The Light of the World

Devotion by Marilyn Diggs

"FOR UNTO US A CHILD IS GIVEN, UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN...."


MERRY CHRISTMAS
FELIZ NATAL
FELIZ NAVIDAD
JOYEUX NOEL

Best wishes in this holiday season to you who are following my blog in (according to statistics)  the USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, France, England, Germany, Spain, India, Russia, Poland, China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia and anywhere else that I may have missed.

Visit www.mdiggsart.com

All paintings are for sale on this site.

Poinsettias for Christmas

Poinsettias by Marilyn Diggs

The Christmas season is on its way and our homes are being decorated for the occasion. So is my blog.

In this painting you´ll see a couple of antiques together with a basket of poinsettias. The mortar and the pestle are small and in the early days when artists made their own paint, were used to grind the pigment. The heavy iron used to be filled with hot coals before pressings. In yesteryear, it was used to ready the tablecloth before the family gathering for Christmas dinner.

Did you know that the poinsettia was originally from Mexico and South America? Here in Brazil it grows in abundance, depending upon the season. Its name is bico de papagaio which means "parrot's beak". Cute, right?

May your preparations at this time end with a joyous celebration commemorating the birth of our Saviour!

All paintings seen on my blog are for sale. For more details write me at mdiggs@mdiggs.com
Also visit: www.mdiggsart.com

90% Perspiration



D'aprés John Singer Sargent
By Marilyn Diggs

   Albert Einstein said, "Genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration." He might have just as well be talking about painting. 

Do you think an artist just picks up a paint brush, dabbles it into paint and voilá, a great painting? True artists pay their dues by dedicating time to visiting museums, pouring over art books and learning from others who have come before them. Dedicated artists take valuable lessons  from the Great Masters, past and present. They practise, practise, practise. Afterwards, they find their own direction and personal  interpretation.

When you see an artist at her easel inside the Louvre Museum copying Titian, Velázquez, Van Dyke etc. that isn´t just for fun. That person is studying composition, color, brush strokes - learning by copying. Van Gogh, for example, admired  and copied Courbet as you will see in many of the Dutchman's canvases. The  figures in Edouard Manet´s  Luncheon on the Grass  were borrowed from a print by Marcantonio Raimondi - The Judgement of Paris (c. 1520), who copied Raphael.

It is not a sin to copy a painting, BUT the credit must be given to the original artist. The  artist  signs her name to the painting, but must put After or in French - D'aprés - plus the name of the original artist, as you see here in my painting of Lady Agnew.  I will never regret the two years of copying Master portrait artists, to improve my  figures.

All paintings posted on my blog are for sale. If you are interested in knowing details, write me at mdiggs@mdiggs.com.  Also visit: www.mdiggsart.com

Surfers on Ipanema Beach, Rio

End of the Day on Ipanema Beach

It´s sunset on Ipanema Beach. A setting sun converts the signature twin peaks (Two Brothers) into a magical landscape, while  tired surfers begin to leave. They´ll probably stop off at one of the many outdoor cafés to recall the best wave of the day. Maybe it will be the same café  where the composer of the world hit, Girl from Ipanema, sipped beer as he watched his muse make her way to this very beach. 

 A couple enjoys one more stroll along the shoreline, reluctant to give up the daylight.

As a famous Brazilian writer once said, " I woke up in Rio and found the sea, sky, sun and mountains fighting to see who was the most beautiful."  Ah, Rio.

All paintings on my blog are for sale. For details, contact me at mdiggs@mdiggs.com
For more art visit: www.mdiggsart.com

Heart and Soul

 This week the 3rd Invitational Great Plains Art Exhibition opened in Lawton, Oklahoma.  The title of the show is Heart and Soul of the Great Plains.

It is a joint exhibit by two museums and one gallery: 

Museum of the Great Plains

Comanche National Museum

Leslie Powell Gallery

If you are in the area, I hope you attend. Opening night, which was Nov.6, included a band/music at each location, refreshments  and  transportation making connecting runs between the galleries.

