Intoxicating Terre, watercolor by Lorraine Bromley
30 x 11 (unfinished) Inspired by the tulip tree.


La Montana de la Mariposa, watercolor by Lorraine Bromley
30 x 11 (unfinished) Inspired by butterflies.

A Work in Progress

in 2008, I resolve:
to create a painting for my inventory each week.
to submit my work to new galleries every quarter.
to enter one national show per season.
to continue to push my comfort zone - to be "uncomfortable."
to continue my journey toward physical health - eating right and exercise.
to paint and sell more large paintings.
to continue my dedication to higher standards in my own painting.
to read my mission and plan once a week.

Sitting still, no way!!!!

Going to be a productive day! I am feeling better and going to get alot done today, I am woman. Need groceries, need to paint, need to go to the Art Depot. I will have a full report later. lol What can I say ..it's a plan!

Cal this is the furniture I saw the other day. The handyman that you are!!!!

Full report: Well, I did get alot done today, cleaned my studio a bit, went to town for groceries, did not get to the art depot, but I did rent a movie. I got "Blue Butterfly" filmed in Costa Rica and reminded me so much of this past weekend in the northern section where I was. Rent it.... it was a 2-3 star movie, scenery was great, acting weak, but worth a couple bucks to see Costa Rica and it's nature, William Hurt was the star. I also started a new painting, and also worked in my art journal, will have to put up some pages of that, just realized I have not done that yet. Have a good recipe to share too.
Lentil Loaf
1 c. lentils
half c. gr walnuts
1 T tamari
1 c. soft bread crumbs
1 sm. minced onion
1 crushed garlic clove
2 eggs
half tsp. sage, thyme or marjoram or oregano + cumin
quarter cup liquid if req'd
2 T tomato paste
cook lentils in 3 cups salted water with tom paste till soft. mash. saute onion + garlic. add seasoning + bread crumbs, walnuts. combine all with eggs. pour into pan and bake 350 fro 30-45 minutes.

Sauce
1 T butter
2 T flour
1 + quarter bean broth
1 t. tamari
1 T. horseradish or dijon
half t. dill weed
half t. mild paprika.
Make roux. drizzle broth whisking constantly. cook 5 min. till thickened. stir in remaining ingredients.
Buenas Noches

A Blustery Day

Back in the saddle again....I went horseback riding this morning with Carlos (he is maintenance manager of the colony) & his familia, it was a beautiful day, my horse was very cooperative too. Did exactly what I told him to do. Just very pleasant ride through the mountains and forests. Juan Camillo and Francini are pictured here with their horses. Juan got very attached to his horse, talking to him and cuddling him, he took right to the ride. Francini was screaming her little girl screams as the horse did what it wanted to do, she was skittish of the horse, and it was pretty funny, Carlos had to guide her with the reins through the trails. I was the heroe, remembering the trails from last year, cause Carlos could not remember which one to take when we came to a fork in the road. My excellent sense of direction came in handy. lol...

These other pics are from the Christmas Eve party around the pool. Carlos the best dancer award and Patricia, having a good time & of course Alice's sapatos.











Tonight we had our Wednesday night dinner, small intimate group tonight than usual, (potluck). Susan made a lentil loaf, it was like a meatloaf with no meat, was delicious with a mustard sauce on top. Tasted so good after not eating for a couple days. Patricia made salmon, sour cream on a potatoes, I made the foccacia again. And then we had to raid Franciscos refridgerator for some vegetables, because no one else came with food. We cooked up some broccoli, peppers and garlic and had some left over potaoe mixture that Francisco made earlier. I guess everyone was making art. I feel like I am writing like I am at camp. Anyway, we all decided Christmas Eve that Saturday would be an open studio night, well, afternoon @ 4:00. We will make rounds to each others studio and see what each is up too. 3 are composers/musicians, 5 visual artists, so it should be fun, we will invite people we have met these last few weeks. The girls I went away with over the weekend, the hotel manager, Jorge from Corteza Amarilla, yoga group, etc.... maybe have some hord'overes or focaccia in my case, hee hee. That means no more napping and being sick, this is serious now "finishing up some paintings" this week.

Watched "The Painted Veil" on my computer last night around two o'clock, it was a beautiful movie. Boy I love this computer, it is a life saver, listening to my music, watching movies, looking at my pictures I took during the day for inspiration. It is so nice. of course keeping in touch with all of you as well. Thanks.

I just heard tonight that two other women from the weekend got sick too. mmmmm makes you go mmmmm. Time for bed!

Christmas Day

I am feeling much better today, still no appetite and it only hurts when I laugh now. I did want to lose weight, you have to be careful what you wish for. I know I am getting better because turkey and mashed potatoes sound awfully good right now after not eating for two days.

I thought I would just put up some more photos that I have found to be interesting.

