Art Therapy

I have become friends with a man who lost his house in the earthquake, his name is Eduardo. Because his house was unsafe, he had to move, he moved closer to our house, and I see him when I walk to town. He is in a wheelchair, and his hands and feet are crippled. He sits outside under some shade, and watches the day go by, all day, everyday...

One day when I was there chatting with him, some towns people said he and I had something in common, that Eduardo painted. That got me thinking, why couldn't I take the paints to him, and see what he can do? We started with a pen and paper, and he did really well, so the next time I took paints.

I was thinking of making him a paint set of his own, but I know he can't undo jars by himself, I think the water colors would be best, since they are all on one palette.

Can you tell this is Christo? I did help him even up the heart, but he did the rest, I was very impressed! Yesterday I made my paint kit a little more portable, and Mike is making me a clay handle. 

Always gotta get the chihuahuas in the photo...

I also was recently commissioned to paint "something beachy" for Kimberly at The Cottages, she had some old chunks of wood hanging around, and I gladly accepted the challenge. She picked up the finished works yesterday and paid me! I'm now a "professional artist" ok, kind of a stretch, but hey, I got paid! (Smile)

Have been working on something for our friends at Casa Mar...

And the back...

I seem to be painting almost everyday, but still doing things with driftwood and plastic, Mike has been making clay beads and such for me to use on windchimes and shell hangings.

Our hope is to help artisans in the area sell their works. We will plan with Casa Mar an art fair, and invite other artisans to join, and see where it takes us. High season is coming, and it's never too early to start making things for Christmas and Carnivale. We envision a small store front someday and putting San Jacinto on the map as an artist beach town. So...stay tuned, the adventure continues!

(the GoFundMe is still active, if you'd like to donate to Eduardo, he and many more still need some help. The government assistance from the earthquake is taking much longer than proposed.Thanks so much!)

Indoor and outdoor living space

This post is for the friends and family. Pictures of our little beach house, inside and inside the courtyard, usually we only take pictures of the sunset, or the dogs. When we moved in, we were given a paint allowance from the landlord, we bought 4 gallons, at $6 a piece, some of the locals said to dilute it, but we used it full strength, and it covered beautifully. I painted both the living room and bathroom the turquoise color, and I need to get one more gallon to finish the living room. It's one of the main colors they use on the boats, we love it.

Taken from right inside the front door, looking left.

We recently moved the fridge into the other room, and brought in the table Manuel made for us. Really opens this area, and love having more work space.

Slowly getting the TV room painted, and figuring out what kind of decorations for the master. The master is painted two shades of yellow, and has skylights, so it's very light and airy, one of our favorite rooms.

Outdoors is getting prettied up too. Have been bringing the plants around to the front, testing who likes the salt and wind, and who doesn't. A lot of the plants did not like the move from house to house back in December, so I've been nursing them, and everyone is doing great. I really want to get to the plant place, but there is a pesky budget to stick to, can't do it all this month...

Manuel is working this week and next at the Boca house, then he will come see what projects we have for him. On the list is dog house for outside the fence for Dulce/Ariel, finish the fence, build another couple tables, one for our bar stools and umbrella, and then a work table for our shells. I also found these pictures to show him, so we have some nice big planters for our plants, after we get to Sosote.

Went to pay our utilities at Joffreys the other day, and he told us the landlord was planning on building a roof over the side yard with this months rent. We learned the word for roof, techo and also the word for gutter, canalon. Some time ago we bought spray paint for the pieces of sectional sofa that were too big for the house, and they are weathering quite well outside ( they'll go under the roof, after its built).  The spray paint kinda "scotch guarded" them, we'd done it before with success, so why not try here? So many possibilities, little by little, poco y poco, our little beach house is coming along. We love it, and plan to be here a good long time. So stay tuned, the adventure continues...