27 June 2012

Dog Show

A friend of mine is a big dog (smooth terrier) lover and aficionado. She invited me to a Dog Show in Long Beach. I am always for visiting harbors and I figured I could paint the Queen Mary or the beautiful forest of cranes and harbor machinery. Once I got there I was immediately drawn to the quirky ambiance and specially to the dogs. So with the Queen Mary behind me looking massive but uninteresting I set up to sketch the dog show instead.

Here are my sketches of the "Wire Terrier" breed segment. A lady bought the sketch off my notebook for 30$. (hey, parking and a new notebook right?).  I think it was the most succesful page and it garnered me the most comments and "likes" on facebook  I've ever had  . Who knew?

The Smooth terrier, Wire Terrier segment

 So I continued sketching away and making lots of new friends in the process. I sketched the irish terriers (along with their handlers and judges). I also jumped around and trying to capture gesture and shape with a maximum economy of gesture and trying to make the pages look interesting by themselves. No lack of models for sure. 
 

Irish Terriers.

Scotties and other breeds.

 A especial page dedicated to my friend Mary Lynn and her dogs Mimi and Cracker.  I gave the page to her even though I don't like tearing them. After all, she made the invitation and I am glad I shwed up. Sometimes immersing oneself in an environment one knows nothing about  (race horses, the military, factories ..I can think of a million) is a great source of inspiration.

Mary Lynn and her smooth terriers and friend.

2 comments:

Judy P. said...

Nice sketches! Do you always carry a little watercolor set with you, for creative moments like these?

Jose Luis De Juan said...

Hi Judy. Not always. The sketch book is great to take for moments when you are not sure if a painting session will be appropriate because of time, crowds, weather, etc...I definitely take it for times when I know I will have to be waiting or just doing nothing. The setup is super simple, the notebook, a bottle of water and a small travel watercolor palette, two small brushes and a napkin. Voila! I am even trying to get better at sketching in my Ipad because you can take that to airports, jury duty, doctor office, car wash, etc...