I open my sketchbooks and feel a little nostalgic watching them.

Good Bye UAE

This my last post written in the UAE. I still have some stories to tell and some drawings from the UAE to post but I will do it from other countries. I'm going home or I'm leaving home? It seems that I carry my home in my sketchbook.

I have been 10 months in the UAE and I have learnt a lot about this wonderful place. It was not the first time that I moved to another country. From Ecuador to Germany, from Germany to Italy, from Italy to the UAE. And every time everything that is important in my life have to find space in one bag. And since space is precious I prefer in many cases to keep the most important things just in my head and in my heart. So I try to learn everything I can from the places I visit. Sketching is my way to discover things, to transform what it is at the beginning strange and different into something wonderful and special. You see, when you draw something it requires you to contemplate and examine it for a long time. When you finish the drawing you own it in your memory and you will never forget it. And little by little you start calling that place home.

I got a great experience in the UAE. In no other place my work has atracted so much attention. People gathered arround me respectfully when I was drawing. I could see in their faces that they were happy. I appeared 2 times in The National Newspaper, and one in the Gulf News. Sketching also had allowed me to meet wonderful people and make new friends. People I am going to miss. It is sad to leave when you know that there are still many places to draw in this country. My dream will be to come back some day and do a journey through the 7 Emirates and portrait them all.

So where I'm going now? I'm going to a place I have never go before. I'm going to visit my mother in Canada for 3 months. She moved there 2 years ago. I'm going to sketch new places and make beautiful books. So I guess I am going home.

PS: if you want to support my work and my travels, you can buy prints of my drawings in http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/omar-jaramillo.html

Wadi Wurayah, Fujeira, UAE

I was contacted by Nesrine from the World Wildlife foundation to visit the place. She saw me at the Pecha Kucha Night in Dubai and asked me if I would like to see the the Wadi Wurajah.
A wadi is a valley where little water runs or a dry riverbed. Wadi Wurajah is a natur park with an endangered fauna and flora and as Nesrine said, one of the most beautiful places of the UAE.
My friend Phillip came with me. He was visiting me from Germany for a few days. He is also a landscape architect and he was very interested to see this exceptional landscape, too.
The experience was fantastic. After a great road trip through different Emirates, We met aNesrine at the Badyia Mosque in Fujeira. We move to Naessrine car a 4x 4 adn drive though the dry river bed. The landscape was amzing the Wadi ius full of colors.

The restaurant at the end of the universe

That place from the famous radio show "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" from Douglas Adams is what came to my mind when I first saw this restaurant on the top of the Jabel Hafeet Mountain in Al Ain.
The building stands isolated on the observation platform; sun and wheather have done their work fadding the red colors of the sign that reminds you something come out from an Edward Hooper painting.
There is something absurd in finding such a building here, I got the feeling that is out of place, an architecture not related to the place but transplanted through some kind of cosmic force here. But is at the same time beautiful for the same reasons...:-)

Abu Dhabi Bookfair

I went just to visit the bookfair and I finished making new friends, meeting a lot of interesting people and with my picture in the newspaper. Here are some pictures drawings portraits from my friends in the Illustrators Corner. They are all very talented artists.
A portrait of the talented illustrator Kate Forrester.
Check her website:
http://www.kateforrester.co.uk/



a Portrait of David Habchy on the table of the illustrators corner, on the right his own drawing. check his blog http://klekeesh.blogspot.com/

Drawing Dina Khorchid:

Windtowers Dubai

In Dubai there is this old quarter called Bastakiya. It is beautiful restored and most of the houses are used as cultural spaces. From the terrace of the new Tashkeel house you can see this landscape of windtowers. They were use to collect the fresh breeze, cooling the air in its way down to the central courtyard.
Tashkeel is a cultural organization that promotes the arts in the UAE.

In The National newspaper UAE

I went to the Abu Dhabi Book Fair two days ago. They have this year an illustrators corner. I have the opportunity to meet really talented people and enjoy talking about their work. I show to them also my sketches and they liked them too. I don't remember how it started but one asked me if I could do a portrait of him and then the others followed. When I was doing one portrait the press arrived and started doing some interviews to the illustrators. They also took some pictures of them. The photograph asked me my bussiness card, I though because he liked the portrait I was doing, but I was surprise to find my name and my picture (at least my hands ) in the newspaper next day.

