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Vinales Finale ~~ on to Havana!

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We had beautiful days in Vinales, sunrise to sunset. I took lots of photos and, while waiting for evening activities, made a couple more paintings. A gouache of the valley below our balcony (the black paper didn’t photograph well):

a gouache painting of the Vinales Valley beneath our balcony

‘Gauzy’ gouache of the valley beneath our balcony.

and a watercolor of a lone palm tree presiding over the pool (painted happily with a Mojito at my elbow):

A painting of a solitary palm tree with mogote background, watercolor

A proud palm by the pool at Los Jazmines,Vinales.

Here are a few more photos in and around Los Jazmines Hotel, made primarily to fix the place and its beauties in my memories:

Early sunrise at Los Jazmines.

photo of the valley with a tobacco barn under construction

Tobacco barn underway in the valley.

looking down the length of the bar

The cozy cafe-bar in the hotel.

bartender behind bar pours coffee

We DID drink coffee in addition to plentiful Mojitos!

pink hotel and blue pool

Pink hotel and blue pool made a cool combo.

waiter and guests chat in the cool evening

A casual evening around the pool.

sunset, sky and part of the hotel balcony

We sigh and snap a photo of our last Vinales sunset.

painting on a wall near the hotel

We pass a ‘colorful’ mural en route to the morning bus.

Goodbye, Vinales! Goodbye, Los Jazmines! On to Havana!

My Gouache Geisha ~~ Cuban Gouache Backstory

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As mentioned earlier, in Cuba we painted mostly with gouache for portability. In broad terms, gouache is a type of watercolor paint that makes heavy, strong opaque colors and whites, due to the use of ground chalk or other opaque filler with the color pigments.

I found it a challenge to handle. To gain some experience before the trip, I worked only in gouache at each Yellow Barn class for the semester preceding departure. My first challenge was to paint a lovely Japanese woman dressed as a geisha. Here are photos of her poses, as well as my two paintings.

More Vignettes of Vinales, Cuba

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After our time at the tobacco farm, we met up with the non-painters in our group. Most of them had visited a tobacco farm that morning via horseback, while we painted the ‘bull boy’.

Back together, we meandered through the cozy town of Vinales, taking in the sights, as illustrated by the photos below. Charming cars, wagons and other make-shift vehicles. Old and new-style housing combined with primitive construction techniques. Tired populace and garbage-strewn streets following three days and nights of a long-awaited music festival. Well-tended and prominent references to the revolution: Che on a chimney top; Jose Marti in a stark white lane-side memorial; cardboard street signs on bars and painted slogans gracing the local ball stadium.

Touring and Painting a Cuban Tobacco Farm

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For the next cultural-artistic adventure, we bused to nearby Vinales town and hiked to a small tobacco farm out on the valley floor.

The tobacco farm set against pasters.

Our first glimpse of the farm.

The farmer's wife brews coffee for our group

The farmer’s wife brews coffee.

In the thatched kitchen — an outbuilding, so as to minimize the risk of fire — we enjoyed a complimentary coffee brewed by the farmer’s wife from beans grown and roasted by the family.

As we sat around with some of the best coffee we’ve ever had, her husband demonstrated his cigar-rolling technique. It was interesting to learn that each farm family uses its own secret recipe to ferment its 10% share of the annual tobacco crop.

We were able to persuade the farmer to move his table outside and demo his technique again — this time, we painted. Another wonderful local subject!

The farmer poses for the painters.

The farmer turns model for the afternoon.

I was grateful to snag a small chair and a sliver of shade for our painting session. Here’s the watercolor I made.

the tobacco farmer poses for us in his yard

The tobacco farmer with background bull.

A Second Stab at Capturing Our Worthy Cuban Model

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Not happy with my first gouache effort of the day, I decided to try another – this time, a profile of the farmer’s head. He wasn’t sporting his cigar at the time I did my sketch, but then again, my sketch didn’t merit a cigar. After my piece, see a photo of the real deal.

The farmer's profile

My take on the farmer's profile

Our courtly farmer, in the flesh.

The farmer makes posing a bit more bearable by chewing a cigar.

Our model, with Cuban hat and cigar.

