Gustavo Arencibia 
Gustavo the International Painter 
(Viajando Y Pintando)

When I was six years old, on first grade at Central Methodist School in Havana, Cuba, I remember I did a drawing of the Big Bad Wolf in bed and Little Red Riding Hood in front of it. My art teacher Ana liked it so much she said, Arencibia, you might be very naughty, but you are going to be a great painter. Well, I dont know if I am that, but I know I have dedicated all my life with love and passion to my drawings and paintings.
I worked thirty-three years in Pan American Airways and then three more with Delta Airlines at Miami International Airport, and I had the opportunity and pleasure to travel to over eighty countries in the world and thirty states of the USA. I also worked twelve years part-time with Carnival Cruise Lines. My oils, acrylics, and ink drawings are inspired in all those wonderful places I visited. That is why I titled my bilingual book Gustavo the International Painter: Viajando y Pintando, which means Traveling and Painting.
I started the book with my full-color paintings of cities and countries with the intention to be used as posters for Pan Am. There are several travel articles, like Iceland, Poland, and Rio de Janeiro, my favorite place. Then you will see cartoons I did for Panamusements, a nice monthly magazine done by Pan Am employees in Miami on the last thirteen months of Pan Am existence. The book ends with more drawings in black-and-white of cities and countries.

About the author

I was born a long time ago, in August 18, 1933, in Havana, Cuba. I studied my primary education and business administration at Central Methodist School in Havana. I also took a course of commercial drawing at Academia Comercial Minerva.

In April 1954 I came to live in Miami, Florida. For two years I enlisted in the US Army and spent eighteen months in France, having the chance to visit a lot of places in Europe.

In 1958 I started working for thirty-three years at Pan American Airways at Miami International Airport and, after that, three years more with Delta Airlines. In those thirty-six years, I had the opportunity to visit over eighty countries and thirty states of the USA. My oils and drawings are inspired in all those places I visited. In 1971 working with Pan Am, I started my large collection of ink drawings in black-and-white and in full color, filled with details of all the places I visited.

Most of my art education I received from the excellent professor Enila Kealoha at the Lindsay Hopkins Vocational School. Later on, I also studied with Estela Santis, Anita Delgado, and Heriberto Mora. Married to Cristina Juri, a Uruguayan journalist, I am very familiar with the culture of that beautiful country that I have visited more than twenty times.