My second trip to Mexico… and we headed straight to the big city. CDMX as it is known, has a population of over 20 million in the metro area and is at an elevation of over 7,000 feet above sea level. It’s a gritty and vivacious city with amazing food and refreshingly warm and generous people. We walked for hours. My take away is that we could learn a lot from the people of Mexico, their generosity and openess, their presence in life is something to admire and reflect upon.
The second half of our trip was in San Miguel Allende, (Population ~69 thousand). It’s beautiful and graced with a cake like cathedral at it’s center. Generous people, wonderful food and loads of visual inspiration.
Our ski trip to the Swiss Alps inspired a series of photo collage pieces.
Inspiration from the islands.
My first trip to Mexico… how is that possible? Oaxaca is a hot bed of craft and color. The plant life is pretty cool too. :)
30th Anniversary trip and the keys to my heart; culture, art, food, nature, and friendship— not necessarily in that order. C’est pas du luxe! (it’s not luxury!). Soul feeding is not luxury but it looks like that to me. Being blessed with a partner with similar proclivities helps. :)
Beautiful thinking allows our imaginations a turn at the helm.
When I look at an abstract painting, I feel transported, given the gift of another way of seeing. When I paint abstracts, I let go of routine, rigidity, and process; I explore possibility, harmony, and beauty.
Abstraction is beguiling. When in the flow of painting, I am lost in solving the visual complexity of disparate forms, colors, and textures, searching for a framework with harmony. Leaning into the joy of painting abstracts, I find greater ease with complexity, I grow into new ways of looking and thinking.
When a painting connects with another person through its language of color, form, and line, it can be transformative. Like poetry which allows, in its abstraction, for multiple interpretations, abstract painting is a means to beautiful thinking*. By identifying with the gestural quality of a line, the ambiguity of a shape, the emotion of color, we get insight into ourselves and others, we allow for difference, and find a way to get comfortable with complexity.
*Beautiful thinking: Looking for the interconnectedness and interdependence of things. Describes transformative thought, an ability to glimpse our unfurling, growth, and interconnectedness.
Openings to wonder.
There was much to catch the eye but my heart (and camera) are always drawn to the simplicity of color, light, and texture.