While waiting in the admissions line for the Taos Pueblo I saw a sign next to the admissions window that left me crestfallen:

“No sketching, painting, etc. without prior permission”. The one location I really looked forward to sketching was the Taos Pueblo and now, because I didn’t have prior permission, my sketchbook and pens would remain idle in my bag.

I thought it odd that you could take all the photographs with your phone (which I did) but you couldn’t render the Pueblo with paper and pen. The Pueblo is a private and sovereign community but this still doesn’t explain why the cultural paparazzi are allowed to photograph to their heart’s content yet sketching is forbidden.

So I took lots of photographs to sketch from. (I know it’s cheating by Urban Sketchers’ standards).

The Pueblo is the oldest continuously habited structures or communities in the United States. It is the only United States Heritage site where people live. As such, visiting the Pueblo feeling like being a voyeur or evesdropper.

When I arrived, residents were clearing off roofs and making repairs. There was a stark contrast between the ancient north side multistory adobe and modern trucks and cars parked in front.

While I was back home I added two post trip sketches based on my paparazzi pictures. The featured sketched is a continuous-line sketch of the north building.

In my 100% cotton panoramic journal I did a gestural painting and let the paint on the paper tell the story: