Sketches from Cuba
These sketches were done during a two week trip to Cuba over New Years December 2013 - January 2014.

On our last day in Cuba, one choice was to walk around Old Havana. I started walking with friends but decided I wanted to strike out on my own. After the initial shock of being alone after so many days of being with a group, I felt really free. That freedom often comes to me at the end of a foreign trip, as if I’ve accomplished everything I need to accomplish, and now I can just wander aimlessly. I came across a sweet little park where someone was playing guitar, and I noticed a group of artists drawing together. I stood near them for awhile, half-hoping that they would ask me to join them. They reminded me of the drawing groups that I’m a part of at home. In the end, I decided to sit on a bench near them and do my own drawing while absorbing the creative energy around me.

Marlena’s hand. I have a drawing book that says that you should sketch everywhere, and one of their examples was the inside of an airplane. I did this one on the plane to Havana. I do not often have the patience to do long detailed likenesses of people, but one of my strengths is to capture characteristic gestures. I was so flattered when Meera saw this sketch and told me that it captured her mother’s hand gesture so perfectly.

Abstract watercolor with pen design over it is a form of self-soothing for me. On January 1, I ended up in the Clinica Urgencia with a toe injury, so on January 2, I really needed to stay in and rest. This was in the cabana-like hotel room in Santa Clara, I believe. I did the watercolor in the hotel room that night and continued the pen drawings on top of the watercolor off and on for a few days.

This sketch brings up a nice memory for me. I had been looking for a place to sketch where I wouldn’t get wet; there were intermittent rain showers that day, I had no raingear, and I had two hours before I would meet our bus. I began sketching this scene, and I noticed someone was watching me. Sketching often attracts attention, and I end up talking to people I would not normally meet. The young woman who was watching me was a young Cuban artist who does caricatures of tourists. We looked at each other’s sketches for awhile, chatting in a mix of English and Spanish. As we said goodbye, we wished each other artistic success.

On our last day in Cuba, one choice was to walk around Old Havana. I started walking with friends but decided I wanted to strike out on my own. After the initial shock of being alone after so many days of being with a group, I felt really free. That freedom often comes to me at the end of a foreign trip, as if I’ve accomplished everything I need to accomplish, and now I can just wander aimlessly. I came across a sweet little park where someone was playing guitar, and I noticed a group of artists drawing together. I stood near them for awhile, half-hoping that they would ask me to join them. They reminded me of the drawing groups that I’m a part of at home. In the end, I decided to sit on a bench near them and do my own drawing while absorbing the creative energy around me.