Sketching in the Kitchen: My passion for cooking

My passion for cooking ... and the painting:
My latest creations:
Bon Appetite!!

More sketches:

Portraits in situ with "Guardar Como" Group

In "Guardar Como", a group of artists meet every week for more than five years. We invite a public figure weekly; Musicians, writers, singers, bullfighters, dancers, sport players, etc. have been protagonists and models in these evenings sessions.
These are some of my works, portraits in situ, of the last sessions:

Virgen de los Aguadores (Folk Dancing Group) . 16 May

Asunción and Julio (Dancers). June 6

M. Carmen Diago (Poet). 23th May

DaButti Raúl and Edgar. 4th of April

Lola Quintana (Writer) March 21st

Tali Honukai (Dancer) March 14

Ana Quesada (Musician) March 7

Rosa Rico (Spanish Song singer) 28 Febr.

Pablo Buisan (Sculptor) 21st. Febr

Laura Santamaría (Actress) January 17

I have compiled some of these portraits in a Flickr album. You can have a look at this below:

More on some of these sessions in this Blog.

More about the "Guardar Como" Group´s activities on the Facebook  page

Bangkok Travel Sketchbook

My Sketchbook published in Issuu

Drawings, and watercolors accompanied by some indications and notes of Bangkok in my sketchbook. There are innumerable thems to collect in the notebook; the temples, streets, canals, ... but especially the people. Thais are willing to be drawn and grateful to see themselves portrayed in my notebook. Buddhist monks, market vendors, subway passengers, ...

Canals and Floating Markets in Bangkok

Due to the vast network of canals and waterways, Bangkok and the surrounding area, were formerly known as the Venice of the East. In ancient times the whole city was crossed by hundreds of channels. Khlongs are canals that extend into the city from the main river that runs through Bangkok to the Chao Phraya River. Unlike the east side of the river, the modern Bangkok, where many canals were drained and filled with dirt to build asphalt roads, the west side of the city still retains many of its water channels, which today serve as main roads of transportation in that area of the city.

Khlong Lat Mayom (ตลาดน้ำคลองลัดมะยม)

Khlong Lat Mayom (ตลาดน้ำคลองลัดมะยม)

Teak huts . Khlong Lat Mayom ตลาดน้ำคลองลัดมะยม

The canals of Bangkok are full of long bow boats; Longs, which function as a taxi, taking from one place to another the citizens who live in them for a small fee, boats of street vendors and other service boats such as the postman or the butane supplier who do their door-to-door delivery.

Thonburi, in the western area of Chao Phraya, is one of the oldest and most intact areas left of Bangkok. We discovered small wooden houses on stilts, children swimming in the river, fishermen ...

Teak huts . Khlong Lat Mayom ตลาดน้ำคลองลัดมะยม

Some places seem quite poor, but you can also see beautiful houses, temples ...

Even nowadays canals are still used as transportation in areas in and around Bangkok., and therefore people would tend to sell things directly from their boats, and congregate in certain areas to have floating boat markets.

ตลาดน้ำคลองลัดมะยม

One of the most popular is Khlong Lat Mayom (ตลาดน้ำคลองลัดมะยม) – situated in a lovely green lush area with an abundance of good food to eat.
The grilled snakehead fish (ปลาช่อนเผา), despite its scary looks, is incredibly delicious. fresh, and grilled

Bangkok es por sus canales llamada la Venecia del Este. Antigüamente toda la ciudad estaba surcada por cientos de canales. Los khlongs son canales que se extienden en la ciudad desde el río principal que atraviesa Bangkok, al río Chao Phraya. A diferencia del lado este del río, la Bangkok moderna, donde se drenaron y rellenaron muchos canales con tierra para construir carreteras de asfalto, la cara oeste de la ciudad todavía conserva muchos de sus canales de agua, que sirven hoy en día como vías principales de transporte en esa zona de la ciudad. Los canales de Bangkok están repletos de barcas de proa larga; Longs,  que funcionan a modo de taxi, llevando de un sitio a otro a los ciudadanos que viven en ellos por un módico precio, barcas de vendedores ambulantes y otras lanchas de servicios como el cartero o el butanero que hacen su reparto puerta por puerta.

