sketches

by

This Week’s Daily Sketches

Top row, left to right: At the Plaza Congreso after my tango lesson yesterday. In the eye doctor’s waiting room — I did this with drops in my eyes, haha. Panic because I hadn’t done my daily sketch, so resorted to this quick one of one of the plants on my balcony. Cliff sings cowboy songs in the plaza. Back to Cafe Bogota. First effort to sketch a night scene, at La Biela. Outside Dos Escudos—the lady I was sketching moved away, but another one sat in her place and I was able to finish. None of the people in my sketches have faces anyway, so it doesn’t matter! Inside Las Delicias, one of my favourite local eating places where, as they used to say about “Cheers”, everybody knows my name!

If you’re beginning to suspect I spend a great deal of my life in eating and drinking places, you could be right! Is this a problem?

by

Finally Finished!

I started this sketch one morning two weeks ago. It’s a lovely old building a couple of blocks from here that has had a chequered history. Apparently it’s now a government building that’s something to do with heritage. Whatever it is, it’s beautiful!

I couldn’t finish it because it was very hot, and all that detail was taking a long time. Since then we’ve been having this heatwave, and it’s never been comfortable enough to finish it until today. So finally, here it is.

Corner of Alvear and Rodriguez Peña

You’ll see I didn’t put in the other buildings beside it, because they were just modern glass and concrete blocks. That’s something you see a lot in Buenos Aires, lovely old colonial buildings side-by-side with modern ones that often have nothing to add to the esthetic. Fortunately, there are enough of the beautiful ones to maintain the overall charm and beauty of the city.

by

I Finally Did a New Sketch

Part of my resolve yesterday was to get back to sketching. I have several sketchbooks full of things I’ve done in my travels over the past several years, as well as in Toronto and other parts of Canada. But for some reason I haven’t been moved to sketch at all for some time. The last page in my book was something from my trip to Bariloche in January! I don’t think it was anything to do with the pandemic, although of course that didn’t help.

Anyway, I decided to force myself to do something yesterday in the hope it would get me back on track. I had noticed on my walks that the Starbucks near me had a few tables outside, with a good view of one of the typical corner buildings of Buenos Aires. I don’t normally frequent Starbucks because I hate their coffee, but I ordered some sort of creamy concoction and settled in for half an hour at one of the tables. This sketch is the result.

I’m definitely rusty, and it was a struggle to produce this less-than-satisfactory result. But let’s hope it’s the first of a new wave of sketches to come.

 

by

A few sketches

I’ve been very bad about keeping up my blog this time. If you’re one of those who have been checking back to see what I’ve been doing, I apologize.

The fact is, I really have been working more this time than last, which means I don’t get around to see as many things. I tend to be out more at night with friends.

Anyway, I thought I’d post some photos of my sketches here, and I’ll try to sort out my other photos and post some of them soon.

This is the English Tower, so called because it was donated to Buenos Aires by the English while they were over here building railways and such like.

This is a lovely cafe inside a museum. I went there with a bunch of women from InterNations and found it so beautiful I just had to go back and sketch. You sit in the cafe and look through the arches into a lovely courtyard garden. I may go back again and sketch it from a different angle.

I paid a visit to the Botanical Gardens last weekend. It’s a beautiful place, full of not only plants and trees, but also some lovely statuary. The problem was it was hotter than hell, and the only seat I could find in the shade was opposite this big weird cactus plant!

Last Sunday Cecilia and I went to visit Costanera Sur, a lovely conservation area between a very posh barrio called Puerto Madero and the Rio de la Plata. It took us three hours to walk around it, and we were so shattered we went to one of the expensive restaurants in the area and drank a bottle of Malbec. Oh yes, and we had some food to go with it!

This is a view of the river from one of the sheltered lookout points. It was hot here too!

One day I went with Cecilia and a friend of hers to a huge park area in Palermo called 3 de Febrero. This particular lake is called Lago Regata, and I was fun watching dogs chasing the swans — without getting too close of course! It was hot here too!

 

This is the Monument to the Flag in Rosario, which I wrote about before. What a colossal monument, and very impressive.

This eternal flame burns over the tomb of the unknown soldier at the Monument to the Flag.

 

 

 

 

This was another hot day, when I sat on the edge of a planter and sketched part of 9 de Julio Avenue, apparently the widest avenue in South America. As usual, my sense of proportion failed me, as the Obelisco is much much taller than it looks here.  But as is my usual excuse in these cases, a sketch is just an impression and this is enough to evoke the memory for me.

The magnificent entrance to Recoleta Cemetery. I haven’t sketched inside it this time, but I may do that another day.

 

 

 

 

That’s it for now. I’ll post some more sketches before I go back to Toronto after I’ve built up a bit more of a collection.