La Vida Buena

2021 - A New Era: Other Places, Travel and Projects. >>>SEE https://tinyurl.com/TracyNovingerOnlineBlogs Some years ago we moved our things from our house on Av. Lázaro Cárdenas to our house on Calle Esperanza 30 aka Callejón del Sol 3 (at "Sol y Luna") in Patzcuaro's Centro Histórico. It has now been sold We loved its colonial style, the way it captures light and sun--but we especially liked the easy two-block walk to Plaza Grande. There is always something going on in Patzcuaro's  trio of central plazas that start just two blocks away. We sold this gem of a house. Now, we are traveling to many places we want to visit and see and spend more time in France. Check it out.

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Special Butterflies

The new Museo de las Comunidades Mexicanas en el Extranjero (Padre Lloreda No. 50, Patzcuaro) presented a traveling exhibit, art by Mexican women living outside Mexico, the "Mariposas Migrantes." Visit pintoras.mexicanas on Facebook.

The exhibit was a visual feast of vibrant color.

Folk Art & Wares

Plaza Vasco de Quiroga, aka Plaza Grande, is full of color, crafts and wares in the Tianguis set up for Semana Santa. People from all over Mexico as well as from other countries enjoy perusing and purchasing items from the various booths. The restaurants all over Patzcuaro are full of people talking, laughing and eating.

Patzcuaro Portrait Painter

JOSE DA SILVA

Patzcuaro boasts a consummate portrait painter.

José da Silva was born in 1948 in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Argentina. He married Adriana Mitidiero and they had two children. In 1974 the couple left Argentina to move with their two-year-old daughter and six-month-old son to Mexico D.F. José and Adriana both needed to work and they spent hours commuting in the nightmare of Mexico City traffic. They said they hardly saw their children. The niñera fed breakfast to the children after the couple left for work and put them to bed at night before they returned.

In 1976, CREFAL in Pátzcuaro offered Adriana a position as executive secretary and also offered José a job. The couple picked up again and happily moved to Pátzcuaro--where two more daughters were born and Adriana and José have lived ever since.

In Pátzcuaro José met an Austrian who had been trained as a finish-carpenter. The two men set up a business, first making wooden toys and then furniture. At one point Carrefour in France ordered 2500 sets of shelves, which they shipped in 1997. At its peak, the furniture business employed 80-100 people.

José started painting on plywood at the age of ten in Argentina and had always liked to paint, even though he worked at other jobs for a living. In Pátzcuaro he was further able to study painting technique with a painter from Mexico City. José began painting portraits, which is what most interested him, and he sold them well from the beginning.

At some point José and his partner realized they did not both have to manage the furniture business at the same time. They began trading three months on and three months off, then six months, and eventually one year at a time. They shared the profits which gave them both the luxury of time off with income. Eventually, in 2006, José sold his share in the business to a mutual friend. His children were grown and José could devote himself full time to painting, his first love.

Although he has done a few landscapes, José is first and foremost a portrait painter. He says that the expression on certain faces catches his attention. To begin, he may take as many as one hundred photographs of a subject which he uses in picking the angle and the look he likes best. He especially likes to paint a person’s eye contact. And some people, such as Arminda of Ihuatzio, he paints over and over again to capture a different mood, angle or look.

Those of you who wander around Pátzcuaro have certainly admired the superb da Silva paintings displayed at El Patio or La Surtidora on Plaza Grande. José usually has some portraits for sale and he can ship to a customer. If you are interested in purchasing a painting and would like to know what he has available, make a comment below to request his email address.

Here are some portraits that José da Silva has painted.

		Painter José da Silva - Portraits VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Pátzcuaro bound?