CAP D'ANTIBES, watercolor and ink sketch

CAP D'ANTIBES, watercolor and ink sketch, 6x8 in.

Walking all around the peninsula in Cap d'Antibes last week, and sketching and painting along the way, was very tiring and extremely wonderful. The views are magnificent, the group from Paris I joined was a very nice group, and very talented watercolorists.

Almost every small town along the Côte d'Azur has a house/museum that belonged to Picasso. He seemed to have filled a house with art, such a prolific artist, then buy another house in the next town, and work in a different style. I'm exaggerating, but there are 12 houses in 12 towns where Picasso lived in the south of France, at one point or another!!!I've only visited a few.

TERRAZAS DE MARBELLA I, watercolor sketch

TERRAZAS DE MARBELLA I, watercolor sketch, 4x4

Marbella is a beautiful and elegant town on the South of Spain, where Dali sculptures grace the downtown plaza leading from the gorgeous beach to the lovely Old Town shops, bars and restaurants area. This is a sketch of a quite villa of condominiums nearby.

To get to Marbella, you can fly into Malaga, and visit the several Picasso museums in Malaga, since he was born there.  His native house in front of the plaza is one of the museums.

after Picasso: ACROBATA, watercolor

after Picasso: ACROBATA, watercolor in my art-notebook.
Visiting the Picasso Museum in Malaga, Spain, I discovered this "Acróbata", painted in Paris in 1930.  The capricious disposition presents the figure in a rotation movement without end. The original painting is square, which may suggest you can hang it from any angle. We could actually rotate it, and the figure almost seems to move around, reminiscent of a circus, or even the Cirque du Soleil.
Impressive!!! He did this in 1930!!!

FIGURA NEL PAESAGGIO, watercolor

Figura nel Paesaggio, watercolor, 11x15 in.

Motherwell speculated that there were different "families" of painters, and he belonged to the "black family" and earth-color painters in masses", a group that included Manet, Goya, Matisse ("don't forget that his greatest color is black") Miro, and sometimes Picasso. He aspired to join this company of painters who used Black as a Color, rather than a tone. Black color is quite prevalent in  Spanish art, I think. Is there a connection to death in the bull-ring? At "five in the afternoon", like Lorca would say?

Au Lapin Agile, Montmartre

Au Lapin Agile, Montmartre,  watercolor, 7x9 in. available, email me.
The famous pub/bar/cafe, where Picasso and the Impressionists met for drinks, and discussions about art and women at the beginning of the 20th C. is still there, walking down, (or up) from the Sacre Coeur Basilique, in Paris, France.

Manet was the inventor of Modern Art. He demonstrated boldness and flexibility, rising to every challenge. Politics was also a main concern of his, and central to his works of the last years of his life. Manet has been called the Parisian Goya.

Together

Together, acrylic on canvas, 7x5 in. available at the Women's Museum of California, located at Barrack 16, Liberty Station, San Diego, California.

The Hungarian National Museum, in Budapest, Hungary, was founded in 1802. Among its treasures, they have Francisco de Goya's "La Aguadora", oil on canvas, painted around 1812, Velazquez "El Almuerzo", Monet's "Fishing Boats", Manet's "Lady with Fan", plus Van Gogh, Toulouse Loutrec, Kokoshka, Picasso, etc. What surprised me the most, was to learn that they have the largest collection of Goya paintings outside Madrid. This beautiful museum is in front of Hero's Square, right where the big city park starts. Highly recommended visit.

Paris, La Concergerie

Paris, La Concergerie, watercolor, 8x10, available. I arrived yesterday. Paris is a city of lights, of art, of music, and more than anything else, of dreams. My feet may hurt from walking so much, but my heart....ah! my heart is singing! Paris, je t'aime!
On the plane, I saw a video titled: "Picasso, influence on the development of Modern Art in England". It was very interesting. They said that Picasso visited England only once in his life, for several months, and he left vowing never to return, and he didn't. He found Brittish art "pretty",  Yet, his influence in Brittish Modern Art has been enormous, particularly his influence on Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, and Sutherland, who took the theme of crucificion after Picasso's style. Picasso's 1st major retrospective in the 1960's in London brought major visitors, including David Hockney, who loved Picasso's works.

Self-portrait on Green Paper

Self-portrait on Green Paper, crayons on paper, 10x8. Available
Quick sketch in front of a mirror, done at the San Diego Museum of Art in 2010. They had a table set up for children to play with crayons. I happened to find a green paper around, and decided to do this quick sketch of myself. I enjoy challenging myself to draw or paint with anything I find. I remember an anecdote I once read about Picasso, that he would move to a new house, then walk around the neighborhood, enter any store where he could buy materials to write, draw or paint with, go home and try his new materials. At the Picasso museum in Paris, I saw a painting he did on a kitchen towel!