What a Year!

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Me doing "monkey business" at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, 

September 2012. (Thanks to Linda for the picture)

Well, another year is gone. Another year moving forward, making balance and taking few risks and hits here and there while still trying to keep yourself on track. This one has passed fast, as usually they do after you pass your "30's", which is part of life somehow.  Still, despite been fast, it is what we have done (or not) during it, that makes it a good one or not.

A lot of people tends to make a balance of it, that sometimes falls into "top ten of the year", "the best of..." or even the "person of the year", so I thought that making a list of things will be... but still, there are few things that made this year for me and I want to remark them here, sharing it as you like to share the good things that happen in life.

This year saw the visit of my sisters...

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"Untitled" (Sisters)

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

which it was one of the moments I waited with anxiety for a while, after not seeing them for almost 2 years. Sadly not only time went really fast while they were here, but also the abrupt passing on Uruguay of one of my sister's best friends while they were here did tinted things with a different tone but made us somehow appreciate more the time spent together. A lot of good memories to be keep while awaiting the "next time".

The other thing that made this year for me was starting working at Port's Library. Not only I am really happy with the job, but also I have met a lot of interesting people and I have come across a lot of interesting material, which I hope this coming year will keep making me grow in many different ways.

I could go with few more things as it is with things related to my photography and our traveling, but I prefer not to extend myself on it since that what this blog has been for, but still saying that in both cases it has been a year of great learning, which it will help on what will hopefully come this year.

Last, but not less important, is the fact of been with Dawn another year...

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Dawn & I.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

celebrating the good things of this past year, reviewing the ones not so good to make them better, and looking forward to see what 2013 brings, which I (and both) hope it will good. For that I (and we) want to extend my/our best wishes to you, wishing that you make and project always, even if they are small things, because in the small changes is where big differences are made.

Best wishes and Happy 2013! 

Black & White (?)

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"Untitled" (Crow & Tree) *

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

(*) the "off tone" in this picture is due to the fact that it was taken through a window.

We did finally got today our so forecasted "Snowpocalipse". Several inches of snow will be making happy anyone who did wanted a "white christmas". On the other hand, we did lost power around 3 in the morning, I did shovel a LOT of snow which it made me realized how bad out of shape I am :) and was told not to go to work today because the library did close due to the snow storm.

Yeah!!!! Winter is &*#@!!! finally here!!!

Those X-mas Cards.

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"Untitled" (Chicago, One Block Theatres)

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

Dawn and I spent the past weekend on Chicago as our last visit of the year to the city. The weather kept the snow to itself but still gave us enough rain to make any umbrella to become a precious object.

Still, as always we managed to go around it like in a constant discovery, where as usual in this city of contrasts and ironies, raw reality and theatrical fantasy always walk side by side.

It will be now until spring.

Distant Lights

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"An Imaginary Postcard"

© Flavio Martín Morante_2011, Acrylic Painting. 24 x 30 inches

I am really happy to share today that this afternoon I was notified of the selling of one of my paintings: "An Imaginary Postcard" (above).

A little piece of myself going away but still happy for that. It is that kind of thing that makes my day.

Cheers!

Pending Debts

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© Flavio Martín Morante_2012 

Since the first time I saw the Port Washington "lighthouse" (actually is a pier head light now) I became fascinated with it. I walk there everytime I can or that the weather allows it, taking over there every person that comes to visit or pointing it to people that comes to the town, so I have a "visual debt" with it and I finally was able to pay it off.

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"Untitled" (Port Washington Pierhead Light, P. Washington-Wisconsin)

Acrylic painting on canvas, 30in x 40 in © Flavio Martín Morante_2012

Sadly the pier has been photographed tirelessly (even by myself) which it makes it a challenge to make an image of it, reason why I made myself to promise that if one day I would paint it in its "iconic" way, I would do it in a context that will have a reasoning behind (at least for me). That's how finally after many years I was able to do it as I said, making it as a part of a breakable triptych with the 3 lighthouses (or pier head lights) that I do like the most on the state of Wisconsin, or at least from the ones that I got the opportunity to see and walk on it. The composition of the 3 paintings is very similar, straight forward, centered and somehow distant, as if it was a typology about lighthouses on painting establishing a direct relationship between object and viewer. Nothing else.

