Stephen Moore Fine Art

Life in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico marches to the beat of a slow and steady drummer. Being there I felt relaxed and one with the universe. Perhaps it was the open air and very contemporary  housing we occupied,  the regular walks necessary for sustenance walking up and down steep cobblestone streets, or the invigorating and visually stimulating hot,  Hispanic colors, or the perfect slightly dry humidity and cool air. And it could have been the intermittent church bells that said you were in a community of spiritual people, musical horns blaring out the distinctly Mexican sounds down in the Jardin, the magenta bougainvillea springing from the roof top patios, the hummingbirds sucking the nectar from the cacti blossoming in the streets, the animal and food smells, dogs barking through the night and birds chirping different songs; there were so many life affirming sensations there.  I found sleeping difficult between the dogs barking, the church bells ringing on the hour, and the fireworks late into the night,  but I strangely had lots of energy. We made this trip to see old friends,  paint some pictures in a workshop and have a bit of a vacation, but we got so much more in the two weeks we were there. 

 

My first trip to San Miguel was in the time before and after Christmas around twenty five to thirty years ago. I think it was a ten day trip. I stayed with my friends Henry Vermillion and Britt Zaist, who are married, in their extra bedroom. I remember hiking around the town with Henry through the cobblestone streets and onto the border of what seemed like a desert. When we finally stopped to have a soft drink,  it was opened in the store and poured into a plastic bag with a straw in it. The glass bottle was kept by the store owner, I still don't know why. Somewhere I have an old pre-digital photo of that event. 

 

All of the folk singers in the bars in San Miguel knew Henry and he and Britt had a dog named Emma. And Henry interpreted the Spanish for all of the songs I heard. Those Mexican songs may sound a little different, but they were very similar to our American folk songs. They were songs about life, broken hearts, love, the usual stuff.  My last great memory from that trip was when we went to the 'rodeo' out in the desert boonies on a stone corral ranch on Christmas day. Technically it was called a Jaripeo. But I had never heard that word and I am guessing most readers would not know it either. There was a big church service before the event with all the cowboys attending the outdoor church on their big horses and the locals on foot. I guess that in light of what they were getting ready to do they needed to be right with God. They were going to rope the feet of the young bulls and various individuals would get on them and ride when the rancheros turned the bulls loose.  And we had no EMT's, ambulances or nearby hospitals. As I recall no one got hurt. It was a grand Christmas day on the ranch. I did paint some in the streets of San Miguel on this trip, but the painting was not the star of the trip, it was a visit with friends. 

 

My wife, Susan and I were the first to arrive on the second trip to San Miguel. Our fellow artist and friend, Janet, had rented an architectural contemporary masterpiece for us to live in for two weeks. Garza 9 was our address. We were traveling with Janet and David who would arrive about four days after us. I confess that prior to being in the house "contemporary" was a word I didn't like, but I was wrong. This was a beautiful space with very high ceilings, polished concrete walls and floors, three bedrooms  and a magnificent outdoor patio. Plants were growing in the house and light was everywhere. And there was artwork placed perfectly around the walls; abstract, primitive, African, and powerful are adjectives that come to mind. It had a fabulous kitchen and the entry way was a garden. There were no bugs yet you were in contact with the outdoors all the time. The rooftop patio, with a narrow winding staircase that led up to it,  complete with rows of lavender filled pots compliments of Rodolfo the gardener, held a magnificent view of San Miguel. Rodolfo was there to help us with just about anything and spoke beautiful English. Thank you Rodolfo. Most mornings from the roof we could see the hot air balloons taking off and at one time I counted six. 

 

We spent our first couple of days acclimating to the cobblestone streets, sound filled nights, and heart challenging hills. As we hiked around the city we took lots of photos for future reference, exploring as far away from home base as we dared, and using google maps to locate restaurants with 'good reviews.' In retrospect this seems almost superfluous as wherever we ate it was pretty good and at other times amazing. I would say Mexican food on average is at least ten times healthier than American with more reasonable portions. But this is just an opinion and with all due respect given to Mr Montezuma. I did say food and not water. 

 

We finally started painting on the third day and it was from the roof top patio in the afternoon. Seriously, I thought I was going to get heatstroke. When plein air painting in San Miguel, maybe anywhere that is hot, it is better to paint in the shade. Too often I foolishly position myself where I think I can get the best painting done even in the full sun. We then ventured into the streets to try to capture the essence of San Miguel on canvas. Of course we had no idea where the good spots were and mustered up all of our faith to find locations. On one corner we painted on, with some great street views near the market and a good amount of traffic, we met an artist who said his work was hanging in MOMA. His name was Ronald Mallory. He was very encouraging and wanted us to check out his exhibit in San Miguel. Regretfully we did not see his show.  And then a cowboy on a horse rode up right beside Susan, I have a picture, and was talking to us in Spanish? The horse was huge! Susan thought he wanted money for a photo and gave it to him after which he rode, less than one block, tied up the horse, and went loudly into the bar. It was strange and comical but not scary.

