It’s been a whirlwind of travel, relatives, biking, towns, countryside and museums (The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is amazing) so I haven’t posted in awhile. Here is a view from our 3rd story AirBnB in Maastricht, a town in the very south of the Netherlands. During the day 100s of tourists would gather at the cafes in this little square. Europe in general is a cafe culture and this is on full display during the summer months. At night the square would turn into a frat house party echo-chamber, where boisterously drunk students from the nearby University would revel until 4am.

Watercolor and Sharpie.

It was a shock to go from Portugal to the Netherlands. Very different worlds, the latter more familiar, and because of that i get the feeling that this amazing trip is soon coming to an end; kind of a transitional re-entry back to the U.S.

Much of U.S. architecture, customs, language and cultural attitude is inherited from Northern Europe. I would call that our strongest root. The Netherlands is what the U.S would be if it was more efficient and in general…smarter. They have a strong social safety net (that some still do fall through) incredible transportation system (that they still complain about) and they are 2nd only to the U.S. in argricultural exports…..a country that is 1/4 the size of Washingtion State (and about 1/4 of their land area has been reclaimed from the Sea).

So if one country had to be in charge of the world, I would nominate the Netherlands, who knows how to do a lot with a little, while maintaining a healthy tolerance for human diversity.

That said, I do miss the more exotic non-chalance of Portugal and Spain. The quality of light and warmth. The different rhythm that does not tend to put clocks on Church steeples. I think that time may be the true God of Northern Europe.

Kaasteel Eijsden - Watercolor

Above is a watercolor of Kasteel Eijsden (Eijsden Castle), which is in the town of Eijsden that is about 8 kilometers south of Maastricht, very near the Belgian border. Arlette’s family has a historical connection to this place, as they stayed in the carriage house for a few months during World War II. The castle is still inhabited by some Belgian Duke, but the grounds are open to the public. Few people visited, so I felt like I had my own private castle for two days, which is how long it took to do this image.

On the first day, after biking the 8 kilometers back from Eijsden to Maastricht, I could not find my phone anywhere. This is when I realized that I am part cyborg. You feel like an integral part of you has been ripped away. It is a huge logistical and psychological crutch. Biking back that next day I found it! Placed on the jam stand near the Carriage house. (Thank you whoever you are!) And I finished the above painting with a much greater sense of ease than I would have otherwise had.

The Process

There is a careful light touch that you need to have with watercolors that is very different from oils. It is so easy to overwork, and you cannot paint over something that is not working (unless you use gouache as an overpaint).

It’s been amazing meeting Arlette’s European Family (and Quebec). From left to Right: Henri, Paul, Jean Pierre, Hubert, Katrine, Giacomo & Arlette. Paul Valckx is the family historian and well qualified tour-guide to Maastricht and surrounding areas.

Below: Ingrid and Peter Van Pol take us on a beautiful bike around the Dutch countryside, that featured farmland, dikes, whispering cottonwood corridors, a ferry ride, a traditional windmill and a stop at a cafe for bier in a perfectly cute Dutch town.

currently staying with Ludewig and Desirree, just Northeast of Amsterdam. And we had a wonderful dinner with Anna Marie and the other Katrine.

Signing off for now….there is much more to purvey, but we must pace ourselves. I hope your summer is going fabulously. I know the news in the U.S. seems eternally dire, but my travels give me much faith in humanity. Europe gives me hope.

Watercolor and watercolor pencil on watercolor paper. Still want to work on it more….but I like how it is coming.

The view from Castelo Sao Jorge.

The thing about European cities like Paris, Rome, Venice, Madrid and Lisbon is that they are overwhelming in their amazingness. They are like Disneylands for tourists, only 5000 times better and have history and substance on top of that. The “post-covid” joy is palpable amidst the crush of summer tourists. And the onslaught of incredible sites makes it difficult to decide what to paint with only a couple days in this city before we take off for Maastricht in the Netherlands…..tomorrow morn.

