Counting Blessings

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artivive, augmented reality, Domenica & Amelia, Lisa Brunetti art, Museo Portoviejo, portoviejo ecuador, step into my world

Portoviejo Ecuador

Domenica & Amelia – Traitor

(Olivia Rodrigo Cover)

3,000+ views in 20 hours! Not bad for a cold start from the middle of the world!

Meet my friend Shadia’s beautiful and multi-talented niece (Amelia) and her friend Domenica.   Pass the link and help their YouTube view counter soar to the stars! (It’s already soaring without anyone’s help – just their God-given talents and beautiful energies!)

Domenica & Amelia
Voz: Ameilia Mendoza Safady
Guitarra: Domenica Zapata Duenas
Disenadora de Vestuario: Rima Safady Darwiche

Her mother (Rima, who is also a culinary artist and describes herslf as an ovarian cancer warrior) has designed some amazing evening wear, so her name on the video credits as dress designer was no surprise to me.  Peek at her instagram posts: rimasafadyatelier  https://www.instagram.com/rimasafadyatelier/

The gown on the far right is Rima’s design.

 

Ok – Back to the present!   Immersion in nature is a good choice for these extended Covid times.   There seems to be an acceleration of ‘back to normal’ lifestyles – which concerns me.   We, as a species, are weary of being proactive against the invisible enemy.  We yearn to attend events, sing in collective harmony, bask in traditions that are comforting and familiar.   Most of us ponder the events of the past year and hope to emerge from this virus-tainted chapter of life. Do we resume our previous patterns and behavior after this extended pause?  Have we grown wiser, more sensitive?

While many celebrate Thanksgiving, others reflect on the loss of loved ones.  Some are battling their own health challenges.   A good friend and his family are presently ‘sweating out’ Covid infections even though they were vaccinated.  They feel that the vaccinations will buffer them from what could be a worst-case scenario, but I will be relieved when they are all well again.  The virus continues to play the role of a Trojan Horse, and we should all remember to remain cautious.

…………………

“Step into My World” – Museo Portoviejo –  Ecuador

October 2021 – April 2022

Some visitors tested the app on the banner that anchors the first flight of stairs at the museo.

The unexpected egret tracks make people smile.

Sometimes our attempts fail for spacing the visitors.

After activating the Artivive app, these visitors were asked to aim their phones at Carlos Wellington’s shirt … and augmented reality leaped into their world.

“Como John James Audubon *, estoy retratando mi amado mundo natural, uno que espero capturar y compartir con otros antes de que los humanos hayan destruido este frágil ecosistema.

Like John James Audubon*, I am painting my beloved natural world, one that I hope to capture and share with others before humans have destroyed this fragile ecosystem.”  – Lisa Brunetti

 

Between visitors at the museum, I add watercolor to the prints of some of the drawings. (Common Tody Flycatcher)

The whimsical iguana remains a favorite. The people stare in wonder as the image changes to an iguana holding that same pose, then bobbing its head in classic iguana style.

The balsa tree trunk on the left anchors the final painting before the show weans to Giovanni’s section.  The portrait captures the tree’s essence when it seemed to exist solely for my personal viewing pleasure. Many people requests poses here.

Every so often a few people from the museum duck into the gallery for a quiet meeting. Sights like this warm my heart and also make me thankful.

A group of displaced people from Venezuela hope to one day return to their homeland. Their histories remind me to be grateful during this Thanksgiving holiday.

The study of a monkey mask (from Panama) changes into a video of Howler Monkeys in their natural setting. This one is also popular.

It is especially touching when someone reads my words out loud:

“… Ya no es ‘suficiente’ admirar esta porción de cielo en la tierra. Hoy el área permanece desprovista de los sonidos de la invasión humana. Los sonidos de las motosierras regresarán; el aroma de los incendios anunciará otra área despejada con éxito, “Desmalezado” de la vegetación original, el paisaje ilustra el silencioso mensaje por parte del hombre: “Esto es mío”, con poco respeto hacia lo que una vez floreció aquí.
Nuestro futuro depende de reconocer que las viejas formas no siempre son las mejores, y que es hora de encontrar nuevos modos de ser dignos guardianes de este planeta “.

“…It is no longer ‘enough’ to admire this slice of heaven on earth. Today the area remains void of the sounds of human encroachment. The sounds of chain saws will return; the aroma of fires will announce another area successfully cleared. Wiped clean of the original vegetation, the landscape illustrates man’s silent message: “This is mine ” – with little respect to what once thrived here.

