Parabéns, USk Brazil!

 

11/13/21 Kitanda Coffee and Acai, Green Lake Village

The farthest I have ever traveled was to Brazil for the 2014 Urban Sketchers Symposium in Paraty. Even with six international symposia under my belt, Paraty is still my favorite. The warmth and friendliness of the Brazilian people, the smaller, more intimate feeling of the symposium, the spectacular beaches and landscape, the unusual but not overwhelming architecture, the best coffee in the world – all of it made for an unforgettable (and very sketchable) time.

USk Brazil is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this week by inviting sketchers worldwide to post sketches made while visiting Brazil or anything from their own countries representing Brazil. Long before the pandemic, I remembered seeing Kitanda Espresso and Açaí at Green Lake, but I had never been there. Relieved that it was still in business, I took Greg along so that we could both enjoy Brazilian coffee and pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread), which is made of gluten-free tapioca flour. It was chilly in the Green Lake Village courtyard, so my sketch was hasty, but we were warmed by fond memories of our time in mostly sunny Brazil.

Shown below are a few of my favorite sketches from that trip. Parabéns, USk Brazil!

8/26/14 Pousada do Ouro courtyard, Paraty

8/30/16 Santa Teresa, Paraty

9/3/16 Cristo Redentor, Rio de Janeiro

My Brazil Sketchbook: Completing a Cycle

My Brazil travel sketchbook is bound.

This rainy morning was a good opportunity to finish binding my Brazil sketchbook. As with last year’s Spain/Germany sketchbook, I kept my symposium workshop and activities sketches in a separate collection from what I would call my “usual” travel sketches. In fact, the symposium sketches all went into the Moleskine watercolor sketchbook that I received in my goodie bag. Even though I would normally prefer the chronological continuity of keeping everything in one sketchbook, I liked putting all my workshop sketches in one self-contained volume peppered with class notes, related ephemera and cards I exchanged with other sketchers.

I bound the symposium program right into the sketchbook.

I ended up filling seven signatures with non-symposium-related sketches. Like last year, as a symbol of the initial impetus for the trip, I bound the symposium program right into the sketchbook. So the eight total signatures turned into my thickest handbound sketchbook yet, which gave me a little concern about how well the stitching would fare, but I needn’t have worried. Coptic stitch is stronger than it looks (or perhaps my technique is improving).

Creating the book covers was especially fun; it gave me a sense of closure on the trip (and also took care of a potential packratting issue). I pulled out all the maps, brochures and other ephemera collected during the two weeks. This is the kind of stuff I used to haul home, shove into a box, store in the attic and never look at again (until I throw it out a couple decades later). Now, after carefully selecting and preserving the most meaningful images on the covers, the rest goes into the recycle bin (right away!). The front cover is a collage of images of Paraty and the symposium logo. The back cover is made of map scraps and brochures of Rio, plus an image of the spectacular Cristo Redentor cut from a postcard.

My July - August sketchbook covers remind me of a lovely summer.

Since I had all my bookbinding supplies out, I also finished binding my July – August sketchbook. On the covers are the Smith Tower sketched on Kate’s birthday and L.A.’s Marina del Rey – both redolent of the peak of summer (now a fond memory – sigh.)

Last year’s symposium and related travels were my impetus for developing a flexible, portable sketchbook system that led to handbinding. Now, 14 handbound sketchbooks later (in as many months), I feel like I’ve completed one cycle – and look forward to the next one. 

More Things I Learned About Travel Sketching

I'm seated comfortably on my self-inflating cushion at the
Cemeterio Municipal in Paraty.

Last year after I returned from my trip to Europe and the Barcelona symposium, my first blog post was about all that I had learned about travel sketching from that experience. That was my first “big” international travel opportunity after I had begun sketching, so I had a lot to learn.

