Virtual Paint Out in San Miguel de Allende

I went to Mexico yesterday (playing with others at Bill Guffey's Virtual Paint OUT)  It was a beautiful day in San Miguel de Allende, while it was pouring rain in ARIZONA!   I found this little street and the colors just JUMPED out at me begging to be painted.  So I painted them.

Hotel Posada de las Manjas
Pastel on SandPaper 9x12

Here is my reference photo from Google Street View.

I'm liking a few things about this painting.  My 13th pastel painting ever.  This one I tried real hard to avoid over blending, and I think I succeeded.  If you get close you can really see the pastel dust!  AND I did people.  Of course if you count the carriage driver and passengers last month's Central Park painting, these are only my second attempt at figures, ever.  So they aren't great, but they aren't horrible either.  And I never had to wipe them out and start over . . . like the horse last month.

I did not wash the background on this painting at all. I liked the look that the pastel on the sandpaper at first pass.  It left the buildings with that old patchy look.  Here are some progress photos from today.  OH YEA.  That's the other thing.  I did this in one day.  I started, I kept at it, and I finished it.  That's a new one for me.

Charcoal sketch

First Pass of Color

Adding bricks and greenery.

PEOPLE . . we have PEOPLE
and YES I left out the pickup truck. . . that looked hard!

I just loved the colors and the direction of this image.  All of the action is really happening "way down the road" and it looked like it went on forever.

Try Google Street View . . you'll LOVE IT.