2017 Christmas road trip

If I were in another part of the world, I probably wouldn't have put Las Vegas on my list to visit. But here we are in California and therefore Las Vegas became one of the destination of this road trip. The city, or I should say The Strip, is not much different from Tokyo or Taipei, where neon light signs dominate the streets and the sky. James and I visited most of the casinos/hotels on The Strip and a few of them are quite unique. We of course tried our luck in the sin city. The result was good enough for us to eat seafood buffet for 3 days.

 I was trying to capture The Strip during the day from our hotel room located on the 28th floor. Unfortunately I was overwhelmed and impatient so the sketch turned out to be an unsatisfactory attempt.

 After 3 days in Las Vegas, James and I were quite ready for some peace and quiet. We pushed on to the Grand Canyon NP and took a walk along the south rim. This sketch was a bit flat before I re-touched it with my Kuretake brush pen (water-soluble ink). Although the view was paler in reality, I think the sketch looks better with a stronger contrast.

Along the south rim of Grand Canyon

 I thought the Grand Canyon is amazing but I was blown away by the view in Death Valley NP. Like James said, it was ridiculously quiet. Not wind, no sound at night and we saw a magnificent sunrise there. A view that I haven't figured out how to capture with watercolours.

Desert view in Death Valley National Park