Another Work of Bob

"Scottish Man"
12" x 15" Pastel

In 2013 Bob came into Monday drawing class to meet me for lunch. He was wearing his orange vest and a hat. Our instructor Bob Semans has become our friend, and the minute he saw Bob, he asked if he would come pose for us. That day, Bob chose to wear his Scottish Balmoral hat that he wears with his formal kilt. Here is is in his full kit.

Bob Semans did a demo piece on a large piece of pastel paper and gifted it to Bob in exchange for his work. We students were working on our own renditions, but I only partially finished. I only do pastels in class so I set aside. The other day I found the piece and decided to complete it in our hiatus of working without an instructor while he recovered from surgery. I was fairly pleased with my work, though you can see why Bob S. is our instructor. He gave me permission to post this piece. I was obviously sitting at a different angle. No two are alike.

Bob E. by Bob S.

Combining Collage and Paint

"Sounds of the City"
10" x 10" collage and acrylic
on museum quality canvas

I've been wanting to come up with ways to combine painting and collage with figures. I've painted Lisa Taylor before. She is a marvelous singer from Santa Cruz, CA, and I've danced to her live music a number of times. Her band's Facebook page gives you lots of info. I got permission from Lisa to use photos I've taken of her as subjects for my paintings.

I decided to use an unsuccessful canvas that had a highly textured surface. That is the least successful part of this experiment. I painted the background many different ways before settling on simple, then drew the figure in acrylic and painted it. I wanted a modern, flattened approach. I then found some interesting magazine pages for the collage and applied those with glossy medium. 

This method intrigues me enough to continue experimenting. Next I want to use a smooth surface canvas. I will also try watercolor on Arches with collage.

Drawing Class: Guglielmo Winery Supplies a Subject

"2015 Dolcetto
12" x 15 Pastel on Pastel Mat Board

Napa Valley is known as the wine valley in California, but Santa Clara Valley, known today as Silicon Valley, was the first premium wine production region, called "The Valley of the Heart's Delight." French and Italian immigrants brought their vines to our valley during the Gold Rush Era. That tradition continues with at least 30 wineries located here. We belong to two wine clubs and recently enjoyed entertaining guests with Guglielmo's wonderful 2015 Dolcetto.


Our drawing instructor is recovery for surgery, so we are meeting on our own at his suggestion. I created a setup with my empty wine bottle, a wine glass, and tea substituted for wine. Pastel colors are such a challenge. I had to mix multiple colors to achieve the shades I wanted.This time friend Susan gave me a sheet of Pastel Mat which can take lots of pastel. I found it a very nice support.

Here's to happy sipping at the wineries of Santa Clara Valley.

"View from the Paladar in Havana Old Town"
18" x14" Watercolor
$400

Recently we returned from a wonderful land tour of Cuba with Road Scholar. Relations between the USA and Cuba have been thawing, though the embargo we placed on them remains. President Obama opened travel with Cuba, but it remains quite restricted. You travel on a cruise ship or with a sanctioned tour company. Of course, there have always been ways to get there, but they are illegal. We choose Road Scholar because the company was one of the first US companies in Cuba even before Obama's actions. They've been doing tours since 2010.

The day we arrived with our Road Scholar manager on a flight from Miami, we were met by the Havanatour Company guide, Eneides. The company is owned by the government ad we had been told activities and hotels could be changed at the discretion of the government. If changes were made, they were not evident to us.

The first sights we saw from the bus reinforced some preconceived ideas -- there are few cars, which are mainly the old US classics from the 50s or Russian Ladas; and the beautiful architecture is suffering from decades of neglect due to lack of resources. We spent the rest of the day until 5 pm touring the city before checking into our hotel, the Capri, where the stars stayed when filming the 50s classic "Our Man in Havana." We found many of our preconceived notions to be statically stuck in time and did not reflect Cuba today.

Old Town Havana is a beautiful area with a 16th century fort and handsome architecture. Some of the buildings have been restored and more are in the works. While having lunch on the rooftop of a paladar (a privately owned restaurant), we looked up to see a wonderful old building, badly in need of repair, where one of the apartment inhabitants had hung the wash on the balcony. Bob took photos for later reference.

I wanted to show everyday life in this busy city. It was important to show the aging walls of the building. I stumbled upon a good way to do the cracked areas after applying the overall texture with sponge and a mop brush. I happened to get too much paint on the paper and voila, I had a crack filled with dirt.

Here are a fews photos from our first day in Havana. The descriptions are quoted from Wikipedia.

Built initially in 1589 in response to raids on 

Havana harbor, el Morro protected the mouth of 

the harbor with a chain being strung out across the 

water to the fort at La Punta.

The basilica and the monastery of San Francisco de Asis 

(Saint Francis of Assisi) were built in Havana, Cuba at the end of 

sixteenth century (1580–91) as the home of the Franciscan 

community, and were altered in the baroque style in 1730

In Plaza Vieja. The plaza was originally called 

Plaza Nueva (New Square).^[2] It emerged as an open 

space in 1559, after the Plaza de Armas and San Francisco. 

Plaza de Armas

Monday Morning Drawing Class: The German Beer Stein

"Octoberfest"
15" x 15" Pastel

Drawing instructor Bob Semans brought in a beautiful beer stein and fruit. Usually I do a pastel in a single morning, but this one took two. The design was a challenge and though it looks complex, I simplified it quite a bit. As always, values are everything in making a successful drawing or painting.