I was invited to show Amazon Youth, a portrait of a young warrior from the Amazon River area of Brazil. Participating artists must all have a link to the Great Plains in Oklahoma. Mine is that I was born in Tulsa and raised in Oklahoma from 1965 - 1975. My parents are Oklahomans and their home is in Duncan.


Amazon Youth



My painting is in the Museum of the Great Plains
601 NW Ferris Ave.
Lawton, OK
(580) - 581-3460
Show runs through Jan. 3, 2011

 http://www.2010heartandsoul.org/

http://www.museumgreatplains.org/

http://www.mdiggsart.com/

Children at Play on the Beach

Beach Play

Isn´t it fun to watch children playing in the ocean waves? Here three little girls enjoy a hot summer´s day on a Brazilian beach. This is one of my favorite spots, because the waves are tame and the water is shallow enough that you can wade far out. In the summer the temperature is like bath water.

I have always admired the Spanish artist Joaquin Sorolla and  American John Singer Sargent. Inspired by their oceanside paintings I did a series of my own. Next time you are at the beach, marvel at the myriad of color that is reflected in the water.  A hint for beginning artists: when thinking about composition, odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye than even.

This paintings received Honorable Mention at the International Academy of Modern Art Salon in Rome in 2006.

Are you interested in a painting on my blog? All are for sale. Contact me at mdiggs@mdiggs.com for details.
Also visit: www.mdiggsart.com 

Fishermen Along Brazil´s Coast

Fisherman in Bertioga

Aren´t these just the cutest little boats you´ve ever seen? They are quite prevalent along the coast and are used for fishing by the locals, called caiçaras, a mixture of early inhabitants - Indians, slaves and Europeans. The tire on the front keeps the wooden boat from being damaged against the dock. What looks like sacks of potatoes are actually fine nets used for fishing. The  salty morning fog leaves a slick, moist coating on the cabin roof as the lone sailor cares for his boat that rocks gently in the marina.

Bertioga is a less than a 2 hour drive from São Paulo (106 km) . Even though the first Portuguese navigators landed their ships close by in 1530, the area was pretty isolated from tourists until the 1960s when a highway opened up the area.

Even though today many city-slickers have their second home in Bertioga, we can still see simple fishermen making their living as their ancestors did before them.

All paintings on my blog are available for purchase. Please contact me at mdiggs@mdiggs.com for details.

Also visit: www.mdiggsart.com

Ballet of Color on the Beach

Canga Seller on the Beach

The beach is a festival of color. Besides nature´s show, colorful umbrellas and swimsuits, venders selling their wares are eye-catchers. One that I love to watch pass by is the canga seller.  A canga is a rectangluar light-weight cloth that can be wrapped around the body in 50 different ways as a cover-up over bathing suits. This is all you need to be dressed suitably for most beachside restaurantes. When not being worn it can be stretched out over the sand in lieu of a towel. The more colorful the better! Sellers often carry them tied onto a pole, over the shoulder ( like you see here). The ocean breeze flaps them in the wind creating a ballet of hues.


Just behind the boy who has stopped to chat with is friend, is a cart selling fresh coconuts  and beverages. Its owner dressed in orange, arrives shaking up an ice-cold drink in a red container. The beach is crowded, but no one cares. The more the merrier.


This particular beach along the São Paulo coastline, is known for its musical sand.  You skid your feet along it and it squeaks!

http://www.mdiggsart.com/
All paintings posted on my blog are for sale. Interested? Contact me at mdiggs@mdiggs.com for details.

An Afternoon on the Beach

Corn Seller on the Beach

  A favorite snack on the beaches in Brazil  is corn-on-the-cob. In fact, Brazilians are crazy about corn. We have it as bread, ice-cream, juice, pudding and innumerable other desserts.

You also see to her right,  a coconut vender. A machete cuts off the top of an ice-cold coconut and a straw is inserted to enjoy nature´s Gatorade. Afterwards, the coconut is whacked in two, to scrape out the white pulp - yummy. 

As I watched the children line up for corn, it struck me how they  could represent the historical ethnic make-up of Brazilians, which began with Portuguese settlers, native Indians and African slaves.

As the girls wait for their treat, a boy has found a shell to take home for his collection. The littlest girl has left the water and it heading back to get coins to buy her cob. 

