Monthly Archives: October 2013

Channeling Sinatra in Idyllwild

Poster for "Frank Sinatra & Friends" event Oct. 18

Poster for “Frank Sinatra & Friends” event Oct. 18

By Marcia E. Gawecki

In his 40s, Scott Foster looks like a young Frank Sinatra. He’s got the same steel blue eyes, similar facial features, a slight build and naturally, he was wearing a fedora. We were talking outside Cafe Aroma during the 18th Annual “Art & Wine Walk” in Idyllwild on Saturday, Oct. 12.

“I don’t really look like him,” Foster said with a big smile. “It must be the hat.”

Like Sinatra, Foster grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey, and used to sing at a piano bar, while attending art school.

“There was an old piano player there, who would let you sing a few songs,” Fisher recalled. “As long as you had some chops.”

Then Foster sang a few bars of “Send me to the Moon,” in pitch-perfect Sinatra.

Foster will be performing from 7-9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18 at Cafe Aroma. The show, “Sinatra & Friends” refers to some of Sinatra-era singers like Neil Diamond.

Foster used to get in trouble in art school for impersonating singers like Sinatra and Diamond.

“My teachers would tell me not to sing exactly like them,” Foster said. “They wanted to hear my voice.”

Although Foster sings with other contemporary bands, he likes impersonating Sinatra’s voice.

“I sing like the older Frank,” Foster explains. “He wouldn’t always hit every note, but would go back and hit it and be right on!”

Foster admits to “channeling” Sinatra when he sings.

“When I’m in a tuxedo and singing from Frank’s songbook, I don’t feel right unless I have a glass of whiskey in my hand,” Foster said.

Foster is not a fanatic who knows every detail of the crooner’s life. But he’s studied his voice enough and knows a little bit about his history, namely that he died in Palm Springs.

“It’s just an hour away, but I haven’t been there yet,” he admits. He hasn’t performed his “Sinatra and Friends” gig in Palm Springs, but isn’t ruling it out.

He’s just taking it one step at a time.

Foster gets great enjoyment when people come up to him afterwards and say, “You sing better than Sinatra!”

Then I showed him my Frank Sinatra banner hanging outside the Acorn Gallery, and he mugged for pictures.

Frank Sinatra & Friends event with Gawecki art banner

Frank Sinatra & Friends event with Gawecki art banner

Tickets to “Sinatra and Friends” for the Oct. 18 show are still available. Call Cafe Aroma at (951) 659-5212. The restaurant is located at 54750 N. Circle Drive in Idyllwild.

Copyright Marcia Gawecki Art 2013. All rights reserved.

A Long Road to Pop Art Peggy Rose

My mother in Pop Art colors!

My mother in Pop Art colors!

By Marcia Gawecki

For my mother’s birthday party on Oct. 6, I decided to create a Pop Art invitation. I didn’t tell her beforehand.

I was kind of giddy, painting my mother in bright colors. It seemed almost dangerous. Like painting a Catholic nun with pink hair.

Then over the next several weeks, Peggy’s portrait went through a distubingly “ugly” phase. Her hair was pink, then yellow, then mint green. Nothing seemed to look right!

Then I added too many colors to her face and neck, making her look Surrealistic. You know, babies and old ladies should not be painted in a Surrealistic style. I just makes them look freaky. Not the vibe I was going for!

During the weeks that I worked on Peggy’s portrait, I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t working out. In deperation, I’d take a picture to get a perspective. They’d always look too bright or too “muddy.”

I was beginning to think that, after 20 years of painting, I was incapable of painting my mother’s portrait!

Peggy's portrait went through a multitude of color combinations

Peggy’s portrait went through a multitude of color combinations

Then I remembered my childhood.

You see, I come from a family of artists, writers and teachers. But my mother doesn’t really understand art. She’s a retired nurse and very practical. She raised seven children, practially alone after her divorce. She’s tough, but really shouldn’t be giving artistic advice.