This year I’m happy to say that I had no huge failures (like last year’s bag debacle that led to this year’s obsessive search for a replacement) and, in fact, had a couple of unexpected successes. Here are my assessments:

1. First of all, the bag: a total win! My faithful, everyday Rickshaw Zero messenger bag performed flawlessly as usual, and since I’m so used to the locations of specific materials, I could practically grab blindly to find what I needed. (It got a little dirty, so after more than two years of daily use, it might be time to get it cleaned. But what will I use while it’s at the cleaner’s?? Accckk!) I supplemented the Rickshaw with a simple muslin tote bag that held my water bottle and snacks, as well as my sunhat or rain slicker, depending on weather (sometimes I had to carry both – Brazil’s weather changes by the minute). The other thing the tote contained was. . .
2. A self-inflating cushion. I knew I didn’t have space in my carry-on-only suitcase for a stool, but I recalled all too well the hard, dirty pavement I often ended up sitting on in Barcelona last year, so I got the cushion with the hope that I’d have room for it. In its deflated state, it (barely) fit, but I was very happy I had squeezed it in. It weighs almost nothing in the tote, and it made sitting on the bumpy stone streets and sidewalks of Paraty more comfortable (see photo above). I had taken a chance on it because I’d never used it in the field prior to my trip, but it’s definitely a keeper in my travel sketch kit.
3. I was generally happy with the selection of sketch supplies I brought, which was essentially the same as what I usually carry every day (you can see everything in my bag dump photo from last month). I had brought 10 signatures of paper (three folded 140-pound sheets each) for the Stefano. I had started filling the eighth by the time the trip ended, so my estimate wasn’t too far off. (Last year I filled nine, but those included my workshop exercises. For this symposium, I put all my workshop exercises in the Moleskine watercolor sketchbook that I received in my swag bag.) A few misses: I never once used (and will therefore consider jettisoning permanently) the white Uniball opaque gel pen (though I lent it to someone who didn’t know about opaque pens before, so at least I was able to share), a Nero extrasoft pencil and an ordinary graphite pencil. I regretted removing the waterbrush with dark green ink during my last-minute effort to further lighten my bag.
4. The precautions I took to prevent ink messes like the ones I had made during my flights to L.A. a few months ago were necessary and appropriate. For the flight out, I had completely filled all fountain pens and waterbrushes with ink (I was told that by minimizing air in the liquid cavities, there would be less expansion and therefore less leakage) and placed them in a ziplock bag as an additional precaution. I had no spillage or leakage at all – not a drop. On the way home, most of the pens and inked-up waterbrushes were at least half empty, and I didn’t have any additional ink to fill them with, so I just zipped them up tightly in the bag again. The fountain pens again showed no leakage at all. One of the waterbrushes did leak, but the ziplock prevented any mess. My assessment is that fountain pens are most likely fine without taking any precautions; waterbrushes require a bag.
5. The biggest (though in the greater scheme of things, it was only moderate) failure was my new Rickshaw Velo backpack. I used it only during transit – my filled Rickshaw Zero messenger bag as well as other travel essentials all got stuffed into it – and I found it to be just a little too small. Its slimmer profile and shorter length – exactly what made it more comfortable to carry than my former traditional backpack – are exactly what made it fail. It was so tightly packed that I was constantly digging between crammed items. So the search for a backpack continues.
6. An unexpected win was my Rhodia pocket notebook. I’m so excited about this now-essential piece of my travel kit that I wrote a separate post about it.

(Seeing the photo above, which was taken in the Cemiterio Municipal in Paraty, I realized I had forgotten to include the sketch that I was making while at the cemetery in my Brazil posts. So here’s a good excuse to post it now. Despite sitting right under that huge cell tower, I still had no bars on my T-Mobile phone!)

8/31/14 Super5 fountain pen, Diamine Grey ink, watercolor, Caran d'Ache Museum pencils, Canson XL 140 lb. paper (Cemiterio Municipal, Paraty)

Brazil, Part 6: Tea and Long Layovers

9/4/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown and Grey inks,
Canson XL 140 lb. paper (Confeiteria Colombo, Rio)

(You can tell from the title that this post should be called “Miscellaneous,” but I refuse to call it that.) One rainy day in Rio, Joni, a Montreal sketcher, met Greg and me for a day of indoor activities, including an excellent Dalí exhibit at the Cultural Banco do Brasil, lunch at a funky café, and a little sketching near the Theatro Municipal (the sketch I did there is in Brazil, Part 2). We had heard that Liz Steel and several other sketchers had discovered the Confeiteria Colombo, a grand tea shop that has been in Rio since 1894, so we wanted to see it, too. In the Liz tradition, Joni and I sketched our tea and treats as we consumed them. (I don’t know how sketchers can resist eating long enough to sketch their meals! I had to draw most of my cake from imagination.)

