Oaxaca - The Magic of Making

“Fuente Cerca Mercado” - Watercolor and watercolor pencil on #300 paper - 9”x12”. (I kept thinking of John Singer Sargent’s watercolor of a fountain as I was doing this)

There is an open air market that we frequent near our apartmento that has a very small square next to it with a fountain. I sat down and drew and painted it LIVE, rather than from a photo…4 sessions I think. The drawing was pretty complex, which took 2 two hour sessions, and the painting about the same. Here is a GIF that shows the process:

It really is a completely different thing when you do observational art on site. I am not saying it is “better” than working from pictures, but there is a total experience that cannot help but be transferred into the work itself, which then acts as a memory trigger when you look at the painting again later.

Kids playing in the fountain. A man washing his face and filling up his water bottle in it. Two pigeons bathing in it. Me jockeying for the bench position in order to get the correct spot from the perspective I was drawing from. A dog drinking from a plastic bag filled with water. The tiny doves here….Tortollitas…politely pecking at my feet. The man next to me pointing to the dark clouds in the distance and saying “nubes negros”, indicating that I should take cover from the coming rain, which…I did.

I’d get some comments like, “Muy bonita! or, Is it for sale?”, but mostly people passed by on their way to and from the market, ignoring the gringo doing what half of the population here already does: Make Art. They produce arts and crafts like Americans produce…..what is it that we produce?

Art is ubiquitous here , and unique from region to region. The artisan is still a respected archetype. They might not make a lot of money, but they do make a lot of art, mostly traditional styles. It is a society that has not forgotten the magic of making. They even have Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo on their 500 Peso bill:

Which says a lot about the importance of art in this culture.

You see it in the museums, the murals, the market stalls, in the old architecture. Little kids hawk it from baskets that hang from their arm. And worth mentioning again: When a country puts two artists on legal tender, it signals that the artist is an integral part of society.

Below is a GIF of some of the photos I took while here. Each one worthy of a painting. This glaring beauty and richness is how I see the world. You see how it can be too much. How one might need to slow down and take stock in one beautiful thing.

There is more to show and say, but I think I will save that for another day. (Teacher Strike, Food, Mescal).

Tomorrow is our last full day before returning to Seattle. I think we will be going to a park in the mountains to get a more rural and elevated feel for this area.

Right now, in the distance I can hear a play by play announcer punctuated by immense cheers everytime Mexico scores a goal against South Africa in the opening game of the FIFA World Cup. 2-0 Mexico. There will be lots of Fireworks tonight!

As always, thanks for coming along. moodysteffon@gmail.com