MY ADVENTURES IN ART

 Adventures?
Probably more like timid endeavors.

My three passions in life (the legal ones) were always music, writing, and art.
I'm a superb musician (which is a matter of opinion)
I learned how to cleverly manipulate the written word at an early age - using it to my full advantage.
My talent in art is minimal and has never inspired me to take it too seriously. The number of artists is vast and the competition is impossibly brutal.

As a child I did an enormous amount of drawing. I drew everything possible, including every day events that happened in our lives. I remember when I was five years old and our car had a flat tire (called a blow-out back then). I immediately drew a picture of my father fixing the flat.

My education in art was sparse. I studied with two artists privately and took one drawing class in college  (I strongly feel that this post will soon be getting long, so I'll cut to the chase).

When I was ten years old we lived in Pomona, California. At that time I enjoyed drawing with pastels and painting with water colors.

One day I was outside in our yard, painting a watercolor on an easel. An elderly gentleman was walking by and happened to see me. He thought I had talent and said that he was an artist and would be happy to teach me. He lived in the neighborhood.

His name was Mr. Battenburg, he was originally from Holland, studied art in Paris, and knew the famous artist Claude Monet.
When I went to Battenburg's house and saw his beautiful paintings, I was astounded. I remember him showing me a painting of a windmill that he did when he was sixteen. The date on it was 1903. That means he was probably born in 1887.

In astounding generosity, he gave me art lessons free of charge. I learned all about using oil paints, turpentine, and linseed oil, of which I previously had no knowledge. I also learned to paint on masonite, since he preferred it to canvas. He instructed me in the rudiments of drawing.
I couldn't have had a better teacher.

Unfortunately, my parents moved to Anaheim when I was eleven, so I (reluctantly) had to bid Mr. Battenburg farewell.
I don't think I ever knew his first name.

In Anaheim I briefly took lessons from an artist named Edwin Eliff, who had a studio on Lincoln Boulevard. He actually displayed some of my paintings in his studio window. Somebody wanted to buy one, but I greedily refused. My selfishness wouldn't let me part with the painting.

I never had any other lessons in art until I was about 20 or 21. I took a drawing class for two semesters when I was in college. My instructor was Bob Macintosh (spelling?) who was an illustrator for Walt Disney. He made art and drawing an extremely enjoyable experience.

Eventually my interest in painting waned and my concentration focused solely on music and writing.

Just for fun I began dabbling in pen and inks, which I found more preferable than oils or acrylics. Some of my pen and inks were published in literary magazines and journals.

Here are a few of my surviving efforts, which were done when I was in my early twenties.

This was published in Good Old Days magazine. I can't remember when.

Italian composer Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924)

Silent screen star Barbara La Marr (1896 - 1926)

A rough sketch that I did for a western magazine. Not my best effort.

A wood block of the Titanic

Many of these were included in a post I did several years ago, which some of you might remember.        Jon