Timeout for Art – The Muir Tree

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"The Muir Tree", acrylic paintings, John Muir Quotes, Painting trees, Timeout for Art

The trees are watching!  Near Rio Cinto-Mindo Ecuador

“Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot run away; and if they could, they would still be destroyed — chased and hunted down as long as fun or a dollar could be got out of their bark hides, branching horns, or magnificent bole backbones. .” — John Muir

Sometimes a work of art ‘just happens’ as if some invisible hand guides the process.  Everything aligns as if magically orchestrated.

Watercolor  by Lisa Brunetti –  With no pencil prep, I focused on one part of the flower then went straight to painting; the initials strokes of paint slowly evolved into the study of the Thunbergia flowers.

Othertimes a work of art requires preparation and homework, which starts as a spacial gathering of information and honing that data until clarity guides the artist forward.

The Muir quote has always fired my imagination, and I pictured trees frowning in disgust or wide-eyed with fear of being felled or even timidly hiding and peering from behind rocky facades. While pondering ways to illustrate the quote, I began seeking out and studying the twisted growth of mature guava trees – cousins to crepe myrtles – to merge the illusion of limbs and antlers.

Timeout for Art: Whimsical Endemic Species

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creayivity, endemic, hybrid birds, timeout for art endemic, Whimsical paintings

Endemics at the Artist’s Nest — Acrylic

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something.”  Steve Jobs

With great pleasure, I’d like to introduce you to seven new feathered friends that have given me great joy!   They can definitely be classified as ‘endemic” and are quite rare;  they thrive in a very petite ecosystem in Mindo Ecuador.

Only one of these hybrid species has a name;  the Purple-crested Puffball might be petite, but it is a bundle of perpetual energy.   The rest are waiting for names, and I hope that some of you will help with suggestions!

1.  This little blue and green stinker started it all! The original plan was for a simple design of whimsical cartoon hummingbirds spaced along a straight limb.   Simple.  Fast.  The firstborn quickly morphed from a basic shape with colors to a perky bird in a sparkling costume!     2. The little bird that anchors the corner has the body of a sparrow, and a beak designed for a special yet-to-be-created flower!

Eye to Eye = Soul to Soul

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4 minutes experiment, Eye to eye, eyes, Judging others, Kris Cunningham, Mindo Ecuador

(Another photo follows at the bottom of this page.)

Kris Cunningham, who lives in the Republic of Panama, shared a ‘4-Minutes Experiment’ video that greatly affected me.   Follow the link, open the video in the largest format possible, get still and very quiet, then select ‘play.’

CONNECTION – By Kris Cunningham

“Do not judge—or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?” Matthew 7:1-4.

Holy Week/Quito Ecuador – “Capes of a Different Color” – Acrylic

What surprised me were the negative comments on the video’s Youtube page.   I pondered my own story, one of being embraced by the people of various Latin American countries.   I did not have to prove my worth – they accepted me into their communities with amazing trust.  Thank goodness they have not judged me based on negative PR regarding the USA, whether it’s caused by a single tourist or the military or our administration.

Sometimes we fill our days with too much chatter, when the best way for two people to communicate is eye to eye — or soul to soul.

Timeout for Art – Showing Works in Progress

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Acryic, Critiquing art, Timeout for Art, Unsolicited advice

Butterflies – Acrylic in Progress 8.5 x 38″

Some men, like a wet dog, sprinkle a shower of advice over you when you are least prepared for a bath.   AUSTIN O’MALLEY

While perusing lots of serious quotes about advice, this one (above) made me laugh;  I hope that it gave you a chuckle as well!

This painting of local butterflies evolves a little each day.   There are times when I am tired and don’t have 100 percent concentration, but I try to discipline myself to pick up the pencil or brush and dabble.   There are about a dozen paintings in various stages, all waiting for my attention!

This painting evolves without the aid of preliminary pencil – I study the butterfly in hand or else a photo,  dip the paint brush in a watered-down color and wash in the basic areas.   The fine details evolve with each new layer of  washes, starting with watercolor style and then thicker and finally meticulous attention to detail.     Most every evening  when I push back and eye the painting from afar, I think, “There’s no way this is ready to be shown for Timeout for Art!”

Getting reference material can be challenging!

Even though this will evolve into a strong painting, I know that’s it’s hard for many people to see an unfinished painting and see it as that – a painting in progress.  There are times, like when we look our worst and answer the knock at the door, we wish we’d had had a warning.

Ecuadorian Birds – Name that Bird!