I finally decided on the beautiful view of the above painting. It checked all the boxes….including a cafe not 20 paces away, and a couple musicians to regale me for the last hour. Below is the view and the process. After I did the drawing (using my new “watercolor pencils”!). I reached for my paints and realized I had no palette to mix them on. 15 meters below I noticed an errant tray from the near by cafe lying on the ground. Voila….a palette! (Notice the small cervja (beer) next to the newly acquired tray/palette in the 2nd photo).

As I said at the top, I still want to work on this some more. Watercolor is very different than oils. Both are tricky in their own way….at least for this eternal beginner.

Portugal- I will miss you. You have endeared me with your warmth. I hope to return soon.

Experiences get quickly composted when one is traveling. The blur of amazing things becomes just that, a blur. So even though I am currently being bathed in blaring Portuguese pop music wafting up to our 3rd floor apartment on this Alfama party street in the amazing city of Lisbon, I still want to recount what happened as I painted yesterday in the quiet town of Sao Luis; to describe what is “baked” into the painting. Rewind back to yesterday:

Sao Luis often seems almost deserted, especially at high noon, which is when I set out to paint one final scene before leaving. Three factors dictate what I will paint: 1) Is it visually interesting? 2) Can I be out of the way enough to not trespass or get in the way? And most importantly on this day 3) Shade, so I don’t die.

From the outside, it probably looks like I am planning a robbery, as I walk around trying to find some place suitable. I finally did find an out of the way deserted spot in the shade with a view I felt I could work with. I set up… and then the accordion music started; just behind the door to the building not 8 feet away. Then a vocalist joined in, singing traditional Portuguese music. This went on for four hours as I painted. Other musical accompaniment included: A black cat that would yowl up at a balcony at regular intervals, a small jingle bell dog that would pass by every 15 minutes, and the occasional small motor bike whining past.

The accordion music was coming from a retirement home, and some of the residents would come out and look at what I was doing. Eventually the whole staff came out en masse and gave a plethora of opinions, none of which I understood, but it seemed positive. Samal, a resident of the building I was painting, talked with me for about half an hour about the area, and the importance of getting back to working in traditional media (he’s a digital artist). A woman walked past with two horses, and later returned, introduced herself as Emma and asked if I would paint a portrait of her horses. A group of four kids got the courage to get closer, and one told me in perfect English that he also speaks Portuguese, Chinese and German, but is not that great at German yet. He is 9 years old. Then a man and a woman rolled two large trash containers down the street and one tipped over right next to me. I helped pick up the trash and tip the heavy container back upright, and they were on their way. A couple from Lisbon asked me if I could paint a portrait of their 2nd home in Sao Luis. A French couple said they were hiking the length of Portugal and had the tans to prove it. Patricia said that her son Kirin was afraid of me, but that didn’t seem to be the case, and we both agreed that it was difficult to know when a painting is finished. Anyone I had met on days previous passed by at least twice more as I painted, giving a wave or a comment.

The deserted town was, on the contrary, a hive of activity that unfolded as I painted. The man in the red coat and white cap kept slowly walking past me and stopping to sit on the bench. He paid no attention to me at all, so I put him in the painting. The orange flowers from the tree above kept falling and sticking to my painting and palette. The afternoon winds picked up, requiring me to hold the painting in place so that it wouldn’t blow over; putting on paint to thickly, making a general mess by the end, and in general frantic to put the finishing touches on a painting that will definitely outlive me.

If you want to get to know a place, stand in one spot and paint it. I met WAY more people than I would have otherwise.

I made some finishing touches on the painting. Here is the final version. Most will notice no difference, but little things drive me mad until I fix them. I can rest now, and enjoy Lisbon.

A lot of experiences are baked into this painting. I will tell you about them when I have the time. Off to Lisbon today. It has been a great 10 days here in southern Portugal. Thank you for hosting us Gaby & Ron! I will always remember it fondly.

THE PROCESS

I purchased this canvas because I wanted to paint large. It will have to stay here with Ron and Gaby, as it is too cumbersome to transport. A key factor in the Art and Travel endeavor.

