Sierra Madre Sunset

A lot of people ask us what San Miguel is like during the summer. Here it is in August during our first trip in 2004. A late afternoon shower was arriving from the west over the Sierra Madres on the horizon. We had this incredible view from our apartment rooftop terrace which took in not only the views to the west but a fabulous 360 degree panorama. I remember watching this storm approach and being awe struck by the beauty, the intensity of colors, and the power displayed before our eyes.

Each day during the rainy season, which starts in June, the rains move in in late afternoon and roll across the sky, bathing the land with a brief shower or two, watering the plants, trees, and crops so that everything is green and in bloom. It’s the lush time of year, and the colors explode. Summer is magic in San Miguel. And after the rains come the cool breezes and the fresh smell after a shower. Those skies full of drama and color are one of the things I miss from up here.

Sierra Madre Sunset

Watercolor on paper

4.5″ X 5.5″

SOLD

Alhambra

After more than 700 years the Moors were finally left cornered in Granada, Spain, once having ruled all of the Iberian peninsula and much of western Europe. Their stronghold was the magnificent Alhambra, a castle and fortress on the grandest scale. It remains today as one of the wonders of architecture in the world. We had the privilege of visiting it on our trip through Spain. This is an outside wall with flowering trees at the base. The whole of the Alhambra is so vast that one tiny perspective like this is like viewing one crevice of the Grand Canyon. You simply have to go to really appreciate it. There is ornate room upon room, sprawling through what must be dozens of acres. And there is a summer home higher in the hills just to the east of the main complex, where the rulers spent the hotter months in the coolness of the mountain breezes and shade.

In 1492 Queen Isabella and her husband, King Ferdinand, decreed Spain to be Christian, forcing the Islamic rulers out and those not of the faith to convert or be expelled. There’s a poignancy among the grandeur that is Alhambra, made sharper knowing of the vibrant culture that the Moors brought to Iberia and the educational and academic advancements that resulted. All this was swept away in an instant, causing a religious diaspora of Jews and Muslims alike, ushering Spain into the beginning of what would be a darker, less open period that included religious persecution and the likes of the Spanish Inquisition.

Alhambra

Watercolor on paper

5.5″ X 4.5″

$50

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Rose Droplets

While we were building our casita in Alcocer outside of San Miguel we rented a place that was part of a large house with a fantastic yard and lots of flowers. We felt like lords of the manor, it was so stately in appearance. Roses climbed the property wall, different ones constantly blooming. The ones just inside the main gate were showy red beauties that I kept my eye on to see their latest production. One morning when we’d not been there too long I took a series of photos of the roses to capture how the rain droplets they’d collected shown like jewels on the their petals.

For some reason the red on my screen isn’t quite matching the painting in real life, no matter my attempts to color correct. Reds are tricky and my computer makes this a little dull. But I love all those droplets everywhere, the rose just out of the shower.

Rose Droplets

Watercolor on paper

5.5″ X 4.5″

$50

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Sailor's Warning

We took so many great pictures from our Amelia Island trip that I can’t seem to let go of it quite yet. I’ve let them languish for so long with the idea that I’d paint them “some day.” This surely is the perfect opportunity.

That final day was so atmospheric. The clouds rolled in and threatened rain. We drove to Jacksonville and then along the coast north. This is the harbor at one of the little towns, though I’ve long forgotten the name. These boats sat brooding at anchor, waiting for developments. The caution buoy seems to say it all.

Sailor’s Warning

Watercolor on paper

4.5″ X 5.5″

$50

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Amelia Sea of Grass

The clouds were stacked up across to the horizon the second day we were at Amelia Island. I can even now remember the stillness and the quiet in spite of the wind. We were awash in grasses of honeys, greens, grays, and lavenders, bending wave upon wave making their own current in the morning air. The herons and egrets kept watch with us, though they for their breakfast and we for our soul. A person gets hungry for this kind of magnificence.

I’m making progress on my commission and this afforded another quick study to do in under an hour. This is an exercise in muted colors and a limited palate of about 5 colors all working together to create one harmonious composition.

Amelia Sea of Grass

Watercolor on paper

4.5″ X 5.5″

$50

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Alley in Assisi

Assisi is an easy day trip from Perugia where we’d chosen to stay in central Italy after leaving Florence. So we took the train there to pay homage to the patron saint of animals, St. Francis. Because of his favor among Catholics and others the city is filled with tourists, there to walk the streets that he did and see the Assisi Cathedral where he first preached.

