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“Spring” Oil Pastel
A daffodil, first sign of spring, and a moment of happiness.
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Museum Day Inspiration and More in OKC
Last Sunday my daughter, her friend, and I had the best day in Oklahoma City where we went to the art museum, stopped in at Tamashii Ramen for lunch, and paid a visit to Pancakes the hairless cat and all of the other kitties at don’t stress meowt cat cafe. One thing that stood out about the trip is how much we were all struck with inspiration after the museum visit. Between Tulsa and OKC, I prefer Tulsa by far: the vibe is cooler and it’s a prettier city in my opinion, but OKC has the best art museum that I’ve been to in the state, it has our favorite…
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“The Sea” by Pablo Neruda
I’m at a point in my language learning where I’m trying to read a tiny bit of literature in Spanish, finding something that sticks and going back and forth between languages. Good poetry works well for this because I find it very captivating and I like the lyricism and symbolic nature of it. Of course, Pablo Neruda is one of the best poets, and a favorite of mine, so his poetry seems like the perfect place to start reading in another language. Today I thought I’d just place the Spanish and English versions of this side by side and reflect on it and try to pick up some new words.…
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A Typical Morning for Me/Una mañana típica para mí
A Simple Exercise/Un ejercicio sencillo As an exercise, I want to write about a typical morning for me, in Spanish. I’m writing this in English and then rewriting it with my limited knowledge of the Spanish language, and then I will double check questionable parts and edit as needed. A modo de ejercicio, quiero escribir sobre una mañana típica para mí, en español. Estoy escribiendo esto en inglés y luego lo reescribo con mi limitado conocimiento del idioma españo, y luego lo comprobaré dos veces partes cuestionables y las editaré según sea necesario. My alarm clock goes off at 5:30 and I usually hit the snooze button until about 6:00.…
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Ecuadorian Poetry
Plane tickets to Quito have been bought, and in my ongoing cultural exploration of Ecuador this week I came across some of Ecuador’s most illuminating poets. I’ve picked a few Ecuadorian poems that I’ve read so far to share here, with translations when I could find them. Here are poems by David Ledesma Vásquez, Alfredo Gangotena, and one of Ecuador’s most famous poets, Jorge Carrera Andrade. In addition to these poets, Nelson Estupiñán Bass, Jorge Enrique Adoum, Efrain Jara Idrovo, Francisco Granizo Ribadeneira, and poets of the Generación decapitada literary movement Medardo Angel Silva, Ernesto Noboa y Caamaño, Arturo Borja, and Humberto Fierro, are also considered to be exceptional Ecuadorian…
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‘Pacific Pier Ferris Wheel in Winter 5′ Oil Pastel
This again. One of the habits I’ve been implementing is doing oil pastel drawings every morning and one thing this does is to help me not be so precious with them. This in turn gives me more freedom for playfulness and experimentation. This version was inspired by my paper towel that I was wiping my fingers on after smoothing out the oil pastels, and I loved the color combinations of the different spots in this theme so I started to do the same thing in the picture.
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Planning for a Trip to Ecuador
This April I plan to go to Ecuador with a couple of good friends with a photography group and want to create a checklist of things to do to get ready for it. South America will be a new continent for me, and one I’ve wanted to see for a long time, so I’m very excited! We will get to see the Amazon jungle, volcanoes, a flower plantation, Ingapirca ruins, and visit the town of Misahualli which is famous for its monkeys! Here are some things I want to do in the next two months in preparation: 🇪🇨 Ramp up my Spanish language lessons 💉 Check in with my doctor…
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“Standing in the Tallgrass” Oil Pastel
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Repetitive Movie Watching for Language Learning
One of my strategies for language learning is to pick a movie in each language that I’m working on and to watch it on repeat for a while until I get the phrases down. For my Spanish language film, I think I’m going with The Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de motocicleta) (2004) because I love it and it has lots of dialogue and beautiful scenery all the way through. For my Vietnamese film, at the risk of burnout I’m also picking a favorite, The Vertical Ray of the Sun (Mùa hè chiều thẳng đứng) from 2000, because it also has a lot of dialogue to focus on, as well as gorgeous,…
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‘Pacific Pier Ferris Wheel in Winter 4′ Oil Pastel