Joni and Tina sketch in the Liz Steel tradition!

Before flying home, we had several hours to kill after checking out of our hotel but before heading for the airport, so Greg and I killed them by walking around the neighborhood. I spotted a couple of statues to sketch – just a few of the many ornate figures all over Rio.

No urban sketcher’s travel sketchbook is complete without sketches from long airport layovers, so I’ll end my last Brazil post with a few of those. Thanks for reading along with me on this lengthier-than-expected travelogue!

(But wait – there’s more! I still have several blog post ideas that aren’t specifically about Brazil but are related to travel sketching, including the infamous bag issue update, so it’s not the end!)

9/7/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Canson XL paper
(Apa Sao Jose griffin, Rio)

9/7/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi ink, Caran d'Ache Museum pencil, Canson XL
(Apa Sao Jose, Rio)

8/22/14 Platinum Carbon and Diamine Grey ink, watercolor, Zig marker, Canson XL
(ATL airport)

9/8/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Museum pencils, Zig marker,
Canson XL paper (ATL airport)

8/22/14 Take-Sumi ink, Canson XL (ATL airport)

8/22/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Canson XL paper (ATL airport)

9/8/14 Take-Sumi ink, Canson XL paper (ATL airport)

Brazil, Part 5: Symposium Workshops and Activities

8/29/14 twig, Chinese ink, Moleskine watercolor sketchbook (Sketched after
being inspired by KK's magical demo. I found the twig on the ground.)

My posts about Brazil are winding down, but I have yet to write about the meat of the symposium: the workshops and other activities I attended. Different from previous years, the Paraty symposium offered attendees the option to choose from different levels of participation. I chose the full workshop, activities, social and sketchwalks pass, which enabled me to choose up to four workshops and as many other activities and sketchwalks as I wanted. (I got Greg the lowest-tier sketchwalk pass, which allowed him to come to the opening and closing receptions and sketchwalks. He also received his own swag bag and certificate!)

This flexible attendance plan really appealed to me because I had the opportunity to experience a wider variety of activities and meet more people whom I probably would not have been able to meet if all I had done was attend workshops.

8/28/14 Super5 ink, Pitt Artist Pen, Moleskine watercolor sketchbook
("The Sketched Reportage" at Engenho D'Ouro Alambique Cachaca distillery, Paraty)

My first workshop was Simo Cappechi’s “The Sketched Reportage,” which was one of the most interesting experiences I had in Paraty. Participants got to take a bus ride to the Engenho D’Ouro cachaça distillery and sketch the distillery process as we learned it. Rather than teaching sketching techniques, Simo focused on the process of telling a story through sketches. (As it turned out, this was the only day of the symposium with torrential rain, so I was happy to spend it mostly under cover! Other workshops weren’t so lucky.)

8-29-14 watercolor, Museum pencils,
Moleskine watercolor sketchbook ("In the Mood":
Two sketches of the same scene -- calm above, and stressful below)

The next morning I attended Nina Johansson’s “In the Mood,” during which we explored using color, texture and other techniques to convey different moods and feelings with our sketches. A particularly interesting class exercise involved working in small groups, which allowed us to discover that different cultures can apply very different associations to colors.

My third workshop was “Feeling the Edges” with Liz Steel. Although she is a professional architect, Liz’s approach to sketching has always struck me as

8-29-14 Diamine Grey ink, Cretacolor Studio Artistik
marker, Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

uniquely expressive, and her workshop reflected that expressiveness – all without uttering the P (perspective) word! While the first half of the workshop was about learning to be as careful and accurate as possible in understanding an architectural form, the second half was all about expressing that form. She also showed us an easy way to make all the windows line up!

In the afternoons I attended a variety of activities that gave me a wide range of fun and enlightening sketching experiences. At the “Portrait Exchange” (also referred to as the Portrait Party), led by Juliana Russo, pairs of participants spent short periods sketching each other, producing a series of portraits. The group I attended was so large that we didn’t form the traditional matrix of drawings that usually results from this exercise, but it was still just as fun to meet our partners, sketch each other and see the amazing results. (A few of the portraits I made are shown in the previous post.)

