Red Road

Red Road
Oil  8"x8"
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$295.00 + $10. s/h

During our time in Playa del Carmen in January, I loved painting all of the colorful buildings.  I had thought that most of my paintings would be of the ocean with all of its' beautiful turquoises, palm trees and bougainvillea.  What I found as I walked the streets of Playa were amazingly colorful buildings!  I walked down this block again and again loving all of the reds, oranges, pinks and corals.

Color Is Everywhere

Color Is Everywhere
Oil  8"x8"
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$295.00 + $10. s/h

Playa del Carmen does not have an old, colonial center like many Mexican towns.  It originally was a small fishing village which grew as tourism and the Cancun airport grew.  But, even without the "old" there is beauty and color everywhere.  It's people and buildings are filled with happy moments, brightness like the blazing sun, color, vibrancy and intensity.

Each neighborhood is filled with variety.  Every neighborhood is a different outlook of life.  Our hotel, Aventura Mexicana, was on the edge of the tourist area.  When you headed the other direction the neighborhoods became new condos, then colorful Mexican streets.  I loved that this new condo still had colorful, bright walls around it.

Like Mexican towns, each neighborhood in Playa is filled with it's own ethnicity and traditions.  Every neighborhood had a different look, some new, some bright, some needing a bit of help.

Fields Of Corn

Fields Of Corn

plein air gouache  6" x 8"

please contact me if interested

This gouache was also done from the roof top of our Airbnb apartment in
Cotacachi, Ecuador.  Like many old colonial buildings there was a sink on the roof for hand washing the laundry.  Believe me, we did not had wash our clothes!  There was a modern, technical washer and dryer in the kitchen (which we struggled to figure out how to use!)  But, I did use the sink for the water for my brushes.

Every where you looked (in this part of Ecuador), in every small empty alley, side garden, massive fields, were crops of corn.  These fields are in the valley below Imbabura Volcano in the mountains to the east of the town.  Cotacachi sits in a valley surrounded by 4 nearby volcanos.  The volcanos were often covered in clouds.

Below are 2 views of Imbabura Volcano from different locations and different days.

In The Plaza

"In The Plaza"

plein air gouache  6" x 8"

please contact me if interested

My husband and I recently returned from spending the winter in Ecuador.  I guess that you could say we've become like the snow birds who head from here in Colorado to Arizona.  But, we've headed the  last few winters to Central America, Mexico or South America.  We love the warmer weather, the colonial cities and culture, and the adventure.

I am an oil painter, but wanted to try gouache and water color on this trip as there is so much less to carry, a faster drying time, no easel, etc.  It took awhile to get used to the lack of creamy, mixable oils and the some what chalkiness of gouache.  But, the ease of portability balanced 

that out. I'll post more soon about what I took.

This painting was done from the roof top of our Airb&b in Cotacachi, which is about an hour and a half north of Quito.  We loved this town.  It has a population of about 10,000 (of which about 500 

are ex-pats.)  The picture of the same church below is from the roof of a friends' (an ex-pat) roof top. 

Many indigenous people live in and around Cotacachi.  To me it was wonderful that they are proud of their heritage and still wear their native clothing, even many of the children.  In so many of the towns we've visited only the older generation still wear traditional garments.