Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Lincoln Park murals: Pachuca

A couple of weeks ago, there was a terrific car show and gathering beneath these I-10 flyovers at Lincoln Park. Sadly, I missed it, but yesterday I was able to capture a few quick shots of new Chican@ murals. Like Chicano Park in Los Angeles, the murals depict important people and events in Chicano history and feature visual topics pertaining to Aztlán, the Guadalupe, folk art/rascuache and social-political themes and history important to Latin@s as the Mexican Revolution, the murder of Latino journalist Ruben Salazar, President Kennedy, brown pride--topics pertaining to La Frontera's culture, art, and people.

In the Pachuca I see all the defiance, strength, and passion of a young woman--she wears a stripped down version of the zoot suit and carries a daggered sacred heart, while wrapped in the flags of her land, family, and culture. Strong, proud, brown, and armed with what signifies her strength. Ready to battle anything that comes her way or tries to harm her family and friends, this Pachuca stands tall.

Sunday, October 03, 2010

October butterfly in a Saturday backyard

Seeds that blew into the yard have taken over spaces originally created for pine trees. These interloper native plants are now huge and blooming. As I shot the images, I suddenly realized the butterfly was not the only insect feeding. Alongside and above me a host of honey bees, bumble bees, and the biggest black hornet I've ever seen were feeding, too. Their humming and buzzing all around me, I decided to finish capturing these images to let them feed in peace before they took a shine to me.

I have a hardworking fellow come help with the shaping up the hedges. i told him we'd work on getting the backyard in shape after we do the front. And because these big backyard interlopers are blooming now (and they really are ugly to me,) MJ and i decided to cut them back after the first frost, or when the bees disappear from the yard.

Later, I'll go outside again to see who's there today. Last week, when he was working on the frontyard hedges, my yardman was accompanied by the biggest yellow swallowtail butterfly we'd ever seen. Yesterday, I saw a tiny yellow warbler on his way south to Peru. Warblers, according to our Peterson book, terms warblers as "birdlet," which is a perfect name. This little warbler (by coloration a male) is a little bigger than a zebra finch. i'm hoping to capture a better picture of him today, too.

2024 Valentine Watercolor Postcard Sampler

This year, I painted and mailed over 50 valentines, and was in advance of an April lumbar spine surgery. That was something different that I...