It was a lovely, calm afternoon which I tried to capture on canvas.

 http://www.mdiggsart.com/
All paintings posted on my blog are for sale. Interested? Contact me at mdiggs@mdiggs.com for details.

But I Don´t Plan to be an Artist!



Nude sketch by Marilyn Diggs

 As we have seen in the last few blogs, the key to learning to draw is to set up conditions  that cause you to make a mental shift to the RIGHT side of the brain.  By following what you SEE ( lines, angles, shapes, spaces) rather than what the logical LEFT side KNOWS, you improve your drawing.  Betty Edward´s book - Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, will take you through more exercises.


 For instance, I started drawing this nude by scribbling a black oval. Next, I filled in the grey spaces, then the white, taking care not to name what I was drawing. I just dealt with the shapes I was seeing. I did not start with a  line drawing of a nude.


How do we know we are in the right side of the brain?


I used to set up my easel and paint in a nearby park on Wednesdays. On one occassion the day was cold, but that didn´t stop me. Standing on my feet for 5 hours straight, I diligently worked until a drizzle turned to rain that ran all over my  wooden palette. When I stopped, I then realized that I was chilled to the bone and it was indeed impossible to continue mixing paint. I glanced around. No one was in the park anymore. I glanced down at my watch. Unbelievable. What seemed to me to have been a short time on location, had actually been hours.


What happened? When we go into the right side of the brain, we enter into a slightly altered state of awareness.  You might say we feel "transported", or "at one with the work." Our surroundings become secondary.  We begin to grasp relationsips that ordinarily we can´t grasp. We have no awareness of time passage. It is hard to speak to others. We feel alert, yet relaxed ( and who wouldn´t...the over-worked verbal and analytic LEFT side has been resting!).


Have you been there? Probably. Perhaps you have had these experiences when day-dreaming, meditating, jogging, typing at the computer, listening to music or reading.


OK? So what if drawing doesn´t interest you?  Well-known author Daniel H. Pink in his book A Whole New Mind - Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age says," Our ability to activate this right hemisphere capacity has become more urgent as we transition out of the Information Age." In short, creativity is a hot commodity these days! ( By the way, he took Betty Edward´s course.)


http://www.mdiggsart.com/
mdiggs@mdiggs.com

Amazing Progress in your Drawings!

Rod Stewart by Arlinda

Pre-instructional drawing by Arlinda

Arlinda was one of my students whose work best shows just how important it is to see like an artist. Compare her BEFORE and AFTER drawings. She faithfully did the exercises that forced her to use her  creative right side of the brain, instead of her logical left side. The results are astounding.

It is all a matter of seeing things differently.

 I hope you did the exercise from my last blog. Which copied signature turned out more like the original? The one you copied upside-down should have, if you went slowly and copied the curves, lines and spaces. Why? When you copy it right-side-up your logical left side of the brain urges you to get it done quickly, and tells you what you already KNOW. ( "Now I´m copying a "S", now "M", now "I"...etc.). When it is upside down, you shouldn´t see letters but rather curves, angles, lines. Bingo...you have forced yourself into the right side of the brain by giving yourself a task that the left side hates to do. You have to quiet the logical side and slowly draw what you  SEE, not what you KNOW.

Want to try more? Get a line drawing of Mickey Mouse, or any simple line drawing, and turn it upside-down. Whatever you do, do not name what you are drawing. Just draw what you see. DO NOT sneak a peek and  turn YOUR drawing ( or the one you are copying) right-side-up until you are finished. Go Slowly.

In the next blog I´ll tell you how you will know if you are in the right side of the brain. ( besides the fact that the drawing will turn out better than if you had tried to copy it right-side up). Happy drawing!

http://www.mdiggsart.com/

Anyone can draw!

José by Marilyn Diggs

“If your handwriting is readable, or if you can print legibly,

you  can draw!   Drawing is a skill that can be learned by

every  normal person with average eyesight and average

eye-hand coordination .” – Betty Edwards, PhD in the Art Dept.

at California State University and  author of  theory and book,Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

It´s true. All you have to do is to learn to tap into the right side of the brain. I have been teaching drawing using this theory since 1991 and the results seem magical.

