Angeline Kyba Studio

Tres Leches

2011-10-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

This small 8x8" painting is like a preliminary sketch/drawing before doing a larger work, this was great fun and the reward was in seeing the painting and eating the still life, a tiny treasure at a low price for my show February 9 at Angeline Kyba Studio which is open to visitors Monday to Friday 12 to 5, please ring the bell, Cuauhtemoc 635 in Puerto Vallarta, centro, simply follow Guerrero, it is the same street. It is still hot in Vallarta October 29, must be La Niña.

"Viva Mexico" by AngelineKyba | RedBubble

2011-09-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

"Viva Mexico" by AngelineKyba | RedBubble:

Domingo

2011-09-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

Domingo, Sunday at the beach, Playa Los Muertos.
I worked more on an older painting and I have been going back to older paintings this summer.
Lucien Freud's dying triggered the thought I had to apply more paint for richer results.

Jardin de Jalisco invitation

2011-02-25T15:48:00.000-08:00

The invitation for my opening fiesta Feb. 17, the show continues on with work continuing, my studio open to visitos 12 to 5 weekdays

Jardin de Jalisco, inauguration Feb. 17, 2011

2011-02-25T15:41:00.000-08:00

My blog went black when I hit design. Hope I can fix it, I see lots of people had this problem

My show was last week, I rested and swam and then a week later I am back at the easle, feeling invigorated, it has been a great productive time. Yesterday I did small oil on wood of dying roses and today I went back to it to add more strokes then worked to complete the painting Basta Ya ! to add more paint, painting now with a fuller brush

Show opens December 17, 2010

2010-12-11T18:12:00.000-08:00

Angeline Kyba invites you to the opening exhibition of paintings
December 17, 2010 from 6:30 pm.
Rosa Mexicano, Avenida Anclote 114, El Anclote, Punta de Mita, Nayarit

Angeline Kyba opening exhibition December 17/10

2010-12-11T17:20:00.000-08:00

Angeline Kyba invites you to an opening exhibition of paintings celebrating Mexico

at Rosa Mexicano, Avenida Anclote 114, El Anclote, Punta Mita, Nayarit

December 17, 2010 from 6:30 pm.

come and enjoy art, tapas, wine, live music

My Garden or Mi Casa Es Su Casa

2010-02-21T07:53:00.001-08:00

The last painting I did for my show Obras Favoritas/ Favorite Works was of my garden and my garden is full of iguanas. They seem to reside primarily on or around my clay tile roof, the highest roof I have. Factoid,; iguanas are cold blooded reptiles who regulate their body temperature by basking in the sun. Then they crash down on my main metal roof. I used to run up thinking a meteor had hit or lightening had struck or a robber had arrived. Dashing up and arriving shocked on the roof top patio, ready for battle, I would meet an equally shocked iguana. I tried to hose them down but it didn´t work, it just seemed to confuse everything. Slowly my heart softened when I understood that the iguanas were not invading but were simply here to eat.

Iguanas walk along the edges of things, the edges of balconies, the edges of iron railings, the edges of roofs, thin branches of trees dip and sway with their weight as they leap about, high risk takers. We carry the high risk gene in my family so it made sense to be more welcoming and accept them into my household. I put them to work as models. They freeze and pose perfectly still when I approach with my brush and canvas , a defensive mechanism, I have read. This bright orange creature pretends to be not really a living thing, just part of a tree. They seem to prefer orange and red flowers and denude my hibiscus both of flowers and leaves. They are entertaining and I laughed to see my orange trumpet vine flowers cascading from he mouth of an iguana. Another fact; iguanas are herbivores, eating fruit, vegetables, flower buds flowers and leaves but they also eat small animals and so are omnivorous. They themselves are eaten by carnivores, humans included. Green iguanas are bred and raised for food in South America and Central America, according to The San Diego Zoo.

Iguanas seem to stop and listen at any sound and when I talk to them and laugh, they make no sound in return, they are mute. An odd fact about the iguanas of Galapagos; although they are mute, they recognize the call of the mockingbird on the island as a warning of approaching danger from hawks. Iguanas have two eyes and a third eye at the top of the head, called the Parietal eye. With this third eye they can sense changes in light and dark and determine seasons as well as see approaching predators such as hawks. They can see above, below, behind and in front and can see higher wave lengths beyond what humans see.

