Gabi’s Latest Works at Tsuga

12/14/19 Gabi at his exhibit opening at Tsuga Fine Art & Framing

Gabi Campanario just opened a show of work at Tsuga Fine Art & Framing in Bothell. He has an intriguing take on developing new pieces to sell: From sketches he has published previously for his Seattle Times column (almost all digitally in recent years), he sketches them again using traditional media with the intention of retaining the freshness of the initial work. The show at Tsuga consists mainly of these new original works.

Traditionally, of course, a “sketch” was something done on location as a preliminary step, which an artist then took back to the studio to work from and develop into a larger, finished painting. Gabi and the urban sketching movement inspired all of us to think of a sketch not necessarily as a first step but as a finished piece in itself. Gabi has gone full circle by going back to the traditional model, yet with a modern twist: He’s taking a digital piece and turning it into ink-and-paint-on-paper again.

It was inspiring to see his growth as a fine artist through these new works (half of which sold even while we stood and viewed them!). And the show opening was a fun place to see a few other sketchers, none of whom could resist sketching him.