Thonburi , en la zona oeste del Chao Phraya, es una de las zonas más antiguas e intactas que quedan de Bangkok. Descubrimos pequeñas casas de madera sobre pilotes, niños nadando en el río, pescadores ...

Algunos lugares parecen bastante pobres, pero también se ven casas hermosas, templos ...

Sketching in Bangkok

Thai dance 

A great experience to draw in Thailand. There are innumerable thems to collect in the notebook; the temples, streets, canals, ... but especially the people.

Thais are willing to be drawn and grateful to see themselves portrayed in my notebook. Buddhist monks, market vendors, subway passengers, ... but it was undoubtedly a group of dancers that I portrayed in Lumphini Park while they were preparing and waiting for their performance, with whom I most enjoyed this experience. Thai dance is closely linked to the danced theater. The scenic art is characterized by the grace and cadence of the movements, as well as by the expression, the hairstyles and make-up, the color and the beautiful clothes that the dancers wear. To achieve maximum expressiveness, in this dance the neck and body remain quite upright while slightly flexing the legs and forming beautiful figures with arms and hands.รำไทย The two major forms of Thai classical dance drama are khon and lakon nai. In the beginning, both were exclusively court entertainments and it was not until much later that a popular style of dance theater,likay, evolved as a diversion for common folk who had no access to royal performances

Una gran experiencia  dibujar en Tailandia. Son innumerables los temas que recogí en mi cuaderno; los templos, las calles, los canales, ... pero especialmente la gente.

Los tailandeses están generalmente dispuestos  y agradecidos de verse retratados. Monjes budistas, vendedores del mercado, pasajeros del metro, ... pero indudablemente fue un grupo de bailarines que retraté en Lumphini Park mientras se preparaban y esperaban su actuación, con quienes más disfruté de esta experiencia. La danza tailandesa está estrechamente vinculada al teatro bailado. El arte escénico se caracteriza por la gracia y la cadencia de los movimientos, así como por la expresión, los peinados y el maquillaje, el color y la hermosa ropa que visten los bailarines.

The  White cockatoo

My little model wanted to play with my work. I think he liked my drawing and even claimed part of his image rights.

Mi pequeño modelo, una Cacatúa Blanca,  quiso jugar con mi trabajo. Creo que le gustó mi dibujo e incluso reclamó parte de sus derechos de imagen.

Chinese New Year and the concept Chinatown

Next February 16 will be the Chinese New Year, (this year will be the dog's). It's been a year since I was in Thailand celebrating the Chinese New Year; It's 3 days of celebration in that country, in the Philippines, where I could live the preparations for these events, it's also festive.

Since China is since the nineteenth century the country that has contributed the most migrants to the rest of the world, there are important Chinese communities scattered around the planet. These preserve many of their traditions, gastronomy, celebrations, ...

Chinese Garden. Manila. Philippines

The word Chinatown 唐人街denominates a zone of the city where a great amount of population of Chinese origin resides within a non-Chinese society. There are Chinatowns in almost every major city in the world

China town. Bangkok. Tailand

I conclude the post with a sketch I took in  Havana´s Chinatown. This Chinatown became the most important in America. Today, most Cuban Chinese are mixed with Spaniards and Africans.

China Town. La Habana. Cuba

El próximo 16 de Febrero será el año nuevo chino, (este año será el del perro). Hace ahora un año que estuve en Tailandia en la celebración del año nuevo chino; son 3 días de fiesta en ese país, en Filipinas, donde pude vivir las  preparaciones para estos eventos, es también festivo.
Ya que China es desde el siglo XIX el país que más emigrantes ha aportado al resto del mundo, hay importantes comunidades chinas repartidas por todo el planeta. Estas conservan muchas de sus tradiciones, gastronomía, celebraciones,…El término Chinatown 唐人街 denomina una zona de la ciudad donde reside una gran cantidad de población de origen chino dentro de una sociedad no china. Hay barrios chinos en casi todas las grandes ciudades del mundo. Concluyo el post con un apunte que tomé en el barrio Chino de La Habana. Este llegó a ser el  más importante de América. Hoy en día la mayoría de los chinos cubanos son mezcla con españoles y africanos.

