MEXICAN WOMAN - a pencil portrait

Mexican Woman
9" x 12" pencil portrait

This dear woman is a beggar in a small village in Mexico. She is "fortunate" in that the village has a large number of American and Canadian ex-pats who regularly give her clothing, furniture and money to support her and her family. She sits on hard, cold concrete day after day, on her knees. She tries to take care of herself - her nails are pretty clean for someone who lives and works in a dusty area, and her teeth are not too bad looking either. The thing that is amazing about this lady is that she genuinely smiles at everyone who stops to talk with her. She has a lot of "friends" who look for her each day to make sure she is well. There are so many poor people in this world...what are we doing to make sure they have all their needs met? If each of us even did one thing on a regular basis,  it would make a really big difference, in both the world and in that one person's life.

Mexican Lady

Well, here she is - the Mexican woman who sells flowers for a living. 

When we were in Guadalajara in May, we saw many women in the markets and on street corners who were selling flowers or jewelry they had made from beads. The work was intricate and would be time consuming and tedious to do... so we did not mind paying a bit more for the earrings and necklaces. Many of these women have their children with them, spending long days in the hot sun - often without shade. This is one such lady, who sits on cold concrete day after day... friends of ours have a friendship with this beautiful woman, and so I was able to take her picture. She is a lovely lady.  

When I visit other countries, I often come away saddened by the disparity between the rich and the poor, especially in places like Mexico. It is good to know people who are working to change that, and to in some small way be a part of helping to rescue children from the streets and a life of begging. They have so much potential if given a chance.

If you are interested in this painting or wish to commission something similar, please contact me:  jogiesbrecht@gmail.com

a work in progress

After spending two weeks in Mexico, what else would I want to do except paint something that reflects the sights, sounds and smells of the fabulous marketplaces which are in every city? So, here is the beginning of a full sheet watercolor of a lovely woman selling flowers.

I told you that we had several adventures on this trip - the first being just getting to the airport. Because of the snow, we had to wait for our plane to be de-iced, which meant we were late taking off. We made it into Los Angeles just in time to make our connecting flight, but when we arrived in Guadalajara, we discovered that our 3 checked bags had not made the connecting flight. It is such a pain to try to explain that you are missing luggage when you do not speak much Spanish, and the forms you have to fill out are not long, but painfully slow to do. Our kids thought we had missed our flight, and were ready to leave the airport just as we came through the customs doors - whew! Glad they waited so long! It was a 37 degree C. day - and we were loving every minute of warmth. :-)

When we got to the house, we found this very sweet message from our granddaughter who had given up her room for us.  There was also artwork on the walls, which had price tags on each one - her own art gallery. We ended up buying every picture of course... what fun! What a great imagination she has!

Our luggage arrived late the next day, to the delight of all. We finally had clothes to wear, and the gifts we took from others as well as us were given out. There was a great deal of excitement in the air. One of the items the children had asked for was a pair of rubber boots, so that when the rainy season comes, they can be outside in the rain. (My daughter remembers vividly her red pair of boots which she wore when she splashed in puddles and walked to school. I am sure she has told her children stories about those red boots!) You will not believe it, but the next afternoon, there was actually a shower. Sydney and Mateo ran to get on their new boots, and played in the yard as the few sprinkles came down. They weren't even wet when the rain ended, but they had "played in the rain"!

Next post I will tell you about our trip to the beach - Manzanillo. Another adventure for another day!

Now back to painting. YEAH!!!