I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living. (Robert Henri)
Reaching far back into childhood memories, I fondly recall a fishing moment with my sister Helen. Eight years older than I, she was the master fisherwoman, and I was the novice. In order to secure the john boat against the outgoing current of an oxbow lake, she leaped from the bow of the boat to the muddy bank where the oxbow lake joined the Mighty Mississippi River. Instantly, her feet and lower legs vanished into the icky muddy bank.
She didn’t chuckle. She laughed. An uninhibited belly laugh emerged from her soul as she attempted to pull her feet from the muck!
Would you care to guess what this moment was about? (I helped him un-stick the electrical tape!)
I often find myself knee deep in surprise moments here in Ecuador, and following Helen’s example, I try to embrace those experiences. Trading the quiet backdrop of the river for a forlorn third-floor fixer-upper in the middle of town, I’ve been busy living a life while making a living this past week!
My friend Xavier asked for help with his new office space, and shadowing my younger Ecuadorian friend has brought me a few frustrations, but they were balanced against many chuckles.
I looked up and saw this scene!
Two days ago I heard the electrician call for Xavier, but I was too busy painting to note what he needed. I dropped my brush and bolted for the camera when I saw the above scene!
Last week, an assistant and I prepped the floor with three different layers of primer. He then helped stretch the string and chalk the lines for the faux tiles. I realized later that his heavy hand pulled against the string, which resulted in a not-so-straight line! I floated in the boundaries of each square, though some of the spaces didn’t seem ‘right.’
On Day Two, one carpenter began his tasks while marked the vanishing chalk lines. Two other workers appeared to paint the walls! Oh my! I attempted to repair the mis-drawn squares while two ‘torros’ slopped paint on the walls as larges splotches puddled on the floor.
Taping down newspapers and black plastic, they stepped through the new drips and tracked them across the prepped floor! I silently questioned their use of tape, but decided they were attempting to show more respect for the prepped floors. I asked them to be more careful with the drips, and they shrugged and said that the walls should have been painted first!
An upside down plastic trash barrel served as their ladder, and it pressed through the newsprint and left black smudges of ink on the floor! During all of that time, I focused on my work and often times forgot they were in the room! I wasn’t too happy when they pulled up the tape and a splotch of prepped floor pulled away from the cement! A repair job was in my future!
I didn’t realize these razor blades were still available!
Deciding these little accidents were all trivial, I blocked all of this out and resumed my work! I later told Xavier that I had learned a valuable lesson. I’d charge one price to paint a floor and would ask double that price if any assistants showed up to help with the project!
Xavier added his touches, which were refreshing and fun!
Day Three was spent blissfully alone after Xavier helped correct and re-chalk the boundaries for each tile! He also helped fill in color in some of the tiles. Each tile required four or so ‘washes’ of color.
Day Four – A road trip to purchase a special varnish for floors/pisos… The road trip is a story all in its own! That evening I worked late to finish the floor.
Day Five – People found their way to the third floor to peer at the magical tiles as we prepared to brush the first varnish on the floor.
Day Six – While working on mirrors and adding more layers of varnish to the floor, an electrician arrived to work on the wiring. The earlier photos tell that story!
Day Six – (Today) – Clocking out for two days with Ecuador Expat Journey Tour. Will be back online this weekend!
My friend Lesli commented recently, “We want you to take time for yourself…but we think that is exactly what you do with your art!”
Thanks, Amiga. How lucky I am that my art brings so much joy into my life! It might not bring material riches, though it fills my soul with a much-more valuable wealth!
Details! Now that the floor is finished, the mirrors await my attention~
Thanks again, everyone, for your support while I remain mute to the many wonderful comments you leave. I’ve been online about four hours for the entire week!
It’s time to shut down the computer and step to the malecon to greet the tour bus which should be rolling to a stop any minute!
From the “malecon” in Pedernales, Ecuador,
Lisa/Z
Zeebra Designs & Destinations 
wonderful story and absolutely beautiful “tiled” floor. 😉
thank you amiga! it’s so easy to keep clean as well! z
What amazing work…and an even more amazing and refreshing attitude! Thanks, Lisa!
ha.. yes, we learn to roll with the surprises – otherwise we’d be frustrated all of the time!
you’re knocking the timeout for art out of the ball park each week! thanks for sharing your work!
