Topas

This looks like a magazine cover, doesn't it?

The 1st horse parade (Topas) today in Cuidad Colon (a short walk to town) was spectacular. I have never seen so many horses. Prancing, and decorated with their proud owners riding them in their cowboy hats, boots, spurs, tight pants, beers and cigars. Horses of every color, spotted gray, shiny black, beached white, silver haired, braised tails and flowing manes, ribbons, adornments, beautiful statuesque and romantic. The colors in the traditional dance troupe was vibrant and you could not help but move in place to the musica.

Pura Vida

Lady of Lourdes, she tells of the vision and the
pilgrimages every February to her grotto.

The weeks are flying by. I leave for home in a week. I really loved showing Carol, Lorraine and Bill Costa Rica. We have had some adventures we will never forget.

Day tripping, bird watching, friendly taxi drivers, costa rican foods, art exhibits, the dogs of the colony, meeting artists from all over the world, coffee plantations, bananas, mandarins, pineapples, butterflies, heleconias, ginger, strangling fig trees, playa Montezuma, Orosi Valley, rain, boas, painting, drawing, hot springs, studio tours, San Jose, mountains, hills, waterfalls, earthquake 1-08-09, rides in the pick-up, horse parades, open market, cilantro, papayas, rivers, monkeys, green, focaccia, flat tires, lost, churches, Lourdes walk, stories of strength, mot-mots, drums, bread with cheese, hamburgers, avocados, bamboo, wind, sunsets, margaritas, days without running water, days with out electricity, days without the internet, jungle walks, spanish lessons, bird sounds, crocodiles, sarongs, black sandy beaches, volcanos, rainforests, movies online, rainbows, orchids, finding beauty in all things.Ladies who walked to Lourdes with a gentleman, Bill, who took the picture.

Bamboo Drawings

Martez

Lorraine M. and I went to San Jose on Tuesday to the Gallerie Nacional to see Christine's exhibit. And at the same time dropped off a portfolio of my work to the museum and talked to the gallery director. She is quite interested in my work and I will talk more to her about an exhibit at the museum for next year. She will visit our "Open Studio Tour" on Tuesday of next week. The night we came to the opening for Christine's show, Lorraine M. was not feeling well. So I went without her. But we went to the big city today for an adventure, we took the taxi in the city and had a really nice time. Gallery, lunch at the Cafe Mundo, funky restaurant in the historic section of town, then went shopping to the local artisans market and then to the Teatro Nacional to see the ornate theatre of San Jose. We took a taxi back to Cuidad Colon with a delightful taxi driver that lived near Colon. Nice guy. All in all a very nice day.

A Day of Rest

Let's see now, we have running water now...went to dinner at the main house....went on a daytrip with a group from the colony yesterday. Robert had set up appointment with a property developer of an eco-village, made up of farmers, artist, writers, architects that are creating a sustainable ultra eco community. see www.kopalicommunities.com. So we walked around the property, (jungle) and looked at lots, fruit trees (we found star fruit), monkeys, a beautiful river, views in an area called San Mateo, a bit more affluent area of CR. Just beautiful!!! Spent a couple hours there. Then we drove towards Playa Jaco and had some lunch along the way. I had Ceviche (also spelled as cebiche or seviche) is a form of citrus-marinated seafood appetizer, popular in mainly Latin American countries like Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, Ecuador, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and Bolivia. Both finfish and shellfish are used; finfish is typically raw while shellfish is typically cooked. In Costa Rica, the dish includes marinated fish, lime juice, salt, ground black pepper, finely minced onions, cilantro and finely minced peppers. yummy, and of course I had to have dessert, ice cream bar. We went over this very large bridge over a large river, with very large crocodiles below, maybe 30 crocs sunning themselves and swimming, grande el crocs. Then we headed for the black sandy beaches of Jaco and I rode the waves for an hour, watching the surfers glide while I tumbled. It was great, felt like a little kid...then the ride back to the colony was breathtaking, winding roads through the steep mountains of jungle, villages, green farms, horses and Costa Ricans out on a typical Saturday shopping and socializing. The taxi-van (driver was like a tour guide) was the perfect way to go..$150.00 split between all of us was perfect. So, today the plan is to relax after a walk to town to get some tomatoes for lunch. Lorraine M. will go to church and I will go the market. Hasta luego.

