Yes, sad to say but you read the Title correctly. After many, many, many years that I've painted there, this was the last time that we will be going to Tlaquepaque. Unfortunately, an incident occurred with a store owner and an artist this morning. While the artist was positioned at a fountain and not in front of or blocking any store, the store owner was very unhappy to see the presence of an artist in the mall. The store owner went to the Tlaquepaque management to complain and as the "organizer" of the group, I was approached about the incident and our presence in Tlaquepaque. I was informed that should we ever want to paint there, we must first receive approval as it is "private property". Thankfully, we were allowed to stay for the remainder of our time there that morning. Now while prior approval along with giving the number of people attending could be a possibility, what that means is that we would always have to have an "alternate" location selected just in case we don't get that approval. Since we have to go through the effort of picking an "alternate", we might just as well go to the alternate and make our lives easier. It's just too much effort and quite frankly "aggravation" for our little 2 hour weekly morning excursions.
Ok, now that we have that explained away, let's get on to the fun stuff.
I arrived with Suzette and we found Mike wandering around looking for an "ideal spot".
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| Suzette, Mike (no mug) |
Hey Mike, what's up with that -- no mug!!!
Next I saw Kris pull in, looking very Spring like with just a puffer vest on (by the way - it was cold).
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| Kris |
We were standing around chatting when Carolyn & Tecla pulled in.
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| Carolyn |
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| Tecla |
While we were trying to decide where to paint Mike was staring at the tree, we had a little discussion and decided that while it's really pretty, its location was less than ideal. I did look around while I was looking for my spot and never did see another one that looked like it -- too bad.
I actually never had the opportunity to go around and get photos of artists in their spots, a couple of others did come and find me. First we had Timestamp Nita.
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| Nita -- Timestamp 9:56 |
Now while that is quite a late arrival time (even for Nita) she showed me proof that she had been there for a while as she already did a drawing at the entrance. I know it's hard to tell but that's what's in that book she's showing me. Oh, just realized my palette knife and brushes upstaged her. That also explains why she's a little blurry too, but boy are my brushes in focus (Thanks to automation)! 🙄
I saw someone wandering around that looked like they were carrying art supplies, but I didn't know her. Turns out she was told about us by Cynde her name is Deanne and she's from NM I think she said. Anyway, she was told where we would be and decided to join us that day. Unfortunately I didn't get a separate photo of her, however, she plans on returning again some day and will be in touch.
Robin also arrived with our little buddy Hamilton.
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| Hamilton, Robin |
Isn't that a cute picture of Hamilton (ok Robin too) - oh later on I got puppy kisses 😍 Also, as you can see, Robin was already finished with her painting, guess that means it was time to wrap things up.
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| Front - Kris Off to the left- Hamilton Robin in front of Kris and watching Hamilton Now (L to R) Tecla, Deanne, Nita |
So, while we gathered together and waited for the remainder to appear, we all got to chat. Kris mentioned how she had been to the "poetry reading" in Tlaquepaque the evening before and where she bought stones there from a store in Tlaquepaque to go along with the Meditation sayings she was given during that event. Here's a photo of them.
And, in case you were wondering who Thich Nhat Hanh was, he was a Buddhist Monk and peace activist from the 60's born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo; 11 (October 1926 – 22 January 2022) from Vietnam.
I told Kris, I should've done that after being informed of the "incident". Ahhh, "Breathing in I see myself as still water. Breathing out, I reflect things as they truly are." 😉
Ok, instead of one lineup of the paintings, I'm just going to give you a few separate shots, there are several and it ain't over till you get to the bottom ...
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| ZigZag & L to R Mike, Carolyn Kris, Me, Robin, Hamilton, Tecla, Nita, Suzette, Deanne |