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A Little Blue Bird Told Me, Ecuador Birds, Identifying Neotropical Birds, Property for Sale near Mindo Ecuador

 

Reference material for the female racket-tail hummingbird doesn’t show a racket ‘tail,’ and the male doesn’t have the white breast… Thanks in advance for a proper ID!   When illustrated reference books seem lacking for details,  I often check Nick Athanas’ Antpitta site.. Check out his magnificent portraits of Neotropical birds.  (Antpitta.com – Booted Racket-tailed Hummingbird)

While updating the bird list for the property, I was pleased to count over 90 species of birds – and the ones that live on the other 95 hectares are still unrecorded!

Calling all birders – can you help with identification for any of these UFBS – Unidentified Flying Birds?    I will be offline until next week but look forward to your feedback.

Let’s look at those birds!

Costumes of a Different Color

Capes of a Different Color – Acrylic by Lisa Brunetti

“It gripped him: that cross was not the cross of Christ, but the cross of the Ku Klux Klan. He had a cross of salvation round his throat and they were burning one to tell him that they hated him! No! He did not want that! ”  Richard Wright – Native Son,  Pubished 1940

(Ecuador) – As various towns and cities throughout Ecuador prepare for tomorrow’s Good Friday Procession, I will be tucked away in the cloud forest and hope to finish the above painting.

Re: 2015 Procession —  Although I had read and admired photos of Quito’s parade, I experienced a visual shock from seeing thousands of capes and pointed hats/masks that reminded me of Mississippi’s KKK dark history.  

Sun and Shadows

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light and shadows, Otto Munchow, palo santo jama ecuador, photographing light

This photo freezes a display of stunning light and shadows last year at Canoa Beach Hotel. (Ecuador)

Todays assortment of images reflect my response to Otto Munchow’s post, “Let the Sun In.”       A gifted photographer and teacher, Otto stated, “Light is one of the most important factors that influence the quality of a photo.”  He followed with, “There is no such thing as bad light, only suitable or not suitable light for whatever you are trying to express. ”  His post offers pointers for photographing in the harsh mid-day light.

 

View from the dining room… 10 a.m. light…

This bromeliad hitched a ride to the edge of a public gravel road via a large limb that fell to the ground. After watching it for several weeks, I decided that the road graders would one day consume it, so with no guilt, I transplanted it to a space where it would be treasured.  Several of its canopy mates joined it – friends for life!

As I read his post, I thought of the ‘Plant Rescue Garden’ (pictured above) at my friends’ property in the cloud forest near Mindo.  During certain hours, the sun stretches its fingers into the deep shadowed area and showcases several of the plants.  The light is very dramatic, and I almost always reach for my camera and try to capture what makes it so special.  Just how many photos does one need of the happily-transplanted bromeliads, begonias and orchids?  For me, they serve as reference photos for those rainy days when I’m housebound and looking for inspiration for paintings.

A begonia lived on the tracks of an old excavator that was about to roll for the first time in years.

Timeout for Art – For the Birds!

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hummingbird feeders, Timeout for Art, timeout for birds

A colorful aracari critiques my work!

(Mindo Ecuador)

Let’s start with a few birds that highlight every day I am on Jim and Julie’s property!

Quetzals often laugh over my shoulder!

A male and female quetzal perch on a tall tree on a hill near the house.

About a 30-minute drive from Mindo is the hub of “Los Bancos.” I was there last week to pay the car tag fee for Jim and Julie. After an hour’s wait in line at the bank, I was told, “The system is down,” and was dismissed.

I stood there with mouth agape, pondered my choices, and quickly decided, “I’ll go to the Mirador Restaurant and not let this bother me!”

Patricio, the owner of the Mirador Restaurant and Cabanas, has great hospitality skills and always has time for his guests. Not only is the food exceptional, there are stunning views to the valley below as well as an ever-changing cast of birds that visit the feeders near the tables.

(Aracaris) These stars often make an appearance at the Mirador Restaurant.

Patricio’s nephew greeted me and said, “I saw you in the bank. That was a long line!” He could not help with suggestions for paying the tag fee, but Patricio came along and assured me that I had all month to pay it.
“I’ll try again in another week,” I smiled, then sat at a table near one of the bird feeding stations.

Timeout for Art & Friendship

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Ecuador, mindo, property for sale ecuador, Rio Cinto Ecuador, Timeout for Art, timeout for ecuador

Guess who flew in LAST NIGHT to help Zeebra?

Seeing Cotopaxi blowing off steam was quite sobering. (Photo taken from airport.

Standing at the arrivals gate, I held a sign that said, “Hummingbird.”  – Many of you will know what this means! (The following photo was taken when she helped design the magic carpet;  we had just finished painting the hummingbird for her home.)

(I forget how much taller I am than she is until I see a photo like this!)

