Blessings and Challenges

Happy that I can still do the splits.

My late husband often said, "No one said it was going to be easy." And as I review my long life I can view it as a part I have been playing on this stage of life. I have had great blessings and many challenges, as we all do.

Saturday August 13, I celebrated my 82nd birthday in Mexico City with my youngest daughter, Cynthia Hamilton. We both love that huge city and all the art and culture it has to offer.

The Tamayo Museum is the place the place we usually start. We took our first Uber ride from our hotel in Col Roma .
The day was wonderful. I talked to my other 2 daughters via Skype and cell phone, ate and drank well and felt completely fulfilled.

We returned to San Miguel Sunday night and our dogs came back from their vacation with their favorite person, Janet Krem. Janet is a dear friend and an angel who has a wonderful animal boarding center. She brought our happy dogs back Monday afternoon and by Tuesday our 8 month old puppy must have eaten something poisonous on the Monday evening walk around our community. She became more and more ill and has been at the animal hospital for a week, hanging on by a thread.

I raised my 3 daughters alone and had many a crisis, broken bones, deep cuts requiring stitches, the baby poisoned with ant poison; several times little stomachs had to be pumped; the death of my mother, the brain tumor of my husband... I had 18 hours to leave our home in Spain, find house sitters, get plane tickets and get him to New York where he died 5 months later. So when I felt that the puppy, Sasha, was dying in my arms, I completely lost it, sobbing and shaking. Fortunately, Cynthia kept herself together and got the pup to the emergency vet. I won't describe what a roller coaster ride this week has been, just that I realized that this was the first time in my life I couldn't take charge and everything must have caught up and all my emotions overflowed.

These photos are from Mexico City and the last one is in the pet hospital

First stop, the Tamayo Museum. Our favorite spot. This is outside where the happy dogs played in the wate

Col. Roma

The Buffet at Delirio

Cynthia on the stairs of the huge bookstore

A loaf of bread; a jug of wine

Walking around Col Roma. There is always something new to discover.

How did everyone know it was my birthday?

tapas in the hotel room after the museums

dinner in our favorite restaurant, Casa Virginia, Col Roma

A vegetarians' delight - plenty of meat dishes for others

Contentment

back in the room for chocolate torte, champagne, flowers and a gift. All arranged by Cynthia.

Fun, fun, fun

Sasha looks like a starving street dog after not being able to eat for 10 days. She is receiving medication including vitamins, antibiotics and was force fed today. She stood up to greet me today, walked out of her cage and put her head on my shoulder. The vet thinks she may make it.

Is She Finished? Rosa Parks

I worked another day on this painting and I am feeling burned out. That is a sure sign to stop. I will check out Rosa Parks this morning and see if I am satisfied, if so, I am thinking that she will be the end of this series. I could go on for months painting women who changed the world, but it has to end sometime.  A benefit of doing series like these is that I learn so much from the investigation.

I have made many faces in 2015 and only a cuple of abstract paintings, and I am getting a pull to work more abstractly. I have some ideas where to go next - back to encaustic. I have to get the studio set up with encaustic for students next week, so that seems like a logical time.

My Highway Hero

Yesterday, I felt well enough to return to my Sunday morning meditation group, after being absent for many weeks. It was a joy to share time and space with other devotees.

Afterwards, I went to a supermarket to pick up a few things. It was a lovely Sunday morning with little traffic. I was driving on the highway, headed home, when my car stopped. I didn't know what to do. I glided to the side of the road. Knowing that my regular mechanic is not available on Sundays, I tried calling my daughter and my neighbors. No one answered the phone.

What to do? I stepped out of my car onto the meridian, thinking that if the car were to be rear ended, it would be best to not be inside.

There I was; a little old lady standing by the car with a cell phone in hand, undoubtedly looking bewildered, when a rather beat out old van pulled in front of my disabled car and a Mexican man in a leather jacket got out and offered to help. He answered my attempt in Spanish to explain the situation in English. He said his name was Choo Choo and he had been working in California and was now back in San Miguel.

He first thought I was out of gas.  I never drive with a close to empty gas tank, but he got back in his car and pushed my car to a side street and said he would go for gas.

a few dents and scratches are the reminders of my adventure.

He said, "Don't worry. I will come back."

He returned with the gas, and I showed him the gas gauge, proving that I still had 1/3 of a tank.
He said, "Don't worry. I have lots of friends. I will call a mechanic" Within 5 minutes, the mechanic showed up, looked under the hood and diagnosed the problem as a broken belt.

Then, the adventure began. Choo Choo, using his van pushed my car across the highway to the other side, crossed the road again, and got up a hill to the mechanic's shop that he just opened for me.

After Juan Diego, the mechanic, said he could fix my car in 2 or 3 hours, Choo Choo said he had to go.

I thanked him profusely; asked how I could ever repay him. He  said, " People need to help others, and just keep me in your prayers."

I still get teary eyed thinking about my highway hero, who is also one of my angels.

My dear neighbors came to pick me up, standing at the side of the road; took me home, and back back down to the mechanic when the car was ready.

I think of how blessed I am that the car broke down at that time and place, and there are angels are everywhere.

Wow, Here is Progress

Last week's oil portrait

José Luis at work in my studio

Looks what he did in 3 classes - that is only 3 hours

I have a student that comes for a class ONE HOUR a week. He gets it! José Luis, has been painting abstracts for some time now. He has studied with a local artist and has created some interesting paintings with lots of texture; but José Luis wanted to learn how to draw and particularly figures and faces. He started coming to me in May. Just look what he has accomplished!

This and the one below are a couple of his first attempts of drawing faces.

An improvement

moving on to conté crayon

pencil

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Incredible galley; Kunsthaus Santa Fe

Saturday evening, my daughter and I went to one of the most beautiful art spaces I have seen outside of the Tamayo Museum in Mexico City. This gallery/home is located in an extremely humble Mexican neighborhood. The owner/ director/ art dealer only shows the most interesting and sometimes challenging art in a surroundings that are breath taking. The building is like stepping into a sculpture.

The featured artist was Santiago Correl. He is a brilliant photo realistic painting living here in San Miguel.
http://galeriasantiagocorral.blogspot.mx/