Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

One of my favorite things about living in Oaxaca is the oversupply of ancient beat-up slag heaps that were cars in a former life. Let's just say they have a lot of character.
I saw this '74 Dodge Dart today, at rest a couple blocks from my house, and had to paint it. I sat on the sidewalk and struggled to capture it as an earnest young man stopped and amiably chatted with me, destroying my already fragile focus.
Still, a bit of this old heap's character shines through.

The painting above is titled Classic Ruins. It's a 12" x 9" acrylic on canvas. $175 includes shipping & insurance via DHL. Takes two days.

Interested parties can email me.

Steve Lafler

Valentine's Day Painting

My wife Serena loves paintings so I made her this acrylic sketch today for Valentine's Day.

Today I went to Parque Llano, Oaxaca's singular, well loved & humming urban park, to look for something to paint with my student Judy. We sat in the shade on a bench and painted this interesting door in an alcove of the building across the street.
This is a bit of a static subject but we found ways to make it interesting. I used a lively pastel pallet that bore only a slight resemblance to what I saw there, I used color more to distinguish parts of the composition than to report the truth.
Much of old Oaxaca was build with cantera stone, a locally quarried light green stone that is luminous with a near magical presence, both light and dead serious at once. So I at least wanted to mix a color that gave a clue to the cantera stone.
Of particular interest was the horizontal line at the top of the building, crossed with the line of the phone pole. It sets up a super basic, very dynamic composition that brings the sublime simplicity of Mondrian to mind.
I was really happy to leave the cars in the foreground as simple contours -- they were the coldest things in the view, so I let them linger as cold white shapes in a warm world.
We gave ourselves just enough time to set up the composition and block in color, without getting obsessive over the details of the scene.

Mocked by a Cactus

I struggled to do an acrylic sketch of a nopal cactus in my neighborhood. I had the distinct impression that this nopal was mocking me.

"You call that a painting?! HA!"

I persevered enough to like this piece a wee little bit, when all was said and done. It has a certain jaunty cheerful aspect.

Acrylic on canvas, 9" x 12". $150 includes shipping/insurance via DHL. Interested parties can contact me via email.

Witchcraft Shack

My art student Judy and I went walking in Parque Colosio this morning looking for something to paint. Colosio is in San Felipe del Agua, a neighborhood to the north of Oaxaca, sloping up towards the mountain ridge.
We saw this beat up old shack made of carrizo, a bamboo like reed that grows in damp areas in Oaxaca such as riverbeds. It's really strong and is used for light construction. There was trash strewn about the shack, but it held it's own in the oncoming sun.
Sitting in the shade, we sat down and spent a couple hours trying to capture it before the heat of the day set in. I can't help but call it the Witchcraft Shack! Although it probably is full of gardening tools...

Acrylic on canvas, 9" x 12". $175 via paypal, includes shipping/insurance via DHL. Interested parties can contact Steve Lafler via email.

Oaxaca Rooftop -- Looking Towards Huayapam

This is an acrylic piece I made from my rooftop. We have a sort of Palapa Rustica up there, I sat under it and did this looking towards the nearby town of Huayapam.
It's a piece that conveys information about the view from our roof, but you can tell I'm a basically cartoonist slingin' some paint, yes?
This is a 9" x 12" piece, priced at $175 US, which includes shipping/insurance via DHL. Interested parties can email me for details.

Francisco Garcia Vasquez

Today my family to a day trip from Oaxaca city to nearby Ocotlan, to eat at our favorite market stall restaurant with the Frida look alike chef, and to visit the Rodolfo Morales museum, Octolan's favorite son/painter.

We ate a great comida but the museo was closed, so we dropped into the series of workshops run by the Aguilar family, renowned ceramic artists. We saw great ceramic scenes of bars, hookers, funerals and a sublime Last Supper.

Then we bumped into the next workshop and I was surprised to see some unique paintings on metal by one Francisco Garcia Vasquez. These small works we executed in the Ex Voto style of painting on metal, but the subject matter and painterly chops were completely unique. I felt like a kid in a candy shop! This was something new and very special!

A super nice guy told me his 23 year old son painted these. Then he showed me his work, the dad that is, and his name is Demetrio. Wow, incredible stuff and he explained he shows in various cities in the states. Based on my budget today, I picked up the above piece by young Francisco, but man I will return to purchase some very fairly priced, utterly unique and beautiful work by Demetrio!

Painting From Life in Oaxaca

I've started a process of creating paintings from life in Oaxaca, Mexico. My intent is to capture the rich and glorious urban scene of Oaxaca, with some emphasis on the fact that this is quite a poor town, as well as a splendid Mexican baroque city.

Here is the first one, entitled Calle Carranza Old & New. It's a 9" x 12" acrylic painting.

I'll be selling all the work I post here. This painting is available for $175.00 U.S.

Interested parties can contact me via email, or call me at 503-213-3671. Payment is via paypal, I'll simply send a paypal invoice via email, and will ship upon payment. (Alternatively, I can accept checks at my official U.S. based address.)

The price includes 2 day shipping and insurance via DHL.

I'll continue to post as I paint!