One last post from Costa Rica, from the relatively dry (just a couple of thundershowers everyday) Pacific Coast near Manuel Antonio National Park.
We spent lots of time at a quiet little cove called Playa Biesanz where the ocean was as calm as a pool and there were more locals than tourists. At Manuel Antonio the forest comes right down to the beach and the ocean is dotted with little green islands.
One entrepreneurial guy set up a little kayak and life jacket rental on the beach, using a casuarina tree to help set up shop.
Like every other place in Costa Rica, what fascinated me most was the vegetation. The forest is everywhere, and always on the verge of taking over the little patches of man made landscape. This stone statue (of a monkey god? I think that’s a capuchin monkey on it’s head) stood moss-covered by a hiking path.
The garden crew at our hotel spent all day trimming and pruning trees. This guy uses a long stick with two knife edges to cut back palm trees.
More trees I drew: The banana tree.
And a tree we called the ‘Sloth tree’. Almost every sloth we spotted (and we spotted a lot of them) was in this tree. And yes, this is another sketch that a thundershower played a big part in shaping.
When you live right at the edge of the forest, the iguanas join you for breakfast. This guy waited patiently by us while we ate breakfast on the patio. He was just there for the crumbs. For a black spiny tailed iguana, he was small at about 2 feet long.
My last sketches from Costa Rica: the fruit stands with pineapple and watermelon, mango and mangosteen, loads of bananas, star fruit, papaya, custard apple, malay apples, coconut and fruit I don’t know the name to and didn’t get around to tasting. (That means I’m going to have to come back another time!)
One last sketch, Hari and the kids reading Tintin on our long flight home.
Goodbye Costa Rica, what an adventure that was!
Posts 1, 2 and 3 from this 4-part series here:
Or, all of my Costa Rica sketches with none of the commentary in this flickr set.
Sketch Away: Travels with my sketchbook 
Suhita, do you put the colors and then follow it with ink or the other way? I can see you black ink border showing prominently over the water color so I am suspecting it it ink over color. Also please share how you actually go about doing the paintings. Do you do a rough sketch and finish them later? These paintings are worth publishing in a book. Great work.
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Thanks Sudheer. Actually it’s almost always ink first watercolor later for me. and both the ink and watercolor are done on location, I never add anything or finish up a piece later. I use a sharpie to draw for the most part and when I use a fountain pen I use Noodlers Bulletproof ink which is waterproof when dry.
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I love your lizards and of course, your amazing gestures.
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Lee, these guys came and sat by my feet, they were easy to draw 🙂
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hey,your arts are as like Ware frame drawing!!
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I ADORE these sketches!
One question: do you draw or paint first?
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Lynn, draw first, almost always. Paint next, but also on location, right after I draw.
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Wonderful way to share stories. I really enjoyed Costa Rica through your sketches.
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I am going to second Sudheer’s comments. Please write a book. I love your style and would like to be able to do something similar (in my own way). I guess I am assuming these are done fairly quickly, at least the sketching part of it?
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