Color Study: Mexico
With the Granny Day Giveaway going on, I’m thinking about color this week.
Somehow I had missed (or forgotten) that Geninne lives in Mexico. Her recent post about the colorful country she lives in reminded me of my trip to Mexico from a few years back. (I highly recommend you click over to read that post, as it is very beautiful and insightful. Go ahead. I’ll be here when you get back.)
I first visited Mexico in 2004 for some art therapy classes and was so into sketching and visual journals at the time that I didn’t even take a camera with me! This strikes me as absurd — my first time visiting in a new country and no camera!? — but I sketched my way across the Mexican countryside as evidenced by this photo below:
Yeah, that’s me. Under the orange arrow. Note that I am the only person not paying rapt attention to the speaker, and instead am sketching the cactus to my right. I remember it was bursting with small fruits and I couldn’t NOT capture their deep burgundy-gold-ness. The photo was taken by a friend who sent it to me with a note: “This is what you looked like the whole time in Mexico, FYI.” I think she was a little annoyed, but my sketchbooks from that trip are their own reward.
While I was in Mexico, I read a quote that I thought at the time really summed up my thoughts on color in that country. In hindsight, I think it is rather Aryan-centric and a little class-ist, but I still think it’s interesting:
In Mexico, the people who have no money make their walls beautiful to show off their one element of wealth: COLOR.
— Elena Ponintowska
And, it’s true. My journals from that trip are filled with warm oranges, reds, yellows, and pinks. The blues are really bright, and the greens kind of fade away. Here are a few more scans:
There’s still time to enter the Granny Day Giveaway. Just think of your current favorite color and an emotion you associate with it. There are 5 ways to enter!
(Note: There are also giveaways at Bumblebeans and Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts. Go stash up while I work to stash down.)
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those sketches are incredible! wow!
Comment by nichole — 16 April 2009 @ 4:59 pm
Oh I totally get the sketch book instead of a camera. My partner and I toured New Mexico and the Four Corners area with a housemate and native. They brought cameras, I brought a sketchbook. The joke was that we’d stop for a roadside shot of the scenery, and Ed would *click* and Al would *click* and I would *scritch scritch scritch* and they’d have to stand around an extra 5 minutes hopping from foot to foot with impatience while I frantically finished.
Except? I still look through the sketch books every now and then. We haven’t peeked at the pictures for years!
Comment by lee — 16 April 2009 @ 6:38 pm
Wow, you are SO talented…the sketches (and writing) are amazing. I spent a few months travelling in Mexico in 2004 too! I was in Mexico City, Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido, Palenque, and Quintana Roo…those were the days…
Comment by Sarah — 16 April 2009 @ 8:37 pm
love seeing your art journal! the colors are amazing and your handwriting is artful in and of itself!
i think it was cool to do sketches and not take a camera. i did that once on a trip to egypt (tho’ my husband had a camera so we also have photos). i think having to draw things makes you really concentrate on them and really capture them because you’ve really looked at them. even if it does make you pay less attention to the guide.
Comment by julochka — 16 April 2009 @ 11:23 pm
I just love love love your creativity. Your sketches are beautiful and your script/handwriting is really neat! Artistic…
I used to run around everywhere with a camera, especially on holidays, and whenever I got home, I realized I hadn’t seen anything because I missed 90% of my surroundings by always staring through a lens. So instead of making memories, I now have 4×6″ excerpts of my surroundings. Booyah! I’ve started only taking a few photos of memorable things and trying to photograph more with my memory-eye. So I think you did the right thing, especially by sketching, which makes you not only look at things but actually see them, to get the proportions and emotions right! Lucky you for having such a good eye.
Cheers,
Christine
Comment by Christine — 17 April 2009 @ 5:12 am
Oh, beautiful. And very inspiring. Thank you for sharing your trip (to mexico & memory lane) I’m not sure photos could capture the feeling that you have done in your drawings. And I love that you remember exactly what you were sketching in that photo from your friend. And the entry on bird poop – he!
Comment by mel — 17 April 2009 @ 6:38 am
Beautiful, beautiful. You’ll enjoy this post over on the Colour Lovers blog:
http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2009/04/06/local-paint-color-from-san-yuan-to-el-yunke
Lainie
Comment by Lainie — 17 April 2009 @ 10:42 am
WHAT AN AMAZING POST. LOVE your sketchbook. Your very inspiring!
Comment by V — 17 April 2009 @ 1:01 pm
Mal, your drawing is awesome!!! I only wish I could do this!!! how cool!
Comment by upstatelisa — 17 April 2009 @ 6:10 pm
Your sketches and narrative make me feel like I’ve been there. Just beautiful.
Comment by just me originals — 17 April 2009 @ 9:19 pm
I LOVE THESE!!!
and i’m really glad i came across your blog. it’s really nice to find fellow art therapy blogs! Although… i’m still a student
it’s inspiring and your work is beautiful.
Comment by Megan — 18 April 2009 @ 9:34 am
What a treasure to have these journals. These colours speak louder than words. Makes me realize how important journals are.
Thanks for your inspiration.
Comment by Elizabeth — 18 April 2009 @ 11:38 am
Hey !! Those sketches are amazing, really, your handwritting is beautiful,hope you enjoyed and liked Mexico. Thanks for adding me as a contact con Flickr. I invite you to check my blog, I have posted some things that I think you might like.
Good luck !! And thanks for posting your sketches !
Comment by Montse — 18 April 2009 @ 3:35 pm
Those are so beautiful. The top one is my favorite, it is so warm.
Comment by Katherine — 18 April 2009 @ 11:05 pm
interesting that your friend may be annoyed by you sketching your way through the trip. do you think there would be a similar antipathy to someone spending the entire time behind a viewfinder?
I was smitten with the idea of your art journal of your trip.
Comment by trashalou — 19 April 2009 @ 10:30 am
Your journal is AMAZING! INCREDIBLE! BEAUTIFUL. I don’t normally all-cap-ballistic like that… that’s how much I love your journals.
Comment by happy zombie — 20 April 2009 @ 5:50 pm
Wow your sketches are really wonderful. i love the color. and thats funny your comment about how you were the only one not paying rapt attention to the speaker. good for you. but you probably absorbed more about what he said than anyone else – recent studies show that doodling or drawing while listening to something will result in greater retention of the material.
found you from gennines art blog.
leah
Comment by Leah — 1 August 2009 @ 9:41 am