Christine's Exhibit

Resting
Oil by Christine Rieck-Sonntag

No Aqua!

Now it is on the second day there is no water in the colony or in the whole town of Cuidad Colon due to some kind of pipe break nearby. Unless you have well-water, there is none. Thank goodness we have the pool water for the toilet tanks and the main house on the property has a well. But no showers, and no water from faucets, I am so spoiled. We are getting pitchers of water for boiling, for cooking and drinking. Tonight dinner at the main house and a slide show that one of artists put together about "Art and the Landscape".
Lorraine M. & I had another Spanish lesson yesterday and then we went to local restaurant to watch the sunset, 5 margaritas later and the best cheesburger I ever had, we got a taxi home to our casita. The restaurant has well-water, they were open and it was a really nice evening, warm and dramatic skies a sunset of orange and pinks in the western mountain range.

Whisperers
B&W photograph by Lorraine Bromley

Carlos took Lorraine M. & I for a jungle walk to one of his friend's horse farm, these horses were on top of a mountain overlooking the canyon near Cuidad Colon. We also went to look at the oropendula birds on Rodeo Drive near the University of Peace, then we went to the butterfly farm after we had a tipico lunch at a local "soda".

The butterfly farm was wonderful! I have been several times to the same farm and this time was the most interesting with a tour guide that was so special, she made it very interesting and how we can use the butterfly metamophosis process as a role model. We tend to forget what the butterfly has gone through, how it has struggled to reach its place on the breeze and how it was effected. Our path of transformation can be likened to that of the butterfly's. We emerge from our cocoon, we take time to adjust to our new circumstances. Things are different, and we have to learn how to handle our new selves. We act in new ways. The things we say are surprising to others, because it's not what they're familiar with. People respond to us in a manner in which we're not used to. Because of my new attitudes, I lost some friends who couldn't adjust to the shift. And I made new friends who were walking the same path I was. Generally, when we embrace transformation, we only want to think of the end result. We don't want to think about the work that goes into it, or the sacrifices we'll have to make to be able to soar. I know that when I went through a transformation some years ago, I thought "Wonderful! Things will be better." They were, but in the process there were attitudes and behaviors I had to surrender that were central to my life. Eventually, the effect of the butterfly's journey allows it to climb free and rest. Spreading its wings for the first time, energy flows through them and they expand, finally ready to carry the butterfly on the breeze. Feeling confident with our new self, and like the butterfly, we fly free, a living jewel fluttering about the skies.

Heleconia II

watercolor and pastel
11 x 30
Lorraine Bromley

Rainbows and Motmots

Motmots (bird) are like seeing rainbows, green, red, and blue, they are so colorful. The motmot we saw at the hot springs at Termerales de Bosque (Hot Springs in the Woods) was so "colorful" he stoled Lorraine,s cherry off the top of her diquiri she was drinking in the pool. It was unbelievable. Swooped down without a warning. The hot springs were in the rainforest and it was raining the whole time we were there, it was perfect, cold rain and hot pools of sulfur scented springs from Mt Arenal along rushing rivers. The bus ride was awesome, I will never get tired of the rides in Costa Rica, spectecular views of villages and farmlands, steep hills, jungle, clouds, sunsets and shadows and of course rainbows. Great meals, great company and great sites.

Isabella is so proud of her chocolate milk bubbles.

