Time to Paint Again

My hobby of landscape painting for quite a while has taken a backseat to my busy travel schedule.  However, regular readers of my blog know that every year there are two occasions when I get out the paints...  one is for my annual Christmas card, the other is to do a painting to donate to the spring auction of the Ohio chapter of "Los Amigos de las Américas."  "Los Amigos" is a non-denominational organization which each year sends high school and college students to various Latin American countries to do volunteer work.  It is my favorite charitable organization, not only because of the good work it does in our neighbors to the south, but because of the life-changing experiences it provides the young volunteers.  For a number of years I have donated handicrafts which I have picked up during my trips to Mexico, as well as a painting.

This year I was actually thinking about being a lazy bum, and simply donating a painting which I had done some years ago.  But then I was reading the blog "An Alaskan in Yucatan" written by Marc Olson.   (You will find a link to his blog in my "Blog List" to the side.)  Marc is an ex-pat who has been living for some time in Mérida, and I had a chance to meet him on one of my trips to Yucatan.  A couple years ago he bought an abandoned "rancho" in the Yucatecan countryside, and he is in the process of making the place livable again.  In his latest entry, he posted a picture of the little ranch house.

(photo by Marc Olson)

There was something about the light and the simple composition of the photo which appealed to me, and I thought that it would be a great subject for a painting.  I asked Marc's permission to do a painting of it.  I knew that he would approve because when he was in high school he spent two summers as a volunteer with "Los Amigos", giving vaccinations to children in rural villages in Colombia and Nicaragua.

I have made a good start on the painting, and hope to be finished with it by March.  Unfortunately I won't be able to attend this year's auction because I am leaving for Mexico City just a few days before the event.  But my painting and the bunch of Mexican handicrafts that I have for them will hopefully raise a nice sum of money for the group.

If you are interested in this fine organization, here is a link to their website...

Los Amigos