8/30/14 Museum pencils, Moleskine watercolor sketchbook
(In Liz Steel's workshop, this was my careful, accurate rendering
 of Santa Teresa church. See Brazil, Part 2 for the expressive
version.)

Hearing Ch’ng Kiah Kiean’s presentation and then seeing a demo of his unique style of dry twig sketching was nothing less than magical. KK’s demo was so popular that he ran out of sharpened twigs that he had prepared in advance, but being the DIY girl that I am, I picked up a twig from the ground to give it a try. I’m going to be doing more twig sketching soon!

8/29/14 Platinum Carbon ink, Moleskine watercolor sketchbook
("Color Swap": my drawing, color by Flavio Ricardo, Bandeira Square, Paraty)

“Color Swap,” led by USk President Jason Das, was a fascinating exercise in collaboration. Participants paired up, and both made a waterproof ink drawing of the same or different scenes. Then the pair switched sketchbooks and applied color to the sketch drawn by the partner. (For one of the sketches, my partner turned out to be Flavio Ricardo, a sketcher whose work I have seen and admire on Flickr.) It was inspiring to see the way another sketcher would interpret my line drawing – and the way I painted someone else’s sketch.

8/30/14 Super5 ink, Moleskine watercolor sketchbook
(Part of my sketch map from Richard Alomar's
activity to make a guide of Rua do Comercio. Note the sleeping
black dog, who appears in my sketch of the Rosario church
in Brazil, Part 2.)

Probably the single-most practical sketching idea that I learned at the symposium was in Richard Alomar’s “Unfolding a Sketching Story.” Specifically related to travel sketching, the activity involved walking along a Paraty street and making what I would call a sketch map: an idiosyncratic visual and verbal guide for oneself to get oriented to a new place. Richard showed us several examples of his own sketch maps made in accordion-folded Japanese sketchbooks during his travels. I wish I had learned this idea my first day in Paraty! I would have figured out the lay of the land much more quickly, because a map of one’s own making is always more memorable and functional than one handed out by the tourist’s info office. Going forward, I’m going to start every travel adventure by making a sketch map of a new location.

Finally, here’s the activity that left me beaming: At the symposium’s closing party, instructors and other participants donated original sketches for a silent auction, and I took home a breathtaking sketch of Paraty by João Catarino. I can’t think of a better souvenir.

The sketch by Joao Catarino that I won in the silent auction!

Brazil, Part 4: Paraty and the Urban Sketching Symposium

8/27/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink,
Canson XL 140 lb. paper
(Pizzeria da Cidade, Paraty)

Paraty was a delight – and full of surprises. When I had first started seeing images of the coastal village in southern Brazil – one I had never heard of before the announcement that the 5th Annual International Urban Sketching Symposium would be held there – I was immediately taken with its small-town charm. Unlike Barcelona’s spectacular urban vibrancy (which inspired and invigorated me even as it intimidated me), Paraty seemed more my pace. Perhaps I could leisurely walk its streets without being watchful of pickpockets!

As it turned out, I had to be as watchful as ever in Paraty, though not of pickpockets. Instead of looking around for thieves, I had to look down with every step – or risk tripping on the rough stone streets and sidewalks everywhere! Or if my timing was off, I might be trapped on one side of the street or another when the high tide came in and the streets flooded with a sudden, temporary river.

As small as the proverbial “one-dog town” (in fact, there were at least three, including the black one that was always asleep next to Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário; if you look through the symposium Flickr group, you’ll see that the dog is a fixture in several sketches of the church), I could walk from end to end in a short time (though it always took me longer than I expected because I was trying not to trip). Despite its initial impression of being a sleepy town, Paraty is anything but quiet. I woke every morning to a cacophony of exotic birdsong and church bells. One day at 6 a.m., we were awakened by fireworks honoring a patron saint. Music was often playing, and the voices of local business owners and patrons filled the streets.