Carols Painting's

Puriscal by Carol Shelton

Cuidad Colon by Carol Shelton

Juanita's Flowers

Juanita's Monsteros Deliciousa

Lorraine M. and I finally painted today some beautiful orchids we discovered here in the colony. I did not get a picture of them yet, the camera I borrowed ran out of battery, so had to recharge and then I forgot about it. I painted them all day and I really dislike the painting, I think I will wash it down and start over. Terrible painting!!!
We are having fun introducing ourselves to all the new artists this month, Gail, Diane, Charles, Irene, Donna, John, Lois, Robert a mix of writer and visual artists. My name is "Lorraine" and this is a friend of mine"Lorraine". Faces look surprised. lol
Carol went home on Monday, I miss her. We had a great time, painting, day-tripping to Orosi Valley, Puriscal and then to Rodeo Drive, oooooooo (yes Rodeo Drive) no shopping though, just viewing the mountains and the birds, the horses and nature. Catching a glimpse of the Oropendular birds of Costa Rica was awesome, hilarious actually. Black birds with yellow tails, squawking with 100 other oropendulars with a very distinct bird call and when they are mating which is all the time they swing like a pendulum on a branch, it is the funniest things. Oh yea I just remembered that we also saw a phenomonon of a rainbow cloud, not the ordinary arch but on the ground in between some mountains. We both saw this sight and would not have believed it i we did not see it together. Unbelievable!!
Made some plans to go on a boat ride in the jungle and visit the Trimbini Rainforest on Friday with the artists here. Can't wait!

Catch-up

View of Puriscal, a village Carol and I decide to paint Saturday afternoon.

Well this week has been a whirl wind of events. Sorry I have been quilty of ignoring my blog, without my camera, I have been kind of lost. Its hard for me to tell a story with out my camera shooting every moment. Like another pair of eyes and another arm.

I have met some wonderful people here at the colony and outside the colony. Gerry has let me borrow her camera for the remainder of my stay here, she is back home in RI and I will get it back to her when I return....she is a doll.....while working on a painting in the next city with Carol, a woman came over to us and talked to us about her artwork in Spanish, which was difficult, but we got through it and later she brought over two pieces of cake for us. On Friday, Carol & I rented a car went to the Orosi Valley again only about 30 miles away, but it took us about 3 hours to get there, there are no signs, and many one way and dead end streets, anyway on the way home we had a flat tire and a young man and his girlfriend stopped to change it for us and would not take any money for helping us.....and let us follow him out of the city because we were lost again. We cried all the way home, I cried more, I am such a wimp. Anyway, everyone has been so hospitable and kind, not to mention the breathtaking views of the countryside of mountains, steep hills, farms, flowers and birds, and oh yea snakes! Yikes....Carol and I saw a boa constrictor crossing the street, thank goodness we were in the car. We screamed until it finished crossing, and took picture of it. But I can not bring myself to put it online yet. Hector, and artist from NY, is having a show at the museum next year in San Jose, and has talked to the director about my work as well, and maybe showing together, so I have a mission this week to contact her to show here some work. More later....

Carol took this picture of me with my addiction-putting chapstick on.
I need a camera!!!

No Photographia

My camera broke, will have to wait to get home to have it fixed, or save up to buy another one, that camera has been through so much with me, a very good friend. Of course it went everywhere with me. I have tried many things to try to fix it, online troubleshooting, my camera repair shop in RI to no avail. So, don't know what I will do the next 4 weeks. I will need a photographic memory!! Kind friends will let me take pics with their camera. Then I will download on my computer, so sad. I am lost with out it.

Well, Carol is here......we are having a great time together, I had a welcome dinner for her with a few other artists from the colony, a pot luck dinner, vegetable soup, pork loin with ginger, garlic and lime juice, pesto pasta, salad, pineapple, and chocolate. We painted all morning up on the hill overlooking Cuidad Colon, she did two great paintings, I was working on one large one, Gerry joined us to paint too. Bernarda took us to town for some groceries, did a little clothes shopping and got a couple movies, Carol got the "dollar more" tour of Colon. We saw a funeral go down the main street, the whole town goes to funerals, carrying the coffin in the middle of the road. Also got a little gift for Isabella's birthday party at the pool for Saturday. Dinner tonight at Jaunita's and Frank's, some pad thai is on the menu. Tomorrow- dinner party at Francisco's main house. He got into two car accidents yesterday, he is fine but car is a wreck.

Enchanted by Montezuma

me, Christa (Angela's friend), Angela, Suzanna, Soizic, and Ava
in front of one of largest tree in Nicoya, a strangling fig.

Suzanna, Ava, Soizic and I went on an adventure to the west part of Costa Rica, Nicoya Pennisular...and Playa Montezuma. We rented a car and took the ferry and traveled the enchanting roads along the tip of the pennisular to a small, really small beach town...open air living, bohemian, beautiful, quaint, colorful, warm, hammock filled, refreshing, enchanting place. Suzanna made arrangements for us to stay at her friends hotel, Hotel Aurora. Angela, the owner, was delightful, an artist herself, set us up in a modest suite, beds were really hard to sleep on, but "enchanting". We walked around the town, walked the beach and planned the itinerary for next day,....BEACH. Tough decision! Breakfast the following day with chocolate croissant and cappuccino. Walked along Playa Montezuma, then Playa Grande. Met some of Suzanna's and Angela's friends who are artists and living on the beach for a month, working on their art for an exhibition we will see in San Jose in February. One of the artists, Minor, saw that my sandal needed some attention and sewed it up so the damn thing wouldn't "talk" to me while I walked, you know how the bottom sole ends up flapping while you step? Yea annoying, not "enchanting " at all. Angela took on us an "enchanting ride on some "enchanting" roads on Thursday night to Playa Santa Teresa to watch the sunset. The "enchanting" roads were dirt roads, potholes, thru rivers and jungle along the most beautiful coast lines of blue oceans and blue skies. Swimming in the turquoise ocean was soothing, cool, waves were perfect to ride, it anointed all my sore joints and feet. I floated into "enchantment" for hours.

Now these enchanting ladies were the best traveling companions, Ava, speaks only Itailian/Spanish, Suzanna speaks like 5-6 languages, Soizic, speaks, her native language French, Spanish, English and a bit of Italian. and me... pogueno Espanol and my native "enchanting" english. So the conversations were "enchanting", a mix of all the languages of the world, and we all understood the topic and it was a bit hard to keep up and down right exhausting, but wouldn't have had it any other way. I will go back someday to "enchanting" Montezuma. More later, for pictures of Montezuma, click here. PURA VIDA!!!

Isabella-Simon-Adelia

Pinturo y Bailo

Watercolor on left, photograph on right
I paint....This is the "watermelon lady" at the open market on Saturdays, I think she is a hoot! So I started a painting of her. A challenge! I have to work on it more of course but it is a good start.


I dance...we went to a dance club last night, we had a great time watching as well as dancing. Costa Ricans love to dance. Men are so good at it. The traditional dance is "cumbya", a very fast paced couples hop-like dance, but can be with more than one also. So, entertaining, you have to be in very good shape. We will go back to this dance hall for sure. I would like to do some drawings there, but I will have to do some from memory. Lorraine M. will love it when she comes to visit me!!

By the Colony Road
watercolor

Up the road by the casitas, this tree overhangs the road up to the top of the hill, erosion of roots, a log and rocks cover this section, Very abstract shapes are formed from the various roots that stem out from the earth, some of the rocks fell after earthquake and were wisked away the other day by bulldozer. This one is being considered to buy by a friend here in colony.

Yesterday started a painting up at one of the hotels up the hill and took many pictures of a motmot, a green bird with long tail feathers and brilliant blue head.

Jungle Book

The hike down to the cascade falls to swim with Carlos on Thursday. He invited a few of us residents to join him on this jungle walk with the RISD students that are here for the month. A Plant Speicalist was with us as well, and explained some of the plant life we encountered along the way. The waterfalls were spectacular, I think everyone went in except me, I was fearful, the rocks were steep and I was chicken basically. But it was wonderful!

I worked on this painting some more at the canyon, mmmm, not sure if I need to do more on it. It might be too dark, will have to look at it for a few hours to see. It is dramatic!

Monsteros Deliciousa

Delicious Monster, is a tropical fruit that Jane just showed me on the property here. It looks like a cucumber with kernels and inside is a custard like texture that tastes like mango, pineapple, banana, and , SO I have one ripening in the kitchen right now. I can't wait to try it, they say it is wonderful, and it ripens at different rate, so this is exciting! Most exciting thing this week.

