Argentina Part 2
July 14, 2008 By 1 Comment
I didn’t take many pictures during the second part of the trip….
and for the first time in a very long time, I didn’t paint– at all (some people call that a vacation….)
You can’t see them but there are Condors in those cliffs…. right next to that crack in the rock…near the white spot….
A fearless helicopter bird*
We had him eating out of our hands….
Afterwards there was a beautiful hike down… in the dark… under an incredible star filled sky….past rabid man-eating killer cows and possibly a vampire or two (maybe a few werewolves too). The car mysteriously moved farther and farther away but we made it through. Still it was one of my favorite hikes.
View from Los Gigantes
* don’t know the actual name but it sounds like a helicopter when it goes whizzing past your head…
Punta Alta
July 7, 2008 By 2 Comments
Yes— I’m breaking the silence.
I just got back from a few weeks in Argentina ( I lucked out and got to go again!) . I spent the first half with my friend Ken Colorado who invited me down to help him out on a sculpture project. We spent a few days in Buenos Aires where he introduced me to Andrea Juan who shares Ken’s goal of bringing attention to climate change through art. Afterwards, Ken and I went to Punta Alta to work on the ice core sculptures with Uretec.
An ice core sculpture with text from Lynne Cox. Lynne is an amazing woman who among many many incredible feats swam in the waters of Antarctica for 30 minutes without a wetsuit…. normal people die after 10 – 15 minutes in water that cold.
(If you click the photo it gets larger & you might be able to read some of the text).
Ken and Roberto discussing the project. Roberto is the owner of Uretec and a wonderful person…. even if he doesn’t like the way I make coffee ;0)
More ice core sculptures, these have writings of Russian & Argentinean scientists.
Vamos a Carlos Paz
December 26, 2007 By Leave a Comment
This is Paz. She’s 2. Paz has a great sense of humor:
On the way back from La Cumbrecita, a beautiful little German town outside of Carlos Paz (where we stayed for our first week in Argentina), Paz (one of the cutest, sweetest, most adorable, little kids Ive ever had the pleasure of spending hours in the car with) asked someone in the car (I honestly don’t remember who, it seemed such an innocent question at the time) A donde vamos? Someone answered: Carlos Paz. I’m guessing Paz liked that answer because for the next 45 minutes, like a broken record in the back of the car we heard….
-Vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, -(Brian, at least, had his headphones and an ipod.)- vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, -(why why why did I leave mine at the house????)- vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz… vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz, vamos a Carlos Paz.
I did what any mature adult would do: I laughed at her and occasionally asked A donde vamos? Which Im positively sure did absolutely nothing to encourage her.
Eventually, she fell asleep, woke up briefly and picked right back up again and then finally passed out completely until we got home.
She did the same thing on the way to Cordoba and again on the way back into Bariloche after our boat trip (she is a very smart girl so clearly, she knows to say Vamos a Cordaba and Vamos a Bariloche) but she fell asleep sooner so it didn’t have the same impact.
Natalia swears that she only did this when I was in the car. But as everyone knows– Natalia is a compulsive liar so its not wise to take her word on that.
All the same, just to be safe, its probably not a good idea to put me in the back seat with your 2 year old.
Bariloche Paintings
December 26, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays…
Here are a few oils I did while in Bariloche. The first two were at a spot Guille took us to for a picnic. The third one was a day or two later. I took the car and found a great little spot in an area we hadn’t been to yet. I hiked up a trail and found a rock overlooking the lake. It was a fabulous spot until the wind picked up. That’s when I realized picking a painting spot is a bit like picking a spot to pitch your tent: an exposed rock with no windbreak isn’t the brightest idea in the world. The wind did add an extra challenge to the painting process: I had to hold on to my paint box to keep it from blowing away. The good thing was that it kept me from spending too long on the painting. Im still picking out tiny rocks and dirt from the thicker parts of the painting.
