San Miguel Part 2

I'm on day 2 of a nasty cold and still not caught up with e-mails. But for some reason I can post to my blog no matter how crummy I feel. Just don't ask me to talk; my voice is gone.

We probably walked 5 miles every day we were in San Miguel. If you've been there you'll be impressed to hear that I walked all the way home from the Botanical Garden on the hill in blazing sunshine and heat. It felt wonderful.

Of course an army cannot march on an empty stomach. Pictured above is a chili relleno, rice and guacamole.

Sangria for the thirst. In that heat there was much thirst.

This is Perfecta, the grandmother of some of the children from Pozos I've been showing you. She is a kind woman and very affectionate.

She cares for the children while their parents work a series of jobs.

These pictures remind me so much of growing up in Arizona. The clothes we wore to stay cool and the suntans we had year around.

Also the dusty, dry climate. We didn't know that of course. It was the only climate we knew.

I love these faces. Children are so new to life, inexperienced and hopeful. I only pray the parents can do everything possible to honor that hope and protect that innocence.

The citrus was blooming on Pepe's patio. A voluptuous fragrance that takes me back to the desert.

Gazpacho and quesadillas at the Botanical Garden up on the hill. Agua de Jamaica (hibiscus flower iced tea) to drink.

The long view over the lake. It was so hot that day - nearly 90 degrees.

Flowering cactus. So many in bloom this time of year.

Huevos Divorciados. Fried eggs over corn tortillas with red and green chili sauce for breakfast. Black beans, chips and cafe leche. Oh, yeah.

One day Memo took us up in the mountains to Santa Rosa where they make the best Mezcal flavored with citrus. It was very forested and beautiful there; several hours away from San Miguel.

Here I am at the "boys only" cantina hoisting a mid-day mezcal. Some of these cantinas have a trough at the base of the bar where the men stand and pee. Serious. This cantina had a cubicle by the front door with a toilet I didn't explore. My compadres and the time of day provided me with an unusual experience for a woman; I wouldn't do this at night.

Here are John and Memo exiting the cantina. It was a tiny place and I loved being able to see it. Very exotic.

Memo is a brilliant tin and metal worker who made the mirror in the shot above. He lives in San Miguel and will make you a mirror too I bet.

Judita and Ricardo at Patsy's place, drinking Margaritas and being happy. (I've known Ricardo since the 8th grade. We are friends for life.)

Now for the photos of Patsy's place. These that follow were taken in her main house.

Her red kitchen.

With the awesome stove that cooks all the dishes at once.

The door leading out to the patio.

The patio, looking in another direction.

The angel door knocker on the side door.

A big paper mache object that I fell in love with. The bright colors make me feel so happy.

A paper mache chicken on the kitchen table.

A grass and straw chicken. Soooo clever!!

The doll with a pretty face. There is something so gentle in her expression.

This is a Mexican folk craft that I saw several times. What they do is take a photograph and glue it onto a carved wooden frame so that the photo is 3-D. One I saw in a private home was carved out of a single piece of wood. This was a popular art form in the '40's.

Tender blossoms at the Botanical Garden. Love the subtle colors.

If you look closely you'll note that the boxers are made out of stones that have been glued together. Another one of Patsy's treasures that you can see at her house.

This is a typical enchilada plate. Four enchiladas, a chicken leg and thigh, potatoes and salad. Of course that comes with guacamole, chips and dessert. Not that I put on any weight. Not me. ;-)

Beautiful old dolls at the home of a wonderful collector there. This man's house was like a museum of the odd and fabulous. I hardly scratched the surface.

A hand made hinge that caught my eye. When you have time and simple materials there is a strong desire to make things beautiful.

I'll close this post with another object from the collector's stash. He had a number of these Memory Jugs that he explained were first made by slaves out of the bits they could collect and make into something beautiful. Of course it would appeal to me on so many levels; I brought back pottery shards and treasures that I'm considering making into my own Memory Jugs.

Well, my head is throbbing so I think I'll go lay down and rest some more. It helps me to revisit my photographs and share them with you. And I'm sure to be better in no time. Abrazos y besos.

San Miguel Part 1

Come with me now for a dizzying 2 week journey to San Miguel De Allende, Mexico and parts nearby. Of course we love art so there will be that. Food so beautiful that I gave up taking photos of all of it. Cooking class, art making, shopping, people-loving, bolero singing and Birthday having. Lots of walking. Here we go.

On our first night in Leon our waitress makes salsa at our table letting us choose the ingredients from a cart. The meal was one of our finest. We are here after a 3 segment plane ride through Seattle, Ft. Worth and finally Leon.

The best part of any trip is the people. Left to right is my host William (Pepe) Peters, new friend Gabrielle Green (who later on gives us a cooking class) and of course John (Juan). Mes amigos. (BTW, in Mexico my name is "Judita", pronounced hoo-deet-uh.)

The first thing I noticed on arriving at the home of our hosts was the painted plaster in several rooms. This technique involves mixing dry pigment with cal (lime) and painting onto the dry plaster. This wall and another you will see was done by Amber Eagle, a Houston artist who lives in the house part time.

Everywhere I turn is beautiful artistry. See the lizard worked into the lock above? And the dry climate weathers the wood so wonderfully.

I first met Marlene nine years ago through our friends in San Miguel. She was my first artist friend there and I looked forward to seeing her again on this trip. We spent a day together in which we had planned to do assemblage but instead messed about with encaustic.

We didn't have beeswax and damar so we improvised by melting down candles on her kitchen stove. What fun that was!

Here is Marlene's friend Rosemary who joined us on the patio that day. Lots of Marlene's friends dropped by too so we had a lovely lunch and wonderful time dabbling.

One of the themes of this trip turned out to be amaranth and it's amazing health benefits so I did a collage honoring the grain which came down to us from the Aztecs. If you enlarge the photo you will see the cut up Chiclets I used to symbolize the grains and also the label of the key that unlocked the door of the house I stayed in on Quebrada. Very meaningful to me.

This is John standing among the agave plants at the ranch of another person we came to know there. On that day we drove to a nearby antiques yard where the Dona of the estate purchased two exquisite double doors to enclose her huerta (kitchen garden) on the hacienda.

This is one of the items at the antiques yard. Everything was outside in the weather with only one locked room containing dolls, paintings and other antiquities.

There was a mosaic studio at the hacienda where one local man and another from Tunisia cut imported stone and formed them into designs for table tops. This one was for a small table.

Here the workers are placing stones for a larger table. One table top must take weeks of patient stone cutting and setting.

I wanted so badly to get my hands in there and help. I love slow, exacting work like this.

Here spread out on a daybed is a very large table top ready to go into the iron frame that will support it. Really magnificent, reminiscent of the mosaics one sees in Italy and Pompeii.

This is the storefront of the antiquities yard showing more doors and carts. The temperature that day was in the mid-80's.

One of the dogs belonging to the owners befriends John. It seemed like everyone had a dog in Mexico and I fell in love with each of them.

The beautiful hacienda lady had us over on the night of my Birthday and treated us to a marvelous meal topped off with my favorite cake, Tres Leches. She lives in a fairy-tale house close to the central Jardin and the dinner table discussion of Mexican and American politics, economics and permaculture was perfect. I was sung to in two languages. By candlelight. Ahhh.

I sneaked off a few snapshots at the Belles Artes for you. Above is the work of Javier Arevalo who was showing there. One of the main reasons I love Mexican art is because of the originality, power and authenticity of the creators. I think the work above exemplifies this. It is a watercolor on paper.


Above is my long time friend Guy (Ricardo), cracking confetti and powder filled eggs on the heads of people in the Jardin to celebrate Carnival (Mardi Gras). It is a weird custom. See the girl with the bag full of eggs? And notice the silver power on Guy's hands. This is what ends up in your hair and on your clothes during the weekend of egg-cracking. It was mayhem with lots of shrieking and laughter.

On Sunday we went out to Patsy's Place to partake of a feast of margaritas and curried Lamb. I first met Patsy on that same trip 9 years ago and she is a wonder of an entrepreneur and dream creator. I'll show you more photos of her house in a following post. Another magical day.

I can't resist a good knocker.

Shot a photo at Marlene's of a ceramic sculpture. Not sure who made it.

I met this fellow when we travelled to my friends' place in Pozos. We took the children school and art supplies. They are so very poor by our standards but rich in spirit. The need for help is great.

This irresistable girl glued herself to me right away. We compared muscles and did our best to converse in my few words of Spanish. She reminds me of the beautiful Penelope Cruz.

John brought me an entire bush of Gardenias for my Birthday. I cut one perfect flower to press and bring home with me and gave the rest to our lovely housekeeper. I adore the fragrance and the flower has many layers of meaning for me. John knows this and walked miles and miles in the heat to locate this specimen.

Gabriella again, this time listening to the quartet that my friends hired to come to our house and sing to us on my birthday. Gabriella is a film maker, restaurateur and political activist who has traveled widely. I wish you could see her talk. She cracks me up with her keen wit and facial expressions.

On this day she taught us how to cook nopales (those cactus paddles), stuffed peppers, stuffed amaranth rellenos, fava soup and a pasilla chili sauce. OMG, it was delicious.

Here she dips the stuffed amaranth in beaten egg whites in preparation for frying.

Icy cerveza to accompany the meal on the patio. It was a hot day.

And here are our musicians who played for us for at least an hour while we laughed and wept at the overwhelming beauty of the moment. I'm 64 and you do still love me.

This is a composite photo taken at the Nirvana one night. I love the painting.

This senora is pooped after a long session at the keyboard. I'm deluged under mail, bills, email and jet-lag so give me a few days to get my sea legs under me again. I'll continue this later.

Playing Hookey

I saw a little gap in my schedule and couldn't resist one more time out before my busy year of teaching and traveling begins. I'll be out of communication for a couple of weeks (no phone, e-mail or blog) - gosh, what did we do before we were all wired up to each other? Ahhhh, we read, rested, and escaped. Sounds good.

In the meantime, let me briefly touch on a few of the places I'll be teaching this coming season. Not a complete list (more at the sidebar), but a few that are taking sign-ups now.

First is a new retreat being offered by my friend Liz Elayne Lamoreux. Gathering a small group on the Oregon coast, this will be a place to quiet the spirit, listen to the ocean and to our own beating hearts. We will paint self portraits in acrylic, collage and encaustic medium, study photography with Jen Goff, build altars, do some writing and yoga with Liz and find renewal in the ocean setting.

In her words, "The Be Present Retreats were born from the belief that creating is a meditation of the soul. Each retreat is an invitation to pause in your life and gather in a supportive environment filled with like-minded individuals in a creative, playful, and meditative atmosphere." This really appeals to me and perhaps it will speak to you too.

Secondly, the new schedule is up for Portland's Art and Soul classes that will take place in October. I'm teaching 4 classes there (holy cow!) and some really good ones too. Sign-ups begin on the 15th of March. There are still some spaces in my classes at Asilomar too so there are two more good ones to check out. (Asilomar! The ocean!)

Third on the list is a place where I'll be teaching Plaster Painting for one day only in Santa Cruz, California. Plaster is a gorgeous surface and very versatile too; come and play with me and I'll send you home with a set of new painting skills that will add texture, subtlety and new options to what you already know.
There is still space in one of my classes at Squam entitled "The Play Book". Squam is not to be missed. Go and read about it. It is nothing short of magic. Even if you don't take my class you will want to attend if possible.

And finally this wonderful, wonderful adventure to Italy. We will create a sheaf of drawings and painting sketches on location in one of the most beautiful spots on the planet. Then we'll make plaster painting covered folders in which to house the work. We'll have cooking lessons, tours of Etruscan caves and frescoes, a wine tour, fabulous food and a fairy tale place to stay. Check it out and imagine. The thrill of a lifetime, no exaggeration.

That should keep you busy until I return. Via con Dios.

Late Edit: Oh my goodness! How could I forget Art Unraveled in Phoenix, Arizona in August? I just made my hotel reservations this morning and John is coming with me this year so I'm very excited to have my favorite traveling companion with me and am looking forward to seeing all my friends there and teaching my classes. Come and meet the gardener!! (him, not me, ha ha)

I'll tell you about Random Arts and RaeVn's Nest on my return.

Pushing Daffodils

Spring is pushing up the daffodils here in Oregon; what a welcome sight. The image above is a painting on plaster that I did recently. I've been experimenting with plaster for some time now and every time I meet another artist who is also interested in this versatile material my eyes light up. Well, if you're one of those people you might take a look at the class I'll be teaching at Artful Journey this July. We'll be painting on plaster panels and I'll show you everything I've learned in my experience with this marvelous painting ground. It lends itself to so many different styles of painting and the ways you can manipulate the surface is endless. I'll have lots of examples of various approaches for you to study and try.

My compadre Katie will be there the following day teaching her painting and collage techniques (fabulous teacher) so if you want to come and play with both of us this is your opportunity for a very special weekend. We are both hugely excited about coming to Santa Cruz in July and meeting you. Registration starts March 1st.

Here is another journal spread for the past week or so. Amazing how busy even February has turned out to be. Hardly any time to write.

These little collages happened this week. They may not be done but I thought I'd show them anyway.

They're all on paper with acrylic and collage and some drawing and painting.

The stencil is from a photograph of my older sister Sandi. She doesn't read my blog but she should. ha ha.

And this is the book I read this week; highly recommended. It's about reconnecting with the earth and other sentient beings in a technological age. The author is David Abram.

Tomorrow I take a class (wheeee, busman's holiday!). Making things with others in a classroom setting, eating lunch together, visiting and laughing - these are my ideas of heaven.

One more thing; registration for Art Unraveled is now open. I'm offering several classes there in August and I love returning to my old stomping grounds to party and teach. Maybe some of you will want to check into that one too.

Disintegration

Seth has many of us art-bloggers participating in a fun experiment of disintegration and collaboration with nature. What you do if you wish to play along is to tie up a bundle of papers however you choose and expose it to the elements until a date in April. So this is my bundle which consists of a painting and collage on torn cardboard, stapled on teabags, tied and glued on rolls of paper and a wisp of fabric.

I hung my bundle on the rose trellis where the Cecile Brunner rose will twine around it soon and add it's sweet beauty to the mix. Photos will follow in April at the end of the project. Cecile doesn't usually bloom until May but maybe she'll give us one early blossom for the final photograph.

Edit: Seth informs me that the finish date is actually May 1st so there'll be a good chance for my rose to bloom by then.