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From right to left (from south to north)_

Port Washington, Manitowoc and Kewaunee Pierhead/Breakwater lights.

Lake Michigan, Wisconsin.

Each one a Acrylic painting on canvas, 30in x 40 in © Flavio Martín Morante_2012 

Happy with the result, I am putting now the brush down for a little and I will get myself back into the darkroom.

Cheers!

Lake Michigan's Tales

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"Untitled" (South Beach, Port Washington, WI)

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

"Creepy sight" this morning while taking a walk with Dawn and the dogs on South Beach.

P.S_ Somehow it did reminded me of the bad movie "Tremors" in miniature scale.

Somewhere Under the Sea

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Poster for upcoming show Disney's Little Mermaid © Flavio Martín Morante_2012

Designed on Adobe Illustrator CS.

Disney Logo provided under license by MTI (Music Theatre International)

As with the last March Stagekids Production, "Seussical the Musical", this time I was asked again to work on the poster for the upcoming show "Little Mermaid" on January, an invitation that I was glad to accept.

The result seen above will be used as poster for the show.

When you know, you know...

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"Dawn, Seven Days, A Whole Life". 11/27/2012

© Flavio Martín Morante

PS_ and for many, many more!

When to Finish is to Start

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"Untitled" (Navy Pier Breakwater Light with Sailboat, Chicago-Illinois)

Acrylic painting on canvas, 40in x 30 in © Flavio Martín Morante_2012 

Just finished!!!! Cheers Edward!

A little help for a BIG result.

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"Untitled" ("Simply Looking South")

South Beach, Port Washington, Wisconsin

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

If you love South Beach so much as I do, please join us this Saturday at 1PM, when we'll be conducting the last beach cleaning of the year with the group organized by Kit Walters and the "Adopt a Beach" initiative by the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

It takes a little effort but it is one that brings a BIG result.

Saturday, November 17th at 1PM to 3PM.
South Beach Parking Lot
Port Washington, WI

Hope to see you there :)

Getting there! (I hope)

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"Untitled" (Navy Pier Breakwater Light with Sailboat, Chicago-Illinois)

Acrylic painting on canvas (IN PROGRESS), 40in x 30 in © Flavio Martín Morante_2012 

Almost done with this one. A lot more to go... a lot more to learn yet, but keeping going, going and enjoying the journey.

Time will say.

Fall Harvest

October has been a really good and productive month I can say.
So far I finished painting...

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"Untitled" (Wind Point Lighthouse, Racine-Wisconsin)

Acrylic painting on canvas, 30in x 40 in © Flavio Martín Morante_2012 

and also...

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"Untitled" (Manitowoc Breakwater Light, Manitowoc-Wisconsin)

Acrylic painting on canvas, 30in x 40 in © Flavio Martín Morante_2012 

as I did finished with little details on...

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"Untitled" (Kewaunee Pierhead, Kewaunee-Wisconsin)

Acrylic painting on canvas, 30in x 40 in © Flavio Martín Morante_2012

and also with the help of my "assistant Tannat"...

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"Untitled" (Tannat and Me at the studio)

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

I started the lighthouse on Chicago's Navy Pier which will be my humble midwest style homage to one of my favorite american painters_ Edward Hopper and his painting "The Long Leg" (click here to see it). 

So if you know someone that likes lighthouses as much as I do and would like "to spend a little for Christmas" in order to have one of them hanging at home, please send them my way, it would be deeply appreciated it. Otherwise, you can see some of my work at Big Apple Bagels Cafe on Grafton, where thanks to Joe Wu I am hanging some stuff there too until the end of the year.

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At Grafton Big Apple Bagels

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

Oh here we go...

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Yesterday we changed the time, which it means that now I have a 4 hour difference with Uruguay (from the only 2 hours difference we have the rest of the year before here and there the change is made), which it makes the communication a little bit tight and also means that by 5PM is already getting dark.

Today as I am leaving for work, above is how I found my car and outside. Have to say I can never be ready for winter but I guess here we go.

:(

A set of "Yankee" postcards

It was uruguayan writer Mario Benedetti who said that_ "Cities are meant to be read with the feet". I totally agree with that statement.

