Painting holidays in Cuba

Where we paint - click on a region

Cuba is an amazing portfolio of painting opportunities for artists. Vintage motor cars, cool Cadillacs in candy pink parked in front of colourful doorway or braked right on the beach.

The legacy of Spanish rule shows in the beautiful architecture, grand mansion houses with facades painted in myriad colours, colonial buildings with appealingly crumbling plaster work, offering intense hues, varied textures, odd juxtapositions providing contrasts and interesting compositions.

In the squares and palm-tree-lined boulevards, waves crash onto the sea wall, or the ocean laps gently at the endless stretch of white sands, and everywhere you look, there are images to inspire your sketchbook. A local character chewing on a Cuban cigar, a rider coming into town, or an animated group of locals, lend an effortless glamour to the composition, in their own Hispanic style.

With its mix of colonial squares and winding cobbled side streets, and pretty balconied houses in pastel colours, laid-back Trinidad is perfect for exploring on foot or sitting and setting up a drawing board. Doorways lead to a leafy courtyard that of a museum or a bar where you can sip a cocktail while talented musicians play salsa.

In fishing villages, locals add interest to the flawless sea views, and in the surrounding countryside, we visit daily life on the farmsteads where it's no effort to fill a sketchbook with characters at work, rest and play.

Faded plantation houses and sugar mills fill the lush green valleys with focal points of interest, historic watch towers, and genteel stucco painted houses speaking the history of the island’s toil and riches of the sugar plantations.

Cowboys ride on horseback, playful goat kids scuttle around, oxen drag carts or loads, and ancient farm machinery cranks into life; then the farmhands take a break from their labour, shading from the sun, playing the guitar and kicking back Cuban style.

In Havana, the indomitable spirit of Cuba libre is everywhere in the music, dancing, cocktails, a warm welcome and life goes on to the rhythm of Latino music and the vibrant character of the Cuban people brings any scene to life.

Viva la Cuba!