Well, here is the next stage in the picture. I have to tell you, working on the letters is extremely difficult and I was a bit frustrated. The only difference from last week’s picture is the “body” of the letters, which had to be done with the shading and highlighting. This took me 90 minutes, and I can’t say I’m thrilled with the result.
The teacher reminded me that I have only been doing this for a short time, and the masters study for years, so that made me feel better. But I hope it’s easier next week.
Other than the dinner on Friday night, I haven’t really been out much. I have instead spent quite a bit of time at home working on my various art forms and projects.
I did actually go out yesterday afternoon as it was a lovely springlike day, with the intention of going somewhere to sketch. But it was one of those days when I couldn’t find anything I was in the mood to sketch. So what did I do? I went to one of my favourite outdoor cafes, ordered a glass of champagne, pulled out my mini sketchbook and began to doodle. This is what came out!
Weird!
On Friday I did the next couple of stages in my fileteado project, and you can see them both in this photo.
I began, at the teacher’s instruction, by painting the outside scrolls. They will eventually be a nice warm yellow, as yellow on a dark red background is quite traditional. But the first coat is just flat ochre, which doesn’t look like much here.
Then I did the second stage of the lettering, which is what is called the body of the letter, done here in light blue. Next week I’ll get to the shading, which is what brings it alive.
All this took an hour-and-a-half — it’s certainly painstaking work. Stay tuned for next week’s effort.
The other week I posted photos of a place we went for Criollo food and entertainment, Pal’ Que Guste. A bunch of us went again on Friday night, and even though there was no show this time we still had a good time. We also all agreed that that empanadas there are the best in the city — reason enough to go back again!
I’ve posted a couple of my Fileteado Porteño pieces, which were individual elements of the traditional paintings. But this week I started an ambitious new project — a whole painting, including the fancy lettering, which I’ve never tried before! Since it will probably take me several lessons to complete it, and since several people were quite interested in the step-by-step post I did recently, I thought I’d do the same with this one, so here goes.
Step 1 – I copied an existing picture onto a sheet of tracing paper. I was allowed to use a ruler for the straight lines, but the overall thing had to be drawn freehand.
Step 2 – I rubbed the wrong side of the picture all over with white chalk.
Step 3 – I didn’t do this bit. The teacher painted the wood with special paint, in the colour of my choice.
Step 4 – I turned the tracing paper over so that the chalk was on the surface, and drew over the original lines to transfer the chalk to the wood. That’s what will be used as a guide as to where to place the paint.
Step 5 – The teacher decided I should start with the lettering, which was quite a challenge for me. The first stage, same as last time, is simply a flat coat of white paint.
And that’s as far as I got on Friday. I’m looking forward to the next class, when I expect I will finish the lettering. Stay tuned!
I’ve mentioned BAIN a lot — Buenos Aires International Newcomers, which is a great expat group I belong to and enjoy very much. Toni Quintana is our intrepid President, and this week she had a special birthday. We celebrated it all together at a great restaurant in Palermo called Cabernet, and a good time was had by all.
On Tuesday night I spent a fun evening with Lina, Lola and Sally, all of whom had birthdays within a few days of one another. I was honoured to be included even though I wasn’t a birthday girl.
We went to Lina’s favourite restaurant, Puerta Del Inca, a lovely Peruvian restaurant we used to go to after the Wednesday milonga before it moved to a location too far away. Peruvian food is great for people who like seafood, and I have to say when I see these amazing platters they have I wish I did like it!
We didn’t ask for a cake, but they brought out this lovely piece of tres leches (three milks) cake, which was moist and delicious and finished the meal off beautifully. I do like birthdays!
Today is El Dia de Pachamama throughout South America. Pachamama is the name the original peoples gave to Mother Earth, and today every year we celebrate her.
I have to say I think the native people did a better job of looking after Pachamama than we are today — maybe we should be asking her forgiveness.
Last night Lina and I went to one of our usual restaurants near me for an early dinner, and then we went up to La Biela for an after-dinner drink. I rarely drink spirits, but I do enjoy a good whisky now and then—Lina prefers cognac.
In each case, the waiter carefully poured it into a measure and tipped it into the glass. Then he had a quick look at the bottle and tipped the rest in! We all laughed while he did it, and Lina and I decided that must be a Buenos Aires measure!
Last week Sally and Lola had birthdays one day after the other, and they decided they wanted to do something different instead of the usual going out to dinner. They chose bowling — that was a surprise! I had never bowled in my life and neither had some of the others, so we knew it would be a laugh — especially for those watching us!
We gathered upstairs first for pizza and wine or beer and a lot of chatting. Shouting actually, as it was very loud in there! Thanks to Vivi for taking the photos.
Then we went downstairs to the bowling alley itself. Somehow I thought somebody had taken a photo or video of me in action, but apparently not as I couldn’t find it.
Much to my surprise, I turned out to be quite good at it and I managed to throw a strike and a couple of near strikes. Of course it might have been beginners’ luck, and since I don’t plan to do it again any time soon, I guess we’ll never know!
Thanks for your kind comments about the Fileteado Porteño piece I posted a couple of weeks ago. People often ask me about the three dimensional aspect of Fileteado, so I thought I’d show you how it’s done. My teacher wanted me to do a second one the same, so this was a good opportunity. This series of photos shows each stage in the process. The new one is always on the left side.
Stage 1: drawing
Stage 2: called the “plano“, or flat
Stage 3: start the shading (see note below)
Stage 4: the highlighting begins with a lighter blue
Stage 5: add more white to the blue for an even lighter shade
Stage 6: almost pure white for the highlights
Stage 6: the finished piece. More dots of pure white around the edges of the ribbon and at the top of the curve
The paint is almost the same as acrylic, but it’s a bit more elastic. Getting the right amount on the brush requires some practice. We use special brushes with longer bristles, which hold more paint so you don’t have to stop so often on a line. The idea is to do one complete line with one stroke, except for the shading parts.
The shading, or sombra, is done not with pure paint but with a substance that’s a special type of oil mixed with black and red paint in different amounts for different depths of shade. The mix is called japan — no idea why!
My next project will be a larger piece, on wood and containing several elements. I started the drawing last week and will continue next week. I’ll keep you posted, although this one will definitely take several classes to complete.
