Hometown and brushes

On my last trip to Madrid a couple of weeks ago, apart from shooting some of my old and almost forgotten works (they are shown on the previous 2 posts), I found some opportunities to take some sketches.
I made this at the boarding gate of the airport before the depart from Bologna. I used my new Niji brush, India ink and watercolors over a rough made with a ballpoint pen.

I made 2 sketches of my mother: she's alone on the first one...

...and with my son Fabio on the second one. Both were made with the same ballpoint pen and watercolors, but I used the ink brush just on the last one.

This is the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas which is supposed to mean for bullfighting the same as the Teatro alla Scala means for opera. I've never been too interested in bullfighting so I've never payed too much attention to this building when I used to live in Madrid, but when I passed by the other day I couldn't not to draw it.

Drawing directly with brushes is something like riding a roller coaster: there's some fear before but so much satisfaction after. The problem for me is that the comparison would be better with parachutes than with roller coasters: the fear often blocks me and I need some rough or guidelines under before I take the brush. It's because of this that I admire so much artists like Gabi Campanario or Enrique Flores.
After almost one year of comments and messages, I met Enrique for the first time on this trip (we had a fantastic lunch that lasted... over midnight!). As a result of this long and funny conversation... I finally jumped for the first time. Thank you, Enrique!
These were my first straight-with-the-brush sketches, made on the plane turning back home. From then on I haven't stopped "jumping", soon I'll let you see.