Costa Rica Sketch Journal

Commercial and delivery trucks tell a lot about a place, and I am always drawn to them. I am sketching several trucks from the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica. This was one of my favorites.

The National Theatre of Costa Rica, built in 1897, is one of the most stunning buildings in downtown San Jose. Regular and affordable symphony orchestras are performed here, and the building houses some of Costa Rica's finest artwork.

The Central Post Office, or Correos de Costa Rica is San Jose's most stunning building. It was constructed in 1917 and houses the national philatelic museum. I sketched the building with Copic markers and Micron liner pens.

The Catedral Metropolitana, or Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, built in 1871 as a replacement to a cathedral lost in an Earthquake, is located in downtown San Jose, adjacent to the Parque Central, and is one of the most stunning buildings in San Jose. It is also the largest church in San Jose. I sketched this building with Copic markers.

Plaza de la Cultura

Watercolor sketch of a girl feeding pigeons at the Plaza de la Cultura.

There are a lot of pigeons throughout San Jose, but they swarm at this center-of-the-city location, where Ticos feed them, or dodge them.

Watercolor sketch of a minivan advertising a downtown casino at the Plaza de la Cultura.

Common Basilisk

Adult Common Basilisks have really rich textures. I sketched this basilisk from the Peje Perrito Lagoon, near Carate.

Green Heron

Green Herons are one of my favorite birds, although I never knew why they were called Green Herons, as they reddish, bluish and tannish, but never greenish.

In addition to being one of my most famous birds, these pint-sized herons have also helped me learn some of my most important lessons in travel. Green Herons migrate between almost all of the places I have been visiting as a traveler over the past sixteen years. As I see them in Oregon, California, Minnesota, Louisiana, Abaco, Honduras or Panama, I'm seeing a bird that is possibly there only seasonally. The lesson is about habitat. Regions and geography change, but there are equivalent habitats throughout the world. Wherever a Green Heron is, he's going to be in the equivalent habitat he was in the last place I saw him. To see a Green Heron in different parts of North America is to observe the role of habitat in our world.

Golfo Dulce Anole

Anoles are the most diverse genus of all four-limbed creatures in the world, and because they are also lizards of the Americas, they are dear to me as the magic little creatures out the door. I sketched this Golfo-dulce Anole at Luna Lodge in the Osa Peninsula using watercolor and ink pens. I also photographed an individual displaying its bright yellow-orange dewlap while attempting to lure a female.

Northern Jacana

Jacanas have these massive feet that allows them to walk effortlessly over lily pads and other dense marsh and wetland habitats. I've always been fascinated by jacanas as they are one of my childhood representations of the American tropics.

Northern Jacanas are polyandrous; — they practice the female equivalent of polygamy. Female Northern Jacanas will keep a clutch of several males, breeding throughout the year.

Costa Rica Moleskine Sketches

These are pages from my Costa Rica journal. This is the journal I use to write my itinerary notes, conversations, sketches and other things I pick up along the way. I write about my travel sketch toolkits in the Roam section of this site. You can also see my map of the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica here.