Sao Luis is not that tiny….larger than Vashon town, and the “Square” I did this painting in is more of a triangular park. But it is tiny in the sense that there is very little tourism here. When you go into the local cafe, the locals eye you, and that is oddly refreshing. It would be like taking a vacation in the middle of Iowa (more beautiful here, but you get the idea). It is largely a practical place that serves the local population. It hasn’t been sucked into the vaccuum of globalization yet.

Oil on primed Rives BFK paper.

I am aware that artists often pave the way for gentrification. This happens over and over again. We see this happening on Vashon. The new Art Center (not so new now) was a big symbol of that on the island. The transition where art starts becoming a thing for those who can afford it.

The Arts are probably more of a symptom than a cause of gentrification, but they do create an appeal. Cultural tourism. Novelty. The idea that the location is worthy of such attention, and that creativity arrises from it.

So it is with some trepidation that I set up my easel in a tiny town not used to tourism. Am I the first sign of rising housing prices? Of locals being pushed out as the standard of living increases, as country living becomes more appealing to the urbane. Am I a canary in this quaint coal mine?

I hope not. I am less able to converse here than in Spain, but it is still clear that the locals are pleased by what I am doing. Painting a scene they have walked past hundreds of times. Allowing them to see it anew. I am just trying to capture one tenth of what is already there. And it is that attempt that they admire. Appreciating that someone is appreciating.

I feel like I am bringing more than I am taking to the situation. Who knows. Please don’t come here. Go to another unknown place, and appreciate it’s unknowness. Beauty is everywhere.

THE PROCESS

I was attracted to the local colors of the scene: The fountain, the statue, the buildings; which all seem to have similar color standards (blue, gold and peach….an occasional green. All on buildings that are mostly white). The color choices intentionally contrast one house to another. It is not a “Leavenworth” thing, where they are trying to Disneyfy the traditional. It is just traditional. Maybe it is boring to them. We all get world weary eyes. That’s why I like to travel; to see things fresh.

I have no idea what the significance of the statue is. It is a female fetching water. An idyllic pastoral image that would seem to glorify the the traditional role of women in society. (She’s no Rosie the Riveter.) It is hard not to see this image in the light of the overturning of Roe V. Wade in the States, that happened the day before this image was started.

It has been so nice to not check into news and social media much. I get tried of being angry all the time. Literally fatigued by my and everyone else’s anger. It seems like such a waste of life. A consuming manipulative virus. But, that said, there is no denying that this is one of the biggest rulings by the Supreme Court maybe since Roe V. Wade was first put into law. This is not a politcal blog, but we are one world, and in this out of the way town in Portugal, that is in some ways Pre-Roe V. Wade in terms of the historical time line, I feel sad, and think it is a huge step backwards. It will always be a woman’s right to choose no matter what the law says. It’s just the way it is. Such is the awesome power of woman.

Beach Day! We went to Praia Amalia today (named for a famous Fado singer Amalia Rodriguez, who used to own the property). Gaby & Ron had taken me to this place before Arlette & Giacomo arrived and I knew I had to return to paint it. They both waited patiently in this paradise while I painted.

Oil on primed paper.

I like how it is coming along. I will spend a bit more time on it, but the foundations and freshness are there.

Here’s the process. Starting with a white ground (painting surface) allows the colors to remain vibrant, which was appropriate for this scene. (Below is the photo of the actual view)

I’m missing the umbrellas and the people in this photo. They were there, but the beach is fairly remote and people had plenty of room to spread out. The beach is only 350 meters wide (see how I went metric there).

Below is a drawing from the same view that I did the previous painting. Drawing allows me to emphasize different things. And If I do a drawing before doing a painting it informs how the painting goes, even if I do not start the painting with actual drawn lines. Just the process of drawing informs your emphasis. I may do another larger painting based on this drawing. I am kind of obcessed with this view.

Also, I worked more on the previous painting….. can you see the changes?

