Pinetop Perkins
- Pinetop Perkins – by Miki
Some days ago I thought it was now time to render homage to Pinetop Perkins in form of a painting. I had seen him live , even sat next to him in Austin in march 2010, and was then extremely shocked bu the announcement of his death. I did not dare to paint him. But now I had to…
Here is what Kev Moore, my partner, has to say:
“… Our trip to the States has been full of amazing happenstance – being in the right place at the right time on an amazing number of occasions. (Or in the case of this morning, the wrong place, as a plane crashed into a building here in Austin a few blocks away!!!)
But last night, we wandered into Nuno’s on the famous 6th. street, and found ourselves sitting next to Pinetop Perkins who, at 96 years young, is pretty much the oldest living bona fide Delta bluesman. I introduced myself, and shook his hand. It was akin to touching history. Here was a man who was there at the beginning, played Piano for Muddy Waters, Sonny boy Williamson, BB King, the list is endless. I bought a CD, Pinetop Perkins and friends, recorded with the likes of Eric Clapton, and amnazingly, recorded when Pinetop was 94! – and he kindly signed it for me.
But more amazing than that, he took to the stage last night. That grand old man of the blues, joined the house band and proceeded to take us back in time with half a dozen classics, such as Down in Mississippi, and Pinetop Boogie. I leaned over to Miki and whispered, “We are so privileged to witness this.”
My respect and affection for this man knew no bounds. The term ‘living legend’ is bandied about with vulgar regularity in this shallow era, but here was a man who embodied it.
Who would have thought, when I signed the guitar in Helena at the studios of King Biscuit time, and noticed Pinetop’s signature, that I would meet him some weeks later? Life, as I had often suspected, is amazing….”
By the way: Kev has also doen an artwork featuring Pinetop, as he remembered him at Nuno’s
- Pinetop Perkins – by Kev Moore
These two paintings are available directly online as prints on paper or canvas and in many different sizes. Also as greeting cards. Just click on the widgets below if you are interested
To finish on a deep emotional note, here is a photo of Pinetop as we saw him…
Pinetop Perkins at Nuno's in Austin in March 2010 - Photo by Kev Moore
The Pianist 02
The Pianist 02 - by Miki
(Pastel and digital Art)
In my last 2 posts I presented my first artworks featuring Joe Bonamassa and his pianist at their live concert in the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2009. As I said, I have been fascinated by the show, as well acoustically as visually, and I feel the need to paint a whole series of the musicians acting in that show that day.
Of course they were all great, the master himself Joe is just divine. Divine guitar play, divine attitude and body movements. But as an artist I was especially attracted by the pianist. Something mysterious is about him, and I love mystery. It was in his face, his attitude, his clothes, the light around him and last but not least in the Little Buddha which eas sitting on his piano all the time. This was just beautiful!
For the second part of the show the pianist changed his clothes and appeared with an amazing red hat on his head. I could not resist to paint a little red hat on Little Buddha too.. I hope I get forgiven! It just looks too cute, and especially attractive on the painting, that tiny red point remembering the big red point on the pianist’s head…
This painting is available as poster and Giclee print, in different sizes and different formats, in my FAA Gallery:
The Men and The Women from Tárbena
Somewhere in Spain, on the Costa Blanca, in the middle of mountain chain at about 600 meters above sea level, there is a little village called Tarbena. I have been there many times, as it is a picturesque place in a spectacular setting – heaven for land and townscape artists – and I have presented some artworks featuring it in my different art sites and blogs. The place was originally an agricultural community, with many olive groves, almond trees and cherry orchards gracing the countryside., but in the meanwhile, with all the tourists passing by, above all attracted by a famous restaurant run by an one-armed communist,I guess it is as much tourist-driven as agricultural!
Anyway, one day as I was there, I came upon some extremely striking scenes. I saw three men sitting on a bench by a monument in the village square – the church or the town hall, I don’t remember- whose facade was made of a structure which looked like bubbles. The men were sitting lazily around, dozing, chatting, sunbathing, in colourful, comfy clothes. Not far from them, in the main street leading to the square, I saw three women together -their wives perhaps?- standing in front of a house entrance with big black bars. The women were totally clothed in black, standing ramrod-straight like soldiers, and looking more dangerous than them, even without the guns!. I was amazed by the difference between these two scenes, wondering if this was in fact a little glimpse inside Spanish society, at least in little retired villages. The men sitting around, doing nothing apart from enjoying a colourful life, and the women living a busy black-and-white life between kitchen, shop and church… The fact is that along my many journeys through Spain, I often saw similar scenes, this one being by far the most striking one!
