En Vacance!!

Vacation is being enjoyed and I will return with many colorful stories and observations which have occurred over the past 2 months. Some maybe about these photos-shown in no particular order

Flags are waving everywhere!!

In my yard today the annual parade of colors is occurring - this is the sentence I wrote on Memorial Day weekend and then I was stopped by a phone call - the news was sad. A dear friends adult child had died. It was a day to honor the dead and to remember the dead and then unexpectedly a beloved person had died. Somehow writing in a blog about brave color and comparing flags of color to flags flying over the early summer skies seemed frivolous. But now days have passed and I've given much thought to the fragility of life. Those flower flags which were bravely making their appearance two weeks ago are now in their last throes of declining beauty. A year ago similar Iris were in my lawn but this year is a remarkable year, all around town people have talked about the beauty of the Iris here. So I will share the beauty of this years Iris with you and think about the passing beauty we have felt in the people we have known.      

"As imperceptibly as Grief
The Summer lapsed away-
Too imperceptible at last
To seem like Perfidy-
A Quietness distilled
As Twilight long begun,
Or Nature spending with herself
Sequestered Afternoon-
The Dusk drew earlier in-
The morning foreign shone-
A courteous, yet harrowing Grace,
A Guest, that would be  gone-
And thus, with a Wing
Or service of a Keel
Our summer made her light escape 
Into the Beautiful."
Emily Dickinson


posted June 8. 2011




http://www.sensationalcolor.com/liveinfullcolor/the-meaning-colors-of-memorial-day/

Alfombras/ Magic Carpets

Because I cannot go in the garden today (it's raining), and because I know next week I will have much to share ( from a recent trip to Kansas City) I wanted to quickly share with you one of the wonders I saw on my past trip to Antigua, Guatemala.
Semana Santa , the week of Easter, is one of the most celebrated in Antigua. I have read that the Antigua Easter celebration is the second largest in the world. All the weeks of Lent working up to Semana Santa are also filled with traditions. We had the good fortune to be in Antigua the first two weekends of Lent. The Antiguans make "alfombras" (rugs) which are made on the cobblestoned streets

 each Saturday to be walked on by celebrants carrying on their shoulders large (tons large) floats of Easter pageantry. The floats originate at one of the many churches around the village and then the processions begin ,moving from the outer edge of the city to the central Parque of Antigua and passing by the Cathedral.

The rugs are made of colored and dyed sawdust . Everyone helps- adults, Moms, children, teenagers also the people who help are associated in some way with the stores, hotels and homes on the route of the procession for that weekend.  You can also see that rugs can be made from natural materials such as pine needles, flowers and vegetables.

Where did this tradition begin? It is said to originate in Spain and come from the Middle East. But as it is so often in Guatemala there is a Mayan history of Alfombra making. The ancient Mayans were to have made rugs of feathers on which their royalty walked.

Finally the procession and the sweeping up as the procession passes.

http://antiguadailyphoto.com/category/holy-week/ Catch this link to get the full power of Semana Santa.

FAC

When I was a young Mom I used to meet up with other Moms in the neighborhood on Friday afternoons. My friend Kathy thought this up, and thank goodness she did. We would meet at a different families house each week with our kids and a wine bottle in tow. The resident Mom would supply the taco dip du jour and the safe place for the kids to run amok. We Moms would talk and talk between 4 and 6 pm.  Well those days are past and the kids are now young adults, some with children of there own.  They all grew up to be slightly above average and responsible citizens. Whew!
Now I meet on Fridays with other artists we pay a model and we paint. We meet between 1 and 4 and do a few 5 minute poses and then a 10 and then finally a 20. If its a good pose we paint the pose with breaks every 20 minutes for an hour. We have had some wonderful models; some are friends, tango dancers, daughters, husbands and sons.

11"x17", Pastel, "Tango Memories"

This is the tango dancer, I brought this home and worked on it. This is entitled " Tango Memories" and is in the invitational at Aum Gallery https://www.facebook.com/AUMGallery. Now not all get completed, a lot get scrubbed.  Here's one worked on a week ago.

