Pharoah Sanders at (le) Poisson Rouge

Pharoah Sanders

Free jazz saxophonist who played with Coltrane and is still igniting at 77, Pharoah Sanders. It was a transcendent musical experience.

Argentina: Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls

Tango in La Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Soft and oil pastels on paper. 

I recently returned from Argentina - it was my first time below the equator - and brought these drawn memories with me.

Buenos Aires felt like a sprawling cosmopolitan collage of a city, with a mish-mash of architectural styles from different time periods. La Boca, a kitsch touristy neighborhood filled with street vendors, paper mâché toys and tango dancers, was the most fun place to draw: a fauvist dream come to life.

Restaurant in La Boca. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Watercolor and pastel on paper.

Tango dancers in La Boca. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Watercolor and pastel on paper.

We stayed in Recoleta neighborhood, and frequented this square near the old cemetery, to eat, have a coffee or an ice-cream break, or to watch the sunset.

Gigantic Fig (Rubber) Tree, which is actually classified as a shrub, because there's no central axis (trunk). These gargantuan shrubs surround Recoleta district in Buenos Aires.

***

Iguazu Falls National Park, which was a short flight from Buenos Aires, is a remarkable wonder of nature. The magnitude of Iguazu waterfalls (and there are many, comprising one giant conglomerate) is truly awe-inspiring. We spent a long day at that park, walking various trails all around the Falls, amidst many colorful butterflies, wild birds and animals, and fragrant prehistoric flowers (I lamented not being able to draw a fragrance... because some of those flowers were just intoxicating).

I've been recommending to put Iguazu Falls on everyone's bucket list. It's so worth the shlep :)

That orange triangle at the bottom is a boat with brave souls who ventured to take the lower trail and experience the waterfalls from underneath. One of these boats capsized in front of our eyes. I was not brave enough to go on the lower trail. Instead, I made some drawings. 

Showing this butterfly my drawing. 

Notes From Venezia

The main artery of Venice, the Grand Canal, from atop the Rialto Bridge. Such an elusive and surreal city...

Early morning by the Rialto bridge in Venice

Basilica in Piazza San Marco in Venice

Passing under the Bridge of Sighs

Gondola rides are the most magical way to experience Venice.

Missing this view...

Murano, the glass-blowing island of Venice

Early morning in front of Basilica San Marco

Early morning in front of Basilica San Marco

Gondola rides are the most magical way to experience Venice.

Gondolini, arriving to the blessing ceremony before the races

2-men racing gondolas, called gondolini, in a blessing ceremony before the races.

Gondolini races in Venice

Under the Rialto Bridge

The Rialto Bridge

A building under renovation on one of the side streets, away from the touristy bustle. Construction worker is getting supplies from his boat. Love the little bridges that lead directly to private doorways.

From the Rialto Bridge

Bella Venezia

I just returned from a magical vacation in Venice.  What a dreamy place. There are many drawings and memories to share. But for now, here's a slice of a 360-degree panorama of Venice from the rooftop of newly-refurbished Fontego dei Tedeschi - a luxury department store, former post office. The building was constructed in 1228(!) The renovated department store opened in 2016. Building exterior remained unaltered, as all of facades in Venice are part of UNESCO world heritage property. That's why the skyline of Venice looks like an old engraving. There are no new buildings. 

Here are the rest of my drawings >

"Macbeth" by the New York Classical Theatre

"Double, double toil and trouble; 
Fire burn and cauldron bubble."
 

Don't miss New York Classical Theatre's 18th season this summer! An incredibly powerful production of Shakespeare's "Macbeth", directed by Stephen Burdman, is playing in Battery Park till 8/20; then in Brooklyn Bridge Park 8/22-8/27 [excluding Thursdays & rainy days]. All performances start at 7pm and are free to attend. Read this glowing and descriptive review by Pete Hempstead in TheaterMania.com >

The Three Witches in front of Castle Clinton, Battery Park

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair" 
 

The Three Weird Sisters and Banquo (Clay Storseth)

Macbeth (Will Dixon) and Banquo (Clay Storseth)

Malcolm (Ian Antal)

"Things without all remedy 

Should be without regard:  

what's done, is done"

Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg) and Macbeth (Will Dixon)

Macbeth (Will Dixon) and Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg)

"Come, you spirits. That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full. Of direst cruelty."
 

The Three Witches and Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg)

Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg) and Macbeth (Will Dixon)

Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg)

"-What three things does drink especially provoke?

-Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and
urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes;
it provokes the desire, but it takes
away the performance"
 

The Three Witches

Banquo (Clay Storseth) and Macbeth (Will Dixon)

"Are you a man?"

Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg) and Macbeth (Will Dixon) over Banquo's body

"Be this the whetstone of your sword: let grief
Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it."

 

Macduff (M. Scott McLean) and Malcolm (Ian Antal)

"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"

 

Mad sleepwalking Lady Macbeth  (Jenny Strassburg)

"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, 
a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage 
and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, 
full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." 
 

Macbeth (Will Dixon)

Make sure to check out some amazing reportage art of this production by my friends Veronica Lawlor, Charlotte Noruzi, Margaret Hurst.