I wasn’t at my best the day we made our trip so my feelings about it are somewhat dampered because of that. I remember a lot of kitschy souvenirs everywhere and tours parading about. But I had to admit that it was a quaint little town, nonetheless, filled with history. There were also more peaceful places like the little deli we found for lunch — some bread, cheese, and oranges — and the nearby park bench to rest and eat. And then just before climbing on the bus to take us down the hill to the train, we found this cavernous alley, deep in shadows and mystery beyond that corner in the back. And it will remain a mystery for now as I was anxious to be back at our hostel in Perugia for a quiet dinner and evening.

Alley in Assisi

Watercolor on paper

5.5″ X 4.5″

SOLD

The Guide

Whenever you travel you can’t help but notice other people out on the road with you, cameras slung around their neck, that vaguely lost appearance, and the map or guide in hand trying to figure out where to go or what to do next. Sometimes you meet some really interesting people that way. I met three women on Windjammer cruises back in 1986 and 1989 who are among my closest friends today and are like sisters to me. Other times the people you see simply make up part of the interesting backdrop of where you are. And I love to people watch.

This lady, reading a guide or maybe a map, we saw in Perugia, Italy resting in the square just outside the university. It was a beautiful day in March and one of the warmest we’d experienced since coming to Europe from the heat and humidity of Southeast Asia. Students were basking on the stairs of a nearby building and everyone seemed to be enjoying this early Spring day. I cannot say what she might have been doing or looking for. Maybe waiting for someone. Perhaps on a tour on her own. We were happy to rest with her in the sun along with our other fellow travelers, gathering energy for the second half of our world trip that extended through southern Europe, culminating in Morocco.

The Guide

Watercolor on paper

5.5″ X 4.5″

$50

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Billy and His Harem

Yesterday was jam packed with activities and distractions and so I got off schedule. Only got halfway through today’s painting before Dave and I headed north to Mt. Vernon for his exhibition reception. A quality show at the Cedarhurst Center for the Arts. Check it out through mid October.

Part of our neighbors in Mexico are various herds of farm animals. We see them every morning and evening as they make their way to the pond just to the north of our place. Cows, horses, sheep, goats. Dogs and their masters guide their charges for a brief drink before heading out to mountain pastures for the day or back to paddocks to bed down for the night. Among them are a few billies, lording their dominion of the ladies over lesser creatures among them. Theirs is an envied position and their powerful stature gives presence to the herds. Love those curved graceful horns and that beatnik beard. He definitely has a swagger to make these girls not stray too far.

Billy and His Harem

Watercolor on paper

4.5″ X 5.5″

$50

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The Shell Game

Mexico is filled with interesting doorways. Some are skillfully made intricate wooden doors, others simple corrugated metal. As in today’s painting, some you really don’t quite understand. But I think of doorways and entryways when I visualize Mexico. Many houses are hidden behind walls so it’s the doors you notice and that give character to walled streets and alleys that would otherwise feel like mazes.

This particular dwelling caught my eye not only because of the doors, which weren’t so fabulous, but because of the overturned earthen bowls or pots on the roof above them. These are cooking vessels used over an open fire, which many women still cook on out in the farm villages like Alcocer where we live. Why these bowls are on the roof remains a mystery.

The Shell Game

Watercolor on paper

4.5″ X 5.5″

$50

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Baeza Night

Spain was a revelation. It seems like a hidden gem with practically no one we know talking anything about it except for Barcelona and Costa del Sol. But the interior is splendid with magnificent cities and charming small towns that date back to medieval times, such as one that we spent several days exploring, Baeza. The locals hangout in the central plaza, strolling along at a leisurely pace, gossiping and discussing matters of importance to their world, no doubt. It’s a relaxing pace after the likes of Madrid and even Toledo, both of which we visited and enjoyed thoroughly. But they have their crowds and hoards of tourists, where Baeza is simpler, a more intimate glimpse of the people out in the countryside. Baeza sits on a hilltop and was formerly a walled city with some of that remaining overlooking the olive tree fields below in the valley. You smell the olive oil processing plants on certain days, but its more intriguing than offensive, just to know a bit about how those oblong green gems get made into the golden green liquid that brings so much cooking to life with the delicate earthy flavors it imparts.

The painting is the street where we stayed, the sign actually that of our hostal. An off kilter place that felt like a cross between a medieval castle and a Wisconsin lodge, but it was clean and friendly, and also the home of a multi-generational family still in residence. It became our home for a couple days as we experienced their small town and a lesser known part of Spain.

Baeza Night

Watercolor on paper

5.5″ X 4.5″

SOLD