Basically...we have two sides of the brain - the left side which is logical and the right side which is creative. If we are right-handed we use the left side most of the time, if left-handed, we use the right side. That does not mean that every left handed person is an artist, ( even though Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, Titian and others were lefties!) but they do find creative solutions to problem-solving!

Right hand artists somehow, very naturally,  tap into the right side. BUT, anyone can learn how to do that with some  specific exercises that teach you to see differently - like an artist sees. Do you believe me?

Try this: Write a name on a piece of paper ( ie. Jack Smith). Now underneath it, copy it.
OK. Turn the paper around so that the original signature is upside down. Copy what you see. Slowly.
Which  name better resembles the original handwriting of the original name?
I´ll tell you why in the next blog.
www.mdiggsart.com

Spinning Color

The Pinwheel Seller

Just like Central Park in NYC, we have Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, Brazil. It is a favorite spot for joggers, family picnics, sweethearts and dog walkers. On the weekends children accompany their parents, as they escape from the concrete jungle, into the greeness. It is full of inspiration for my paintings.

On Sundays, vendors sell colorful balloons, kites, cotton candy and my favorite - pinwheels.  Here, a broom handle is cleverly converted into a pinwheel display, allowing the vendor to circulate freely among the park visitors.

I like the abstract quality of this painting, as people play hide-and-seek amidst the swirling color. The scene is like a piece of a parade,  recreating a child's world of fantasy and gaiety, even if only for a passing moment.

http://www.mdiggsart.com/

How Artists Use Red

Ah, the color red! What an exciting color! Aggressive, sensual, nothing laid-back about it.

But, now that you´ve discovered temperature in colors (see previous postings), you see that red isn´t simply red! An artist knows that. For instance, cherry red has blue in it, making it cooler than tomatoe red, which has yellow in its make up.

Summer Strawberries

Red can make a painting "pop" !

See "Summer Strawberries".

Artists know that red pulls the eyes to the front so they must avoid putting a boy in a bright red shirt in the background of a scene.

Next time you "see red", try to determine its temperature!

http://www.mdiggsart.com/

"Nothing But Blue Skies For Me" ... Really?

If I ask you what color is the sky, you will probably say "blue".

(I don´t mean at sunrise, sunset, or on a cloudy day.) You are right.  But, an artist sees several shades ( temperatures) of blue and so can you if you observe carefully.

It´s all about knowing what to look for!

Look at the beach photo I took. The strata of clouds make it easy to see the separations of the blues. 

Why does this happen?

Think of the sky as a dome above you. Right above your head, there is less atmosphere (curtains)  and the point is closest to the darkness of outer space).  As you descend your gaze and move it towards the horizon,  more curtains of atmosphere are coming between you. ( See previous posting for explanation of curtains of atmosphere.)

So, right above you is the sky´s true violet-blue, then it very gradually assumes a true blue, then a green-blue and eventually along the horizon a rose-grey haze.

Another interesting thing about skies... Look at the "holes" inside the folage of a tree. Inside these "sky holes" the sky looks bluer.

Don´t take my word for it. See for yourself. I hope the sky will never be just blue for you again.

www.mdiggsart.com

Seeing Like an Artist - Curtains of Atmosphere

I hope you have been noticing the temperature of GREENS this past week ( see the previous posting ).  Remember that cool color is one that has blue in its makeup and warm color has yellow or red in it. Having said that, distance can change color temperature.  All colors become cooler as they recede from the eye, except white.  I mentioned curtains of atmosphere, and promised to explain a bit more. 

Atmosphere has moisture that is like a mist, sometimes dense, sometimes light.  It is like a series of very thin films or "curtains" between the spectator and the distant horizon. Although atmosphere itself is apparently colorless, when it is seen in great depths it develops an opaquish blue hue.

 The more curtains of atmosphere, the cooler the color becomes. (Adding white to a color also cools it down.) Near objects are seen more sharply and the colors are richer and darker. The further away we look, details and color fades and get cooler.

When a realist artist paints landscapes she makes use of this fact to create distance on her flat canvas. 

