[with apologies to James Clavell for stealing his title of the wonderful 1967 film: “To Sir, with Love”]
Professor Frank Zamora, affectionately known to his students as "Mr. Z", taught art at the college level for over four decades. I enrolled in his Pen & Ink class at Sacramento City College (SCC) in 1992, and we have kept in touch off and on almost every since – making Mr. Z the one professor with whom I have kept in touch longer than any other. Mr. Z was by far the most inspiring instructor at SCC. Where other instructors might talk about drawing principles, Mr. Z actually demonstrated drawing principles with inspiring demos and infectious enthusiasm for art.
I made this caricature as homage to Mr. Z’s methods. Since he is known for his "mixed media" techniques,I depicted him with every art tool but the kitchen sink (though he could probably find a way to use that too). I was aiming to capture something of Mr. Z's blend of academic drawing principles with "improvised chaos".
The drawing for this illustration was executed in graphite on Strathmore Water-Media board. For the painting, I tried to use most of the tools Mr. Z might use: splatter brush, stippling, razor blades, spritzer bottles, toothbrush, palette knife, color pencils, pastels, acrylic paint, gouache, ink, fingers and thumbs... (I am probably forgetting a few things).
I did not fully achieve the abstract-expressionist approach I was going for in the background, but I would like to think it evolved not unlike how Mr. Z's work develops - it's an organic process and you can't really predict the final results. Hopefully this pays homage to my teacher who inspired me so many years ago, and continues to inspire me today.