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blog Personal Spain/France '22

Mysterious 2022 European Adventure

I was teaching several subjects online for Varsity Tutors, including AP Art History, Java Script, Geography, Animation, Drawing/Painting and even Minecraft Coding Camps. My father, Timothy Szal, wanted to go on an extended trip to Europe for more than two months. So, I took a brief sabbatical from teaching, and we planned to go to Paris for three to four weeks and then walk across Spain on the famous “Camino Trail.”

My father had recently employed me to redesign and renovate a second building on the 1342 Meadow Glen property in Southlake. We had discussed my being able to rent out the place for two years in exchange for payment (I also spent a good deal of my own money on extra design elements like the turtle knobs on the bathroom cabinets).

My father “accidentally” pushed me down a steep cliff while we were passing from the border of France into Spain near the Pyrenees Mountains. The fall hurt my leg, and about halfway through the “Camino Trail”, I was forced to stay back and rest in Burgos while my father continued without me. He returned after several days with 5 Spanish thugs who tried to subdue me. I was able to run off, and they followed me on the trail for a day until I doubled back. I told my father I was going to the American Embassy, and we flew back to Dallas from Madrid.

I had several strange signs that my father did not plan on me returning. The most significant sign was that my Capital One bank account was closed because I had not had any activity in 60 days – yet my Adobe account for Photoshop, After Effects, and other Adobe products had a payment from that account on May 8th. I also had over $600 in Federal Savings Bonds that I mailed to the bank to turn into money, which got returned as a check (possibly so that anyone could cash them).

I can’t help feeling that after some of the events that took place last year, some of Timothy Szal’s behavior seems quite a bit more suspicious. I just pray that someone on the State or Federal level looks into what has happened. I have a small claims court case in the works now, so hopefully, this will all be resolved from these proceedings.

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Sketchbook

Highlights – Sketchbook Summer 2023

Happy Bastille Day everyone! Here are some highlights from my sketchbook this summer I would like to share:

Drawing of priest during Mass @ StElizabeth Ann Seton

Drawing of Altar @ St. Elizabeth

Hebrew Calligraphy Practice

Watercolor @ Pershing Square in Los Angeles of Beethoven Statue

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blog Sketchbook

Virgo de Irunbidea

Virgo de Irunbidea statue drawing from sketch book – April 2022, Spain
Photo of statue
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europa Sketchbook Spain/France '22 Uncategorized

Images from Spanish Iglesia Sketchbook – April/May ’22

These are a few of the drawings, check out my page below for my writing and the other observational drawings from Spain.

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blog europa Sketchbook watercolor

Some watercolors & drawings done in France this April, rendered from life

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Art/Design Home Studio oils old gems Personal Sketchbook

“Tarnished Teapot color study” oil on bristol, 2014

Teapot color study after Sergeant
Oil on Bristol, 2014 – This was painted from observation from a tarnished silver tea set that I inherited when my grandma Dot passed away more than a decade ago.

This is an old color study that I found while reorganizing some of my old portfolios. I will post some more old gems and rarities like this in the enminent future, especially ones that have never been posted or never have left the studio/sketchbook. This teapot was from an old knock-off silver set my grandmother gave me when she passed away. She raised my brother and I almost by herself, so she was very much like a mother to me. So, even though it is not worth much in a monetary sense, it is worth more than the Sun and the Moon for me personally.

She wasn’t big on Art, but she always believed I could be a great artist if I put my all into the brush she would say. We lost her almost ten years ago when I was only in high school. Grandma Dot is what I used to call her, short for Dorothy. She also turned me on on of my favorite painters even nowadays, John Signer Sargent. Can you see the influence of Sargent in the wet on wet oil style and color filled highlights?

I am also considering making a series of short videos that discuss my studio process and my major influnces from the Old Masters of Art History. I think combining some old works from sketchbooks and portfolios that have not seen daylight in quite some time with historical influnces would be a good way to showcase some of my old work while also informing my artistic peers and the public at large about important works of art/artists that they may have unintentionally neglected or could further their apperication. 

 

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Art/Design Home Studio inktober Sketchbook Studio

#inktober illustrations

So, I have been working for a couple hours everyday on inkwash and watercolor illustrations. These are a couple of them. I have been working on simplicity of line work and effective color management with this more illustrative or cartoonesque style.

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Art/Design Home Studio Personal Sketchbook Studio

#spooktober

Some new works for the Halloween Season!

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Art/Design Personal Sketchbook Studio

From the Sketch Book

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