But here is something you might not know...Even with still lifes ( objects, flowers, fruit) depth can be created by dulling colors and creating "curtains of atmosphere" on objects set up to paint, even if we are talking about objects sitting on a table. The artist finds the "star" of the painting and paints it in a way to make it stand out, while the other objects get treated differently.

In portraits where the head is turned  a bit, often the eye closest to the spectator is darker than the other, to  give the illusion of 3-dimensions ( volume). The shoulder closest to the viewer is richer in color, than the other which needs less clarity  to make it go back into the background.

So, if you practise staring off into the distance, notice this in nature. See how colors get fainter, bluer the farther you look! Now you´re seeing like an artist.

Seeing Like an Artist - GREEN

I was on a bus heading to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, when I looked out the window to see a breathtaking sunset.  I can still see it. The pinkish grey Andes were covered with snow.  Voluptuous pink and peach colored clouds were caught on the peaks, and above those, puffy cumulus ones - in all the tones of grey, billowing like cotton candy against a turquoise sky. Spectacular! Fascinated by the colors and nature´s beauty, almost hypnotized, I looked at my traveling partner and said, "Ginny, look at the sunset!"
She responded, " Oh yea, it looks like it's going to rain," and  returned flipping the pages in a magazine on her lap. I thought, "Thank you, God, for my eyes that see the beauty of nature."

What a privilege it is to be an artist. I´d like give you some insights to seeing color like artists see color.

Let´s talk about temperature. Let´s start with green. Many people think, "Green is green", but that´s not so. Colors have temperature! There are warm green and cool greens. Look for yellow in the green to find the warm ones. Blue shades will indicate the cool ones. It is easy to see this in the samples here! A. has yellow in it, while B. has blue.

If  we observe a terrain whose vegetation is identical, we find the grass closer to us has a yellow cast while the grass further away has a bluer cast. Why? This is because curtains of atmosphere cool the color ( I´ll talk more about that in another blog).

Now,  observe the leaves of a tree. Notice that when the sun is behind the leaves, the green is yellowish and the leaves becomes almost transparent. See that same leaf with the sun coming down at a different angle.  The leaves are darker, cooler and opaque. So the leaves in the same tree, at the same time, show both warm and cool greens, depending upon how the sun catches the leaves.

The artist who paints landscapes has to create 3-dimensions on a flat surface. She relies on her sense of color to do this. She will use her knowledge of color temperature to create an optical illusion of depth.   Warm colors will bring her subject close to the viewer, while cool colors create the illusion of distance.

Don´t take my word for it. Observe the green around you and in paintings for now. We´ll look at other colors soon!

www.mdiggsart.com

Museum Exhibit Closes Tomorrow!

My exhibit entitled MARILYN DIGGS BRAZIL closes tomorrow, Sunday, August 15th.                        Yesterday, I donated "Sunrise on the Trail"  to the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center in Duncan, Oklahoma as a token of my appreciation for the work the  museum staff did to make it a success.                              Opening night was great fun with Brazilian sweets being served, along with tropical fruit on skewers, and cheeses. Each visitor was given a wrist ribbon from a famous Brazilian church which guarantees 3 wishes being granted - AS LONG AS YOU WEAR IT UNTIL IT FALLS OFF! My talented sister, who is a professional singer sang three Brazilian songs to get everyone in the mood, then ended by beckoning the guests enter the gallery with, "Welcome to Brazil!"

I want to thank  the museum staff, especially the director Bill Benson who never said "no" to any of my suggestions! Also, my daughter Denise whose brilliant idea it was to make the show more than just a display of my oil paintings, but rather an educational experience as well. (We had display cases of objects seen in the paintings and short explanations of several of the picture motifs.) She also stayed up until 2 am. making the Brazilian sweets and helped serve at the reception.

A special thanks to those who spread the word in the media, which includes the writers and editors for Distinctly Oklahoma magazine, WorldGuide.com, OklaVision, Duncan Banner and the Lawton Constitution.

Thanks too, to all the visitors, especially the out-of-towners from San Francisco, Detroit, Dallas and several other cities in Oklahoma and Texas. It was wonderful to see you all again, and I enjoyed giving you a glimpse of Brazil!

http://www.mdiggsart.com/

Eastern Elegance Captured in a Still Life

A Touch of Spring

My sister and brother-in-law are seasoned travelers. Visiting their home in France is like going into a museum filled with fascinating treasures. Recently, I stayed with them in the spring, while doing an art show in Mortagne-au-Perche. 