Yogurt & Yoga

Bamboo Vertical 4 x 9
Bamboo Horizontal 9 x 4
watercolors

Yogurt, toast, costa rican coffee, sunshine, produce market with Sarah, a ripened pineapple for 1.40, a cucumber for .20, checked on Patricia at the river, took taxi home, went in pool, painted, worked on post card design, worked on dvc menu, painted, Carlos fixed the sink drain in kitchen, salad for lunch, painted, getting ready for studio tour Wednesday @1:00, found gecko in bathroom looking at himself in the mirror, painted, yoga for an hour, felt dizzy, watched Top Designer, very windy tonight, another salad, post card design, blogged, talked to Cal, emails, bed, book, sleep.

Yo!

Air on Air, 11 x 30 watercolor by Lorraine

Was invited to dinner with Hector DeCordova, artist from Long Island, NY. His gallery is a website listed on side bar on right. I helped him get online with his computer, he had old version of windows and it needed to be manually configured. He was so kind to thank me and took me to dinner at Essentia (Spanish for perfume). One of my favorite places in Costa Rica, real artsy place, great food and lots of art everywhere.

The Day the Earth Shook

Yes, there was an earthquake on Thursday, I felt it. Was short, a little scary. I was with Sarah, Marc and Bernarda at the orchid gardens in Cartago, a few miles south of San Jose. Bernarda grabbed my arm and said that was an earthquake, I thought she was feeling dizzy and holding on to me. She was pulling me away from trees. So, we went about the gardens in a usual manner and found out from workers that it was high on the rictor scale (6.!). A little nerve-racking. I was more concerned about it all when we went to a restaurant and they had the news on. It was only about hour later and they had news about tourists being trapped up near La Paz Waterfalls and Poas Volcano, where we had been considering going. Thank goodness we did not go there, anyway, there are some people stuck up there, safe but no road to get back down from mountain, roads are very rough, but paved up there, just close to edges, no gard rails and roads were wiped out with landslides. Today will be more news. Glad to be back in studio. But also went to the Orosi Valley, which was breathtaking, it was late in afternoon and the sun was shining in the west going down and dark clouds in the east, it was so dramatic looking down the valley to the river winding around green jungle hills.

Too the Big City San Jose

Manuel, our taxi driver dropped us off for the day in San Jose, to see the Jade Museum, then discovered the Cafe Mundo, Contemporary Art & Design Museum of Costa Rica, The National Theatre and the market of artisans with Sarah & Marc, in San Jose's historic section, really interesting architecture in this part of city. Fascinating stone work, wrought ironworks on gates, stamped impressions in sidewalks, building edifaces, design motifs in tiles, sculptures, colors, jewelry, and much of it all relates to nature's patterns. I have started to incorporate some of these elements in my paintings and it will develop as I work them into each one, each a journey. And this adventure continues.

Thursday, another day trip ride south of San Jose to Cartago area. Lancaster Botanical gardens with Bernarda, Sarah and Marc, to be continued....

'Life is too short to wake up in
the morning with regrets, so love
the people who treat you right,
forget about the ones who don't,
and believe that everything
happens for a reason. If you get a
chance, take it. If it changes
your life, let it. Nobody said
life would be easy, they just
promised it would be worth it.'

Tuesday @ Colony

Last night Carlos took us up to Tiquencia restaurant, but they were closed, up a very steep hill where you can see three cities all in glitter, just an amazing spot. Will go back another time. Had dinner at a Carribean food restaurant near here, It was fantastic!. I thin the owner/waiter took advantage of us though, serving us all an appetizer of ceviche, which was the best I ever has, but we just wanted one to share, and then for dessert he did the same thing, served us each a dessert when we thought we would just be sharing one. It was a really nice celbration, Carlos, his wif, and their daughter Juliatti, she is approx. 28 yrs old and has a wonderful son Jaun Camillo who was in the colony last year, he is 9yrs old, sweet, sweet kid, handsome and a real nice boy, wish he was here again.