Yes, my dear friend Barbara flew in from Panama last night and will be helping with various tasks in Mindo.   I handed her a new pair of work gloves last night, and we’ll purchase the mandatory boots in Mindo!   It will be fun to see what creative projects we tackle while she is here; for those interested, here’s a link to my friends’ property: A Little Bird Told Me

Speaking of gates, the all-seeing eye that watches over Casa Loca did not do the best job while I was in Mindo. My friends on the farm were trying to make the ‘bridge’ easier to use, but the workers forgot to clean up when finished!

Timeout for Art – Conversations with Nature

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acrylic paintings of flowers, angels trumpet, Brugmansia, NATURE, Timeout for Art, Working from Life

“When one is alone at night in the depths of these woods, the stillness is at once awful and sublime. Every leaf seems to speak.”  – – John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, (1938)

From the 2nd-floor balcony – The tree is loaded, but for only ten days or so….

The days have been full helping Jim (and the cats) prepare to fly to the USA, but there are flowers in the garden that awaken when I am normally sleeping! The blooming period is quite sort, so at night I work on the studies while most people in Ecuador are sleeping!  Nearby Rio Cinto provides a subtle backdrop of sound, though there is a hushed stillness aside from random moths fluttering at the windows.    Every so often an insect finds its way to my work area – maybe in hopes of having its portrait made with the flowers?

Look who came to critique! A lightning bug!

Before focusing on the main subject, I usually work on a smaller study.   The upper and lower views of a  black/brown and white butterfly provided perfect challenges on different evenings.

Timeout for Art: Fishin’ for Time

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june solstice, quotes by thoreau, Timeout for Art - Fishin for time

Fishin’ for Time – June 21, 2015

“Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.  I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is.  Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains.” – Henry David Thoreau

(And what did you do to record the shadow at noon during the solstice?!)

The fishin’ cat was a gift from my son years ago, and it presently fishes over my kitchen sink.  It’s also posed for a portrait or two.

Rabbit Rabbit Once More

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Hacienda Guachala, holy week in ecuador, nicaragua canal, rabbit rabbit, troubles with wordpress, wordpress new editor vs classic

(Ecuador) Otavalo Market – Rabbits

Late last night as I was painting, I remembered we were approaching another Rabbit-Rabbit Day, and I visualized writing a post with a picture of a rabbit.   (See Rabbit Rabbit May Day.)  

While guests were sleeping, I painted this ginger in the breakfast room of Hotel Andino in Quito. (No, I did not drink four bottles of wine!)

Because I painted late, and because I get weary arguing with the WordPress ‘Improved’ Write-New-Post options, I selected slumber over writing this post.

Timeout for Art – Impromptu Art Class – Museo Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador

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museo bahia de caraquez, Painting Artifacts, Student Art Cllasses, The Mola Series

Opening Inauguration for Legado de Colores

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
― Benjamin Franklin

(Ecuador 2015)  Back in February, I dropped by Museo Bahia de Caraquez and enjoyed reminiscing with the staff about the Mola Series Exhibition the museum sponsored back in 2012.  Ready to work on a new series of museum artifacts, I asked permission to take a few photos.  With a bit of red-tape, the director Sixtina Ureta authorized me to photograph a few of my favorite pieces.  She also told me that my “Spiral” painting in their collection would be included in an upcoming show.

From 2013: Imagine my surprise when the guide at the Bahia de Caraquez Museum told me that my painting was in a new exhibit upstairs!

After a few delays, the museum’s most-recent show opened this morning for the viewing pleasure of a group of students.  I knew there would be students, but I did not realize that they were students of art!    Many wanted their photos taken with me in front of the spiral painting, and we had several laughs – especially when I crouched down with my back against the wall to be the same height as Sixtina.  Several other artists and supporters of the arts attended the formal presentation – it’s always a special honor to witness extranjeros who attend the local events.

There were young artists and older students, so I sat on the floor to be closer in height with the younger ones.

Sixtina discusses the museum’s colorful paintings for the Legado de Colores exposition at Museo Bahia de Caraquez

from 2012 “The Mola Series” – Painting pictured at Portoviejo Museum before it reached its permanent home at Museo Bahia de Caraquez.

“My teacher would like for you to come downstairs,” one student said as the gathering ended.  I followed Sixtina and others down the stairs to a level below the main floor.  A second art event was about to begin!

