Taco Escobarr #15

Sustained Investigation #15

6 x 12

Marker, Color Pencil, Pen, Gouache

This is my 15th Sustained Investigation where I drew my favorite restaurant, Taco Escobarr in Portland, Maine. My inquiry question is, "How can I use color and texture to concentrate on the emotions of landscapes?" My best friend and I go to this restaurant pretty frequently, we love Mexican food and as teenagers, we can't afford to spend a lot of money when we go out so this place is perfect for us. We have spent hours sitting in a booth, eating chips and salsa while talking about anything, having good laughs, and enjoying the vibes with the fun music and pretty lights. I've never had a dull moment here, which is why I wanted to portray a joyful feeling with bright saturated colors using markers. I went in with some shading using colored pencils, and for the lights, I decided to use gouache because they would look the most bright on a black surface. After I had finished coloring, I wanted my drawing to look a bit cleaner and used a pen to outline most of the features to make them more distinct. Aside from the fun atmosphere, my favorite restaurant has some of my favorite food, and a staple plate I get is the Mexican corn, also known as elote. I have brought so many friends to this restaurant, and have made them try it because I think its incredible, and I wanted to introduce this amazing concoction to everyone, which is why I added a Mexican corn icon from cut-out paper to my piece. I also added chips and salsa since this is also a staple item I get, as well as churros because my friend and I recently discovered they had them, and fell in love. I also included some sauces they carry, that I of course love to add to my food and some other features as well. I think bringing in these items in a collage form made them stand out, showing that they were important in a sense, and they do come with a lot of memories which is essentially what this whole project is revolving around. Overall, I'm really happy with how my project has turned out and it honestly makes me joyful just looking at it, which is exactly the impression I wanted.