MORE TARA

30" x 40" oil on canvass  1995
Tara sat for this and then it was painted mostly from a photograph.  It was one of the first portraits I ever painted so it started out as just an experiment. The look on her face is serious but she really is a lot more jovial and accessible than this.  She was a good sport about posing for me.  It is not an easy thing to do as I am a slow painter.  Really S.L.O.W.  We live in different countries now but I hope some day I can do a better portrait of her.  And this time I'll hone in on her wonderful personality and have her in more stylish clothing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TARA!

Today is our Tara's birthday.  She is a remarkable woman.  A professor at The University of Amsterdam. Mother of three children.  One of the smartest people I know.  Loving, kind, generous and passionate.  Even as a child I knew there was something really special about her and that she was destined to do great things in this world.  She worked hard to get where she is. Nothing was given to her, she earned whatever she has. She always worked while attending school.  She has been all over the world.  Her passport has more pages stamped than any passport I've ever seen.  She's worked in China, Korea and taught school kids in Gaza, Palestine. If anybody can help foster world peace it's her. She has been a great influence in my life and she is one of my sheroes.  T: I know you are not that crazy about your birthday but I'm glad you came into this world.  We love you very, very much.
Oh, and she has the greatest laugh you'll ever hear.

COPY KANE SAN FRANCISCO

Tommy Kane's drawing in San Francisco is in his new book "An Excuse to Draw".  This is my version of it. For some reason I really like to make buildings in my drawings wavy.  Sometimes it bothers people. Perhaps they think I'm unbalanced.  When they tell me "Yeah, but that ain't the way a building really looks" I smile and tell them "Yeah, but I draw them the way I want you to see them".  The light bulb goes off in some peoples heads while others just shake their heads and wander off muttering under their breath.

COPY KANE BUILDINGS

Kane really does buildings, roofs and traffic control devices well.  I did manage to get some building tilt in this version, maybe too much.  I dunno, it's just fun to work on.  This was done in a Strathmore 400 Series sketchbook that claims it is "ideal to use for experimentation in the field or classroom and for perfecting technique with a variety of media".  So I used a Uniball pen, koi watercolors and PITT pens.  I don't get it when people complain when their paper crinkles or watercolor gets muddy.  What the heck?  It's just lines on paper and I'm having fun.  Even Bob Ross used to love "happy accidents".  To me it's all part of the experience and I roll with it.

FAMILY MEMORIES SKETCHBOOK 4

My Mom used to like to ride the Penn Central trains.  We took them to visit relatives of hers who lived in the Hudson Valley in New York.  Like the other drawings in this sketchbook I have used a black Uniball vision fine pen and PITT artist large brush pens by Faber-Castell in a Daler-Rowney Cachet sketchbook 7" x 10".

FAMILY MEMORIES SKETCHBOOK 3

The Guggenheim Museum on 5th Ave and 89th street.  Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  When my Mom would take me here it was like walking into a space station or another world.  I've never seen anything like this building anywhere.  I could never figure out how it could stand upright since it is larger on the top than on the bottom.

FAMILY MEMORIES SKETCHBOOK 2

Guernica 1937 by Picasso 11 feet 5/1 inches x 25 feet 6 inches.
I posted this on FB skool page.  My mother took me several times to see this painting when it was at MOMA.  The sheer size of this painting is staggering.  There is a scene in Julian Schnabel's movie Basquiat (excellent movie) where Basquiat's mother takes him to see this painting.  I completely related to that scene.  When you stand in front of this painting you understand the futility of war. In case you can't read what I wrote in the sketchbook it reads: My mother often took me to see this huge painting and she explained that it showed the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicted on people, especially innocent civilians. It depicts the bombing of the city of Guernica in the Basque region of Spain by German and Italian war planes.  During World War Two Picasso was living in Nazi occupied Paris.  A Gestapo officer observed a photograph of this painting in Picasso's study and asked him "Did you do this?".
"No, you did" was Picasso's reply.