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!
Not like fishes!
Pastel & Coloured Pencils, 50 x 65 cm – 2009
…
I wanted to emphasize the impression of light, and this is why I didn’t put too many details.
This little boy has got a sister some days ago, a tiny little thing, and I saw her photo on the day she was born. I couldn’t believe what I saw and screamed:
“Look, Kevin, she is already completely formed!”
Kevin looked at me, amazed, then started laughing:
“What did you thunk, that they look like fishes when they come out?”
Honestly: I have no idea what I was thinking, but fact is that never before in my life I had seen a a 12 hours old baby!
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…
The Art of Doing Nothing # 3: Summit Meeting
(ink & watercolour on paper, Café Masko, Mojacar Playa, 15/01/2009)
Quite regularly I go to a Cafe by the Beach, and sketch people spending their time there.
It is a great way for me to practise live sketching.
Well, people are quite still sitting on a Cafe terrace in the sun, but they still move quite a lot and it is a wonderful (but sometimes frustrating too!) exercise to try to catch them in some position or expression.
I much more prefer this way than to go to some figure painting meeting, where the models stand still, almost dead… this does not inspire me at all, and neither does their nakedness I must admit! I much more love to draw the stuff which people put on, sometimes they are such a funny mirror of their souls… no funny clothing on this one though.
In this case it was the contrast between the Macho with the black hair and the other people which inspired me…
A Wheel Chair is not a Reason!
I was sketching again the other day, Sunday, on the way back from the indoor pool where I swam my daily 1000 meters to keep brain and body fit, and to sharpen my eyes and my fingers! Yes, after the sport, especially after swimming, my artistic awareness is at its maximum. One might not always see it in the result though…
And well, that Sunday, like many other Sundays, many families were out and sat around at the cafes by the sea, having lunch or simply a drink. I was especially touched by this trio and was first happy for the old lady to be taken out, although, to be fair, she really seemed bored to death! I wondered what was going on in her head, observed her for a long time from behind my sunglasses, but she sat in that position all the time, the chin in the hand, and looking away from her family, to a distant point which certainly only existed in her fantasy.. or perhaps did not even exist there anymore?
She didn’t even touch the big glass of orange juice they ordered for her,… I mean, really, she might have had all reasons not to enjoy life anymore, but I find that she should be a little more thankful to have a family who kindly cares for her…
The Old Rocker and His Bird
Well, I have no idea if he really is an old Rocker. My partner Kev Moore, who is a Rocker, but not old, thinks he is. I much more thought that he is a Harley Davidson rider, because they all looked like him in Germany. But we are in Spain, and that one was English. And anyway: he could be both!
Except that he did not smoke, but his bird did… and how! Exactly like I was expecting him to do, the cigarettes drooping from the lips, without any fingers to hold them…
And he arrived at the cafe walking. Not cool, really, for a Harley Davidson rider…
Well, we are back in town and today, for the first time in many months, I sat again in a cafe and made some caricatures from the people there. I am sure they think:
“Oh sh…, she is back!”
and they don’t even know what they look like in my drawings! But sometimes I start laughing in front of my drawings, and Kevin too, so I guess they must be suspicious… I wonder what will happen if they find my drawings some day on the net and recognize themselves…
ATTENTION PLEASE!
I speak and read French, German, English, Spanish, and understand some others too…
so please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or to contact me in your own language!
The Art of Being Men and Women
It was last Saturday afternoon ( 31st of May 2008 ) in a little town called Castro Marim, in Portugal, by the Spanish border. I was sitting in our motorhome, sketching some typical houses, as I saw these men standing in the middle of the road. It had started with one, then another one had joined, then the biker had stopped and finally, as I started to sketch, the fourth one (on the left) joined the group.
One hour later, the four men were still standing there, with at least 10 others, all gathered around the biker. All men. No one woman around..
I saw a lot of women the next morning, in groups too, not standing around, but hurrying to a mysterious place, each with a vase of flowers in their hands.
And don’t tell me that this is an accident… we, men and women, are still SO different!!!
About
The “normal” people… and the celebrities!
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Contact me at miki@goodaboom.com