Timeout FROM Art! End-of-Day Tranquility

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Floor Painting, Math and Painting, Painted Designs for Floors, Solomon's Knot, Timeout for Art, Timeout FROM Art, WordPress Blog Siites

One of nine panels, this 2′ x 4′ section will be part of the border. (Acrylic on plywood)

Hola Sports Fans; I’m writing via off-line mode while taking a break from a floor project. Black paint is drying, so it’s best to take ten or more giant steps away from the work and enjoy a break!  Nine pieces of plywood make up this large jigsaw floor puzzle that will upgrade an 8-foot area that overlooks the river. Clear thick plastic protects each finished panel until all are fine-tuned and adjusted to merge with the others.  The design should be ready for varnish on Tuesday.  It’s been a challenging and rewarding project, and you’ll see the entire floor on the next Timeout for Art.

Center 4′ x 4′ Section – detail

Border Detail

Yesterday my dear friend Silvana, back from her internship in Minnesota, dropped by the house and happily accepted the task of filling in areas with color. We set up a work area on the balcony and watched the birds and fishermen as we painted. Time flew, and at sunset we stopped to take photos from a slightly-different vantage point before she returned to Jama.

Although the rainy season is quite late, many birds are displaying breeding plumage.

Silvana gazes toward the boca as the fisherman snags another fish!

Timeout for Art: Balancing Seriousness with Whimsy

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Timeout for Art - Garden Art

There are few blooming flowers in the garden, so a little paint washes those areas with color.

“A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.”
Mark Twain

With so much sadness in the world events, hopefully the above quote made you smile!  While playing tag with the electricity and internet (two days with power, yay!) I’ve enjoyed switching between precision work on a floor project to fun garden art.    Painting straight lines fatigues my arms and shoulders, so my muscles appreciated the time out in the garden.

It’s a little hostal for duendes and fairies! It’s free if they watch over the house and gardens!

I’ll be on the road today and with a tour group until Sunday.   Enjoy the images of the floor in progress!

Timeout for Art: Color the World with Imagination

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el matal aguaji, end of year customs, Imaginiation, Mearsuring the sun's shadow, old furniture, Rycardo Alcivar, Solstice, spring tides, Timeout for Art- Color the World

King Kong Sighted in Jama Ecuador! December 2014 Bamboo and Palm Sculpture by Rycardo Alcivar.

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air – explode softly – and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth – boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn’t go cheap, either – not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination. ~Robert Fulghum

We all rejoice in watching children opening presents with wild abandon, and today while basking in whatever way you’re spending Christmas, glimpse your surroundings as if first seeing them as a child. I’ll be watching the ocean’s waves as they rip along the shoreline at dawn. Wouldn’t it be fun if all beaches and lakesides were littered with crayolas today instead of remnants of man’s discarded plastics?

All children (and young-at-heart adults) should be reminded to watch the shadows as they change throughout the year. High noon is an easy time to experiment with shadows; I enjoyed photographing these shadows with props that were close at hand!

High noon on the December Solstice – Ecuador

Aligning the compass (poster) with a guesstimate of the east/west direction, I was surprised to see the shadow point directly to the north. It’s time I stopped for a refresher course in basic directions!  James (and Terri) at Gallivance keep track of the earth’s pulse, and their recent post mentions not only sun dials and solstices, but also Poseidon.  Let the Celebrations Begin (More on Poseidon at the end of this post.)

The candle holder doubles as a little nosegay vase; it came from nearby Playamart and quickly transformed with a few coats of acrylic paint.

The abandoned chairs are a bit happier, but they are patiently awaiting more attention. Here’s the progress:

Timeout for Art: Mosaics and Beyond

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mirror ideas, mosaics, Timeout for Art

Hmmm; what do we have staring back at us?

As I look back upon my life, I see that every part of it was a preparation for the next. The most trivial of incidents fits into the larger pattern like a mosaic in a preconceived design.
Margaret Sanger

Last week during the 10-day power outage, I worked on several different projects.    The mosaic border demanded many more hours’ attention than I had planned, but the end result might fool most people who view it from six or eight feet.     Here is how it looked last week:

In progress – Mosaic Mirror

After about four layers of paint on each piece of the mosaic, much of the grout area was painted a second time.   Thick and a bit-sloppy paint gave the illusion of true grout.  When that dried, the edges were strengthened with straight, confident strokes and highlights were added along the top edges.

Timeout for Art: Painting by Candlelight!

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challenges living in latin america, mirror designs, mosaic painting, painting bamboo, painting by candlelight, Timeout for Art

Small acrylic exercise in color (detail)

 

“…If the stories are true, van Gogh would seek out cafes at night to paint, wearing his candlelit straw hat beside other customers. (The Huffington Post- By Todd Van Luling)

After ten days of using flashlights and candles to read – and sometimes to finish a painting session, I am pleased to announce that power has been restored at Casa Loca! I inquired (complained?) last Friday, and again this past Tuesday, and again today. Today the owner of the shrimp farm was with me, and for some reason Xavier’s presence made a difference! Two men drove to the house within half an hour, and  ten minutes later, the power problem had been found and repaired!