8/27/14 Super5 pen, Canson XL
(Our hardworking symposium staff at the opening reception)

Barcelona last year is the only other symposium I attended and can compare Paraty to, so I don’t have a broad range of reference, but to me Paraty was an ideal symposium location in several ways. Its small size made it easy to run (I mean walk – no running on those stony streets!) between the various symposium events, and it was so much fun to see other sketchers everywhere, anytime. The scale of the architecture was less imposing (can you say Sagrada Familia?), and I enjoyed the smaller workshops and activities more. In Barcelona, the culture was to dine late in the evening, so I missed most of the informal drink-and-draws because I was usually in bed by the time they took place. In Paraty, I could attend group dinners without losing beauty sleep. Stone streets notwithstanding, Paraty was more my pace.

8/26/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi ink,
Canson XL (Caramujo Restaurant, Paraty)

The symposium structure itself keeps maturing and improving. This year I could choose to attend a mix of workshops and activities (details in the next post), giving me a broader range of experiences. For example, by opting to forego the Thursday afternoon workshop and attend a portrait exchange instead, I met a number of people who had not registered for the workshop pass, so I probably wouldn’t have had an opportunity to talk to them otherwise. Even better, I spent time with each one sketching their portrait.

Which brings me to the same conclusion I came to at the end of the Barcelona symposium last year: Regardless of the location or specific workshops (which were enormously useful), what I value and remember most about the Urban Sketching Symposium are the people I met or became reunited with there. I heard a number of attendees use the term “family reunion” to describe the atmosphere, and it’s exactly appropriate. I cherish the time I spent, both at the symposium and later in Rio, with people whose sketches I keep up with online all year round or just met and look forward to seeing again at a future symposium. Time and time again, I was moved by the communication that can transpire even without much of a common spoken language when we all share the common language of our love for sketching. I feel privileged to be part of this vast global network.

8/29/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Moleskine watercolor sketchbook
(Cafe Do Fogo, Paraty)

8/29/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Moleskine watercolor sketchbook
(Cafe Do Fogo, Paraty)

8/28/14 Cretacolor water-soluble colored pencils, bond paper (Sergio)

8/28/14 Cretacolor water-soluble colored pencils, bond paper (Marcia)

8/28/14 Cretacolor water-soluble colored pencils, bond paper (Fernanda)

8/30/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Zig markers (symposium closing sketchwalk, Matriz Square, Paraty)

Brazil, Part 3: Rio, Big and Small

8/24/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown, Diamine Grey,
Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi and Tsuyu-Kusa inks, Zig marker,
Caran d'Ache Museum pencils, Canson XL 140 lb. paper (Copacabana Beach)

I’m embarrassed to admit this, but until this year when I started researching Brazil in preparation for this trip, my most memorable media encounter with the city of Rio de Janeiro was the animated movie, Rio. Needless to say, the actual city had very little resemblance to the talking birds and animals in the film (except for the Angry Birds sounds, which are apparently real!).

My very first glimpse of Rio was also the most ahhh-some: Copacabana beach. Before heading to Paraty, we planned our first day off the plane with nothing to do but lie on the sand (a highly recommended strategy!). After renting beach chairs and umbrellas for a small fee from one of the many nearby vendors, we spent most of a very relaxing day there. Greg was up and about frequently to take photos, but I barely budged except to reach for my water bottle and to brush a little sand off my watercolor box.

8/24/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Museum pencils,
Canson XL (Copacabana)

After Paraty, we returned to Rio for several more days, and that’s when we hit the “big” can’t-miss sights: Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf) and Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) on Corcovado. Heading for each of these huge tourist magnets, we braced ourselves for the mobs we were certain to face. Rain was forecast for the day that we had scheduled for Sugarloaf, apparently keeping many people away, but the rain turned quickly to sunshine, so we had the place nearly to ourselves (relatively speaking). We spent several hours there sucking up the amazing view.

Corcovado was another matter. We started

9/3/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Museum
pencils, Canson XL paper (Cristo Redentor
from tram midpoint of Sugarloaf)

out early as we had been advised, but by late morning the mobs had arrived. It seemed that everyone had the same brilliant idea: Pose with arms outstretched in front of the statue for a photo. (Greg took more photos of tourists in ridiculous selfie positions than he did of the Cristo!) Although the view, higher even than Sugarloaf, was certainly worth the trip, the well-known statue of Cristo Redentor captured my attention even more. Visible for many miles from the ground, the statue is absolutely stunning up close with a striking elegance of form. I spent quite a while sketching it from various angles (the arms are so wide that I kept misjudging the scale on my sketchbook page; it took three tries to get it right).