Here in Mexico I am often asked," ¿ Vives sola ? Do you live alone ? " No. I don't know how many iguanas I have living with me. A whole bunch of iguana eggs were found in a tube of PVC up there on the roof while I was house building. They lay their eggs and leave them, usually under ground where the temperature remains warm and there the eggs incubate alone , anywhere from 10 to 30. Alfredo, the gardener principal of Cuauhtemoc, told me he took all the iguanas from his employer's garden down to the river. Not fair, now they have moved in with me. They are said to be solitary creatures but mine seem quite friendly and I especially like the way they hold their heads up high and accompany me wherever I go. During the food prep for opening night of my show, I threw the remains of the eggplant over the side of the railings and soon after, an iguana came right into the center of the studio, quite bold but a babaganouch lover, I presume.

The longest living iguana recorded was a blue iguana of the Cayman Islands named Godzilla who lived to be 69 in Brownsville, Texas. They are much loved as pets and most of the information available about them on the internet is for pet lovers. I have seen people petting them as if their scales were fur and cozy to the touch but my reptilian brain remains in loving defensive mode and I maintain my cool artists observant eyes as I welcome them into my house and they accept me into the neighborhood.

The Mayans

2010-02-07T07:18:00.000-08:00

The Mayan face, the Mayan smile, the Mayan huipils and the Mayan life and beliefs have inspired my work since my arrival in Mexico and Guatemala. We live today near the end of Mayan times. Life of the Maya revolved around time and the readings of the sacred calendar. We approach the end of the last fifth 5,125 cycle which takes place on the solstice of Cecember 21, 2012 when a new cycle begins. On this date the sun will be aligned with the centre of The Milky Way for the first time in 26,000 years.

The Mayan civilization was one of the greatest in the world. Classic Mayan culture flourished from the 3rd to the 9th centurey in Meso America in M exico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Ruins of great cities and pyramids and the mystery of the collapse of the Mayan empire remain.

Yet the Mayan people retain their traditions and beliefs and many Mayan languages are still spoken. Today, 50% of the population of Guatemala are descendants of the ancient Mayas and the population is vital and thriving. To be in the midst of the markets, the tianguis, is one of my favorite things, a sense of being a part of something ancient and true. And I feature this in my show opening February 11, 2010- The women weave and wear the huipil, a blouse whose fabric is woven on a back strap loom. The huipil displays the religion and tribal affiliation of each woman as well as her social and marital status and her personality. The Hupil can be seen in carvings on ancient ruins, it has survived, the collapse of the Mayan empire, Spanish and foreign rule. As a form of art, it hasa withsood the test of time and remains an object of beauty.

Come see my show at my studio, Cuauhtemoc 635, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, opening Feb. 11 from 7 to 9 and the show continues throughout the m onth. Kybas studio is open to visitors weekdays from 11 to 4 and by appointment, call 222 4238

Retrato de Olivia

2010-01-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

Here is a portrait of Olivia Ryan, grandchild born in Berlin who I visited for the first time at Xmas and painted, a white christmas in Berlin.
My show " Obras Favoritas " takes place in my studio February 11. Also our group Vallarta Estudios Abiertos will host a second event the weekend of January 23 and 24 with our studios open from 10 to 10. Check us out at our facebook page, Vallartaartistsstudios.

Dia de los Muertos 09

2009-11-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

Dia de Los Muertos in Puerto Vallarta 09

sketches from my brother's garden

2009-08-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

My brother's garden, Keats Island in the Gulf Coast, B.C. A few sketches of fireweed, sunflower and sweet peas, all in reverse as they are photographed with a computer camera, ink line drawing not photographing too well. a great time sketching and painting on the island for a week, the most beautiful weather in BCs history, the ocean good for swimming, no deer sighted. and a portrait done of my brother Fred which I will include when I return to Mexico at the end of the week. Connecting and communing here with family, walking in cool weather now, a pleasure after Vallarta's scalp sweating heat and humidity. The fireweed a special treat, a memory of youth in Northern Manitoba. where it was scrubbier and covered hills a rocks with purple pink and lavender, the first growth after the trees were cut, cut, as I recall, to make a fire break in the bush.