Timeout for Art: Subtle Surprises

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El Matal Ecuador, Hope, Timeout for Art, transforming an ugly space

“Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always sings.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

El Matal (Manabi Province) Ecuador

Life planted a subtle surprise in my path last week when I visited El Matal’s quickly-vanishing beach.  After walking the low-tide line from one end to the other, I turned around and walked back along the boat-crammed street.  Almost instantly, a flash of just-painted color caught my eye, and my serious mood (see:Esperanza-Hope) transformed into one of joy.

Esperanza – Hope — A subtle message of hope smiled at me along the upper end of El Matal. (Ecuador)

The bystanders confirmed my suspicions:  Yes; “Maestro” painted the post.   They seemed baffled at my enthusiasm.  I pointed out that he painted the post out of the joy of his heart and not because he was competing in another post-painting competition!    I took a few photos, retrieved a 4 x 6″ card of Diablo Uma and asked if they’d give it to him as a token ‘Thank You’ prize.

They peered at me as if I was the Caped Crusader!

As walked away,  they called me back;  a surprised Maestro stood there buttoning his shirt and wondering what had triggered the infectious enthusiasm that domino-ed along the neighbors until the card reached his hands!  I congratulated him on his kind and giving spirit and said that the freshly-painted post represented hope – esperanza – for the residents of El Matal. (See previous post)

Timeout for Art – ES Coffee Timeout Project

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ESCoffee, Group Projects, Painting projects, teamwork, Timeout for Art

“ES Coffee – Be Part of It!”

Old logo waxing out – New Logo of red coffee cherry waning in…

“It is much more rewarding to get to the top of the mountain and share your experience with others than to show up by yourself, exhausted.” ― -Shandel Slaten

After a three-day search, American Airlines located my missing luggage on Tuesday, and I found myself with a free afternoon in Guayaquil (Ecuador). A quick check with Miguel Rendon of EScoffee confirmed that he was in town, so I popped in to say, “Hi” and talk about coffee and art.

Little did we know that an impromptu art session was in our future! After a quick dash to the local art store, Miguel and I returned with acrylic paints, brushes and two painter’s pallets. Half an hour later, the entire staff took a Timeout for Art!

Timeout for Art: Sometimes…Little by Little

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art by Lisa Brunetti, having fun with art, little by little, mosaic designs, painting pottery, Timeout for Art

“Little by little does the trick.” Aesop’s Fables – The Crow and the Pitcher

When traveling, I always yearn to stop when I see roadside stands.  Watching a skilled machete artist whack open a chilled coconut is a bonus for the one-dollar orb that holds nutrient-rich water.

Sometimes I give a wistful look toward the pottery stands if I am traveling via bus.

No matter what mode of travel, I ponder how much an item will weigh before I add it to my growing load of loot!  Pottery’s weight makes it hard to justify when using public transportation.  If I take that fateful first step into the pottery scene, a few new pieces will have a new home!

So many choices!

After getting those items home, I never regret the extra burden, although I have moments of self doubt when I’m in transit!

Ten dollars will buy a lot of pottery, but oh, extra pottery will add a lot to my load!

Sometimes I wonder why road trips exhaust me, and then I ponder the items purchased (ahem – gallons of paint and varnish; quarts of special-colors of paint, plywood, items for the kitchen…) A day after the human burro unloads the parcels, hibernates and incubates a plan for the materials, she’s ready to proceed!  As stated with last week’s post, the difficult part is wading through that invasion of ideas and focusing on one.

Sometimes a dollop of unused acrylic paint prompts me into a ‘seek and find’ mission, and I walk through the house with paintbrush loaded with pigment! Too much black paint prompted the painting of the mask on the door! (Below)  It seemed a waste to wash that black paint down the drain – one learns to be frugal when good acrylic paints are not available in the area.

Timeout for Art: An Invasion of Ideas

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An artists's studio, Timeout for Art Invasion of Ideas, Understanding Artists

Hmmm, which task comes next?!

The problem isn’t coming up with ideas, it is how to contain the invasion. My ideas are like uninvited guests. They don’t knock on the door; they climb in through the windows like burglars who show up in the middle of the night and make a racket in the kitchen as they raid the fridge. I don’t sit and ponder which one I should deal with first. The one to be wrestled to the floor before all others is the one coming at me with the most vehemence. Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed — from Brain Pickings

Sundays at Casa Loca are deliciously serene.  The workers on the shrimp farms go to town or to the beach or family gatherings on their day of rest, and the pumping stations (supplying fresh water to the shrimp ponds) stay mute.   Aside from a random car or motorcycle passing on the road, the riverside’s background music comes from the whisperings of birds.

