I Wasn't Born With A Silver Spoon In My Mouth

There was no silver spoon in my mouth when I was born. My parents were immigrants from Hungary and I was taught that I had to work for everything. I am grateful for that training and I have never been afraid to work.

I was a grown woman with 2 daughters when I found out that my parents were millionaires. They worked hard and invested well.

But I digress... I made the painting pictured above for a competition for a gallery in Denmark. (The work had to be either encaustic or cold wax). It is an antique spoon that my mother-in -law gave me. The college in it tells the history of the spoon; in Danish. Fortunately, an English translation accompanied this beautiful gift; it says, "This spoon was my great, great, great grandfathers. His name was: John Nicolay Winding. Born May 6, 1737, in Vestervig, Jutland, Denmark. He died June 10, 1818. He was minister in the town of Twed and he was called "The Pope Of Mols"
because of his great authority. He was married to Sophie Magdalene Falk. They had seven children. "I received the spoon from my mother' "  I am guessing that this was given to my husband's father.
In any case it is very old, beautiful and carries a lot of memories.

After working a few days on the painting above, I realized that it was flat and boring, so I made another one that I entered to the competition. The spoon is featured with an icy glass of Aquavit.
It has many layers of encaustic and the still life is paintied with oil and cold wax.

More surprises

As the tour of this place was finishing up, we walked out of the amphitheater inside of the mountain, to discover an entire recreated street of old Guanajuato three stories below the first floor. The owner of the house, I still stumble over that word, but can't find a better one, built this street in honor of his father who was governor of Guanajuato in the 60's. There are fully stocked shops, another bar and a huge kitchen. We were invited into the bar where there were tables set up with fabulous cheeses, meats, a variety of breads, and beautiful fresh fruits, along with wine, water or soft drinks.

I enjoyed the repast, not understanding that a huge banquet was still to be served out on the "street."

gambling - still inside the train

stage with natural stone striations

amphitheater leading out to the "street"

a part of the reconstructed whole block of old Guanajuato

bar and restaurant on the "street"

one of the meat and cheese trays

more fabulous food

John by the pool with one of his sculptures

Another pool sculpture

The owner, showing us an antique shoe that was used for removing corn from the husk

Sign on the street with the years that the father was governor of the Guanajuato

There was so much to see, and take in. The energy of everything stayed with me and woke me in the middle of the night, still amazed.