Mexican Sunlight

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. The town of San Miguel de Allende brings back fond memories of when I used to go on painting trips to Mexico with my mentor Lowell Ellsworth Smith. It is a quintessential Mexican town with a large mission, town square, and a fabulous open air market. Donkeys and burro's were used to bring produce and other items for sale into the market and then they were tethered along a stone wall for the rest of the day. Upon discovering this, I was attracted to the light and shadow on the wall and the animals, as well as the colorful blankets, saddles and ropes.

I started with the donkey in the center who was mostly in sunlight with a few dappled shadows on his head and neck. Using light earth tones, burnt sienna and yellow ochre, along with a liberal use of unpainted white paper, I painted his legs and body. Next I moved onto his head and neck with darker mixtures of burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue to show the cast shadows. The blanket was painted with cadmium red, cerulean blue and unpainted paper for the white stripes and the ropes are yellow ochre.

On to the two burro's where I used burnt sienna, burnt umber and French ultramarine blue with yellow ochre again for the ropes. Getting the expressions right on the animals was important and I tried to show that they were about half awake as they rested there in the shade. Also their cast shadows on the ground was a way of tying the three of them together. Odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye than even numbers so I added the third burro even though he is barely visible.

For the stone wall I used grays mixed with cerulean blue and cadmium red in light and dark values. I wanted the stone wall to stop before it hit the top border so I put dark green trees mixed with olive and perylene green behind it. The dirt is a combination of burnt sienna and raw umber and the dark cast shadows are burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue. San Miguel de Allende is such a magical place and I am thankful for all I learned from my mentor on those memorable painting trips. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton