Art

Like A Cat Chasing Her Tail

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When I realized how many of our old family images were fading and getting stuck in plastic albums I decided that creating books the next generatrion from digitized image needed to move up on my priority list.  So I brought a large number of scanned images to work on here in Mexico.  I figured if I did some photoshop retouching every day it wouldn't be too overwhelming.

However, within a few days of arriving in San Miguel when, off I went to a class on photo transfer where I learned how to make a perfectly good reproduction look textured and worn.  My head is spinning with new ideas, but I do feel a bit like a cat chasing her tail.

Nannette on a tyvek envelop

Charley's Angel

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My blog postings have been sparse lately because I have spent the spring immersed in the world of 3D yellowfin tuna.  For the past three years artists from Dartmouth and Westport have created 4-foot long fish that are used to promote the Art Drive, an open studio tour through the coastal villages of Dartmouth and Westport.  The fish are auctioned off on eBay to support the event and the Lloyd Center for the Environment.

As a participating artist this year, I spent a long time thinking about what to do with my yellowfin tuna.  In Mexico, reflected light patterns on tin angels made me think of shiny fish scales and that started me off on an idea that was at the time way beyond my skill level and pay grade. But a lot of time playing with photoshop and learning how to use my graphics tablet got me to a pretty good place when my daughter raised the bar saying,

“ Oh Mom – you have to make this 3D.  It will be so much more dynamic.” 

Easy for her to say!  She is a talented artist who can easily move in three planes.  For me, adding a third dimension was as challenging as one of those yoga poses that the teacher does so easily.  While she twists and turns all forty six different muscle groups, I can’t even get a message from my brain to my neck, much less arms, shoulder, abdomen, legs……..  But perseverance pays off.    After many trips to AC Moore and Ace Hardware trying out different schemes and learning more about adhesives than I ever wanted to know, it did come together. So here is “Charley’s Angel” made of photographs on colored xeroxes mounted on flexible foam, over an oatmeal box.....

 

The angels that started this whole idea.


  

My own little yellow fin angel stands only 12” tall.


To create the colors for the fins and scales I used sunshine and a bright
Mexican tablecloth and a lovely turquoise shirt.

Carnaval

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Carnaval came to San Miguel this weekend. The holiday merrymaking before Lent begins is celebrated with gorgeous paper flowers and thousands of confetti filled eggs. Children of all ages run through the Jardin breaking them on each other’s heads, as well as on gringo photographers… The squeals of laughter are punctuated with the sounds of tango music as the old timers dance all around the gazebo.

 

MEXICAN GOTHIC

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Anado McLaughlin and his partner Richard - in art and in real life.

Anado, left, is the creator of the Chapel of Jimmy Ray-
art from recycled materials, including hundreds of beautiful blue tequila bottles,
not to mention to most colorful two seater outhouse this side of the Rio Grande.


The Blue Light

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This afternoon, when the sun was well to the west, and I was heading out of Mexicito, Santuario Hogar Guadalupano, the boys orphanage where David and I have helping out, my eye was drawn to the blue glass panes over the door of the chapel. 

My previous visits had never taken me there so I decided to investigate.  What a delightful surprise.  A simple world of stone, was bathed in a stunning blue light from three domed windows in the ceiling.  The back wall was lit with a celestial blue I never seen on stone before.
 

Art Is Everywhere

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The bulk of the tourists in San Miguel de Allende for the Christmas & New Year holidays have departed. No more beautiful young women trying to negotiate the cobblestone streets in their beautifully stylish 4” heels: no longer are the streets clogged with cars and buses moving at a snail’s pace.

So the other day, I went for a long stroll down one of the main thoroughfares. My goal was to acquaint myself with the shops along the way and also to exercise my eyes. I scoped out some agaves that would be lovely to photograph when the sun was in a different part of the sky and I had almost walked completely by a closed gate when I found myself advancing backwards to look again. It was one of those slow processing moments where at first it didn’t register what I was actually seeing.

As I began to tune into the details of the tableau in front of me, I began to smile. There was a whole world of flora, fauna and family all made of old auto parts at 19A Ancha, the shop of Mecanico Hermilo Tovar. Is it any wonder that I felt I was in the presence of a kindred spirit? As a person who can imagine a six foot hummingbird from waving ornamental grasses, I loved seeing the work of a man who could envision the human form in a rusty gas tank and winking eyes in worn old gears.

Senor Tovar was a great mechanic in his day and an artist as well. His widow was kind enough to bring me inside and show me some of the “family” still living among his collection of old car parts. I hope you enjoy his artistry and humor.

La Cañada Pyramid

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Pyramid maintenance is an on going chore.

Canada de la Virgin is an archeological site 30 km from San Miguel.  It was opened to the public last year after many years of legal wrangling.  The German who owned the land that this complex of Otomi pyramids were ondid not want to give the public access.  But he lost and a nine kilometer long road was built in the traditional style of this area - roads built by hand with simple tools.  

I am happy to report that I was able to understand at least half of what our tour guide told us during the two hour tour.  This site was used for celestial observation and it was aligned to indicate equinoxes and rainy seasons.  There is the beginnings of what promises to become a very interesting garden laid out in a swirling pattern with each section filled with plants that represent the vast knowledge of plant life by indigenous people.  This is a place that will look very different after the spring rains turn the desert landscape green.