I just had a visit from a couple of the kids, Juan Camillo and Francini, they live on the property, came by to wish a Feliz Navidad, they are the greatest kids, I just wish I could converse better with them, they told me that the thing above us on the eaves was a tarantula: any of several large, hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae, as Aphonopelma chalcodes, having a painful but not highly venomous bite. Ahhhhh!!!!! I hope he is gone when I go out tonight.

The sky right now is absolutely gorgeous, sunsetting and mucho clouds and the colors of coral, cobalt blue and white contrasting, its very windy today and a bit cool. I rec'd a couple of wonderful presents of earrings from Susan & Patricia for xmas and I made everyone some magnets of geckos and dragonflies symbolizing good luck and creative forces.

I talked to Aja, Mom & Dad, Gayle & my nieces and nephew and of course my dear Cal.
Wishing all of you, my friends peace and joy today and always.

I will catch up on Christmas day with more photos, I have the flu and will be back soon.

Wicked Good Weekend

What a weekend! Eight very talented women went to the northern area of CR on a tour with our fearless leader Bernarda, (who is my spanish teacher as well). She is the most fearless of all, driving us around in a mercedes van, listening to us yap for 4 hours in the driving rain, thru backroads, jungles, through rivers, yes literally. What an experience! We saw the most spectacular views of the mountains and coffee, papaya, sugar cane plantations. The destination was the Maleku Indigenous Reserve. They were very gracious to us, gave us a visit of their gardens/jungle and explained their culture, traditions and shared their language and prepare a typical lunch. It was very primitive and enlightening. Then we traveled to Casado Rio Fortuna at the base of Mt Arenal, an active volcano that spits smoke and lava still. The clouds & fog covered the volcano, so I took a picture of a sign that showed it, the volcano is supposed to be right behind the sign and a perfect cone shape, great sign huh?

Winter Solstice

Carla, Mark & Susan


Resident of Bonanza Restaurante, Charlotte the Spider
I hear fireworks. What better way to celebrate than with focaccia and pasta...lol. Yes I made focaccia, I even brought my garlic press, I know I am crazy. Hey I am here for 2 months. I did not get anything done today other than getting my blog up to date. I am still working on that. Did some cleaning and went to MultiPlaza to window shop, it was crazy with last minute shoppers, went to the bank ATM to get some cash for the weekend trip and the machine gave me 200 colones, ($100.00) so I have this 2" thick stash of bills now, geesh. It just fits in my purse and I also made a copy of my passport to travel with at Office Depot, leaving passport here locked in room along with computer. Got to pack and review what I have done here, be back on Sunday and I will catch up on blog with a full report. It is raining now, it is a relief, it was very hot today. Hot flashes are back! Met a nice couple from Canada, they are traveling all around Central America, staying in hostels. They are co-workers of Susan's from Canada, they are brave and on their way to Nicaragua for the holiday. I had a snack with them at Bonanza and also met the new baby, Nina....Whim & Luz's grand-daughter.

Amber & Nina, (born December 4th, 2007)

Feliz Navidad

Yoga today was about breathing within a breathe, and I am all stretched out too. Learning some of the yoga positions now and is very difficult. Whim & Luz had plans after yoga so we got a ride from Martina. We dropped off Soizic. Susan & I walked to the colony from there. Soizic showed us around her casita, it is so cozy & muy bonita! WOW I even took pictures. Would love to rent it sometime. She invited us for tea next week. Soizic is giving some kind of a solstice meditation friday night and I will go if someone else goes from the colony, just curious at what she does to celebrate this day, it is very amusing.

I had a lovely dinner at Essentia again with Patricia (Washington, DC) this time, she is also a watercolorist and wished to see the hotel & grounds for a subject to paint, of course now I have an in there..hee hee. Anyway she found some orchids she wants to paint and she is going on Saturday to paint them, they are very unusual white orchids, that I even made my christmas card with. I am going to paint with her there maybe on Monday when I come back from my little trip with the girls to the Maluke reservation. Will have some great pictures from that adventure. It is PURA VIDA here!

Natures Maze

A lazy day in the colony, took a walk and took pictures, started another painting. Doing a couple projects on the computer that I didn't have time to finish when I was home. Michael & I had spanish class today. We described our E.T. in spanish, we did very well, it was very funny. Bernarda is a really great teacher and I am looking forward to the trip she has planned for us on Saturday to the Miluka tribe in the north. There are eight women going, oh boy! Susan is glad she is not going on this trip. She has to work at Bonanza Saturday & Sunday. We had our Wednesday night dinner at Fransisco's with some new artists and the typical Tico food for dinner. He apologized for all the noise of the construction and told us some plans for the future since Royce is no longer here anymore, a garden where the tennis courts are, which no one uses and new common area in between the writers studios. Cool nights make dinner and sleeping so comfortable!