“Yikes! I’m growing feathers!”

The internet signal often works well enough to open emails in the early-morning hours, and most web pages show the text but drop the images.   Comments and emails that I write are often missing in action when I check later to see if they reached their destinations.   Brain Pickings, a once-a-week tonic written by Maria Popova,  arrives on the Day of Rest and delivers an insightful and comforting assortment of reading material that rivals the Sunday edition of one’s favorite newspaper.  Not seeing a Sunday newspaper for a fortnight of years, I look forward to the visual and intellectual tonic that Brain Pickings delivers to my remote location.

(Do I get a prize for breaking two hammers?) Some of the hardwoods are like concrete!

The above quote struck a strong chord as I peered into Herzog’s psyche.  He summarized and eloquently nailed how many artists approach their work.  It’s often difficult to explain the creative process to others.   There are times when one of my paintings is going really well, and after a break, I detour in a totally different direction with a new project!  I often create several small paintings while working on a more-challenging one.

Those small exercises in spontaneity are like little appetizers that sustain me and provide a little kick of energy to resume the larger work.   “The one to be wrestled to the floor before all others is the one coming at me with the most vehemence.”

Timeout for Art: Heroes in the Seaweed!

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beach trash, driftwood projects, leonard cohen, making things from beach trash, suzanne, What is Playamart?, WordPress Daily Prompt Opening Lines

“It came from Playamart…”Would any of you like to guess the purpose of this piece of driftwood from the nearby beach?

“Suzanne takes you down to her place by the river…” (Leonard Cohen)

Jama Ecuador (Manabi Province)

When one of the Ecuador Expat tours visited Casa Loca, someone asked me, “Do you know Leonard Cohen’s song, Suzanne?”

“I do!” I smiled, though I didn’t say that it was often on my painting playlist…

She added, “I just met Suzanne.”

I smiled, reflected on some of the lines and peered at myself through her eyes.  She was probably correct!

Although I have many images of the newest ‘driftwood’ projects, I left the USB stick with those images at the house.  While using faster internet in town, I am pairing a few new ones with older ones from the archives.

Quite handy for a kitchen towel!

Here are some older photos and a few lines from the song to illustrate her point:

…Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river…

Low tide – before the mangroves were removed…

You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her…

In Between Showers – A Mosaic Challenge

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mosaics for pools, Painted mosaics, WordPress Photo Chllenge Between

This week’s WordPress Challenge is ‘Between.”

My mind immediately dashed on many thought tangents as I pondered ideas that represent ‘Between.”     The above art project (in progress) keeps getting stalled due to rain showers, so climb aboard and step into a mosaic-filled world!

Timeout for Art: A Magical Room

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art studios, creative artistic spaces, Lisa Brunetti, painted concrete floors, transforming an ugly room into a happy one, ways to remodel an old room, wordpress challenge ROOM

“I step into my studio and nothing will be the same ever again.” (Franco Paisio)

This week’s WordPress Challenge is ‘Room,’ and these photos show how a farm bodega transformed into a unique studio space.  Enjoy the pictorial!  Z

August 2008; the fixer-upper challenge begins!

Let’s peer inside the bodega!

Timeout for Art – Field Work

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Black necked stilts, ecuador shrimp ponds, little blue heron, snowy egrets, Timeout for Art - Field Work, white ibis

Is there a pecking order in the egret family tree?

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”John Muir”

Manabi Province, Ecuador –

Many birds feast in the shrimp ponds; when the water is drained for harvest, the avian telegraph announces the all-you-can-eat buffet!

Yay! Lunch is ready!/

Elusive white ibis flock to the ponds for their ration of shellfish; petite kingfishers perch near the outlet pipes and spear random hors d’oeuvres.  Great egrets tower over snowy egrets and little blue herons as they scramble, squawk and poke for shrimp and fish.

Conceited snowy egrets, pairing black leggings with bright-yellow slippers,  fluff their wispy feathers to claim entitlement to the choicest morsels!

One Happy Family…

In formal attire, the black-necked stilts add a modest touch of elegance and keep a low profile along the edges of the pond!  Although the stilts have always captured my attention, I realized that I knew little when I began a study based on an old photo. They are black and white and have very long reddish-pink legs. Do they all have pink legs, or do the male and female have different colorations?

“Oh Grandmother; what big eyes you have!”

Consulting a bird book, I was surprised to learn that stilts have red eyes! (Red eyes?) I looked at photos on the computer. The less-than precise images showed dark eyes. Details were lacking on the bill as well, and I was unsure – was it curved slightly like an ibis, or did it have a slight upturn – or was it straight as a sewing needle? Rather than guess, I waited for an opportunity for field research.