From the beach:
Maddie, Kelly, Morgan & Stu:
View from a rock:
Bariloche
December 21, 2007 By 2 Comments
We spent about a week in Bariloche with Guille, Sofi and Paz. Sofi’s parents let us stay in their apartment there. Bariloche is a ski/ resort town in southern Argentina. The apartment window looks out over the lake, two of the sketches I did from the kitchen table. Guille took us to the other side of the lake to a gorgeous campsite. Natalia, Sofi and Guille actually met there on a camping trip way back when (high school, I think). I stayed back on the beach to sketch while most everyone else hiked up to see the waterfalls. Later in the week we went on a boat tour of the lake and did some fishing but I didn’t paint that day (kinda hard on a boat….).
From the kitchen window:
Down the street:
On the other side of the lake:
Missed a good article in the LA times…
December 20, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Christopher Knight wrote an article a few weeks ago in the LA Times about the “death” of painting and the LA art scene:
Link: “Painting gets a broader brush”
Amen, brother!
Argentina part 1
December 12, 2007 By 2 Comments
OK, so as usual, Argentina is fantastic. The first week we spent in Cordoba, mostly meeting Natys friends and hanging out. Then there was the wedding. Very different from weddings in the US. We left “early” at 5:30AM. We are in Buenos Aires now, until tomorrow, and then on to Bariloche.
So some highlights–
Food! We´ve had many Asados which is basically a lot of meat. Its true that the meat we eat in the u.s. does not compare.
Painting: not much to say there. I didnt want to paint the first few days because we had so many plans. then my back went out. That was pretty bad. good news is i spent several days by the pool, had several massages and even got to experience a chiropractor here (miracle worker). So alls well now but there were a few days that didnt go as planned….
more later ´cause im late but Im having an incredibly good time!
Life is Good…
November 29, 2007 By 1 Comment
I can’t understand where November went. A friend mentioned that my blog hasn’t been updated lately. I just now realized the last entry was 3 weeks ago. How does that happen? I tend to blog more when Im on the road which makes no sense on one level (much easier at home where a computer is readily available) but all the sense in the world from another: my daily life isnt that exciting. Wake up, drink coffee, sit on couch and look at painting, think think think, realize painting wont paint itself- get off butt, paint paint paint… wonder what that grumbling noise is… realize coffee isnt really breakfast (yes, Its a daily epiphany) eat lunch ’cause its already past 2 (what?!?)…. sit on couch, stare at painting…. glare at painting if I dont like it…..think think think…..paint paint paint….. sleep. You can copy/paste that in for the first half of the month. The second half of the month there was more thinking than painting (and many other finely honed procrastination techniques). My attention span evaporated. I blame it on the holidays and the fact that I’m leaving tomorrow for Argentina. Something Ive been very very excited about.
Oh wait— I did take a mini road trip to Utah. I passed through Nevada and came to the firm conclusion that I really don’t like it. I admit I don’t know the state well. The little time I’ve spent in Nevada has been in Las Vegas. I can handle Vegas in small doses (maybe once a year… maybe.. but not for more than 24 hours and I have to be in exactly the right mood). I had always assumed that outside of Vegas, Nevada must be very nice so I was looking forward to finding a more interesting part of the state. It actually got worse. It made Vegas looks like Disneyland. Something about that place makes my skin crawl. I got really creeped out (this from the girl who has no problem sleeping in her car on a deserted road) and decided to keep driving rather than get a hotel room (yeah… wouldn’t even sleep in a hotel there). It possibly had something to do with the really creepy couple who pulled their car next to mine in a parking lot a few hours outside of Vegas. They started yelling for my attention– both my windows and their windows were closed…(which makes me wonder… why didn’t they at least open theirs?). So I pretended not to notice and left.
Anyway, I was very excited to see the Arizona state line. I ended up in Zion NP in Utah and painted there. Zion is gorgeous. As an added bonus, you don’t have that creepy feeling that you are being watched by everyone and that one of them is going to chop you up into little pieces and feed you to their genetically enhanced goldfish. Maybe I’m just more comfortable around slightly buzzed rock climbers who haven’t showered in a day or two because they’re camping, as opposed to really drunk bulgy eyed gamblers who haven’t showered in weeks because…uh… they couldn’t leave the table? Sorry if you’re from NV— no offense intended…. maybe the northern part of the state is nicer? Maybe I passed through on an off day? I’m sure the rest of the state is beautiful.
So…. Argentina. Tomorrow. I’ll be traveling which means I will blog more than once a month. Stay tuned. Be good while Im away.
