Eating at the Isla de las Piedras

Posted on January 20, 2018 by Sarah Sullivan

Yesterday we walked over to the harbor and then took a water taxi to Isla de las Piedras (Stone Island). The island is really a peninsula with a long sandy beach, gentle swimming, and casual restaurants. We walked, swam, sat, talked, ate, and enjoyed the setting.This is a pen and watercolor sketch of some people who sat near us.

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The News or the View

Posted on January 18, 2018 by Sarah Sullivan

Our morning in Mazatlan begins with a competition between reading up on the morning news and seeing the morning view of the beach. This morning the news readers were plentiful which made me happy because they sit still and are much easier to draw than the people who dart about looking at the view from the many vantage points of our Airbnb’s long balcony.

Today’s sketch combines techniques from two sketches that I worked on earlier this week. On 1/16 I used white gestural lines to draw a group of people. I liked the way it suggested mood and attitude so today I used gestural line more intentionally and included detail such as bare feet. And on 1/15, I sketched the view through a partially open glass door and made the view through the open portion crisper than the view through the glass. I really liked the effect but wished I had thought to open the window wider. Today I made sure the window was open wide and had fun working on showing the slight difference in clarity.

This is a 12 X 17-inch gouache and pastel sketch on black paper.

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Afternoon on Olas Altas Beach

Posted on January 17, 2018 by Sarah Sullivan

Four days ago I posted a sketch of this beach drawn in the morning from a fourth floor balcony. Today’s sketch shows the same beach drawn in the afternoon from an eye level vantage point. It is interesting how the different time and viewing angle shifts the water’s color from a turquoise to ultramarine blue.

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Afternoon Gathering

Posted on January 16, 2018 by Sarah Sullivan

We seem to gather in the late afternoon, a group at the table with their crossword puzzle, a group with their books, and a lone sketcher trying to capture it all with pastel and gouache.

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The View

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Sarah Sullivan

This sketch shows two different people looking at a view from different vantage points. As I painted, I was just sketching what I saw, that is, doing my best to copy what was in front of me. I noticed how much less clear the view through the glass was than was the view through the sliver of open window, and had fun capturing the difference. Perhaps I will do another version of this sketch that emphasize this difference in clarity even more.

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Morning on Olas Altas Beach

Posted on January 13, 2018 by Sarah Sullivan

I stood on the balcony early this morning and sketched people exercising along the Olas Altas Beach in Mazatlan. The colors were clear but not yet bright, the sea calm, and the waves slowly rolled up on the beach in intervals. There was a lot going on and a lot to catch in a sketch. I would like to eventually do a seascape of this view but need to work out some of the details first. This is a gouache and pastel sketch on black paper.

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Digital Daydreams

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Sarah Sullivan

When I got up on this seventh day of vacationing with family and friends in Mexico, my sister Teresa Prevey, a digital artist and blogger, was already working on her photographs. She uses various apps on her iPad and transforms photos into works of art. (Click to check out her gorgeous blog, Digital Daydreams.)

Teresa was sitting with her back to the sea and I noticed the way the early morning light of Mazatlan shaped her features and accentuated the slight frown she has when she is focusing intently. I began to sketch her. My hope was to capture the look of an artist thinking deeply about her work. We sat across the table from each other, she with her iPad and I with my sketch pad, drinking coffee and enjoying a good start to the day.

This is a 12 X 17-inch gouache and pastel sketch on black paper. I also used Procreate to make some adjustments.

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