 

My favorite street to paint on was Montes de Oca. It was not only close to where we stayed but had this steep view of the city and dramatic lighting at just about any time of day. As long as you stayed on the side of the street where cars were parked you were out of the way of the ubiquitous taxis and buses. And the Mexican people were very friendly and complimentary. The buildings that descended with the street were painted in ochery yellows, muted reds and muted oranges. Flowers and  red and pink bougainvilleas flowed over the edges of the buildings on both sides of the street at intervals. Cacti, the long skinny ones, were planted by doors. It was exotic looking and all that color was a blast to paint. The focal area in this view was the church or Parroquia which appeared small and pink in the distance. I think I painted here at least five times. 

 

We had roughly a week to paint before the workshop. Most of our excursions were without incident. But I did choose one spot that belonged to a local. Imagine, I am painting a picture, a truck pulls up and covers one quarter of the view. Then a cooking stand is set up covering another quarter. Then the fellow starts to deposit all of his goods all around me, looks me in the eye and in a friendly way says, no problemo. I did have to stop painting as I could not longer see the subject and I was clearly in his territory. I later found out that the locals pay money for their corners. It was disconcerting but really, no problemo. I just won't get to finish that one. 

 

The workshop, with Heather Sink of Cravin Art in Beaufort, NC, began with a Sunday out of town experience to hear Gil Gutierrez out in the boonies. He held the event at his very nice stone ranch and there must have been a hundred people there. Food was served and I would call it traditional Mexican. The music was superb. He is a brilliant jazz guitarist with a powerful Mexican flair. The music was more delicious than the food.

 

Our first painting day, Monday, was at the lavaderos in San Miguel. This was a quiet, beautiful site to paint in with a handy store for bottled water and bathrooms. The back drop of the old city laundry was a beautiful muted rose color and in the center was a fountain and a central tree shaped like a ball. Bougainvilleas spilled off the windows of the backdrop and I could have painted a dozen paintings right there. After a morning of painting we all lunched at a fantastic restaurant, Casa De Sierra Nevada. There was an adjacent art gallery and the artist, Jose Luis Arias, had filled the restaurant with his work. It was sort of in the style of Rousseau. I bought two small pieces from him and loved his work. He is keen observer of art history and brings it into his work.

 

The next day we painted as a group on Montes de Oca. I think this spot was a challenge for many in the group as it was steep, trafficked, rocky, and involved the crazy perspective of all the descending  buildings in combination with aerial perspective. But to me this had the essence of San Miguel in it. I saw a painting by Javier at the Galeria Izamal of this scene which I thought was very good. I will post my paintings of the same scene on my website.

 

The next day, Heather led us to paint in the Jardin. The Jardin is a square that contains the church, restaurants, stores, and it is a place where people congregate and socialize. The Mexican people are gregarious and friendly  and always greeted me politely in the streets. The Jardin has an infinite number of painting choices and is very colorful. I think I painted three through the morning and early afternoon and had quite an audience at times. The last painting was a quickie, sometimes you just have to go for it. And when we finished the session, as per usual, we had a very positive and gentle critique by Heather who is a great teacher.

 

Our last painting day was in a very peaceful setting, La Puertecita Boutique Hotel. We descended down into the garden, filled with sculptures, archways, steps, fountains, and flowers. I chose to paint the steps and sculpture of a woman with a jug that spilled water into a pool that flowed over a little water fall and the steps that led up and out of the garden behind her. This was all in the shade save some dappled lighting and some light that illuminated the back of the sculpture. Most of the other students were painting arches, fountains, and doorways. For my second painting I did a doorway. When we were finished we all had a brunch at the hotel which was inexpensive and delicious. To end the workshop experience we all had dinner out on a Thursday. It was a wonderful experience and the locations chosen were excellent. I would do this workshop again in a heartbeat. 

 

My final treat on this trip to San Miguel was seeing my friends Henry Vermillion and Britt Zaist. We had dinner with them at the beginning of the trip at El Tupi, a bar/restaurant owned by their friend Marcial who was a bull fighter before becoming a restaurant owner. Henry's unique  bar genre paintings hung magnificently in the bar area, five big ones, and on an adjacent wall were five stuffed bull heads. These were some of the bulls that Marcial had killed in his bullfighting days.  The evening was filled with music and singing in the bar. Henry and Britt  looked great. We were invited on the last day to have a dinner of paella prepared by Henry, and with drinks and great conversation. I bought one of Henry's paintings, of me with a young girl named Angela mounted on my shoulders so that she could see the rodeo,  and plan to commission Britt to do a pet portrait of our dog, Sparky. It was very good to visit with my friends and great to see all of their artwork. They have a fabulous gallery co-op on Jesus Street. It is called the Galeria Izamal. And they have some very fine art there if you are ever in the area. I wish I could have bought even more.

 

I definitely plan to visit San Miguel again and paint there. Hopefully that will be soon.