I spotted a small red Tibetan box and  brass ewer (pouring vessel) from India sitting in the book shelves. Without hesitation I set up this still life composition and went to work.The white peonie was the perfect delicate oriental flower to accompany the objects and its green leaves complement the red color of the box. (Complementary colors are often used to give harmony to a picture: red/green, yellow/purple, blue/orange.) 

After the oil painting dried, Marcia took me to a quaint framing store in Chantilly ( yes, the birthplace of whipcream) to find the perfect finishing touch.
For more information about this painting, go to "Featured Events" at http://www.mdiggsart.com/

Taking a Break in Rural Brazil

Rustic Still Life

In the rural areas of Brazil, fresh milk is still put into milk containers like the copper one seen here, to be taken into town. This still life gives the impression that the ranch owner came by and shared a drink of Portuguese wine with the foreman, who would have drunk his from the metal cup rather than a glass stemware. The plums may have been brought in from the orchard. Someone likes sweets, because the cookies that are always stored in big glass jars are gone. If someone wanted milk, the ladle was there to serve it. It is late afternoon, since the lantern hasn´t been lighted yet.

I set this still life up at a friend´s studio and sat on the floor in front of my midget easel, to paint it.  This is not a conventional perspective for a still life, but I wanted the cloth to become part of the composition.
For more information on this painting, go to "Featured Events" at  http://www.mdiggsart.com/

Windows to the Soul

The Immigrant´s Son

Danilo actually comes from Italian descent. No matter where I display this painting, it always is popular with the girls. And so it should be. I hope it expresses the vitality of Youth. Eyes are truly the windows of the soul and Danilo gazes to the future with expectation and confidence. I painted him with quick, vigorous brush strokes which emphasizes his spontaneous personality. The angle I chose shows his strong character.

When an artist paints a portrait, she should put the person´s soul into it. She must capture something about that person, not just what she sees.

A true artist should be able to paint still lifes, landscapes and portraits equally well.  Several of my respected teachers told me this very early in my career and I have always worked towards that goal. I´m a people-person. My personal favorite genre is portrait painting. I enjoy the challenge of going further than a simple resemblance.

This painting is presently in the exhibit "Marilyn Diggs Brazil" until Aug. 15th.
For more information visit "Featured Events" at http://www.mdiggsart.com/

Summer daisies warm the heart.

Summer Bouquet

In the summer morning,
Through the fields ye shine,
Joyfully adorning
Earth with grace divine
And pour, from sunny hearts, fresh gladness into mine.

-  from "Daisies" by Rose Terry Cooke ( 1827-1892)

As I was walking back from the open vegetable and fruit market we have on Friday mornings in my neighborhood in São Paulo, I spied these perky daisies being sold by the corner flower vendor. They were begging to be painted. I remembered the antique clock a friend of mine had given me years ago. (It wasn´t working and it would have cost her too much to repair, so before junking it, she asked me if I wanted it!!!) YES.

I´d bought the blue and white plate ( in background) and vase in Chinatown, San Francisco, when I was living there and they would make the perfect dark accents the painting needed. The ribbon leads the viewer´s eye into the composition and lends a lyrical mood to the  still life.

For more information about this painting, visit "Featured Events" at http://www.mdiggsart.com/

Indian Tribes in the Amazon

Amazon Youth

Today Brazil has 460,000 Indians, not counting the almost 70 isolated tribes. Most live in the Amazon region where 40% is Indian land. Nature supplies red, black and white paint for body decoration. Bright feathers from toucans, parrots and macaws become headdresses, arm bands, earrings and belt adornments. animal teeth and seeds transform into necklaces.




Inside a display case next to this painting, presently being exhibited at the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center, is the feather headdress, a plate made of bright turquoise butterfly wings and a wooden Indian doll.

I´ve been to the Amazon three times. This is a photo I shot at a very small community on the banks of the Amazon River. A couple of years ago I was approached about teaching English to three Xingu chieftains ( they wanted to learn it). While I debated about spending a year in the area, they disappeared from the reservation, into the forest. I was glad I wasn´t with them at the time!