Timeout for Art: Listen to Yourself!

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letting go, painting concept from start to finish, struggling with a painting, Timeout for Art Listen to Yourself

Hi from Mindo Proper (Ecuador)

We cleared one small problem while waiting on the road grader to clear beyond their home.

Julie and I have made a fast trip to Mindo while the mountain road is open, though the road graders have cleared dozens of mud slides, and many of them were HUGE.  The roads between their home and town are sloppy and un-passable unless one is in a four-wheel drive.  We are in town to buy supplies and return while there is still light.   It’s been raining since noon, and I predict more mudslides.  The roads are ugly, and I am amazed that some of the large landslides have been cleared!

With a 30-hour power outage, some of the items in the refrigerator/freezer were questionable, and we were out of staples like garlic, onions, spinach, eggs etc.  The kitchens will be well stocked when we return! (Their car had been in the shop for two months, and they had just retrieved it (and me) from Quito and returned Saturday evening.)

 

And then the rains came pouring down.

And down.

And down.

Most of the timeout for Art was written last week, so now here’s the rest of the post!

Z

June 2012 – Post Painting Competition at El Matal Ecuador, when trees and boat shelters lined El Matal’s ample beach.

“Someone else’s vision will never be as good as your own vision of your self. Live and die with it ’cause in the end it’s all you have. Lose it and you lose yourself and everything else. I should have listened to myself.”
― Georgia O’Keeffe

While I photographed the young artists at work, these skulls caught my attention in 2012. They patiently awaited in incubation…

Thanks for your feedback on the ‘Zebra-Energy’ (ZENnergy) painting! I treasured every comment and critique! While answering the comments, I realized that you’ve all earned a more in-depth explanation of the creative process of this particular painting.

The inspiration has been tap tap tapping at my senses for years at nearby Playa El Matal, where the beach is quickly vanishing. The skulls first tweaked my attention from the young artist who was painting a nearby post, and a year later I photographed them again. I worked out a concept on paper while having lunch in town.

The skulls caught my attention again in July 2013, and I tossed around ideas on paper while waiting on lunch.

Another nine or so months passed, and I sometimes glanced at the sketches and thought, “I really need to bring you to life!”

Timeout for Art: Staying Young at Heart!

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jama coaque sellos, Lisa Brunetti art, Painting Pillows, Timeout for Art: Young at Heart

“It takes a very long time to become young.”
― Pablo Picasso

This Timeout for Art project was simple and easy! The design, inspired by a pre-Columbian artifact, was painted on a pillow to bridge the painting on the wall (below) with the fabrics on the sofa and chair.

Timeout for Art – Sharing Your World with Others

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Acryilc Painting, Brugmansia, datura, Night Gardens, Painting flowers in acrylic, Tropical Gardens

When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. (Georgia O’Keeffe)

Inspired by my friends’ gardens in Mindo Ecuador, this evolving make-believe garden of acrylic paint has grown one flower at a time! Gingers and heliconias make excellent subject matter for botanical studies, but it’s been about ten years since I painted the lovely queen of the night.

A fringe benefit of working from life is the fragrance of the flowers!

Capturing the essence of the elegant datura (brugmansia) raised the bar and challenged me to transport the viewer into the mysteries of a nocturnal cloud-forest scene.  Datura, a bewitching queen of the evening,  opens at dusk and releases her intoxicating fragrance throughout the night.   A dangerous hallucinogen, it is used by shamans in ayahuasca ceremonies and is also abused by criminals to drug unsuspecting victims.  Devoted gardeners cultivate it for the beauty of its flowers and the delicate lemony aroma.

After working inside during the night, I moved to the garden and painted briefly the next morning.

The daturas preside over shade loving plants, and each compliments the other.  Deep crimson king’s torch gingers dig their toes into the cool soil and stretch skyward toward the datura.  Flaming-orange heliconias squeeze between available gaps and fill in the middle ground.   At night, I sometimes wonder what creature might be lurking in the shadows only a few feet away!

Timeout for Art: Aim High!

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acrylic paintings, art by Lisa Brunetti, botanical paintings of the cloud forest, datura, ginger, heliconias, Timeout for art: Aim High

2009 Watercolor by Lisa Brunetti

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” – Michelangelo

Datura-Ginger-Heliconia from Mindo Cloud Forest (Ecuador) Acrylic detal

There are times when, with sensitivity, I instruct my students, “Always stop before you think you are finished.”   Sometimes we can overwork a painting, and in search of precision, we lose the spontaneity and freshness.  It becomes overworked and heavy.

