Back from Cuba

Cloudy Cuban Morning I, 5 x 7", watercolour, March 16, 2010

I am just back from a week spent in Guardalavaca, Cuba. I painted or sketched every day while I was there, which was a real treat. I even did two little paintings on a catamaran; painting on a boat, instead of painting of a boat, hee hee! ( I did some paintings of catamarans, too, though)

The painting above was done the one cloudy morning. After several days of heat and brilliant sunshine, it was a pleasure to sit out and not feel like I was a biscuit baking in the oven! I did several little sketches of the beach, this was the first one (above) and I am most pleased with it. I especially like how I managed to paint the trees in the background with just one brushstroke! (though I did go back into it in a couple of places before it dried to darken a couple of areas for depth). I think that this one is a step forward in my goal to be less fussy.

I shall be posting more Cuba paintings over the next week or so. If you want a sneak peak at them sign up for my newsletter by going to www.poppybalser.com as I shall be sending out the best of them in my next newsletter, due out as soon as I can manage.