8"x11", pastel quick painting.April

I'm still working on last Friday's piece. From time to time I will share some of these with you and you will know that I am just trying to get a quick image down. It's a good way to spend my Friday's.

Where the Spider Went

Do you remember that old story about the vain Princess Arachne and  the Goddess Athena. Well the short story is Athena turned Arachne into a spider as she wove more beautifully than Athena and dared to brag about it. That wonderfully weaving spider travelled far and is alive and well today among Mayan women in Guatemala. When you go to  markets whether in  Chichiconstanango, Solola, or Antigua you will find masses of handmade textiles. These are not made in factories or somewhere in Asia, but right there in the small homes of Guatemalan Mayans.

They are woven for the most part on Back Strap Looms by women. Especially the fabric for blouses, called Huipils and the fabric for skirts which are called Cortes. The fabric is not cut and seamed as in some great couturier house in Paris. The fabric which is woven the width of the weavers hips, is sewn into panels and made into the garment. It is said the Mayan woman weaves to keep order. Each morning she places her head and her children and husband place their heads at the center of  fabric which she has made and represents the center of the world.

The colors and designs selected are those particular to the town in which the weaver originates.

the majority of the above huipils are from the Chichiconstanango region, the sun rays from the neckline identify them.

 Originally natural dyes were used but of course now one can find other threads than cotton and linen. Although particular cotton plants introduced by the Spanish are still used as are native ones. linen and silk and acrylic threads are used as well. Also a standing loom(which is reputed to have been introduced by the Spanish) can be used and is more frequently used by men for larger widths of fabric.  Material for a corte(skirt) can take approximately 8 hours to make.

Will this young girl grow to be the weaver her mother is? Or will she be wearing tee shirts and jeans and not know she was woven into the center of her mothers universe. The level of skill the material is woven among the indigenous people of Guatemala is consistently high but can it withstand the blunt hits of the modern world and the consistent beating of poverty. Will the goddess of weaving, Ixchel, still thrive among these people?   Can the women receive fair value for their work? Many fair trade orgainzations are trying to make this possible.  

For now, know that if you are a lover of exquisite craftsmanship and bold color Guatemala should be put on your bucket list.

Winter Surprises

Small delicate color has finally burst forth at my house. I  have owned an orchid plant for 6 years that has not put forth one flower. Finally this week with our topsy turvy Rocky Mountain spring weather ( 84 one day with snow and the 30's the nest day), inside my dry arid Colorado home beauty has arrived. 
I wonder if my shy Denver orchid knew the magnificent orchid cousins I had seen in Guatemala.

This jade colored orchid is one of the most amazing sights. When I first saw it in Antigua 2 years ago it was in a small boutique hotel.  It now resides at Las Escalonias a garden which has a small informal cafe on its grounds. Cafe de la Escalonia provides a wonderful place for a light lunch with fresh blended fruit juices and fine desserts under these hanging Thunbergia orchides.

I have seen these orchids in a number of home and restaurant gardens in Antigua. But thought you would enjoy being showered by raining orchids.

Immersed in Color

I've just been engulfed in the color found in the country of Guatemala. A total color immersion experience!

I spent  6 weeks walking mainly the streets of Antigua. Building ankle strength on cobblestones and eye muscles as I looked at the color lined streets. Catching glimpses of homes, hotels, stores hidden behind restored 17th century walls.

Watching out for chicken buses as they barreled over the bumpy streets with "the workers" calling out "Guate!Guate! Guate" I decided after seeing how the Guatemalan buses were decorated that would be the job I would want. Transformation of yellow school buses to rapidly passing colorful buses.

Sharing the street with people walking from here to there wearing, beautifully woven clothing.

Past the yellow , La Merced church.

Looking up to see flowers cared, tended and simply flowering above rooftops and framing volcanoes.

 I've returned to a brown, punctuated in my yard by 4 yellow daffodils and one morning the lines of  white snow clinging to the edge of my garden framing fence.

But I know more wild color is coming. I sense a promise of color based on my previous 6 week experience in Central America.