I love San Miguel and Day of the Dead

A partial wall in the newly re-done children's play ground in Parque Jurez.

 Yesterday was the second of the "Day" of the Dead. This year it is a 4 day celebration. This is my 8th year experiencing this colorful celebration and it far surpasses anything I have seen before.

I strolled around town pretending that I was seeing San Miguel for the first time. I was thrilled by everything I saw and grateful that this really is my adopted home.

After dark I went back to the center to hear the earth harp. http://earthharp.wordpress.com/
It was new to me and very impressive. There were many of hundreds of people in the audience, including dozens of Katrinas in full makeup and fabulous costumes. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with with me.

I couldn't resist taking this shot of the most photographed street in San Miguel

Giant skulls decorated by local artists are placed around the city.

This is really creative

multidimensional installation

In town

color and music everywhere

Sound check in the park

In front of the main altar in the center

school children's addition

Every child was given a box and they filled it with something personal

Day of the Dead

This is my favorite celebration in Mexico. Today the altars we being set up in stores, all around town and especially in el Jardin. There will be parades music tonight. Tomorrow will be another colorful day.

10 encaustic paintings sold

I sold 10 paintings from my home/gallery/studio in the last month.

8 were sold at the open house - with the magnificent help of my friends. All three of the galleries that showed my work didn't sell that much in a year. What does that tell me?

encaustic home gallery

The power group and me

Lupita helping set up before the crowd arrived

in the studio

Closing a deal

The studio was a popular place

Art everywhere

Happy with her purchase

lots of material for browsing

Yesterday's open house was a great success. I couldn't have done it without the help of my friends; there were suggestions right from the start of the planning,  2 of them passed out invitations at the House and Garden tour in the morning, they moved the food and drink from the terrace into the apartment - to keep people of lingering up there and forgetting the art downstairs; They greeted guests, made sales, urged people to sign up for workshops, and supported me every step of the way. It took moving to Mexico to develop friendships with women like this. I am blessed.

announcement in the paper

• Our Edition In Print
• Contact us
• About us
• THE CALENDAR

Gallery opening at the studio of Ezshwan Winding

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By Victoria Pierce
Forty years ago, Ezshwan Winding began exhibiting her paintings in Chicago, Illinois. Her work was widely praised, resulting in exhibitions in US galleries and later expanding to Spain, France and Italy. Her art is in permanent collections of museums and universities.
Art
Gallery Opening at the studio of Ezshwan Winding
Sun, Oct 28, 1-4pm
Studio of Ezshwan Winding
Fray Pedro de Gante 33
Colonia Independencia
Phone 121 0440
After almost 50 years of working in oil, acrylic and welded steel Ezshwan fell in love with the painting medium of encaustic. The technique of molten beeswax, tree resin and pure pigment has captured her passion for the past 13 years.
Eight years ago Ezshwan moved to San Miguel de Allende. The move to Mexico has resulted in several successful one-woman gallery shows in San Miguel, Pozos and Puerto Vallarta. Countless new series have emerged in her adopted homeland, from the faces of indigenous women she encounters, to the magical Mexican Masks.
Ezshwan’s classical training allows her to move from figurative to abstract and back with ease. Ezshwan said, “I love the physical demands of working with hot wax and resin, and am continually challenged by the expanding possibilities. After careful calculation, I realized I have spent 17,000 hours just making encaustic art. By now, I feel I can answer all my students’ technical questions, and I still want to continue experimenting with this technique.”
Ezshwan is a well-respected teacher of encaustics. In the past several years she has taught over 70 workshops in the encaustic technique. Beginners, advanced students, artists and non-artists are welcome to experiment with the medium in her monthly workshops offered in her home studio.
Cynthia Hamilton, Ezshwan’s daughter, will also be displaying her own encaustic paintings during the open house. Cynthia studied art in Florence, Italy, where she learned old masters’ secrets of working with wax. She currently lives and works in San Francisco.
When I spoke with Cynthia she stated, “The medium of encaustic allows me to fuse and unify bee culture with personal stories. Through my art I recognize the significant connection we have with the bees and our traditions.”
Cynthia is very clearly on a path to developing her own personal language and style.
These two artists use the encaustic medium very differently, allowing the viewer to experience the alchemy that lends itself to a dynamic relationship between the artist creator and her medium.
Ezshwan enjoys working at home in her light-filled apartment in colonia Independencia and now is inviting the public to view her home gallery, visit an encaustic studio and enjoy a discount on all the artwork.
For directions and a map please email Ezshwan at ezshwan4art@gmail.com. For a preview of the work for sale please go to her website at http://www.ezshwan.com.

2 new encaustic paintings

I made two more nest paintings for my "Hatching" series. These are 10" x 10" and probably the last of this series.

encasutic on paper

Years ago, I traveled with my late husband, Kai Winding, to jazz festivals, recording sessions and jazz clubs. It was an exciting life, filled with wonderful memories.  I always had my sketch book and made many of the sketches into oil paintings. For 12 years, I only painted jazz musicians.

This is an old painting, "Miles' Eyes" circa 1987

A very old photo, of me, 1979, Nice France festival - with my sketch book.

I decided after more than 20 years of painting other subjects to revisit the jazz theme again and I am making small encaustic paintings on paper - jazz musicians once again.