It's also a great place for painting architecture. On our first day, we went to the Tubac Presidio Historic State Park (now operated by the Tubac Historical Society.) The Presidio, a fort built in 1752, gave us some wonderful light and shadow patterns to paint. Here is a 9x12 oil sketch I did as a demo. It's a building just outside the Presidio wall. The Director of the site told me it was the original Historical Society building.
On the second day, we headed over to the Tubac Golf Resort. As a rule, golf courses aren't very interesting as subject matter, but this one occupies the historic Otero Ranch. The developers did a great job of integrating their modern buildings with the remaining ranch buildings and old silos, which they worked hard to preserve. Painting there felt like painting on a grand old estate. Here are some photos plus a 12x9 pastel sketch I did of one of the silos.
On our last day, we drove down to the Tumacacori National Historic Park. The centerpiece is the Mission San José de Tumacácori, founded in 1691. The current building wasn't actually begun in earnest until 1800. The Mission presented us with a number of architectural problems. The key to painting it was to forget everything you know about perspective and simply paint what you see. I prefer to paint architecture this way, anyway. If you measure angles and proportions rather than draw perspective lines and vanishing points, the building will look a lot more convincing, and it'll take a lot less time to paint. Below are more photos and a 5x7 demonstration. For this one, I was showing how to make accurate color and value relationships more than focusing on accurate perspective.
I did another demonstration that day, but I don't have a photograph of it. Never sell your paintings without getting a good photo first! But the painting was bought by Lois Griffel (www.loisgriffel.com), and I am honored for her to have it. Lois was the last director of the Cape Cod School of Art and studied with Henry Hensche. She now lives in southern Arizona and came to visit my workshop.
At the end of the day, we headed over to Abe's Old Tumacacori Bar. It was built by WPA workers, who also built the highway in front of it, and opened in 1933. I played a game of eight-ball - my first in nearly 30 years! - before going over to the Tumacacori Restaurant, which serves the unusual combination of Greek and Mexican dishes. Below is the bar.
We had such a great time this week that we've already set up a workshop for 2012. Put January 17-20 on your calendar! Artist Katherine Reyes will be coordinating the workshop again. Visit www.losreyes.com for more information. I hope you'll join us for a warm winter getaway.