What fun! Thanks for this wonderful post. Here’s another quote from Robert Henri that reminds me of you, Lisa: “Art is, after all, only a trace – like a footprint which shows that one has walked bravely and in great happiness.”
patricia! that’s such a lovely comment; thank you for sharing this…
laptop battery’s at critical so i’d best hit ‘reply…’
miss you!
z
You do amazing things with color, my friend. (The Gilette single-blade razor is making a come back. They are marketing it as a “revolutionary” idea!!) Take care.
when xavier brought those blades, i asked him if he’d ever shaved with that kind of razor.. (he’s about 30 years old..)
they’re making a come back? wow… they seem so dangerous!
When I talked with my mom the last weekend, I asked for You, she said: I have seem her painting in front, I thought: I’m sure she will write about it!!! Thanks for share this.
special today was ‘camaron con verduras!’ yum yum yum, i cleaned my plate!
i caught a fleeting glimpse of your sweet mother, who of course had a lovely smile! z
Love the tiles and the story behind each post that you do>
thanks! i sometimes wonder, ‘is it just me, or do all people have equally unique stories to share?’ i think that we all have unique experiences, though some of us embrace them while others aren’t quite sure how to share them with the world!
z
fun post and wow – love this “my art brings so much joy into my life! It might not bring material riches, though it fills my soul with a much-more valuable wealth!”
🙂
~y.
thank you so much! yes, and sometimes my art surprises me! i worked this weekend on an original acrylic after arguing with it for the past few weeks.. yesterday i gave it the reins, and wow… i was a bit surprised this morning when i critiqued it again.. i gave it a funny glance and wondered, ‘this came from me?’
most likely it will agree to appearing on this thursday’s timeout for art!
Love the story and the tiles. Please can I have some Happy Face ones!
yes yes, triple happy faces for you.. you’ve earned a case of them and deserve grand smiles for a very long time…
Well. I found a couple of similarities between your life and mine in this post — the razor blades, and the overturned bucket used as a ladder. I buy my razor blades by the thousand (although single, not double edged) and use them daily at work. As for the overturned bucket? The painters who were coming around to do trim painting at my complex used those regularly. They’re much easier to handle when moving from balcony to balcony and a ladder would just slow you down.
I love this: “I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living.” I need that for when people start giving me the business about how I need to write a book. I take that as a compliment, of course. It means they would read more of what I’ve written. But spare me the solitary hours, the marketing, the search for an agent, the perils of self-publishing — at least at this point in my life. If I have twenty years left, I want to write, not market. 😉
Good to see you post, and to know that things are interesting, as always down there!
i think of you often when i am varnishing a floor.. you could teach me SO MUCH…
you’re right about marketing and such… when i prepared for the last exhibition, i was totally exhausted when the show began! there are no frame shops out here, and someone made the ‘mats’ from plywood.. someone else made the frames.. i visited three glass shops before finding one with ‘picture frame glass..’ there are no glazier points – they use nails or cut thin strips of wood to hold the glass in place… i have often said that good galleries earn every penny! how i wished for a good gallery!
Lovely time out for art Lisa I love how you can take an area and turn it into a living 3D creation of beauty, despite all the “help”!!!!
these painted concrete floors are also so easy to keep clean! sweeping them is a breeze!
z
What an incredibly interesting life you lead, Lisa. Like you, I wouldn’t want the volunteer help and all the clean up, but looks like you got through it all. Have fun with the tour.
hey amiga
the tour went well, and i’m writing from the little ‘conference room’ that’s void of furniture but smiles with its new face lift.. i’ll be heading to otovalo on thursday to buy a rug to cover part of the floor *(gasp!) yes, it will make the room look even nicer!
wish you were here – hey come meet me in otovalo!
ja! wish it were that easy!
z
Send the magic carpet, amiga. 🙂
Love the floor! Wish I had someone to help me do it on my house.
i wish i could help you! it’s time consuming, and it challenges one’s skeletal system, but it keeps me limber!