As a way of souvenir, usually I take the picture of my/our feet on the covers that bare the name of cities that I/we visit in order of making my blink of the eye to "Mario". Sadly this time, because of the Hurricane Sandy that hit the East Coast on last Sunday/Monday nights, Dawn and I were not able to do much on the state of Connecticut as I have planned during our visit to that state, reason why I did not take the "symbolic picture", hoping to return some day to do it better.

Still on Tuesday I managed to drive down to Downtown Hartford ( Connecticut's capital) to visit the home of the great adventurer, writer and also a great supporter of civil rights_ Samuel Langhorne Clemens (better known as Mark Twain). Sadly (that's my luck), because of the weather on the previous days, the museum that operates there was closed, but I still managed to photograph the outside of the house, which is beautiful as it was the life of the man that once lived there. Those photos, which I decided to turn into the compositions seen below, I would like to share here today. The inside...? well I guess will be the excuse for a come back someday.

Cheers.

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"Untitled" ("The Yankee House")

Diptych composed of detail and general overview of Mark Twain's Home (the one between 1874 -1891)

Hartford, Connecticut

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

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"Untitled" ("The Yankee House")

Diptych composed of detail and general overview of Mark Twain's Home ( the one between 1874 -1891)

Hartford, Connecticut

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

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"Untitled" ("The Yankee House")

Diptych composed of detail and general overview of Mark Twain's Home (the one between 1874 - 1891)

Hartford, Connecticut

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

The Wrong Place or The Wrong Time?

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To the question "What are we doing here? comes the answer: this was planned way before the forecast changed radically and "Sandy" decided to come this way. So no, we are not "Storm Chasers" as the shuttle driver asked us at the airport.

At this point it does not look good so all my plans of driving today (Monday) to the coast were cancelled completely and even as I left early morning today at 8AM towards north, I turned back since the winds and rain started to make the whole thing unsafe. 

For now, nothing to worry in our case except to be able to leave the airport on Tuesday, since the airport will be closing in few hours which is going to delayed some flight times, something that really feels and sounds very selfish when is a fact that sadly some people will be losing their home or even their lives if it goes the way is being predicted.

Let´s hope everything goes well and the storm will lower its intensity.

Revolution Rock!

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Dawn and I will be leaving for Connecticut tomorrow and will be back on Tuesday.

Really excited about it, since it is the first time since I am here that I am heading east to the New England region. It will be a short but hopefully learning visit to the third smallest state of the US, but one with a lot of history.

I guess we'll try to find out if it is as its tourism website states: "Connecticut_ Still Revolutionary"

Will report upon return.

Best.

P.S._ Let's hope "Sandy" behaves better than what the weatherman is expecting to.

Those Raw Reminders

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"Untitled" (Endgame)

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

Taken at one of home's window. Sad imprint for lack of a better word.

Where the wind will take me?

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Where do we go now?_ Door County, Wisconsin.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012_

I just started to read the book "Where the wind will take me" by Eduardo Redjuch that one of my best friends (Daniel) has recently sent me, which is an accounting of a man desire to not leave a single corner of this world without passing in front of his eyes. At the same time I do that, I have found at home a disc with a set of scanned negatives (the one below included) from some years ago which has brought a smile of good memories to me.

I always heard the story told by my parents about the first time they took me to the beach. I was around a year old (I think) and according to my parents, I was like a Costa Rican turtle speeding up in four legs towards the water at the first chance I had to get away, just for them to pick me up and bring me "back to camp". Its a funny story (specially if you hear it from my Mom's mouth and arms movement) but also I always think of it as a prophetic one, one that will translate later into the way I see or want to see the world. 

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Backpacking in Uruguay 

(in route to the Crows Lagoon in Minas), some 13-14 years ago.

© Flavio Martín Morante_1998-99_ Taken by one of my best friends, Gabriel.

