Last Sketches from Mexico

Here is the last posting for my trip to Patcuaro, Mexico. We took a boat ride to Isle Janitzio. Instead of a sketchwalk we did a sketch boat ride. This page is things I saw from the boat. It was a lovely sunny day and a great place to sketch.
Bits and pieces of a day in Patzcuaro. The big copper pot was actually on the side of the street and was full of carnitas in the making. The inside was a beautiful copper and the outside was charred black, it was the best pot, seasoned to perfection. The little couple were leaving with their purchase of flowers.
Cheryl and I were lucky to come across some traditional dancing at the town auditorium one night. There were wonderful murals filling all the walls and so the next day we went back and sat in the cool building and sketched some of the wonderful images.
These two lovely ladies graced the reception desk at our posada. I couldn't leave without them in my sketchbook This was a fabulous trip with a wonderful group of new friends. We had many great experiences and fun times. Great meals, cervezas, taquilla, taxi rides, shopping, exploring, creating, laughing and sharing. Thanks to you all, you added greatly to my trip. Mari and Deek, you are the best!

Robert Bateman 6" x 9" Sketchbook
Pen and Watercolor and a little Pastel

Dia de Muertos

While in Patzcuaro, we were able to experience The Day of the Dead. This is a joyous celebration of relatives and ancestors. The street outside our posada (hotel) was where the flower market was set up for 4 days. This truck was over flowing with brilliant purple cockscomb flowers. The flowers just kept coming and coming by the truckloads.
The colors, perfume and amount of flowers was amazing and incredible. I couldn't believe they could all possibly sell but they did. It was overwhelming to think of sketching such a sight, so I fine tuned my eye and zeroed in on smaller aspects of the market.
We visited the panteon (cemetery) in Patzcuaro and boy was it a sight to see! There so much activity as people cleaned and decorated the graves. There was family, music, flowers and laughter. It was beautiful, heart warming and something to remember. This page has bits from 7 different graves.
The next day we visited Tzin Tzun Tzan and the panteon there. There was more activity and candles from the night before. Being overwhelmed again, I concentrated on smaller parts of grave sights and came up with this page. I feel privileged to have been there. Thanks Mari for the opportunity.

Robert Bateman 6" x 9" Sketchbook
Pen and Watercolor

Patzcuaro, Mexico

Just returned from a great trip to Patzcuaro, Mexico. It is in the state of Michoacan. It was another fun filled, wonderful trip with Mari Le Glatin Keis We stayed one night in Morelia and were greeted with music and fireworks, which are put on in the central plaza every Sat. night.

This is my first page done while strolling through the streets of Patzcuaro. Our posada was just across from one of the five or so churches in the town. It had the most interesting, seemingly random bells through out the day. Most times between 24 and 36 bongs!

Lunches we were on our own and we found a great place at La Casita de Rosi. I ate there 5 or 6 times and it was great. A 3 course meal plus dessert for 60 pesos. ($6) Muy rico! I managed to sketch there as well. Rosi was so sweet and liked to practice her English.

A sketch of marigolds with some petals glued right to the page and a colorful clothesline.

We took a boat ride on the Lago de Patzcuaro. We stopped at a small island for a short time and Olive and I stayed on the boat and sketched the shore line.

More to come.

Robert Bateman 6' x 9" Sketchbook

Pen and Watercolor

Virtual Sketch for September

I found an interesting site through someone's blog, Virtual Sketch Date . Every month there is a reference photo posted a week before the dealine. You then sign up on comments and post your sketch on your blog on Sat. and Sunday all the entries are posted at Virtual Sketch Date. I started with contour drawings of the petals, continued from there and added watercolor.

This is the reference photo for Sept. I don't usually sketch from photos so this was a little different for me. It is great fun to see how everyone's sketches are the same but different. Wonder what next month will bring.

