La Casita Mexicali

On Wednesday we were meeting at a purple restaurant in K Mart plaza. What an enticing description of where we would be for four hours painting! At 9:00, about eight of us brave artists met in the designated spot. Yes it was a wide open parking lot, with a stiff breeze whipping through it. The hardiest sort, got out of their cars, set up their easels and painted there. They had full sun, no shade and their backs to the strengthening breeze. The rest of the reluctant group walked around the purple building looking for the best angle BUT our first priority was shade. There was a cluster of thick trees behind the restaurant with a wonderful view of four large dumpsters, air conditioning equipment on the roof and the Stars and Stripes forever. We moved on. The only other spot was under palms, with a more interesting view of the purple wall, air conditioning equipment on the roof and an interesting patio, on the front and side of the building. We set up. We had started into our masterpieces when the breeze turned into a gale. Millly beside me said that when the flag blew straight out like that, the wind was 35 mph.I believed it. I put a clamp on my board to hold it in place, and pushed the whole easel harder down into the sand. We had been working for about an hour when we both realized how busy the intersection was, where we were standing. Every truck, jacked up on four or more wheels, gunned their engines as soon as they got a green light. They either had very loud Diesel engines or those kinds of mufflers that make you cover your ears. Then the motorbikes. They love to rev up as they got a green. And to top it off, an ambulance with sirens blaring, since he was going through the intersection at full speed went by. He was followed by a fire engine, also with sirens going. I don't know why but every ambulance here is followed by at least one other emergency vehicle. We usually see two or three emergency vehicles travelling together, not sure why. 

Being the hardy artists that we were, we painted on. At 11:30, most of us had completed our work for the morning and were thinking about lunch. AFter a hasty critique, during which we all were surprised by the quality of our endeavors, we headed to the restaurant for a well earned lunch. This purple building, was a Mexican restaurant, and the food was incredible and there was a lot of it. It only took us about 45 min. To get service, about 20 min. To eat and about 45 min. To try to get our bills. We left at 2:00, with a good story to write about.

                          $175

Like all these posts my paintings are for sale and I can be reached at hazelspleinair.blogspot.com