There are other times when I nudge my students to stick with the work a bit longer.  I remind them, “The difference in an amateur and a professional, is that the professional takes it a few steps more and puts in a few more hours…’

This painting held its own with the background left stark white. The colors sing against the white background.  Shadows could be added, and it would fool the eye, as it was already fooling mine!   My friend Xavier often walks into the studio and says, “I can never tell what’s painted and what’s real!”  and when this painting was flat on the magic-carpet floor, I often forgot that it was not part of the floor!

When a painting is 35 inches by 48, it’s taking a few more weeks to finish! After several moments of self doubt, I  ‘soiled’ the white background with a medium value wash of dark blues and purples and greens.  I knew there was no option to return to the original white background!!!  I continued adding layers of paint…

Timeout for Art: Blocks

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Drawing, magic carpet, Painting, Timeout for Art Blocks

A simple line drawing, photographed (gray) and converted to black and gray.

“When I can’t paint, I can draw, and this simple but very powerful tool gets me back to the very door of creativity.”  (Pat Corbin Henson)

Sometimes when I find myself going ’round in circles, I look through my archives and play with the designs waiting in limbo.   Rolling this drawing into a ‘bronze’ application on Irfanview provided a much-richer work of art with zero effort!

After tossing around options on the computer, I am usually eager to return to my pencil, which in turn preps me to return to my paints!

Timeout for Art – No Rehearsals

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art by Lisa Brunetti, concrete floors, Energy before a storm, old furniture makeover, porch balcony projects, Timeout for ARt No Rehearsals

Picture perfect afternoon! Surely the skies will be clear for days?

Talent renders the whole idea of rehearsal meaningless. When you find something at which you are talented, you do it – whatever it is – until your fingers bleed or your eyes are ready to fall out of your head. (Stephen King)

As if to compensate for the most-recent 2-day power outage,  a burst of energy kept me working at full throttle for the past several days.  After painting touch ups on the wooden balcony floor, I protected it with two coats of a transparent sealer.   Between coats, I painted the inside panels of the balcony white, then rolled a medium to light blue and then a lighter blue over that.

The little built-in bench looked quite anemic beneath the colorful moon window, so i painted the back a pastel orange and the seat area in light blue/green colors.    As the afternoon progressed, I added more depth and movement with strokes of color.

Timeout for Art: Magic Swirls

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art by Lisa Brunetti, painting old wooden floors, the magic of spirals, the magic of swirls, Timeout for ARt: Magic Swirls

“Magic swirls about us like an invisible fog of energy that can be tapped by those gifted enough, using a variety of techniques that center on layered spelling, mumbled incantations, and a burst of concentrated thought channeled through the index fingers. The technical name for this energy is “variable electro-gravitational mutable subatomic force,” which doesn’t mean anything at all–confused scientists just gave it an important-sounding name so as not to lose face. The usual term is “wizidrical energy,” or simply “the crackle.”
Jasper Fforde, The Song of the Quarkbeast

Those who know me well will agree; there are times when magic seems to swirl around me like an invisible fog of energy!  As I’ve mentioned before, batteries in watches usually self destruct within weeks;  elevators and copy machines sometimes malfunction when I punch the buttons.  Electric car windows stop working.  Sometimes street lights flicker off or on when I walk beneath them.

“Helllllp! It’s COLD in Here!”

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carnival water balloons, dhl service ecuador to the usa, diablo huma, Inti Raymi mask, new year's eve traditions in ecuador, what can go wrong with shipping, wordpress weekly writing challenge

DHL’s international search for Diablo Huma confirmed that he reached Miami; shocked at the absence of end-of-year muencos, he inspired his cabin mates en route to New Orleans to help make miniature effigies.

Handing them out on New Year’s Eve on Bourbon Street, he quickly took cover at the stroke of midnight when the fireworks inside the burning effigies began to explode!

Diablo Huma evaded the massive manhunt by hiding in the darkest corner of the DHL warehouse!    A week later, he peered from behind the long-forgotten orange and black crates of Halloween candy,

“Helllllp! Get Me Out of Here!”

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dhl in ecuador, inti raymi customs, sending packages from ecuador to the usa, wordpress weekly writing challenge

Preparing to leave his home in the cloud forest of Ecuador, Huma Diablo aka Inti Raymi Mask (acrylic painting)  parts with his daily breakfast diet of bananas!

Inti Raymi – Huma Diablo – Acrylic by Lisa Brunetti 38″ x 54″

As the magic carpet prepares food and flowers for its airlift of cabin-fever-struct friends, I put out an APB via DHL in search of the Inti Raymi Mask Painting!