Create Chaos, Find Order

The last day of construction today, another studio created from the "Nine Muses", the community/library/computer room. So it will be a bit more quiet today. There was no internet for most of the day. Just the birds and an occasional truck that needs a muffler goes by in Colon valley. I worked all day on my four large paintings, turning them upside down and sideways, studying there compositions. Reminding myself to take my time and enjoy the process.


Susan adopted a playground up the street. She spent the morning picking up garbage and filling large bags for pick-up. The best thing she said while doing it, was a costa rican boy started to help her. She found a necklace with a heart on it in the playground and gave it to the little boy and he gave it to his little sister. It had a heart on it.

Found some beautiful orchids on the colony property today too. Discovering something new everyday.

Alice came in from NY, she was with us last year also, so Carlos, Susan , Alice & I made plans to have dinner together someplace. Carlos took us on a mystery ride to the most beautiful spot in the Central Valley. We went up a really steep mountain and it was the most breathtaking view of all of San Jose. Great meal too with Tres Leche for dessert we all split. I am definetly making this when I get home.

Mandala Journey @ Essentia

La Mandala
I started the "mandala " at the Essentia Restaurant down the street from here, this morning. It is coming out very nice if I say so myself. It still is not finished, I'll finish tomorrow. Needed a few more colors in it that I didn' t have today. So I am showing the progression of it. These are two pictures #1 taken after finishing all of the drawing, 39" circumference. #2 taken after finishing just the center 3 hours in a very different light that will make it even more dramatic looking. It will look different in each time of the day, it has a chandelier next to it, so at night it will glow. The center depicts a dried flower found on a path, lavender flowers that grow in bunches and fall like wisteria, bamboo leaves, dragon flys and a border of waves. Colors TBD.

Definition: A mandala is usually a circle format illustrating a "personal world" in which one lives, the various elements of the mandala or the activities and interests in which one engages, the most important being at the centre of the mandala and the least important at the periphery. Depicting a personal mandala in pictorial form can give a good indication of the state of one's spiritual life.

I love painting mandalas and giving the assignment to students. I am working on a smaller one as well which was the plan for the big one.

Michael, another writer in colony came down to keep me company for a little while, he went in the jacuzzi and we also had a wonderful lunch "on the house" while I was painting the mandala. We got back to the colony and I sat outside at Susan's casita and painted the smaller one. Juan Camillo, 11 and his friend Estephano, 11 came by to say hola and we had a lesson in spanish and they had a lesson in english, really nice boys. They picked us some tangerines with a special fruit picker pole, I forgot the name of it, but it gets the ripe ones from the top of the trees. I went to Susan's because the grounds man are doing construction and making lots of noise around the studios getting another casita ready for occupancy and a community room. Some of the artists are very unhappy about the noise.

I am a bit dissapointed today too, I thought I was going to able to paint with Patricia Forrester, a watercolor artist who has comes every year since the colony opened. She has been painting a really, really large painting on a farm, a vinca. The owner has asked she not take anyone else on the property. Ticos are very protective of their land and he didn't want the colony to have thoughts of anyone else coming onto it for subject. So, hopefully before she leaves in a couple weeks we can go somewhere else to paint together.

Full moon tonight

Alice & Susan came over for potluck tonight and we are still reminiscing, catching up from a year of travels and tribulations. Because we three were here last year together at this time.

The Colony

Carlos & Josh












Michael












Josh, Isha, Nancy & Patricia

Just Another Ordinary Day

Carlos made bamboo supports for Nancy's drawings of bamboo. She is in a big show at The National Gallery in San Jose, February 8, 2008. Too bad I won't be able to go to it. She has done some beautiful bamboo drawings with graphite and substracts the graphite instead of drawing with it. And when they were choppping off the extra branches it came to me that bamboo will be my christmas tree this year. It will be the best looking christmas tree in Costa Rica.

Susan's Back Pocket
Susan & I took a walk to Colon for ice cream in the afternoon. El helado de hilgo, (fig ice cream) and vanilla/lemon sherbert, not together but two different cones. Worked the rest of afternoon on some sketches for a new painting.

Josh, Nancy & I took a taxi and went to Bacchus Restaurant for dinner, I had sea bass with mussels in a wine sauce, that melted in my mouth and a wonderful antipasto with potatoes and some great company!

My Daily Horoscope - Overview For Today: December 15, 2007

Art is incredibly appealing to you right now, but you may find that you're even happier producing it than viewing it. Try to make sure that you expose yourself to culture in some big way early on.