58th world wide Sketchcrawl

Joining the 58th world wide Sketchcrawl. This year we draw in the Natural Science Museum. We met about twenty sketchers at the event.

More about the event in Valladolid in Valladolid Dibuja.

More about the 58 WWSketchCrawl in the rest of the world in Sketchcrawl.com

Portrait Revolution

It has been a great satisfaction and recognition for me that two of my works have been published in the book "Portrait Revolution".

To express this great pride that I feel, I must explain that this book, which has sold thousands of copies around the world, is a reference and undoubtedly one of the best publications around the genre of contemporary portrait, as this opinion is supported by the art critic and press; Library Journal, Artists & Illustrators, ...

The book features 450 portraits (chosen from more than 50,000 works) of 200 members of JKPP (Julia Kay Portrait Party), an international community of online artists created 9 years ago.

The book is organized into sections on portraits in different media, styles and themes.

For more information or to acquire the book, you can follow this link: Portrait Revolution

My portraits for JKPP in Flickr´s JKPP Album

Ha sido para mí una gran satisfacción y reconocimiento que dos de mis obras hayan sido publicadas en el libro “Portrait Revolution”.

Para expresar este gran orgullo que siento, debo explicar que este libro, del que se han vendido ya miles de ejemplares en todo el mundo, es todo un referente y sin duda una de las mejores publicaciones en torno al género pictórico del retrato contemporáneo, siendo esta  opinión avalada por la crítica y prensa de arte; Library Journal, Artists & Illustrators, …

En el libro aparecen 450 retratos (escogidos entre más de 50.000 trabajos) de 200 miembros de JKPP (Julia Kay Portrait Party), una comunidad internacional de artistas online creada hace 9 años.

El libro está organizado en secciones sobre retratos en diferentes medios, estilos y temas.


Barcelona 2011
It was during the summer of 2011, when in Barcelona I met some of the most important collaborating portrait painters of the group.

In the  photo above Barbara Luel, Kay, Erica St Leonards,Victor Swasky, Joan Ramon, Felix Tamayo, Arturo Espinosa, Damiel Castro Alonso, Judy Repke, Miguel RGL, Zoraida,  Susanne DT

Since then, more than 200 portraits have been made of the group.

My portraits for JKPP in Flickr´s JKPP Album

Academic nude drawing sessions

A selection of the sketches of the last academic nude sessions in the art school.

30th. Nov.

Watercolor on  200gr. 29.7x21 cm Moleskine Watercolor Album

Watercolor on  200gr. 29.7x21 cm Moleskine Watercolor Album

Watercolor on  200gr. 29.7x21 cm Moleskine Watercolor Album

27th. Oct.

Drawing and Watercolor on  200gr. 29.7x21 cm Moleskine 

Drawing and Watercolor on  200gr. 29.7x21 cm Moleskine

Drawing and Watercolor on  200gr. 29.7x21 cm Moleskine 

A nude session in Irene´s workshop (Berlín). The Italian Irene as a model.

19th. June

Drawing and Watercolor on  200gr. 29.7x21 cm Moleskine 

Portraiting Vanessa Cubillo

This is one of the sessions that I enjoyed the most.

I love the voice of this cute  flamenco singer, Vanessa Cubillo. She was  accompanied that evening by the great guitarist, Jaime Barrul.

I was inspired and ended up happy with this portrait in situ. A sketch where I tried to capture the movement and soul of the scene.

You can see below a scene from the session

More about Vanessa Cubillo in Youtube

Una de las sesiones que más he disfrutado dibujando fue el recital de la guapísima cantaora flamenca Vanessa Cubillo.  Esa tarde acompañada a la guitarra por Jaime Barrul. 

Vanessa tiene esa voz gitana, poderosa y desgarrada, que se te mete dentro y te pone la piel de gallina. 

Terminé contento con mi apunte, donde traté de reflejar esa emoción y movimiento.