Tomorrow I think I will go to the town square in Sao Luis and do a painting…..enough hunkering down in the hinterlands.

I just want to say that I REALLY APPRECIATE that you have followed along on this journey. I LOVE your comments! I know that life is busy and there are a zillion things competing for your attention. I don’t take it for granted! Ciao!

Here is the result since the last painting post. It’s the view of the cottage that we are staying at. It captures the spirit of the place. Work still needs to be done, but I think I am going to move on. Resolving a painting can take time (for me). Trips go by so quickly. I would like to capture as much as i can, while still retaining some sort of quality. But that is a tricky balance, i always think that I can paint faster than I actually can.

Below is a photo of the view from another angle. There was a lot of foreground foliage that I felt I needed to eliminate. I simplified the foliage as well. Overall the painting is leaning towards a “symbolic” style, rather than a “realist” style. Symbolic depiction emphasizes the idea of things more than “How they actually look”. This can be a major obstacle if you are trying to go for realism, but that is the style that I want in this one.

The anitdote to being trapped in Symbolic representation as your default mode is demonstrated in an exercise made famous by the book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards. The author probably did not invent this technique, but definitely popularized it: You do a drawing from a photo of a man sitting. Then you draw it again looking at it upside down. The drawing done upside down is almost always way better than the one done right side up. Why? Because you are not caught up in the idea of what you are looking at (man, chair, portrait, etc.) and instead are focusing on relative shapes, both positive and negative. You are free from what you think it is and what you think it should look like, and instead are focusing on purely formal visual relationships.

The below painting is done in watercolor and gouache and leans more towards a realism style rather than symbolic. It is a view from the cottage depicted in the other painting, looking up to the house. No, I didn’t hang upside down to achieve that, but I did start with a drawing (instead of launching right into paint) where I am pretty good at capturing proportions, perspective and relative patterns without the crutch of symbolic representation. (Symbolism: If you ask anyone to draw an eye, a house and the sun in 30 seconds, almost everyone will come up with similar “icons” that we will all understand. That is symbolic representation in a nutshell.)

A photo of the view. The camera on my phone really forces perspective and squishes things. At some point I will talk more about Photo vs. Observation, by the day is spectacularly sunny and I want to get out there.

Our new needy cats!

Our family… in a different light.

Arlette, Giacomo and I in Bairro Alto…..a stunningly beautiful section of old Lisbon…..after a harrowing drive in our rental car through town from the airport, ending with the tiniest corkscrew downramp in a tiny parking garage that literally seemed too small for the car to go through. Cars in big cities…..not the way to travel!

But here we are, happy as hell to be together again on a different continent, and exhilerated by the relief of navigating all the travails that one encounters while traveling.

I am astounded at European cities, which manage to cram modernity into streets made for horse carts. That is one of the most charming things about these places: How they were initially made for humans to navigate, and not cars, and how (in historical old sections of towns) these proportions remain. What this communicates is that humans are more important than their technologies, and I think that is a a key difference between America and Europe. In America work and technology almost seems to eclipse the human. Humans are there to serve the machine, whereas in Europe, wearied after thousands of years of war, and with the yoke of sustaining Imperialism in their rear view mirror, are now free to just be human; have long holidays, spend time at the cafe daily, and take pride in a history that spans thousands instead of a few hundred years. That is why we and so many come here on Holiday. Europe is a place made for humans. America is a place made for cars…..which does make driving back from the airport easier.

We spent not even a day in Lisbon, and are currently nested back in the cottage in Sao Luis, but will spend another couple days there at the end of June before flying to Maastricht, Nederlands.

Other than the narrow streets, amazing architecture, colorful buildings, cute trolleys, grand squares, public statues everywhere, what I notice about Portugal in general is the LIGHT. People talk about this in Italy….Tuscany in particular. But I see it here as well. It is a bit more clear and golden (when the sun is out).

Cheers until next post! I’ll have art!

A half baked version of the place where I am staying.

