Apprentice of Wonder

Guatemalan Textiles: A Culture of Color

Anyone who knows me associates me with bright, vivid, colors.  I wear them; I paint with them; most of my ATCs stand out by their color; my house and furnishings are full of them.  Combine this life-long love of color with my deep connection to folk and indigenous art and cultures, and an invitation to a Guatemalan textile exhibit was something I couldn't possibly turn down.  I wish I had made note of the man's name who travels deep into Guatemala to buy these weavings from the indigenous women who make them.  I wish I'd taken notes on the history of their culture and of his travels so I could share some of his fascinating stories of the decades he has spent getting to know these people, and in some cases supporting entire families.  But I didn't.  Instead, here is a photo essay of one Central American culture shown through color and fabric.

   

If I am ever set loose in a country or marketplace that has these hand-woven colors for sale, I'm not sure I can be held responsible.

 

Happy 4th of July!

En route to the fireworks two nights ago I fell and badly sprained my foot.   Despite bruising over my entire left foot and halfway up my calf, my sister and I braved the first heavy rain Denver's had in far too long, and walked to the Arvada fireworks. 

Here is my own personal fireworks show for each of you .

    

    

3rd Annual Cookout and Fireworks Party

I LOVE FIREWORKS!  I could see them every night of the week, and never tire of watching the colorful fire explode in the sky above me.  Each 4th of July, nearly every community in the Denver Metro Area has their own fireworks display.  In my community of Glendale, the fireworks are always on either July 2nd or 3rd, making it possible to see the Glendale display and a another one on July 4th itself.   From my house, it is a pleasant 2/3 mile stroll down the Cherry Creek bike path to Ground Zero.  And so, for the third year in a row, we had our annual cookout (wild salmon, juicy sirloin steak, and fantastic side dishes provided by each guest) and fireworks party, and all who attended had a grand time, as you can see in this photo of four dear friends and me, in the middle.  The two women on the left, Debby and Elaine, are Colorado women I met via the internet years ago, and were it not for the internet, and yahoo groups, there's very little chance we'd ever have met.  Who knew that the internet would drop someone into my life who would take me to Spain for 9 days, and Chile for 18?  The five of us are in a small on-line writing group together, and most of us are also artis ts of one type or another.  If you click over to Elaine's blog on 7-3, you can see a gorgeous photo of the first foxglove I've ever been able to keep alive in my garden, after years of trying.

I always take my camera with me to any fireworks display (well, okay - I take it EVERYWHERE, no matter where I go) but it's nearly impossible to get decent fireworks shots.  I feel lucky if I get a couple of good ones per night.  Without a tripod it's hard enough, but with the delay that is part of using a digital camera, it's impossible to plan in advance and know what you will get.  You can see here how close we are to where the fireworks are set off - as close as you can get!

Here are two fireworks I played around with in Photoshop filters.