It can be devestating.

My brother, Mark, who is a product designer, is a true artist. He creates sculptures, paintings, and photographs that would make you cry. He really has an artist’s eye. Yet, for his entire life, Peggy would nearly send him into a rage.

“What’s it supposed to be?” she’d ask, thinking of dishware.

“It’s a reclining woman,” he’d say, staring down at the mermaid-looking aqua-tinted sculpture.

“But where are we going to put it?” she’d ask.

What she should have done was congratulate him on finishing the piece, that took nearly 80 hours to complete. Then she should have encouraged him to create more pieces, thereby raising another artist to grace this world.

Instead, she would always say the wrong thing, setting my brother off in a mad rage.

I would console him, warning him not to ask for approval.

“She’s only going to make you mad,” I would say, sounding more like a counselor than a sister. “You’re not going to get what you need from her, so skip it!”

My mother paid for my painting lessons from age 9 to 11 years old, which was an extravagance for our middle-class military family. Yet, it was a lifeline for me as a shy adolescent.

Yet, after every finished piece, my mother would always make me add green paint “so they’d match the couch.”

“But I already signed it,” I would protest. “You can’t change a painting once it’s been signed!”
We both knew that was baloney. I never wanted to add green to match the couch. It was a matter of integrity. What would my teacher say? “Spineless” would probably be a word that would come to mind. In the end, Peggy paid the art bills, and had a stronger will than me.

My paintings always matched our couch.

Photo of Peggy that inspired the portrait

Photo of Peggy that inspired the portrait

It took me nearly two months to complete the small birthday portrait of my mother, about one month longer than it should have.

I was thinking too much, maybe worrying about her response. It reminded me of the time that I was working on a portrait of a baby. It was a commission from my manager at work.

But then she started being difficult. Nothing that I produced pleased her. Then I would come home and paint, not realizing that her son was starting looking demonic!

I had to shelve the painting until things improved.

That’s when I realized that there’s a strong correlation between an artist and her subject.  I was putting too much pressure on myself to paint the mother who meant so much to me. She was both mother and father growing up, smart but not savvy, often critical and always practical, but not very emotional. Like my brother, I was the exact oppositeI don’t know how a brood of artists came from her!

“Pretend it’s for another client,” my friend suggested. “Don’t think of her as your mother, but just as another commission that you need to finish.”

It sounded like good advice, but impossible to disassociate myself from the woman who gave me life.

The final invite with sticker

The final invite with sticker

In the end, it was the squawking of relatives that made me finish Peggy’s portrait.

“Her party is only weeks away, where’s the invitation?” my aunt asked, clearly annoyed.

When I finally told Peggy that I was creating an original painting for her invitation, she wasn’t impressed.

“Oh, that’s ridiculous to spend so much time on an invitation! I can just pick some invitations at Walgreen’s!”

A Poltergeist voice came out of me.

“Don’t you dare pick up some Hallmark invitations! I’ve been working on this portrait for two months now!”

She relented.

Printing a full-color invitation was costly, about $2 each for 15. Everyone, including my friend, thought it was ridiculous to spend so much money on an invitation. In the end, I got the date wrong, and Peggy had to buy a sticker to cover it.

It was the ultimate embarassment!

“Did anyone say they liked the invitation?” I asked.

“Yes, everyone said that it’s certainly bright!” she exclaimed.

Bright is different than good. It had to be good.

At the party, I’m tempted to ask her friends what they thought of the invitation. Yet, it’s not going to be what I’m looking for.

An artist once told me that you should not look for approval from others. Even if no one likes your portrait, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you do.

Yep, it’s just an 80th birthday invitation, but I’ve put a lifetime into it.

Marcia Gawecki shows her Pop Art Portraits at Acorn Gallery in Idyllwild.

Copyright 2013 Marcia Gawecki Art. All rights reserved.