I don’t usually post stuff that I am not proud of….why bother? And the last thing that someone wants to hear is an artist whining about how they re are not happy with a piece they are posting WHILE ON VACATION. But I figure the journey is as important as the destination, and that is an integral part of what this blog is about, so here goes:

The above image is half-baked. I wasn’t happy with the direction, and started moving it in another. I have not written it off yet, but Frustration is an integral part of doing art. If you are never frustrated, then maybe you need to get out of your comfort zone. I spend most of the the time hating what I am doing, and by the end I usually manage to beat it into some semblance of likeability. Part of it is reconciling the “Expectation Gap”: The difference between what you expect or desire a painting to be/look like, and what it actually is. When you start from what the painting “wants” to be, rather than your preconception of it then something can start to happen.

The expectation gap that I am dealing with is that the view I am painting is sublimely beautiful. Arlette’s cousin Gabi and her husband Ron have graciously opened their cottage up to us for almost two weeks. The property is 15 minutes outside Sao Luis in Southern Portugal. Rolling hills of grass and cork trees. Sub tropical fruit and palm trees dot the property. The light is special here. Very clear. I am painting from their porch that looks over the rolling fields with clouds marching shadows over them. The light shifts as darks and lights glide over the landscape. The bright flowers of many varieties and the vivid foliage of orange and lemon trees give way to the dusty greens of cork and olive trees. The rustic buildings mark time. Character exudes.

Sometimes when I draw a model that is particualry stunning my first few drawings suck. That is what is happening here.

Like I said, I haven’t written the painting off. I will still give it another few hours. And then maybe a few more if all goes well. But I think I want to approach that same view from another angle: Do a drawing first. Nail the composition, and abandon the alla Prima technique (painting wet on wet). There is something I want to capture that this painting will not be able to. It will take a more methodical approach.

It is slower in this part of Portugal. Mostly rural farmers here. Tourists like me are few and far between. I can’t keep up with the pace of drinking.

Today I pick up Arlette and Giacomo at the airport! We will spend the night in Lisbon, which I hear is a fantastic town. Can’t wait to check it out. And I’m so psyched to have Giacomo experience Europe for the first time.

Gabi & Ron - So great hanging out with them!

….is not easy. And that is what I am shooting for: An immersive state where time seems to stop as your sense of self becomes one with the activity of creating an image.

But there are a lot of things that need to be dealt with before setting out to do a painting, like… Packing up, and working out the travel logistics, and saying goodbyes, and then actually traveling, and making the connections, and dealing with new places and new accommodations, and where am I going to get wifi? And how will I get the rental car again? (Thanks Lisbon Info-desk lady!) and meeting new people, who speak different languages, the new customs of a place, recooperating from traveling, unpacking your stuff, which wasn’t packed as well as you thought, and those paintings are going to need some touch up now, and all the new sights and sounds, kind of overwhelming, and you are supposed to pick one spot to paint, and just immerse yourself, but you gotta get groceries, and make sure you don’t get lost on your way back, and I hope I killed all those mosquitos in the room so I can get some sleep tonight, so that tomorrow I will be ready….in the morning, to pick a spot, or study a few, as drawings, or maybe I should use watercolor, or give gouache another chance, or the casein paint I brought, and am I doing illustrations, or just art? Should I focus on light and color or the cranes nesting in the power line towers or the newly skinned cork trees? The gnarly olive trees or old stone well? Who is this for anyway? What am I trying to achieve?

Well, the trance state. That way of being present in a foreign place. My way of becoming intimate and a part of. That’s what I am trying to achieve. The results are not that important.

SNEAKY DRAWINGS

Sneaky digital travel drawings on my Phone. Guess which two are from Vashon. Sometimes it’s tricky drawing people without them noticing. Sleeping people are the best. Although cellphones do a great job of immobilizing people as well. Is drawing someone more or less invasive than taking a photo of them? Maybe we should never look at anyone out of respect for their privacy. Like Prince, the artist formerly known as , didn’t want anyone who was working with him to look at him. It was in their contract.