Painting Carmen

2009-06-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

Carmen was newly pregnant when I painted her portrait. She was one of the Yelapa beauties and had been wanting a baby for so long, her sisters had already had a few. Even though she was the youngest of all the beautiful sisters, she was eager to have babies just like them. I had been told that her father was very handsome and that is why the girls were so gorgeous. He had taken off to California with all the girls and a new woman, abandoning their mother, Maria, in Chapala. Carmen and her beautiful sisters spent their formative years in California but the father sent them back to Mexico because they had begun to run with a wild crowd up there as they grew older. This seems to have added much to their personalities as Carmen and her sisters were worldly in an unassuming way, they spoke only Spanish in Mexico and had an independent flair and were quite uncontrollable. I remember one night of the full moon, climbing the rocks and mountains of the pueblo with Margo, the aunt, in search of one of Carmen´s cousins who had disappeared while at the disco. Quite caliente, they rushed the cousin back to Chapala the next day, Sunday. The sisters had followed their Aunt Margo to Yelapa when she was released from prison and there they stayed, oblivious to the stir that they caused and the frustration among the young hoods who tried to conquer them, oblivious to the envidia, the outright envy of the pueblo women, free to do what they wanted whenever they felt like it without the least concern for the mores of this small indigenous village by the sea. So when I asked Carmen to pose for a portrait, she was willing and took it all in stride. She was a nervous mother to be. There was no father around and only her sisters to help her and help her they did, when the time came. This is the painting that was chosen by National Geographic to be used in a story they published in their book, The Edge. I last saw Carmen on TV, sitting around her pool with her children, being interviewed about her husband, who is now in jail in Texas for the murder of his first wife. Yes, we had worried about Carmen.

Portraits of My Neighbors/Retratos de Mis Vecinos

2008-02-27T13:58:00.000-08:00

Jose is a sculptor and his medium is sand , his studio, the playa and that is his gallery too and I painted him there on the beach at the malecon in Puerto Vallarta. He told me I painted him as he saw himself which was a great thing to hear, one artist to another.

Portraits of My Neighbors Painting Bico and Chato

2008-02-18T12:37:00.000-08:00

The annual exhibition of my recent work continues at my studio, Cuauhtemoc 635, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico.

Bico and Chato are neighbours just down the street and I have known Bico since the beginning of the construction of my studio. He is an ironworker and fearlessly worked to install my metal roof up high . this was the least expensive roofing possible, I had run out of money building and needed to get a roof on before the rains came. Clay tiles are too dirty for what is underneath, my studio and paintings. That was years ago and the roof still stands clean and impervious to the elements and Bico remains my neighbour.

I ran into him in December and he asked if I needed work, his herreria had closed for the festivities for the month of December and he saw that there was ironwork that needed painting at my Casa Brava. I needed a model, not an ironworker and so we arranged for him to model for me, he would have work and I would have a model for my work. He came the following week in a nice dark blue shirt with pink and orange dragons and he brought me the horns of a bull to paint. I was touched, it was the first time I had received horns of a bull for a gift. And down the street we went to paint, he sat on a white ironwork bench under a big tree along the Rio Cuale and there, surrounded by his gang, pandilla, we began the work. They were entertaining and distracting in their macho way but I kept my focus, that is until the dog, Chato, appeared. I don't know if the dog was Bico's dog or if he belonged to one of the pandilla but he wore a lei of limes around his neck and I was charmed to see this. This is a well known treatment for a dog with a cough, this is the great part about being a stranger in a strange land. Normal to the gang but to me, magical. and so the next day and the last sitting I brought over a small canvas and painted Chato with a lei of limes and he sat proudly and somewhat shyly and these were the last paintings I did in 2007, "Bico" and " Chato Tiene Tos " Chato Has a Cough ".

My one woman show of Portraits in Mexico

2008-02-14T14:27:00.000-08:00

This is my first blog so patience is a necesity, i don't know what happened after I checked my first and last posting. But will try to attach photo of the painting now in progress.

The first entry seemed to disappear after I checked it so I repeat that I am back to the easle after having a collapse following the opening of my show. It opened February 7 which was Chinese New year and it was a blast, very high energy and good work and sales and music and friends and new clients, positive response to portraits of my neighbors. Now I am back to work, check it out at http://www.angelinekyba.com/