After checking off each of these can’t-miss items on our list (which, despite the crowds, are indeed can’t-miss items), it was a relief to head back to “our” hotel neighborhood to sketch the everyday life of people not consumed with taking selfies (see more in my post on Rio’s city scenes). 

(For more sketches as well as photos from my Brazil travels, see this Flickr album.)

9/3/14 Museum pencils, Take-Sumi and Tsuyu-kusa inks,
Canson XL paper (Pao de Acucar)

9/5/14 Take-Sumi ink, Canson XL paper
(Cristo Redentor. Oops, I didn't scale it right for the arms!)

9/5/14 Take-Sumi ink, Canson XL paper
(Cristo Redentor. Oops, this time I didn't leave enough space for the full height!)

9/5/14 Take-Sumi ink, Museum pencils, Canson XL paper
(Cristo Redentor. On my third try, I finally got the proportions right.)

9/5/14 Platinum Carbon and Diamine Grey inks, watercolor, Canson XL paper (Cristo Redentor and gajillions of tourists)

9/6/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Museum pencils,
Zig markers, Canson XL paper (a vendor of handmade windmills, Rua do Catete)

8/23/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Zig marker, Canson XL paper
(At first I thought this young man near the beach was busking,
but it turned out he was offering lessons on playing the steel drums.
Buskers are one of my favorite sketching subjects,
but I saw very few in Rio. Perhaps it's not legal?)

Tina and Joni sketching the Cristo

Joni, Tina and Francesca sketching at Corcovado

Brazil, Part 2: Architecture and the City Scene

8/26/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolors,
 Caran d'Ache Museum pencils,
Canson XL 140 lb. paper
(Pousada do Ouro courtyard, Paraty)

You know I’m not a fan of sketching architecture, my persistent sketching nemesis. But even I was inspired by the lovely colonial buildings and colorful doors and windows of Paraty. My favorite architectural sketch of the whole two weeks is the one at right of the hotel where we (and all of the symposium staff, it turned out) stayed in Paraty, the Pousada do Ouro. This courtyard showing some of its brightly colored windows and doors is emblematic of Paraty’s charm.

Rio, too, was full of majestic architecture, but there I was more taken with the overall city life rather than individual buildings. After spending all day at one major tourist attraction or another (more on those later), I looked forward to coming “home” to our hotel neighborhood and sketching ordinary folks hanging out in parks and squares.

(For more sketches as well as photos from my Brazil travels, see this Flickr album.)

8/27/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Museum pencils, Canson XL (Paraty)

8-30-14 watercolor, Moleskine watercolor sketchbook (Santa Teresa, Paraty)
This is only the portion that would fit on my scanner. To see a photo of the
whole sketch in this landscape-format sketchbook, see my Flickr album.

8/31/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Canson XL
(Igreja de N. Sra. do Rosario, Paraty)

9/1/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Canson XL
(Ruo do Comercio near the bridge, Paraty. This was my farewell-
to-Paraty sketch just after sundown.)

9/1/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Canson XL
(back view of Igreja de N. Sra. do Rosario, Paraty)

9/4/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, J Herbin Vert Olive ink,
Kuretake brush pen, Canson XL (Sao Bento Monastery, Rio)

9/1/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi, Diamine Grey, J. Herbin Vert
Olive inks, Zig marker, Museum pencils, Canson XL
(near Theatro Municipal, Rio)

9/5/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Take-Sumi, Museum pencils, Canson XL
(men playing cards at Largo do Machado, Rio)

9/7/14 Take-Sumi and Diamine Grey inks, Museum pencil, Canson XL
(sketched from a cafe on Rua de Catete, Rio)

9/7/14 Platinum Carbon and Diamine Grey inks, watercolor,
Museum pencils, Canson XL (my farewell-to-Rio sketch at Largo do Machado Square, Rio)