Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Cuba Painting with friends!

Smokin' Cuban
16 x 20 oil on museum board
available through McBride Gallery
Annapolis, Md,
Cuba Today Show Opening May 1st

If you read my last Newsletter ( different from the blog)
you'll know that I got lost on day one, by 10:30 a.m.
I was taking a photo of this beautiful Cuban woman and waiting
for change from a 10 cucs bill. 
(cucs are the Cuban currency equivalent to about one euro).
It took about four Cubans to come up with 7 cucs change
and by the time I turned around my group was gone!
They actually did miss me I'm happy to say!

I thought I saw them go in one direction but
wandered down the wrong street when it started to drizzle.
I kept wandering and it kept raining harder and harder.
Finally it was a full on monsoon and I was completely soaked,
so I started weighing my options.

I opted to try to find my bus instead of cab it back to the hotel
and ruin my day. So I blindly headed in what I thought was the
direction of the port and where the bus had dropped us off.

Fortunately I was right, the only problem being that there were about
100 buses.  I was getting blown down the street, empty bus after
empty bus (apparently they take a nap when on break).

Finally two bus drivers were visiting in a bus cab and
saw me coming, felt sorry for me because I was looking pretty pathetic,
and let me in and out of the rain. Whew!

I explained in my terrible Spanish that I was lost (obviously)
 and looking for bus #3918. 

All the Cuban's I met were so kind, he just started up his bus and 
drove me around the other 100 buses until we found mine.
Home sweet home!
I gave him a twenty cucs tip for saving my day and giving my
little side adventure a happy ending.
He declined at first but I insisted and his eyes were misty with delight!

The moral is- the photo was worth it!

I painted alot with my new friend Michele Byrne on the trip.
She wields a wicked palette knife. 
If you'd aren't familiar with her work you can check it out here.
Pic of Michele and I painting and she's alot happier with 
her painting than it looks like I am!
Like I told the group standing around watching us paint-
Ella es muys famosa en Estados Unidos!
Check out the link to her site above.

Thanks for following along and allowing me to share my art/life with you!
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4 comments:

  1. What a wonderful experience - lucky, lucky you. The painting captures what I think of Cuba - color, color color. I love it!
    Also love the title! The first thing I noticed was the ciggie.
    I went over to visit Michele's post and I am happy I did.
    You are correct...her palette knife work is awesome.

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    1. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment Julie! Glad you like Michele's work too. I found a way to follow her blog by scrolling down to the very bottom, but she's easy to connect with on FB too!

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