UMBRAL EN COLORES

Alvaro Gomez Ulloa is a master printmaker that has become a master painter. He began his career as an artist printmaking on paper and then moved to painting on canvas. He says that his first love is print making and working with paper. His new series of limited edtion screen prints that were inaugurated at the National Gallery in San Jose this August combines his painting technique and his love of printmaking on paper.

The idea began over a year ago when Carlos Rojas suggested that Alvaro start thinking about a way to produce a screen print that represents his style of painting. Carlos had the idea that he could combine the techniques of painting, screen printing and montotyping into a series of works.

The process began with Alvaro painting the flowers in his usual technique onto acetate instead of canvas. The difference being that every color used would be on a different piece of acetate. When these various layers are stacked, the same effect as in his paintings would be generated. When he was done, there was a set of 5 acetates or films.

This is when I took over and developed the screens for screen printing. The first film was black and I printed this on paper in the usual screen printing technique. I then handed the works back over to Alvaro who began the long process of monotyping. Alvaro took each piece and individually made a monotype print over the first black color. This monotprint was in irredescent golds pewters and silvers.

Alvaro then returned the prints to me and I completed the screen printing of the last 4 colors. We produced 3 different color editions: red, blue and ochre. The final editions are:

• Umbral en rojo (Threshold in Red) Edition of 8
• Umbral en azul (Threshold in Blue) Edition of 8
• Umbral en siena (Threshold in Sienna) Edition of 8

Each print is 61 x 44 cm on paper that measures 78 x 59 cm. The price is $575. We are very excited about this new mixed media work that Alvaro has developed. If you are interested in purchasing one of these works, contact Carlos at carlos@monteazulcr.com.

To see other available works from Alvaro Gomez, go to:http://www.monteazulcr.com/en/fineart/representedartists/1/AlvaroGomez

COOKIE SMILING

Cookie has now been a part of Monte Azul for 4 years. Shortly after I moved to the farm full-time, Cookie came into our lives. I had moved to the farm July 1, 2006 with our dogs Tyler and Shadow. Carlos was still living in Cartago and running the gallery space there during the week and coming down to the farm on weekends.

The third week of July Carlos was at the farm and he need to make a few phone calls. At the time there we no phones in the area and cell phones wouldn’t work in the mountains. To make a call you had to go to the public phone at the local pulperia. On one of these trips, we saw this skinny puppy eating from the garbage in front of the pulperia Soda Cindy. She was small and funny looking. Attached is a photo of her first day at Monte Azul.

Carlos realized that a number that he needed to call was not in the car and that we needed to go back to the farm to get it. During this trip, I got a bag of dog food to take to the puppy. When we returned to the pulperia, the sad puppy was still there so I began my attempt to feed her. She wasn’t scared at all. I guess that hunger overrides fear. When Carlos got off the phone he saw me feeding the dog and said ”put her in the car” This was all I need to hear. She was quickly in the car and on the way to her new home.

Cookie has grown up and is a very happy, silly, lovable dog. She is a little bit crazy but is good natured. She loves to go for walks. It was this week that I was walking the dogs up the hill when I decided to try a short cut straight up the hill through the forest instead of the long loop on the road. The heavy rains had created a new creek down the hillside and I wanted to explore it. The 3 dogs were happy to follow. I had my camera with me and got this photo of Cookie. It is now my favorite photo of her. It shows the excitement and joy that she seems to have in everything that she does.

I am happy that we picked her up that day and hope that she is with us for a very long time.

Alvaro Gomez: El Jardinero

This month at the National Gallery in the Museo de los Ninos, Sala VIII, we are proud to represent Alvaro in his first show at the museum. The show includes a series of magnificent acrylic paintings on canvas as well as wood block monoprints and a new series for monoprint screen prints (more info on this series to come). All of these works were created at Monte Azul in 2010 and represent his passion for color, flowers, water and nature.

The Opening Reception was on August 11, 2010 and was attended by art collectors, magazine and newspaper editors, photographers, artists, friends, and family to name but a few. The event was very successful and enjoyed by everyone. These are a few photos of those in attendance.

Alvaro is part of the Monte Azul family and has been since its inception in Costa Rica. Almost ten years ago when Carlos was running his art gallery in San Francisco, California, he did an internet search for Costa Rican artists. One of the artists that “popped up” was Alvaro Gomez Ulloa. Alvaro is from Cartago, the same city that Carlos’ family originates. Through emails, Carlos got to know more about Alvaro and his work which eventually lead to Carlos selling Alvaro’s work in California. At the time Alvaro was a professor at the University of Costa Rica teaching printmaking. Alvaro was trained in printmaking and is considered a master printmaker.

By the time Carlos and I made our first trip together to Costa Rica in July 2003, Alvaro had begun working with oils and acrylics on canvas. We met Alvaro in his home studio on that trip and immediately fell in love with his paintings. On the spot, we bought 2 prints and one of his first oils on plywood paintings.

Over the years, Alvaro has developed and refined his painting technique, always pushing his limits, ideas and techniques to create remarkable works whether in printmaking or painting. The new series of paintings are in El Jardinero series (The Gardener). Alvaro is truly a gardener (in fact, he actually uses a watering can on the canvas), developing, nurturing and growing his ideas and talents. Alvaro is an integral part of Monte Azul and we are very proud to have Alvaro as part of our family.

We are also looking forward to his next idea.

For more information on Alvaro and his recent series of works, got to:

http://www.monteazulcr.com/en/fineart

http://www.monteazulcr.com/en/fineart/representedartists/1/AlvaroGomez/

LUXEMBOURG YEAH!

July 2010 has been a very interesting month at Monte Azul. We have had our first guests from Luxembourgh. I had heard of Luxembourgh but didn't really know much about it other than it being a small country in central Europe surrounded by Belgium, Germany and France. It was interesting to talk to the couple, Gian Luca and Xenia, and learn about their country. There are only approximately 500,000 citizens in Luxembourgh, far fewer than live in San Francisco, CA (750,000). There are many similarities between our countries: lots of mountains, lots of small country towns, one big city.... The big difference being the weather - tropical climate verses 4 distinct season with snowy winter cold being very dominate. This is great if you like skiing.

For some reason the rarity for me to meet people from such a small country made me realize that this is one of the added benefits of living at Monte Azul and having a boutique hotel. The world comes to my door. I never have to leave home.

It has been joked about a lot that I don't cross the bridge and the Rio Chirripo Pacifico at Monte Azul very often. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons. I have the good fortune to have interesting people from all over the world come visit our hotel. I get to meet these wonderful people and find out about their lives and countries. In return, I get to show them the wonders of the tropical rain forest, my home. I see them have breakfast at Cafe Blue while watching the monkeys, hear about their trips to the thermal baths, the cheese tour, and Cloud Bridge Forest Preserve, see photos of them at our waterfall and all the birds and plants that they took during their daily activities. It also reminds me of how lucky I am to live in such a magical place.

In addition to our guests from Luxembourgh, July included guests from Brazil, Spain, France, Mexico, Panama, Denmark, Switzerland, England, other parts of Costa Rica, Canada, and the USA: San Diego, Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Miami and Lewiston, Maine. All of these places are also interesting to learn about especially from an insiders perspective.

I am looking forward to seeing who will arrive next and where they will come from. Who knows, I may never have to leave Monte Azul.

For more information on Luxembourgh, go to :

http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_htm/luxmborg.htm