Our future depends on acknowledging that the old ways are not always the best, and it’s time to find new ways to be worthy guardians of this planet.”  Lisa Brunetti

Nov 20, 2021

A new series incubates: Vanishing Manabi

Here in my daily museum routine, most everyone observes the importance of masks.  There is often a lapse in good judgment, however,  for the sake of a group photo.  I struggle with this, as it seems to be for vanity’s sake, but I also note that most of my friends who have lost loved ones to Covid are the ones who keep their masks in the proper place.

Another recent event about violence against women.

An event in the nearby Parque las Vegas for Womens and Children’s rights.

As we finish this year and prepare for a new one, please continue to be smart and proactive.  This virus wants to survive and is playing hardball.  We wouldn’t run a marathon and then stop when the finish line is in sight;  we can’t afford to have made it this far, only to let down our guard.   As a good friend and fishing guide once said to me when we were tarpon fishing, “Lisa; you rest, and the fish rests.”

My niece Karen – Jumping Tarpon – Rio Colorado Lodge Costa Rica  (Her brother Don and his wife Dana are in the other boat.)  Great memories!

Stay proactive everyone, and may you all stay well.

Love, Lisa

Yellow-tailed Oriole – hand-colored print by Lisa Brunetti.

Did You Know?

Tags

andean coots, art museo portoviejo, chevron, cinnamon teal, deforestation, donziger, Lisa Brunetti art, slate-colored coots, step into my world, yellow-billed pintail

Portoviejo /Manabi/Ecuador –

Another artist spending time near The Friendship Tree of Life. (Acrylic)

The show, Step into My World, is going well.  We discussed having a basket for people to discard their problems before they stepped into the world of art, photography and Augmented Reality.  I never dreamed that visitors would take it so seriously.   Some paused and touched their heads, closed their eyes and then placed their invisible burdens into the basket.   Others paused at the guest book and scribbled -sometimes for five or more minutes – on sheets of paper, folded those sheets and placed them in the basket.   What trust!  Each day I take the folded papers home and – as promised – dispose those private worries.

My staple gun ran out of staples, and I took the empty package to the store to be sure I bought the right replacement.

What a surprise to find that the new ones did not fit the staple gun!  The old package is to the right; the new one on the left.   Do you know the reason?

I had no idea that ‘Heavy Duty’ staples were different from Light-duty ones.   Alas, so far here in Portoviejo I have not been able to find light duty ones.  It’s almost easier to buy a new staple gun!

I think that every single person in an hour’s radius of Portoviejo knows the man in the photo. Antonio Pico, who lives near Ayacucho, stopped in to view the show.

Sometimes one person arrives, other times a cluster of  three or four.   An archaeologist here – an artist there – a friend to stop in and ask, ‘How’s it going?’

Since I would be at the museo most every day, I volunteered to be their first volunteer, after a thought-provoking visit with Alexandra Cevallos and her friends who drove over from Cruzita.   “Is there a ‘Friends of the Museum’ group here?” they asked.

Hmmm.  With budget cuts, the museum could use all the friends it can get!    The directors seemed relieved that I would be upstairs to receive any visitors, which allows them to stay focused on their daily tasks.  They set up a corner desk at the entrance to the show, and when no one is visiting, I work on art.  Today, however I’m working on this post!

Time for a brief ‘serious’ note.  This interactive map should show a timelapse view of tree loss for the past ten years.   It’s set for Ecuador, but it can easily expand to cover the entire world – or maybe it already does that when someone opens the link.  It’s sobering:   GlobalForestWatch.

Gathering nesting material (Andean Coot/Slate-colored Coot)

In July and August I made many half-hour drives to observe a pair of Slate-colored (Andean) Coots raising a family near Portoviejo.  Their presence is abnormal, and with three half-grown young ones, they nested again in a small cattail lined pond.

July 9, 2021

Since little is known about their behavior on the western side of the country (they normally live in the Andes) I visited the site often and parked – with the owner’s permission’- on a small empty lot that overlooked the nesting site.

The adults were extremely brava while sharing the nest building tasks, and were equally brava while sharing incubation sessions.   Their behavior amused me, and I soon learned by their behavior when they were about to chase  any potential threat to their young ones!

This slideshow captures a lot of that behavior: