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

December Group

(left-right) Shelly, Patricia, Mark, Sarah, Roxy, Jonathan, me
(missing, Vivian, Katherine, Kirstin, Jorgy)

I hate this picture of me, I am trying to photoshop it, so I look thinner, will upload it when I finish it! I can not believe I look like this, I think that the camera is on wide angle. wow! Even Patricia looks heavy and that is not the case at all. Have I made myself clear?

New Year's Eve get together at Francisco's main house, we will watch fireworks and have pot luck dinner., The house is on side of a steep hill and we'll be able to see fireworks in Cuidad Colon, I think if we were on the other side of mountain we could see fireworks all over San Jose, we are facing southwest. Can see Venus at about 2:00 AM, yes I wake up then for some reason. Planet so bright, in my bedroom windowI am going to check tonight if I can see other planets as well in line with Venus.

Mi Las Caudros