And so this was Christmas...

Jávea, Nochevieja en casa de mis padres. Estamos digiriendo, hercúleo trabajo en estas ocasiones. La cena acabó hace un rato pero aún falta para las uvas. Polvorones y cava para matar la espera (y eternizar la digestión). Yo me pongo a dibujar el belén y lo que está al lado. Empiezo poco convencido pero en algún momento me doy cuenta de las hojas de flor de Pascua sintéticas, María y José del tamaño de Barbie y Ken, el ángel colgado del cuadro, y de repente todo se me antoja imprescindible y la pluma empieza a ir sola. Lástima que la fluidez no alcance a mis tripas.


El impulso es tan fuerte que al día siguiente aún me quedan ganas de dibujar detalles de este tremendo escaparate, pero no quedan hojas de flor de Pascua que me inciten a colorear nada.

 Jávea, New Year's Eve at my parents house. We are digesting, herculean labor on this occasions. Dinner finished a while ago but we are still a bit far from the 12 grapes. Polvorones and cava to kill the time (and perpetuate digestion). I start drawing the Nativity scene and what's around. I start not so convinced but at some moment I realize the synthetic poinsettia leaves, Mary and Joseph the size of Barbie and Ken, the angel hanging from the picture frame, and suddenly everything seems indispensable to draw and the pen starts working alone. Alas, this fluidity doesn't got transmitted to my gut.

The boost is so strong that the day after I've still got fuel to keep on drawing spots of this tremendous showcase, but there are no more synthetic poinsettia leaves driving me to put some color.

Caganer

(En español en Urban Sketchers Spain)

For those who don't know about the caganer this can seem a joke, but it's actually a very serious-funny issue over here. In this case, the humongous caganer I drew this afternoon is the Christmas decoration of a shoping mall near the Port of Barcelona.

This video explains something about the assembly and installation.

Merry X!

(X=Christmas, Hanukkah or whatever).

Season Greetings! or Happy Holidays! if you prefer.

He hecho también una versión en español...

...e anche un'altra in italiano.

These are all the languages I speak (at the moment, now I'm studying french, maybe next year I'll make one more version).

Merry X to you all!

Merry X!

(X=Christmas, Hanukkah or whatever). Season Greetings! or Happy Holidays! if you prefer. This is an oldie I made some months ago, but since it was the end of the summer I've taken now the licence to post it again (with some photoshopping) for this season.
Merry X to you all!

Update

This is a sketchbook that was in my pocket this spring, from middle april till the end of june. Actually it's a moleskine notebook someone gave me for Chrsitmas a couple of years ago, but since I didn't find a better use, I decided to fill it with quick brush sketches.

A Merry doodle Christmas

Christmas ends today, at least in Spain, where the Three Kings carried this night all his gifts, and Italy, where the Befana (an old witch whose name derives from Epifania) filled the socks with candies. In Spain today is a big big day for children, in Italy most of the gifts came with Babbo Natale (fat old white bearded man, red dressed, says "ho, ho, ho"... you know).
Picking up the tree is a sad moment for children. Turning off the lights and turn to everyday is hard to everybody.
And what does all this matter with this drawing?
Nothing.
I've just made it on the last days. Near the tree.

Winter holidays

I've spent the last days in Sesto, a real paradise for cross-country skiing. It was my first time and I had some forced landings, but I really enjoyed it and I think I'll repeat the experience.
Obviously, I made some sketches too.

This is the Baur Hotel, a wonderful building of the late 1800's, just in the shore of the Dobbiaco Lake (there is a fantastic ski trip around).

We found this poinsettia on our table at the Zum Klaus restaurant.

The food at Zum Klaus was really good, and the decoration had some funny touches like this...

...and this.

And so this is Christmas...

Well this is a Christmas greeting card (or so).
I have a love-hate relationship with this season. Christmas has given me some of the best and the worse moments of my life. Most of the first happened when I was a child and so I keep a feeling of miss since it's impossible to feel that euphoria as an adult. My son made me try to give him the same mythic Christmas I had, and this took out some hidden feelings. Christmas is now a mix of naive good willing, gorgeous meals, and choral carols on one side, and shopping mall lightings (turned on in october) and chilling front pages on the other.
I can't do without this (not so) opposite points of view. I don't want to do without any of them.
Juj should say it's a little schizophrenic, and she should be right as usual.
Anyway, I guess I'm not so original, I bet many of you feel similar.

... and what have you drawn? Ehm..., nothing...
but here are a couple of presents:

this is from my Dr. Jeckill me:



and this is from my Mr. Hyde me:
http://www.joecartoon.com/games/11

Merry Christmas to you all.