I was able to spend around ten days in Cuba with another painting friend in July. We ended up staying in Havana for the duration as we found ourselves spoilt for subject matter, and travel would have eaten into precious working time. Havana has a gloriously eclectic variety of architecture, not to mention the famous classic cars. Looking back over the work though, it seems to have been the human activity that really interested us most: crowded streets; people huddled under the shade of trees; rickshaw drivers taking a break. Street life moved at a tremendous pace and it was as much as one could do to indicate a scene before it changed completely. Here are some of the sketches.

We were struck by the crowds that gathered in the squares at night to argue loudly about anything from football to philosophy (I was told by a Spanish speaking friend). They constantly looked like they were on the verge of kicking off, but after a while we realised this was just how they communicated. They were amused by our paintings though and also argued about who was who in the pictures.

The street musicians, of whom there were many, were invariably excellent, though tourist-orientated repertoires seldom did justice to their talents.

Painting in the street usually attracts lots of people who want a chat, a photo, or sometimes to offer advice. It’s quite a good way of getting to talk to lots of people you might not ordinarily meet. All the people who came and chatted to us were extremely polite and interested in what we were doing. It turns out there are a lot of artists in Havana too; the heart-breaking thing was how incredulous they were, for instance, at the number of paintbrushes we had. Painting materials, like many things in Cuba, are extremely hard to come by; some people even described to us how they make their own brushes.

Ten days in the one city alone barely scratched the surface of what Cuba has to offer and next time I would certainly try to see more of the country. We enjoyed our time in Havana though and I think the trip was a successful one. That said, if I have to listen to Guantanamera one more time…