That day I was in Tarbena just passing by, and no time to paint from a motif, so I just took some photos with the intention of later making some artwork based on them. And indeed I started two paintings, in ink and watercolour, but somehow, I got interrupted in the process of doing them, before they were really finished, and I never touched them again.
I rediscovered these two paintings a short time ago, as I was revisiting art works from the past. I don’t fancy finishing them now (I hate to go back to past paintings), but well, I think they are far enough along to get an impression of what I described in this post!
So here they are, The Men and Women from Tarbena!
The Men from Tarbena
- The Women from Tarbena
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People from Serpa in Portugal
After I had spent 2 or 3 days in Serpa sketching all kind of buildings, I got quite bored, and needed to sketch something else. This is why, on the 7th of July (2009), I sat with kevin at a cafe outside, and made sketches of the people sitting there. I liked the faces I saw, and had quite a nice time doing that. As always my sketches tend to be caricatures, I just can’t help it… but I swear that I have warm and sympathetic feelings towards all these people I sketch, my intention is really not to make them look silly or ridiculous or whatever negative… I am sorry if some recognise themselves (what i doubt in fcat as I am not really searching for a good likeness) and feel offended… 
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These are some of the people I sketched that day. if you wnat to see more, go please to my Flickr account
The Little Man with The Coffee Cup
"Samson", by Miki - Pastel & Pencil, 65 x 50 cm, 2009
Just finished this portrait of one of my favourites actors, Michael J. Anderson, whom I discovered for the first time in the series “Carnivale”. I was seduced at once and always thought when I saw him:
“I wished I had such a little man as a friend…:
The Power of Daydreaming
Ink & Watercolour
For about 6 months now I have been in the process of moving.
Moving from one house into the other, from one art gallery into the other.
I hate packing. And believe me, the amount of painting materials and paintings I have is gigantic, so to move only this part of my past life is already a life’s work. This is why I decided to do it gradually, taking it easy. The Housing market in Spain being at a standstill, nobody is rushing to buy my lovely house, so I can take as much time as I need.
The other day I was there, about 260 kilometres north of here, and I wanted to bring back my big new canvasses, which I ordered there before I left last Summer, but unfortunately they are so big that they don’t fit into the car. Frustrated, I decided to bring back some of my older sketch books, and other little things.
Today, a little bit bored and without any energy to start some new stuff, I had a glance at some of them, and found sketches which I of course had totally forgotten. This happens to me all the time by the way: I normally paint so fast and so prolifically that my paintings have no time to get recorded in my memory! Anyway, this is how I found this one. As I saw it, I remembered every detail again. A young girl had posed for me at that time for a fast sketch, and I remember how, a little bit annoyed by the boring position I had started to imagine things around her… and especially the cushions on the armchair, under her bum and behind her back had more and more taken the form of wings which seemed to grow from her body… and I even saw lots of butterflies flying all around her head!
A typical example of what suddenly happens to my brain when I get bored… I see things… bananas things…
some might call it the power of daydreaming!
The Long and The Short
Ink & Watercolour
I don’t remember what they were looking at as I was sketching them, but it was certainly amazing enough to have them stand still for the time I needed for my drawing!
You might think, looking at these portraits, that I am exaggerating a lot, but I don’t, at least not consciously. I am not trying to make any caricature, but I am not searching either for exact likeness. In fact I just let my eyes and my hand and my pen and my brushes work together and give an impression of what is in front of them.
The good thing being that I am quite sure that nobody ever will come to this blog and write insults to me for having painted them like that!
The Art of Doing Nothing # 5: Master of all He Surveys
(ink & watercolour on paper, Café Masko, Mojacar Playa, 21/02/2009)
So fascinating to observe all these people sitting at a café. Even doing nothing the characters are so obvious: in the way they sit, the way they cross their arms or legs, the way they look around…that one, for example, really seemed to own the whole world!
The Art of Doing Nothing # 4: Difference of Opinion
(ink & watercolour on paper, Café Masko, Mojacar Playa, 27/01/2009)
It was very diffcult to capture the woman telling her story… I did what I could!
I was fascinated by the incredibly excited expression on the face and body position of the woman listening to her…
About
The “normal” people… and the celebrities!
To see some portraits please click in the menu bar above…
To see many more portraits from Miki go to my Portraits Gallery
Contact me at miki@goodaboom.com