Luckily, I have gone to many different places, from the Carlos Gardel house in Tacuarembó, Uruguay to the Beaches of Normandy in France, and despite of have had find the ways for it, nothing would it have been done if the desire was not there (this to say that I have met people with way more resources than I do which prefer to do their annual trip just to the city mall). And desire is something I never lacked. Because of that, the need to see what was "around the corner" has been always present as a way of thinking and living. I can say I made sure I went my way around to most of Uruguay (or the Uruguay that interest me) before I left the country and the memories are there like tattoos on my skin, from the beauty of swimming on the Río Negro at midnight, to flying over Colonia on an airplane that felt it was going to fall apart at any second, the good memories of Carnaval in the uruguayan-brazilian border town of Bella Unión to the great feeling felt when I set foot on the Isla de Flores, etc, etc.

Then, after moving to this side of the Equator, it was seven years ago on top of the Haleakala Volcano (see photo below) that I reaffirmed a commitment long ago made. It was around 5 in the morning, when at 10.000 feet high as the first sun rays started to light up the morning in a warm flame, the feeling of been so diminutive as I contemplated the "whole world" beneath me underlined the fact that there is a lot to see.

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Top of Haleakala Volcano (10.000 feet high), Maui, Hawaii _ 2005.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2005_

Today, as Dawn and I keep looking to what´s next?, reading the book mentioned at the beginning of this post I only can think on the saying "the world is a big handkerchief" and with its small or big foldings, I would like to visit every corner of it.

PD_ Thanks to my friend Daniel for such a great book.

Back on the "Chair"

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Untitled ( at the studio)_2012

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

As fall takes over and the cold weather slowly starts to show its numbers on the thermometer, I start what I consider one of the most productive times when it comes to artwork making. Hard for me to get out on winter, usually is during this time that I make the most. This time not only I am planning in doing a lot of darkroom time to see what was really "harvested" during the spring-summer, but also, I finally sat down to paint a big piece, something I have not done in almost 2 years. Really excited about it. Will see how it goes. On the meanwhile, enjoy the spring and summer for those at the other side of the Equator.

Better by Three

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My Sisters (Caro & Dani) and Me, Wisconsin_2012

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

It was one of the biggest joys of this year to have had my sisters visiting me.

It was long awaited and it went incredibly fast, as usually good times go.

Hunting "Pharos"

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"Self-Portrait", Manitowoc, Wisconsin_2012

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

While spending a nice time with my sisters during their visit, among some of the things I have taken them are the many lighthouses that are part not only of the landscape but also of the rich maritime history of Lake Michigan.

I always have had a liking for "pharos" (lighthouses) and as we visited many towns and cities of the lake's coast, I took advantage too to make photographs that I hope to use for some paintings I would like to make. Today I share some here which I hope you like them.

From north to south:

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Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, Peninsula Park, Door County, Wisconsin_2012

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

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Kewaunee Pierhead, Kewaunee, Wisconsin_2012

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

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Wind Point Lighthouse, Racine, Wisconsin_2012

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

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Kenosha, Wisconsin_2012

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

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Chicago Harbor Light, Chicago, Illinois_2012

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

PS_ I know the question will be: Where is Port´s? To that I answer that Port´s one has been featured in this blog many times already too.

Memento Mori of the Tomato.

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Caro & Me ( Then & Now)

Left photo_ Carlos Morante - "Mi Viejo" (My Old Man), circa 1987 (?)

"At home" - Montevideo, Uruguay

Right photo_ © F.M. Morante_2012 

"At Home" - Wisconsin, US

Adding a little of humor to this other set of "time machine photographs".

Time, Time, Time

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Dani & Me (Then & Now)

Left photo_ Carlos Morante - "Mi Viejo" (My Old Man) , sometime in the 80s (82?)
Roosevelt Park, Uruguay

Right photo_ © F.M. Morante_2012
Waubedonia Park, Wisconsin, US

"All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt."

Susan Sontag "On Photography"

Yesterday me and my sisters got a good laugh taking the picture on the right, me and Daniela. It has been almost 30 years since my Dad took the one on the left. It is something quite compelling to do this sort of "exercise on time passing", which it is hard to explain with words, and which I prefer the images to do me the favor.

Thirty years is a lot (or not sometimes) but one thing is for sure, we may be different in many ways, we have taken many different paths and we are not already the same we were yesterday when we took that picture (based on "Sontag's statement), I am really happy of been with her on that picture as I was back then. I really do hope in another thirty years to do another picture like this and still be laughing about it.

For now I share it here, hoping to have soon one similar with my other sister Carolina.