Eli - 7-18-2010 at 09:15 PM
Hola, Everyone,
(Specifically Judy and Nena - I tried to answer Your U2's but couldn't send for some reason. So, I hope You see this message.)
Yes, I am in a small cityon the edge of a forest in Vera Cruz. Cool, sleeping under a blanket kind of place. It is sooooooooo green, of course because
it rains like crazy here. I am not to far from the water fall that appears in old Harrison Ford movie "Romancing the Stone".
Taking art classes 3 days a week at the neatest little Casa de Cultura. And continuing to paint on my own. The art continues to grow.
Just moved into an apartment with giant views of a meadow and green forest in the back ground.
For sure an excellent place to hide from the heat at home. I like it alot here.
Hope You all have a gentle summer in Baja. Weather wise, so far so good!
Hi to You, Nice to Hear From You
Gypsy Jan - 7-18-2010 at 09:24 PM
I hope that all is well.
toneart - 7-18-2010 at 09:40 PM
Hello Eli! I am so happy to see you posting here. It has been a long time. I really respect your lifestyle and your spirit! 
Tony
Natalie Ann - 7-19-2010 at 05:59 AM
Sweet Sara - always a beautiful location, creating and enjoying.
My love to you, amiga.
nena
capt. mike - 7-19-2010 at 06:02 AM
Hi Sara - always have thoughts of you and Jimmy.
enjoy the cool!
BajaGringo - 7-19-2010 at 06:53 AM
Eli, even though we have never met I have always loved your spirit that I sense through your posts. I have spent time in the Veracruz area and it
truly is a beautiful place that inspires the artist in all.
Wishing you the very best...
Eli - 7-19-2010 at 06:57 AM
Hi Mike, it has been years now seen we last met by Don Jimmy's bed at the Vet's hospital, someday I hope are paths will cross again besides just here.
Jan, Yes, all is pretty good, a few ouches that come with having used these ol bones to their max, but worth the journey, my soul is at peace with the
world that presently surrounds me.
Nena, Love right back at ya, I would Love to see YOU! Ah well, maybe this winter we will again connect at the gallery, it continues to develop.
Tony, thank you, it is a ditto, when I do check into Baja Nomad's, I always look forward to your posts!
The Sun has chosen to shine on me this morning, even so, the color of the sky is a light gentle gray. Haven't seen the intense blues and radical
oranges, purples and reds in the sky since I left Baja. So, for now I will just enjoy all the green earth that the gray skies provide.
Coatapec is the type of Provincial City that still has milk deliveries by Men on horse back with the old style 5 gallon tin cans and cup hung from the
saddle.
There is still much to explore here, I can imagine staying for a good while yet to come.
Iflyfish - 7-19-2010 at 07:52 AM
Wonderful images of old Mexico, your post is like watching a rainbow. You can always tell an artist by how many colors are used in each paragraph.
Salud!
Iflyfish
Paula - 7-19-2010 at 07:57 AM
Sara, it is always so nice to hear about where you are and what you are doing. The picture of your gallery that Nena posted reminded me that we never
got to Los Barriles this year, and I missed seeing what sweet work you've been doing. I hope we get down next year.
Your home for this summer sounds beautiful! Have a wonderful time there!
bajajudy - 7-19-2010 at 08:55 AM
OH so glad to hear from you!
Sounds like you are doing just fine too.
See ya when you return to the oven!
Eli - 7-19-2010 at 10:56 AM
So good to connect with You again Judy, I always look forward to your weather reports, for sure I don't plan to return until the oven is turned off,
expect me in Nov.......... at the earliest.
Paula, I missed you this winter. I hope to visit Josafina Aquilar before I return North, if I find any tourist with her, I will be sure and send them
home.
Iflyfish, I always appreciate your positive note, it is good to connect again after such a long time.
BajaGringo, it would be a pleasure to meet you, if you ever make it South do stop by. I too enjoy your posts. You are right, Vera Cruz inspires.....
