Duende | 5/101

I paint because of the magic. I paint because of the way it makes my past, present, and future blend into one. I paint because on a good day it’s like having access to an ancient oracle that has never swayed me wrong and on a bad day — it’s still a pretty damn good life to wake up to — as an artist, don’t you think? ⠀

But this kind of stuff…this is mine. This is all mine. This is the medicine that I was given, and I know it. ⠀

What am I talking about?⠀

Today’s word painting is Duende and It’s perfect for sharing today, only a few hours before I head to my sweet, mythical Oaxaca, Mexico to teach my Paint FEARLESS Mexico retreat.⠀

I first learned of Duende when I was in my early twenties and totally obsessed with Flamenco.  I made a body of paintings back then as my humble attempt to capture this elusive Duende that Flamenco artists give their lives to. This uncontrollable passion. This deep desire for beauty — for emotion — for life in full unabridged color, sound, feeling and pattern.⠀

In many ways that’s what I reach for in Mexico too. I swoon, I sink, I surrender to the old mysterious ways of the city and let them breathe through me. Painting helps me do the same in my own blessed life…on my own patch of land…in my own artistic language. ⠀

And hey! Check out the videos below of the artist Butch Locsin — he’s been a huge inspiration to me lately — & the perfect share before I leave for Mexico!

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