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Hey you!
[Once again this is photo heavy post and needs to be opened in Substack to see it all.]
It has been A WEEK—- some good and some ugh.
Started off this week by taking a spill in our alley while trying to catch an Uber in the rain to go to dinner and run errands in downtown.
I was trying to get an umbrella from my husband’s backpack while walking downhill in very precarious shoes.
My left foot inverted, I went down hitting my right knee and scruffing up the palm of my hand. The first thing out of my mouth was - Cancel the Uber, we are not going anywhere.
The neighbors saw (of course🙄) and helped me back to my house while Keith handled the Uber.
Good news is I can put my full weight onto my ankle. And not so good is that it hurts, it is very swollen (can barely fit a Croc shoe onto it) and bruised. And I am having nerve pain (OUCH) in my right hand from trying to catch myself. That right knee will heal up quick as I just have a hematoma egg thing on it.
So dumb, right?
But really great advice for visiting Mexico (unless you never leave the beach) is to wear sensible shoes…always. And by sensible, I mean, shoes with tread that will grip the ground in all terrains and weather conditions. And when you are walking, just focus on that.
Had I put on better shoes (throwing away the un-sturdy sandals) and had Keith stop while I get the umbrella, I would not be in this situation.
I also had a birthday this week (a banged up one) none the less.
It wasn’t a milestone birthday so the celebration was minimal but it still showed up.
We did get an invitation to another local’s home for dinner and a little celebrating. We didn’t know this family as per se, but we have a mutual friend who was also a guest insisted that we attend and got permission from the hostess.
Okay, don’t twist my arm for having a good time- even on crutches.
They heard that one of my favorite Mexican dishes is Pazole Verde- so that is what they made.
[Here is a recipe for you: Chicken Verde Pazole]
Then there was a massive cake and me savaging taking a bite out of it because “that is tradition!”
The hospitality of the Mexican people are 2nd to none.
Later Keith chuckled over how many invitations we get from locals vs the gringo population and I said it was probably because we are a novelty in this town. The Gringo population is less than 2% here AND of that percentage, many of them only live here in the winter months.
We are the weird ones!
Keith’s Spanish speaking skills have been a real lifesaver because he can help bridge our differences. (I am still working on mine! Just today, I added another program- Pimsleur. This ensures a minimum of 60 minutes of practice a day with all my programs.)
Everyone we have met besides our neighbor has been from just being down in town and talking to people. The locals are very easy to strike up a conversation with and we seem to be pretty good at it also.
From our experiences thus far, I would tell anyone moving here to make friends with locals as fast as possible. I will admit that every person we have met has spoken some English, but we will get to the point where that will not be necessary. It truly has made life here so much more fun.
Unfilled request: For my birthday I wanted to go shoe shopping in the next largest city by us. Leon is known as the shoe capital of Mexico and much of what you see in the US is produced there. Since I can’t even hardly sport Crocs right now, that excursion has been placed on hold for another time.
I’m looking to buy another pair of cowboy boots and some Hauraches.
We Are On A Roll
This is week 3 for me on this adventure of taking my sketch-booking to whole upper level (Who am I?)
I have discovered that if I keep my LIMITED supplies very close to me at all times, I have the tendency to actually do it! Who knew?
Each week I switch out my supplies to keep it fresh. This is what I had this week.
I used a 5x8 sketchbook from Leda Arts Supply that has a soft cover. I happened to look it up online because I don’t remember where or why I picked this sketchbook up BUT it is not as good as Royal Talens AND it’s twice as expensive.
I noticed that my Micron pens bled through the pages where I think the only acceptable marker to do that is a sharpie. I will finish this sketchbook up but I will not purchase another one.
I also noticed how much pleasure was provided when I sketched on a page that already had some light color paint on it. I just prefer it. In the future I may pre-paint several pages and see how it plays out.
Here is an example.
I for sure cleaned off some brushes on this page before I dropped them back into their dirty soup.
Here is what I sketched this week.
You can get a closer look by clicking on the photo.
This is not everything! Substack does not like too many photos so I have made a short video that you can also watch that is more in depth with my commentary.
For references this week I used vintage photos (two of these sketches came from National Underwear day). A photo of myself with serious jowls. Black and white photography and fashion models.
Is there one that speaks to you?
Here is a bit of a fun progression of what happens in my sketchbooks sometimes. There are those who think you should never redo a page- but I am not one of them.
This page has 4 layers- that means 4 different times I have come back to it and changed it in a big way.
Layer 1: I believe this is a marker palette where I was trying them out and writing the colors
Layer 2: Then I decided I didn’t want to see that anymore so at some point I covered it in an orange-red paint.
Layer 3: White markers or pens of ANY KIND always give me fits but it looks like I wanted to test some swirls out
Layer 4: using oil pastels, I created a cowgirl. This is the last layer because this type of medium doesn’t handle anything else on top of it.
You can still see every layer and I like that this page has history.
My hope in sharing is that you too will start (or continue) your art—- even if it’s Ugly!
Until next time my friend,
For The Paint Splatters (paid subscription)
Here are your links to your tutorials that I hope brings you joy in creating!
Part 1 of Junk Drawer Botanicals is ready for you! Torn Petals
Part 2 of Junk Drawer Botanicals- 3 Floating Flowers
Part 3 of Junk Drawer Botanicals- Vessels
At the bottom on this post you get a personal tour of my actual home in Mexico
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