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| Apulo, El Salvador |
Egress from the lake was blocked by landslides caused by the 2001 earthquake and 2005 Hurricane Stan. Now, since a major hotel chain is building a resort on one of the islands, the government has a project to unblock the lake's egress.
El Salvador is well represented in my sketchbook, because I lead service-learning trips for teens and adults to visit and work in projects supported by the Palo Alto (California) Quaker Meeting. The cooperative that we support in Apulo runs a sweat-equity project for people who have been displaced by flooding and a Saturday tutoring program for kids. Next trip is July 21-August 5, 2012. If you are interested in more information, drop me a comment at quakeryouthtrips@yahoo.com.
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| Nopales at Sunset |
The second photo is of a watercolor in progress. I love the photos I've seen of these nopales at sunset. I'm experimenting with color blending in each leaf and am happy with the result. I'm still working out how to get the deep shadows between the leaves. I like the way the sky and background hills are turning out and am hoping that when I get to blending the background and foreground that I don't ruin the whole thing! There are lots of finishing touches at the end, adding needles and the scars that these cacti typically get. This painting is on a 9x12 100 lb cold press block.(Arches). I'd love to try a big one on 300 lb paper and include the red prickly pear fruits!
10 comments:
Lovely watercolors. I admire anyone who can make watercolors behave.
Thank you, Sandy. I thought I had seen some watercolor among your gorgeous work, no?
I just love the cactus! Just as it is, in fact.
The pages are lively and fun. Hope you finish!
Hi. I came to your site CIA your comment in my blog (thanks for stopping by). I LOVE your sketchbook paintings.
Via your comment. Let's keep the CIA out of this.
Nopales at sunset looks gorgeous!
I hope you don't give up, it looks great!
(Stick a few pages together if you run out of time)
Your sketchbook looks great so far! I finished mine a couple weeks ago, it was quite the race indeed!
I love the cacti and am looking forward to seeing it finished.:)
Hi Barbara, thank you for your comments. I look forward to seeing the nopales watercolour finished!
Hello Barbara, My first visit to your blog. Thank you for visiting mine and for your lovely comment.
Your sketchbook project is very interesting. I don't know what the deadline, etc is - an online challenge, I suppose? But your paintings are lovely and the topics clearly have such personal meaning. I identify very much with your being intrigued by the place where Spirit and creativity meet. Hope you managed to find time to keep at it during the week!
Janice.
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