First Morning in Cuba: Painting the ‘Bull Boy’

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No disrespect intended! Walt Bartman had promised us a cowboy and his horse. What we got was a grizzled, droll, and patient farmer . . . and his bull. Of course, both were way more fun to paint than a horse and cowboy would have been.

A Farmer and His Bull Pose for our Group

Walt, painting the 'bull boy'

My perspective on the bull and rider.

From My Perspective

This was my vantage point.

And my gouache sketch. It’s not great — I spent most of my time watching Walt’s gouache techniques, trying to learn more about this unfamiliar medium.

A Pretty Pathetic Gouache, if I DO Say so Myself

Oh well . . .

A word about the gouache: Walt had encouraged us to use this easy-to-tote medium, rather than haul oil painting gear all over Cuba. This was good advice in view of the strict weight limit and our plan to bring giveaway items. But NOT so good for painting quality, in my case anyway. I’ll brief you ‘later’ on the painful months spent acquainting myself with gouache in advance of our trip.

Cuba was a Trip!

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With a cohort of fellow artists from the Yellow Barn and several family members (including my hubby), I just completed an extremely interesting and fruitful trip to Cuba. We planned to interact with Cuban artists; paint Cuban people, land and cityscapes; soak up the culture; and leave behind art supplies and other items that could be useful.

We began in Pinar del Rio, in western Cuba, exploring the Vinales Valley, with its mysterious mogotes, and other environs. Here is the spectacular view from our little balcony immediately upon arrival.

Red earth, green fields, and mysterious mogotes

Vinales Valley, with Mogotes in the Distance

And a photo of fellow artists, also soaking up the beauty.

All Enjoy the View

All Enjoy the Spectacular View

And an ipad sketch I immediately began (using ArtRage3).

iPad Sketch of Vinales Valley

iPad Sketch of Vinales Valley

Plein Air Competition Trains Us in Environmentally Clean Methods

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A beautiful scene of Glen Echo Park on the day of the plein air competition

Potomac Patch's Photo of Yellow Barn's "Paint the Park Green" competition

This past weekend the Yellow Barn, situated on the lovely Glen Echo Park grounds, held a two-day plein air competition, featuring environmentally sensitive techniques for painting in oils, acrylics and watercolors. The setting was magical and the camaraderie was warm, as we fanned out around the park to develop our paintings for the Sunday evening competition.

plein air painting of arcade sign and courtyard

Oil painting of Glen Echo's Art Deco 'arcade' sign and courtyard

This is what I accomplished on Saturday. I was up on the second floor balcony looking down over the ‘arcade’ sign into the courtyard. A two-day Cajun and Zydeco music festival was also in full swing over the weekend, so I was at least able to boogie while making a dull painting!

Stephen Sits as Our Model

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Stephen and His Book

Stephen and His Book

I painted this figurative study during classes with Walt Bartman last week. Stephen was so comfy posing in the big blue easy chair that he barely took breaks during the sessions. Thank you, Stephen. We enjoyed painting your shiny pate. (This photo isn’t up to par — had too much light shining on the left part of the canvas.)

Extra Special Appreciation for My First Painting Teacher, Otari Shiuk

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First Nature Morte

The First Nature Morte I Attempted

In my thirties, while still practicing law, I learned of an emigre from Soviet Georgia who painted with lush color and vigorous line, and lived in a nearby suburb. Most of my prior artwork had been black line-drawings. Color terrified me, but I felt I needed to try it. Through a mutual friend, I arranged Saturday morning oil lessons with Otari Shiuk (short for Shiukishvili).

He couldn’t speak English and of course I couldn’t speak Russian, but we could communicate a smidge. Me, timidly, pointing at one of his portraits: “I want to paint portraits”. Him, with utter incredulity: “Must crawl before run! Nature morte!!”

My least favorite thing at the time was still life, but I was in no position to object. He set up a simple tableau on his back porch: a dark red apple, a deep purple eggplant and a brown pottery pitcher, all on a reflective white porcelain table backed by a white handkerchief, hanging sail-like from a red brick wall.

He gestured that I should paint it. I’ll continue the tale next time — but I’m sure you can imagine the ensuing scene without much more explanation! By the way, the picture above is a poor crop from an out-of-focus photo. Will try to do a better one later.