Pueblo Bird

At the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque

Influences from Pueblo pottery

On our trip through the southwest, we spent a night in Albuquerque. We stayed at the cool contemporary El Vado Motel with a pool, live music, and outdoor eating, with many beers on tap from local micro-breweries. Next morning we visited the New Mexico Museum of Natural history, which was interesting but full of school kids, so VERY noisy. Next, we stopped to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, a great place with their museum, restaurant, and events center. I like taking my sketchbook with me in case something attracts my desire to draw it. I love the way animals are depicted on pottery – so simply stylized and colored.

I made a quick pencil sketch of a bird that was painted large on a wall. Later I filled in the background elements from a mural on the outer building there. We were lucky enough to be visiting in time for a native drum and dance performance. My sketchbook shows the drawing once I inked it in.

Sketchbook drawing and pottery at the cultural center

The final vector version with textures added in Photoshop.

Once home I decided to render my little sketch into my vector program and give it some color. I then brought it into Photoshop where I gave it the soft glow and added a textureed background.

SketchTravel

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