Robert Bateman 5" x 7" Sketchbook
Pen and Watercolor

Washington Sketches

After our trip to Astoria I spent more time with my sisters and mom in WA. Saturday we went to the Vancouver Farmers Market. My sister, newphew and I sketched in the park as well as things in the market. It was a great place to work on sketching people.
One of the booths at the market was filled with wonderful birdhouses. I asked Richard for permission to sketch some of his houses, telling him I was a sketcher not a birdhouse builder. He was very generous and yes. His birch and copper houses are specific for each type of bird. They are beautiful and fun to sketch.
Sunday we went to the Lewisville River Park. First I sketched the river, did a blind contour of Emily and watched as Case and Emily crossed the river. Emily only fell in three times. After a snack the three of us went on a sketchwalk in the rain. Yes, more rain....it is Washington afterall.

Robert Bateman 6" x 9" Sketchbook
Ink and Watercolor

A Little More Astoria

Well, You know me and my grids! I prepped this page with some background color and the grids before we left the B&B for our own sketchwalk down to Pier 39. These were flowers I saw along our way. The purple smear and the blackberries are really the juice of wild blackberries. I also found a few sweet ones to eat.
We stayed at the Benjamin Young Inn with our hostess, Caroline. It was great! Lovely old home, good food and lots of laughs. One morning we had the most delicious scones and she shared the recipe with us. We had our coffee and tea in big china mugs every morning and evening.

We went up to the Column at the top of the hill. You could see down to the water and all around Astoria. It is a beautiful place. We looked through papers and magazines for collaging and I found "Soundings in Fathoms" on an old sea chart. Using a play on words I see it meaning, "Deep Thoughts"

My Sister and I went to Flavel House in town. It is a historical home and museum of Captain Flavel. I walked through the house and sketched things that caught my eye. I am particularly proud of the Mason and Hamlin Organ that stood at the end of the long hall. It was fun sitting on the floor in the middle of the hallway and sketching history.

Robert Bateman Sketchbook 6" x 9"

Ink and Watercolor

Astoria, Oregon

Another wonderful trip with Mari Le Glatin Keis in Astoria, OR. This time my sister was able to join me and we had a marvelous adventure. We met a great group of women and made new friends and new memories. There was even a great art store we just had to visit, twice. We had some interesting weather, cool and rainy with some sunny breaks, but it is Astoria, 96" of rain a year!

Three of the group lived in Astoria and one of the husbands took us on a motor cruise on his 40' sailboat. It was fun to sketch from the boat for an hour or so. I sketched things from the shore as well as thing on the boat. It was grey, cloudy, blue patches, grey, sun, rain, wind, cloudy, and we sketched away! We never let the weather detour us from our joy of sketching.

His boat was called the Pelican and we had our photo taken as we passed by Pier 39. There is a great little cafe and coffee place on the pier, Coffee Girl, where each group waited while the other cruised. We spend some wonderful times there eating, drinking, sketching and laughing. Their Chai Latte is grand. The old bouy floats were hanging in the corner.

After our motor cruise we met up at another gal's floathouse for our afternoon meet up and appetif. She has a wonderful place with a wrap around covered porch with great sketching opportunities. There was a steady rain so we couldn't sketch the floathouse from the road but we managed things from around the porch. It was quite peacful sketching and hearing the rain on the roof.

Robert Bateman 6" x 9"

Ink and Watercolor

A Week of Sketches

Last Friday I spent the day at the beach with friends. I did this one sketch of the happenings at the shore. It was a good place to work on my sketches of people. It was fun but looks like I need to keep working! The people are actually very small, only about an inch tall.

Wednesday, I went to Irvine Regonial Park with a couple of friends for sketching and lunch. It was another warm beautiful day with a wonderful breeze coming off the small lake. There was a summer camp group there, all wearing black t-shirts with the "Peace Camp" logo.

My friend, Yukon and I sketched a couple of pages of the same area of the park. It was fun to see the difference of style and technique and how we each captured the moment. While looking for one of Yukon's dropped watercolor pans in the grass, of course it was sap green, I found an interesting piece of broken branch.

Today my friend, Penny and I went to our local Armstrong Nursery to do some sketching. It is a great place to sketch and they were happy to have us there, even offering us chairs as we sat on the ground! We just strolled around and stopped to sketch when something caught our eye.

Not only are there beautiful plants and flowers but many interesting and fun things to sketch including exterior and interior decorations. We only sketched for awhile as it was a hot day but we will definately be going back.

Robert Bateman 5" x 7" Sketchbook

Ink and Watercolor