Not a spare second to draw today so I'm posting a sketchbook page of the colors I found on the rooftop garden of the Hotel Azucenas in amazing Oaxaca, Mexico. I went to Oaxaca last year at this time, just a week after taking Carol Marine's daily painting class. I rather timidly brought a sketchbook along in my determination to keep up the practice despite traveling. Why timidly? There's something scary about approaching that which you truly desire. A fear that you're going to screw things up, be exposed as a fraud, or simply be disappointed. I think a lot of people have that fear of delving into the arts, that's why most people don't do it. And artists are not exempt. I guess as an artist I often feel like I approach my subject the same way an awkward teenage boy tries to approach his first crush. At best, hoping it's a wild success, at the least, praying you don't humiliate yourself.
I learned so much from capturing the colors on the rooftop garden. I discovered that colors have a lot more gray in them than you'd think. The best way to capture that is to use layers, especially the compliment of the dominant color you're trying to capture.
