Sketch of Madrid

Because the weather has been so bad the last few days I decided to drag out my photos of spain.  I did quite a few thumbnail sketches from the photos to see if I could quickly capture the essence of that beautiful place with the recent experience I've had with sketching on site.  As I expected it was much easier now.  Of course sketching from photos isn't ideal but it's better than nothing.  I decided to take the one I thought was the best and apply some simple watercolor washes.  I must say sketching is fast becoming my favorite art form.  It suits me because it's quick and doesn't require carrying lots of stuff, getting messy or overly involved in any one piece of art.  It keeps it real so to speak.  When sketching you are less concerned with making mistakes and once you get over the idea that creating a picture means copying exactly what you see the freedom is exhilarating.  I did this sketch in less than 30 minutes and it brought back such memories of a wonderful vacation in this European capital.