Following a visit to Lisbon in September, I fished out an old travel book (1952) about Portugal and used its photos as the starting point for this series of drawings. Most of the photos are by the author, José A. Dos Santos.
Tagus estuary. Early in the morning, the night's catch of fish is sorted, weighed and distributed among the robust fish sellers, the "varinas".
Without the nasty shadow, but without the basket. Marker pen on kraft paper.
Detail. Brush pen, water colour, gouache. A bit Japonese?
Batalha, where the market gardeners come and sell their tasty vegetables and lovely fruit. Marker pen and pastel.
The same, plus one. Brush pen.
Santa Lucia, in the Algarve.
"This countrywoman is an amusingly typical figure", says the caption.
"The distances are short, cars rare, never a bicycle, the donkey is sufficient."
The same recycled. The donkey has morphed into a mule, it seems.
Oporto and its old wharves under the uneven shadow of
suspension bridges. Charcoal and eraser.