For me right now everything in my life is green, my surroundings, my paintings, even the juice I am drinking in the moment is GREEN, a pineapple base
w/ green apple, broccoli, parsley & nopal.
Iflyfish - 7-19-2010 at 04:02 PM
I'm working on red right now, discovered the prickely pear cactus margarita. Those things are an amazing color if you look closely. Us guys didn't get
as many crayons as you girls did, but I think the term used is magenta. Reminds me of some of the amazing cactus flowers I have seen. I used to think
that the desert was empty, I now see how rich it really is.
Since marrying Mrsfish, an artist by training, a school administrator by vocation and now a retired artist/photographer, I have become aware of all
the colors that surround us. The jungle is not green, it is a rainbow of green, yellow, blue and shades in between.
I saw the movie Vincent once and it opened my eyes to the myrid colors that one can see. He agonized to share with his brother what he was seeing. I
suspect that we are born with different numbers of rods and cones and some are blessed with more cones.
Mrsfish was trained as a sculpture and I have found that most sculpters of note are dyslexic, their brains simply have a hard time grasping the linier
perspective of the written word and so therefore struggle with reading and writing, a very two dimentional task. Makes a lot of sense when you think
about it. Different areas of the brain used for different tasks and like the rest of our anatomy, thought common to all, infinite in it's variety.
Where can I see your work?
Iflyfish
Iflyfish
Eli - 7-19-2010 at 05:17 PM
Iflyfish, Have fun in reds, reds are fun, color is as infinite as the universe.
I was never so aware of the rainbows of green (I like your term Rainbows of Green, it's a keeper),as I am right now. My art teachers always have the
same advise, half of learning to create is learning to observe. As I see it today; it is training your mind to see and than connecting what you see to
your internal vision which than transfers to your hands.
I create from two directions, sometimes I try to dictate what a painting will be and sometimes I just let the piece dictate to me what it wants to be.
I think both ways of working are valid. Art surly is a subjective subject.
Computer literate, I am NOT. I haven't yet figured out how to Link, but below is the address for my latest Picasa album of this years paintings. Also,
via this address one can access past work and photos I have taken on my way via the same site. Hopefully a cut and paste and you will be in.
http://picasaweb.google.com/SaradeLaVos/MyArt2010#
I have a small gallery in Los Barriles, if you ever make it down that way, it is open now, although part of the work has been put away for the summer
and will not be brought out again until hurricane season is over. Access will close when Calebes restaurant closes in August until October.
If I were to describe my art I would call it whimsical, innocent, primitive, sweet, humorist, iconic and sometimes just down right silly. I plan to
spend the rest of my life studying art, trying to figure out how to express my spirit. I think the most valid thing I have to say, I say with my art.
[Edited on 7-30-2010 by Eli]
Eli - 7-24-2010 at 07:00 PM
Weather Report from Coatepec Vera Cruz; I woke this morning to the sound of rain and I will fall asleep tonight to the sound of the rain, same as
yesterday and the day before, gentle, you can walk in it with an umbrella kind of rain. Well, what can I say, I guess it is a good thing I Love the
sound of rain.
Ken Bondy - 7-24-2010 at 07:56 PM
Nice to hear from you Sara, hope you are well!
Sallysouth - 7-24-2010 at 08:57 PM
So good to hear your voice, feel your world.Greens, grays, rain...sweet.Glad you are happy and thriving!!
Eli - 7-25-2010 at 03:11 AM
Sally and Ken Bondy, It has been a long time, I'm doing pretty good, it is always good to go somewhere I have never been before.
Natalie Ann - 7-25-2010 at 02:36 PM
The sound of rain and the smell of rain... aaaaahhhhh!
Makes me smile real big to think of you, amiga, walking beneath your bumbershoot along the small town streets, drinking your green juice, enjoying the
little surprises each day brings.
Hugs from the chill no-rain but interesting streets of Berkeley...
nena
Eli - 7-25-2010 at 04:29 PM
All day today with no rain, but the skies stay a light gray, a bird sat out side my window and listened to Billie Holiday play. It was a very quite,
start a new painting kind of day.
