Misterio Rojo

Misterio Rojo, acrylic, 20x14" Available at "La Mano Masks", in La Jolla, California.
This is from the Apple store in UTC, San Diego, California.

Le Sac Rouge

Le Sac Rouge, watercolor, 21x14cm. Painted during the weekly plain-aire market in Argeles-Gazost, France." The background is the Catholic Church, in the center of town. The market is on the little streets all around the church, and a couple of streets in continuation, including the plaza in front of City Hall  (la Mairie).
 Plein-aire" or open markets are a tradition in France. They have a regular schedule, usually weekly, which is advertised in posted signs around town and on fliers and lists you can obtain at the Office de Tourisme in each town. Bring cash, most transactions are in cash only.

From my Balcony

From my Balcony, watercolor, 9x6, available. This is my balcony in SanDiego, California. My studio is facing this view.
Oscar Wilde has said: "All art is perfectly useless." And so it is. Useless, just like a sunset, a field of flowers, a gentle breeze, the song of birds, the view of magnificent mountains....

Home is where the Heart is

Home is Where the Heart Is, watercolor, 6x9, available.
"Encaustic" is from the Latin: "encausticus", which is from the Greek word: "burn in". Encaustic combines melted beeswax with  pigments. It can be used as an adhesive and as paint. Paints are applied on a heated surface, and each layer is fused with a heat gun. Interesting, eh?

Fortuny's Children

Fortuny's Children, watercolor on my journal. Mariano Fortuny painted this beautiful painting in 1874. I fell in love with it when I saw it at the Prado in Madrid last year. As is my custom, I paint in my art journal the painting/s that most strike me in the museum I'm visiting. Once I was asked to leave immediately from L'Orangerie in Paris, because they had seen me using my very small watercolor kit. I was sitting in the middle of the room, far from Monet's waterlilies! I was allowed to return and sketch with pencil.

Gauguin in Venice

Gauguin in Venice, 16x12, watercolor and mixed media, $300.- tax+shipping included.
This painting is in exhibition and for sale at "La Mano Masks", in La Jolla, California. "La Mano" is a Venetian masks store on Prospect St., the main business street in La Jolla, a  beautiful area near San Diego. Today is the day of Carnevale, and people wearing costumes from "La Mano" have been walking in La Jolla, and in Little Italy, San Diego, where a Venetian style Carnival was organized on the streets, with music, vendors,  people in authentic Venetian costumes....so much fun!!!

Ernie the Driver

Ernie the Driver, ink-wash, 4x6", available. As I've said before, I paint every day, everywhere. This ink-wash of my husband while he's driving, was done in the car, with a Tombow pen, brush and water, in a few minutes. Anything that doesn't move for a few minutes, I paint it!!

Breakfast is Ready

Breakfast is Ready, watercolor, 6x4" (15x10cm.) Available. Painted in Boquete, Panama.
Have you ever seen Sister Wendy's "Story of Painting" videos? They are marvelous! I strongly recommend them. Not only she is extremely knowledgeable about art and art history, she's also down to earth and funny. She shows us each painting in the castle, dungeon or museum where it is located, with vivid accounts of the painting and the painter him/herself. Engaging videos!

Bigorre in the Rain

Bigorre in the Rain, watercolor, 6x4, painted alla prima in the car while riding with friends. So much fun to paint anywhere, everywhere! Bigorre is a region of France, near the Pyrenees, where I live during the summer and fall every year. Come visit us! It's so beautiful there!!!

Brioude Sketch II

Brioude Sketch II, France, watercolor, 9x6", available. Painted alla prima last July, during the Brioude International Watercolor Festival.
What's the importance of William Blake(1757-1827)? To most people he was a mad artist on the fringes of art and society. His motto was: "Imagination, the divine vision." He was a painter, a poet, a genius. He followed no school, he was independent. With him, the cult of the artist-genius begins.

Beautiful Model

Beautiful Model, watercolor and pastel, 20x16, available. Painted in San Diego, California, last year, from a live model.
The International Jewish Festival is taking place in San Diego, California, at this moment. Today I saw two excellent documentary movies: "The Kissinger Saga",  director Evi Kurz, and "The Judge", director Ram Landes. I strongly recommend both films, beautifully done, where the humanity of the real life characters comes forth to the audience.

Self-portrait on Green Paper

Self-portrait on Green Paper, crayons on paper, 10x8. Available
Quick sketch in front of a mirror, done at the San Diego Museum of Art in 2010. They had a table set up for children to play with crayons. I happened to find a green paper around, and decided to do this quick sketch of myself. I enjoy challenging myself to draw or paint with anything I find. I remember an anecdote I once read about Picasso, that he would move to a new house, then walk around the neighborhood, enter any store where he could buy materials to write, draw or paint with, go home and try his new materials. At the Picasso museum in Paris, I saw a painting he did on a kitchen towel!

Apres-midi d'autumn `a Cauterets

Apres-midi d'autumn `a Cauterets, watercolor, 10x15cm. (4x6") available.
The illegitimate son of a peasant girl from a little town in Italy: Leonardo da Vinci. He built up layers of lightly colored varnish to create the mysterious shadowy depth of the Mona Lisa's skin. Brilliant!

Love me for Love's Sake

Love me for Love's Sake, watercolor, 6x9" (15x23cm.) available. I recently published a similar image, on Yupo, and bigger size (20x26) It's a different painting I did, after trying this small size I liked it so much I did the larger version. It's the larger version "Only You", that was juried in at the San Diego Watercolor Society this month.
My friend Lidia, an artist from Venice, told me today the story of Venice. It seems that the Romans were in danger of invasion, about 1800 years ago,  so they decided to save the "best and brightest" among them, the artists! They sent the artists on a boat to a farther away island. Once the artists arrived, they disassembled the boats, and with that wood built cottages and houses, sticking the poles of this very hard wood deep in the water. The wood was so sturdy, that the buildings stood strong, some even to this day. Venice was founded by artists and artisans.

I'm not ready

I'm not ready, watercolor, 9x6" (23x15cm.) Available. Painted alla prima, from the live model, in San Diego, California.
Francis Bacon (1909-1992) painted his own suffering, reflected in the deformations of the human body, as mirror of his own pain. To each his/her own!

The Cove

The Cove, watercolor alla prima, 14x20". Available. Painted yesterday afternoon, from the balcony across the street from the cove at La Jolla, San Diego. Magnificent afternoon, warm, sunny, plenty of tourists walking around, and boats appeared on several occasions. This place is beautiful! Did you know that Nikki de Saint Phalle lived the last years of her life in San Diego, California? There are many of her "Nanas" and other sculptures here, it's worth a visit!

Mystery in Blue

Mystery in Blue, acrylic on canvas, 14x11", available. This painting is one of the "Venetian Carnival" series, I painted for the exhibition in LA MANO MASKS, a lovely store in La Jolla, California. Exhibition of Italian -inspired paintings throughout the months of February, March and April 2012.