For more info on painting: "Featured Events" at http://www.mdiggsart.com/

Hot pink azaleas

Azaleas and Limes

The hot pink azalea is São Paulo´s state flower and it splashes color in cities and in the countryside.


Until recently I painted with a group of five artists every Wed. The day we painted this, one artist brought in a bouquet of azaleas, another the grapes. The hostess went to her garden and plucked the limes right off her tree. I like painting silver, because of  the reflections.


This painting was the center of attention at a gathering of old friends last month and each related her personal life's story using the objects in the painting as symbols for comments. I liked Cindy saying that we are like the grapes and when we reach just the right point of maturity, we´ll become a fine wine and fill the empty bottle.  Sally said we are like the silver,  because even though we get "tarnished" by life´s challenges, we still polish up and regain our luster!
For more information about this painting see "Featured Events" at www.mdiggsart.com

Colonial cities still exist in Brazil

Devotion

Portuguese and Spanish missionaries brought their architecture to the new colonies in Brazil. Baroque churches became uniquely Brazilian with mulatto cherubs painted on ceilings and tropical fruit sculpted into altars.

It is easy to imagine carriages and merchants making thier way along cobblestone paths  that still exist today in some towns.

It was tough painting "Colonial City by the River", because I  had my easel set up  on a steep river bank to get this perspective and reflections. YIKES!

"Devotion" was tricky to paint since it is white on white. White daisies, white madonna, white candles, white cloth. Each has to be painted differently to  recreate the delicateness of  flowers, the solidity of wax, the weight of gesso, and the whispiness of a flame.
Artists know that white is never just white, as you can see here. Sometimes it has yellow in it, other times pink or blue or whatever color that reflects upon it!

For more information about these paintings, visit "Featured Events" at http://www.mdiggsart.com/

A Black Virgin Mary

The Saint

Our Lady of Aparecida is the patron saint of Brazil. Fishermen were said to have found a small, dark-skinned saint stataue of the Virgin Mary in a river in 1717. Venerated by the population, many miracles have been attributed to this icon.

I was showing this painting at the cultural center at an airport in São Paulo, when a well-dressed lady walked right up to the painting and kneeled infront of it, said a prayer, crossed herself and left. She didn´t even acknowledge my presence. I can only imagine that she was praying for a safe journey!

This painting is in the Marilyn Diggs Brazil exhibit until Aug.15th. For more info go to "Featured Events" at http://www.mdiggsart.com/

The Typical Brazilian

Brazilian Beauty

Today's vast ethnic and cultural mixing began in the colonial period between the portugese settlers, native Indian tribes and African slaves. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Italian, German, Spanish, Middle Eastern and Japanese immigrants added to the diverse populace and Brazilian identity. 

What does a typical Brazilian look like?

Is he dark-skinned like soccer icon, Pelé?

Or is she blond and blue-eyed like supermodel Gisele Bundchen?

Actually, there is no typical Brazilian - only mixtures that have produced a people overflowing with hospitality, warmth and happiness. 

See more of my paintings at the museum until Aug 15th in "Featured Events" in www.mdiggsart.com

Immigrant´s Son    

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazon Youth

   

Brazilian Cowboys from the South - Gauchos

The gaucho cowboy culture is very much alive today in the south pampa region, shared with Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. They are known for using baggy pants, ponchos and boleadeiras (three balls tied to leather cords) to hunt or for sport. 

When gauchos are thirsty they sip mate tea made from tree leaves, through a metal straw, from a cured gourd.

Maybe you have been to a Brazilian steak house (churrascaria), like my favorite - Fogo de Chão - and have had meat cooked in the traditional way and brought to the table on skewers to be sliced at your plate. The waiters are dressed like gauchos. In some of these restaurantes you can ask for chimarrão ( gaucho tea served in the cuia) like you see in the painting.

Both of these paintings are on display at the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center until Aug. 15th. (see link above).

Gaucho and his Horse

Gaucho Drinking Tea

For more paintings, go to "Featured

Events" at http://www.mdiggsart.com/