I bet those streets of the big city are very interesting Nena, good to connect again, it has been a long time.
Eli - 10-19-2010 at 05:38 AM
Well as Y'all know, I am far, far from home. I have just spent almost 5 months in Vera Cruz, living in a rain forest. I am a fortunate soul, I have
sufficient income to live simple but very well, cushy bed and hot shower no matter where I lay my weary head. Today, I take a bus to Puebla and Wed. I
am off to Oaxaca for a few weeks and than finally home.
It will be almost a half a year since I have slept in my own bed, from where I can see the Sea of Cortez, cuddled with Mi Tio Cat and the grand-kids.
I am so ready to go home!
For this year, I have nurtured well my Nomadic needs. I love to travel alone. I find the need to go where I have never been in order to break
patterns, I fall into lethargy if I stay in one place to long. This is my first trip ever to Vera Cruz,. I found a great little Casa de Cultura with a
fantastic studio where I made friends with others who love to create. I plan to return again next summer. I still have stuff to complete here. Alas,
where ever I wind up I create patterns and stick to the routine until I move on, but I feel the patterns I created here where healthy ones, it has
been so peaceful, easy to find enlightenment when one plays a lone Monk in the Cave so to speak.
Alas, it is time now to head home, one quick detour to Oaxaca and I will be back at Galeria Los Angeles in Los Barriles to greet any Nomads who come
by way.
Hasta entonces, Sara
[Edited on 10-19-2010 by Eli]
Eli..you have touched many people here with your gentle artist’s soul
jeans - 10-19-2010 at 08:29 AM
I chuckle to myself when I recall showing you the two paint samples I was considering for my bathroom and you said...”Only two colors? (I ended up
with four, aw heck...why limit myself?). You live a richer, simpler life that many of us only dream of but somehow will not allow ourselves that
freedom. (I speak of myself) My lame excuse for not visiting you in Oaxaca (I had to work) rings as hollow to me as it would today.
Safe travels, mi amiga....
Sallysouth - 10-19-2010 at 11:29 PM
Hola Amiga Sara.I may be bringing my dear ol Dad back down South soon.Maybe to visit, maybe his last place to land and stay.When will you be back to
LB? I sure would love to see you again.What a "Nomadiic" life you live.I bet you miss your girls...I know i do.Let me know and I will come and visit
you if you are there ?
Eli - 10-20-2010 at 06:07 AM
Jeans, it was just dumb luck that got me to a place I could retire young and go play. That and I live a very simple life that doesn't require a lot of
funding.
Still, this dream could end tomorrow, which I have been saying for 21 years now, every since I packed up all I had, left Oregon with a grand total of
$3000 Dollars in my pocket and moved to Los Barriles. I am amazed, I still can't believe I pulled this dream off.
I will be in Oaxaca for Dia de Muertos again this year and a group from Los Barriles are talking about joining me next year.
It is still not to late to hop on a plane and come join me for this years festival, and you can always contemplate the option of next years.
Orrrrrrrrr come see me in Los Barriles next time you are in Southern Baja, it's been awhile since you have made it down to my neck of the woods ya
know.
Sally, I will be home no later (I hope) than Nov. 16th. I may make it early, depends on how quick I can get my shopping done and shipped for the
gallery. I would Love to see You! Ojala!
Eli - 10-20-2010 at 06:11 AM
So, I found this Hotel down town Puebla; really clean, VERY simple accommodations, a little like sleeping in a camper, but I have hot shower, working
toilet, cable T.V. , single bed, access to Internet in Lobby (where I am sitting now) and all for only $220 pesos a night. Not bad.
Sallysouth - 10-20-2010 at 04:36 PM
So how long do you think you will be in LB? I haven't decided to go for Rachels 'B-Day or Christmas.(Rachel will be 7!) thats how long it has been
since we have visited together.Mija lives in El Tule right now which is a bit closer to LB.I will find a way to see you, somehow.She is VERY busy with
her business and doesn't have much free time.I could take the bus...