Kathakbox

I went to see the Sonia Sabri dance Company in Abu Dhabi. The company is from Birmingham and was making a tour in the UAE. the show name was Kathakbox and was a mix between traditional indian Kathak dancing , hip hop and contemporary dance. It was very interesting to see the similarities between the different dance styles, and how at the end they are able to express the same things, the show was like a Rosetta stone giving you the keys to understand each dance style. For me that I have never seen Kathak before it was a great way to get to know it, appretiate it and get curious to see and learn more about it.

I try to make some sketches. It was very difficult but I guess I learnt some things....
1.- First I concentrate on drawing hands heads and feet. Not the body, in many cases I didn't even look at the paper. Later I added some light color arround the "ghost" of the body and I was surprise to see how clear the figure was. I had lost my waterbrush so I use a brush pen instead. It allows me to work fast but I still think with the watercolours the result could have been more interesting.
2.-Other new thing I learnt is that if I draw the negative space (between arms and body) that also gives you a very clear image of the figure.

January 22, 30th Worldwide Sketchcrawl (first UAE)

January 22 was the 30th Worldwide Sketchcrawl. I have never been in one, So I organized one in Dubai, I guess is the fist one in the UAE too.
I had meet a few people in Dubai that also sketch and they were happy to join.
One of them was John Knight, an architect resident in Dubai, he has been sketching all his life, and has wonderful sketchbooks. I convinced him to open a flickr account to share his drawings but he still have to scan more. Please check his profile here and encourage him to share more sketches.
There were also many kids present. It was really a joy to see them sketch.
We met in the Dubai Creek and then we moved to Bastakiya (the old part of Dubai).

Here are John's two drawings followed by mines. Since most of the people left after lunch. I could not make pictures of the others work.

National Day UAE

Ok, I know: it is a bit late. But I just happend to find an scanner...You know that I don't have one and it is quite a problem to scan my drawings. Anyway the UAE National day was the 3rd of December and all Emiratis went crazy. They decorated their cars with the UAE Flag and their colors and put stickers with the pictures of the presidents.and they star driving in the main streets celebrating like a carnaval.This picture was done in Abu Dhabi. The owner of the car had a teddy Bear on the top of the car dressed with the UAE flag colors.

Praying

As you know muslims pray five times a day. There are mosques everywhere in Al Ain. And all public buildings have praying space. Here people were doing the last pray of the day. The door was open, and the room full of light. People left their shoes in the steps of the stair before going inside.

Urban Sketchers: Al Ain Aerobatic show

Urban Sketchers: Al Ain Aerobatic show: "As every Year the international aerobatic show took place in Al Ain. It was the first time I watch one. And I have to confess I found it e..."

Urban Sketchers: Haircut

Urban Sketchers: Haircut: "I went to the Barber Shop in Al Ain. I choose a fancy place in a the Al Ain Mall this time. I had go always to cheaper ones, but you got th..."

Radio Interview

I have been so busy doing thing that I have not have time to post anything here...
An article in the Gulf News newspaper talked about me and my participation in the Pecha Kucha tonight! here the link
I got an interview in the radio... here is the sketch I did.
an on Saturday I want to organize a sketch gathering in Bastakiya Dubai.

Xmas in Dubai... new year eve I still don't know

I wish everybody a Merry Xmas and share with you an sketch from Dubai.that I did last week

Dubai Film Festival

I got just one day free: friday.. and last friday a good friend of mine convinced me to go to Dubai. "lets go to Dubai to see a film" he said. I was afraid not to find any free place, since I had heard that everything was sold out, but not having anything to do and to do nothing together in Dubai is always better that not doing nothing in Al Ain. And besides I considere driving with an uncertain plan as my own private road movie, because in the two hours we have time to talk a lot, get to know each other better and fullfill the rituals we have when we go to Dubai, like his usual prayer at the mosque and my cold coffe at the Gas station.
We were lucky our road movie turned very well. We found out that there was a free film showing open air at JBR and besides it was an egypcian movie about underground music bands in Alexandria, where my friend comes from.
The film name was "Microphone". I loved the movie and the music and although the film doesn't have a happy ending, cause the bands weren't allow to play in the concert at the end, you know that the film itself IS the happy ending cause they had reach through it a broader audience that they would not have done with a concert.
After the film there was a concert with the bands and I did some sketches of them playing and also from the two main actors that where also present. The funny thing is that I got them to write their autographs on my sketches. So it was an ecceptional day! I also posted it in the urbansketchers blog

Another Jahli Fort Sketch

I guess you had already noticed that this is my favorite place in Al Ain. Yesterday I started doing some postcards with some of my watercolors that I would like to send some friends and family..