Started another painting with a drawing of my favorite tree, a quanaqaste, a huge trunk with two differnent kinds of leaves, that are not on it now, because it is winter here. It has five tire swings hanging from it, each a different color, I hope I can pull this painting it off, (wondering if I should do mixed media on it) I am looking down at it at a high steep hill/ledge of old dead palm leaves. It will be interesting!, Had a relaxing day really, went to the market with some artists, came back. went in the pool, and puttered aroundcleaning/reading my watercolor magazine and had a really nice time at Patricia's studio for a glass of wine before dinner and conversation with a few los artistas and shared our thoughts on art and the world. Now just catching up on blog and eating dinner, lettuce, avacado, chicken with onions. cinnamon, cumin and a small potatoe. Looking forward to my visitors soon.

Upcoming Exhibit 2009

https://www.bankri.com/BankRIGalleries/GalleryCalendar/tabid/506/Default.aspx

Sunday at the Canyon

Canyon
11 x 30 watercolor by Lorraine Bromley

Patrica & I went exploring the area of Cuidad Colon for our next painting location, we have been painting mostly on the grounds here at the colony, however we think it is to our best interest if we go off property this week, pending RISD group and 14 RISD students. Carlos took us to a couple spots near the canyon and then we needed more time to explore area, Carlos did not have more time so we opted to call our favorite taxi cab driver, Rigo. He of course knows the area, took us down to the bottom of canyon to the raging river, but not a good spot to paint, too far and we need to take about four hours to paint in an area, but what an adventure, it was a beautiful ride, through the jungle, very dry and dusty though. So the last place we saw, close to the colony (5 minutes) was the right place to go back to today for the morning to paint. Fransico had plans in the morning with students, Carlos had the day off and we were going to ask Rigo back to take us to the canyon again today, but guess what there was Carlos's old jalopy truck just sitting there, so I asked if I could drive it to our destination, Fransico said yes, so we piled up in the el carro and coasted down to the canyon spot, had a very productive day there. The painting I did kept going from, "I hate this" to "mmm it's coming along" to "this is a stupid painting" to " I think I like it now" to "what am I doing here". Propably will go back tomorrow, don't know how we will get there yet, but will figure it out then, I will start another one, because this one is done, until I look at it another time this week and say, "it needs something else". The life of an artist, I am exhausted just telling you about it. nite.

Hibiscus I
watercolor monotype & colored pencil
by Lorraine Bromley

"The best times as an artist is when I am so caught up in the

work that I can hardly bear to tear myself away."

Colors

I am going through my paints a little faster than I thought, I had to order more paint. We will see how long it takes to get here in Colon. I found a new color I like, Blue Apatite Genuine by Daniel Smith. I am using alot of greens, every green color you can think of, leaf green, olive green, yellow green and cobalt green. My green period!

Feliz Anos Nuevo 2009 todos amigos y familia

Happy New Year 2009 to all my friends & family
I found this poem in the colony that an artist wrote, it describes this retreat.

A Time and a Place:
Ciudad Colón. May 2008

In Ciudad Colón there is a place, perched on a hill of verdant green

Mango, banana vie for space with lemon, lime and bean.

Pass through wrought-iron Colony gates, family and friends all disappear

Cometh the time, the hour is nigh, to spread our wings and fly.

Pintor, escritor gravitate, in casas, casitas hunker down

To chase the Muse and so alone

but wind that makes the bamboo groan.

Take it as a special gift, as we pursue our lonely quest

To have this place, to be alone, submit, oblit, repeat and hone.

Tropical plants unceasingly, give forth their fruit prodigiously

Hummingbirds sip, with unearthly

quiet where writers write.

Coconuts crowd high in the sky, as rain relentless passes by

Worker ants unceasing toil, cut pathways in the verdant soil.

Go now to another plain, heed not hunger, thirst or pain

Be thou creative with pen and brush,

waste not this time bestowed on us.

By James Cullinane