Colores de Guatemala

I've returned once again from a country which dazzles my eyes with color and emotion each trip. Guatemala has much magic and one aspect which is often focused on, and rightly so, is the weaving made by the various indigenous groups of people. The close packed tightly woven fabric can be seen everywhere one travels in the highlands. I picked up an excellent book in Antigua which is making me think more deeply about the fabric and helping me to look at the land, air and environment through the glasses of the colors and weft of the fabric. "Weaving Space: Textiles and Tales from Guatemala" David B. Greene is the author. So let me show you a few pictures of the space which people walk through in the markets.

I selected these photos because I wanted you to see the ease with which the color red-violet is interjected into the everyday life. See the stunningly woven blouse the women is wearing in the bottom picture. She has a sun-ray embroidered neckline which I believe indicates she is from the Chichiconstenango area. Now, I am not an expert just an admirer. A person whose eyes become happily filled with color.

These are tortillas carefully arranged in overlapping concentric circles. We asked the two Mayan women who helped us in the kitchen of the Cascade Medical Team if we could purchase handmade tortillas from them for one of our meals. They brought them in baskets gently warm and invitingly arranged. A treat for the eye and tummy. Notice how the repeated colors of the cloth create a visual rhythm as they enfold the tortillas.

Last year I began a series of paintings based on what I experienced in Guatemala and the colors of the color wheel. This is one I did thinking about the red-violet colors I had seen on the lawn and noticing the beauty this gardener was carefully picking up.