Enchanted

Colon Valley
4x9 watercolor by Lorraine Bromley

The Nutcracker at the Teatro Nacional, San Jose on Thursday night. A spectacular ornate building in the center of the city, inside and out. The ballet was enchanting. I took a few pictures after asking if it was ok. Then I was told by someone else not to take pictures, so I put the camera down and walked out at the end without my camera. I realized it when were still in the city and went back to the theater to get it and the whole theater was shut tight, it was weird, having only been there a half an hour ago when there was dancers, Tchaikovsky, an audience, clapping, and now going back into building with security was like I was in a play myself, it was pitch black, no lights, he turned on a single light to lead the way to the backstage, he opened the huge red velvet curtain and I was on stage, felt weird, I walked down the center stage (I bowed..no I didn't) and took the upstairs to my balcony and there was no camera there. I panic. Had nightmares all night. Carlos took me back to the theater this morning and security turned it into office. What can I say, it was an emotional moment!

So, I wonder where fantasy ends and growing-up begins.

P.S. Talia the dog just ate a lizard.




I think Cal needs a new hat!!!

It Takes My Breathe Away

Yoga today, some grocery shopping .... dip in dark blue pool...83 degrees here in Cuidad Colon and thinking about the mural size painting the owner of the Essentia restaurant asked me to do on his wall in his restaurant. Monday morning I will get a ride to the restaurant early to leave my marks on a wall as many other artists have done before me. Glass art, paintings, sculpture, recycled stuff made into art, little cozy places to sit and enjoy the avairy and jungle. Great place to stay, eat or come to relax in the spa. Has to be one of my favorite places now in CR. Very peaceful place.

Exploration

"Amongst the Bamboo"

watercolor by Lorraine Bromley

(detail)

Meditation in Motion

Yoga today was very strenuous, but excilerating. I even like the ride to yoga. looking at the homes, vegetation. Janine the yoga instructor is an amazing instructor, watching her move is meditation in motion. I hope to be that flexible or just a little bit more than I am now, geesh...so hard right now with extra weight and the arthritis. But I will get to a different place some day. Cal & I will find a yoga class on weekends to go to when I get home.

The Butterfly Farm in Alejuhah was fascinating, doesn't matter how many times I see a butterfly, I get awestrucked, is that a word? Their cocoons are just as awesome to look at too. Metallic gold and some look like sterling silver. Some look like beach glass. Patterns on their wings imitate my landscapes.

Livelula

Interesting chat with Royce the director of artist colony. His last day is Friday here and maybe there will be another Costa Rican Artist Colony to check into the future. I met another artist Patricia Forrester today, she is very well known and one of the artists that helped get this colony started. I am going out plein-air painting with her this week, and it will be wonderful to be on-location with someone. I have been taking great pictures when I am out wandering, and then working in studio painting, but to have someone to paint with in the area who knows the area, knows spanish and loves being outdoors for along time will be wonderful to be with.

I found the most beautiful red dragonfly (livelula) today, it will go in one of the paintings tonight. Luis insisted carrying it to my studio for me, so I wouldn't have to touch it. I also have a small black and white butterfly in the studio keeping me company along with "goforit", the gecko. Carlos is taking me to a butterfly farm closeby in the afternoon tomorrow and more photos. I let Michael borrow the camera to take a movie of his dinner with a family in town celebrating Hannakuh tonight. I sam till eating my chicken soup I made the other day, made alot of it, it does have a costa rican flavor to it, coriander and oregano. The trees out my door are so full of oranges/lemons and grapefruits, they are falling from the trees, so I squeezed about 10 or so. They start to go bad very fast. So now I have juice to add to my water, salad and some to marinate my fish in this week.

Had my first spanish lesson today, felt like a first grader. Have to practice my words and the more words I can memorize I feel I can get by and get my point across. I'll be sneeking spanish in all my conversations from now on.

Still having fun experiementing with my designs.

The Secret Garden

It's so black out there tonight. I saw some dark clouds come around the mountains out these huge windows, they must be still out there still, no moon, no stars. I am lost in my imagination with today's find, a garden was introduced to us today while walking into Colon this morning. I was taking pictures of a red hibiscus and at the same time an older woman was just getting dropped off by a taxi and asked if we would like to see some more flowers in her garden. Of course we could not resist the invitation and saw the most beautiful secret garden behind her casa. Orchids, jasmine, in a jungle, we had to duck under overgrown leaves as big as us along narrow paths, but so awesome. Walking along with the lady of the garden and her husband, and we found out it was Jauns grandparents, Juan works on the landscaping here in colony, he is about 18 yrs old. Great kid. "Nice", people. Nancy & I found other artifacts too to capture on film, only artists would find an air plant, squished by a car facsinating on the road and I am drawing it in one of my paintings, go figure, you will love it. lol Had a great day of painting today!

Made chicken soup today for the next couple days, muy bueno and looking forward to my Spanish class tomorrow with Michael & Bernarda.