This is the story of my experiences living as an ex-pat in Mexico since 2003. It's to culminate in a published book. With your help, I'll be editing, selecting a title, and cover art: a participatory project. Your comments encouraged!

Letters from Mexico

Letters

ExpatsBlog.com - Where Expats Blog

A Mexican Abstract Painter

April 25, 2020

When she's not with her family or friends, or teaching painting classes, she spends her time with her pets and working.

Cuernavaca, Mexico. Upper left: Christina Del Valle Macleod, abstract painter, extraordinaire. Upper right: entrance to her home. Lower left: cover of an exhibition book featuring Chris's work. Lower right: feature page. Photo by Don Karp

Below is a video where Chris kindly shows us a few of her works, explaining what they are about and how they were created.

Christina Del Valle Macleod is an abstract painter who lives in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. One major exhibition of hers was at the gallery of Jardin Borda. I featured the Jardin in a video at the end of this article.

I was fortunate to visit her in her home/studio and see how she lives, look at her work, and talk to her about her life, inspiration, and process. It's nice she shared with us here.

Cuernavaca, Mexico. Upon entering Chris's house, I was met by this red man. He was silent--didn't greet me. Photos by Don Karp

Cuernavaca, Mexico. Chris with a colorful companion. Photo by Don Karp

Cuernavaca, Mexico. An example of Chris's work.Photo: Don Karp

Cuernavaca, Mexico. Chris gives us a guided tour of her work. Video by Don Karp

Cuernavaca, Mexico. Interview of Christina. Video by Don Karp

Cuernavaca, Mexico. Materials in the studio of Christina. Photos by Don Karp

Cuernavaca, Mexico. Experiments and works in progress in the studio of Christina. Photos by Don Karp

Below Chris's living space is her studio and workshop, where she has her materials, does experiments, creates new paintings, and teaches. Let's take a peek.

In the slideshow below, Christina provides us with a catalogue of her paintings available for sale. She has given the name of each piece in both Spanish and English, the media used, and the size.

Cuernavaca, Mexico. Slideshow of Christina's paintings for sale. Video by Don Karp

Now that you've seen Christina's place, heard from her about her work, and seen the slideshow of her paintings for sale, why not buy one or more? Doing so will add some zest to your space during these challenging times. Please contact her now for more information:

+ 52 415 101 7563

[email protected]

https://www.facebook.com/Chrisartista

Here is a statement by Christina, telling us what inspires her and how she manifests her work:

I ground my feet to earth and my head is open to the sky connecting me with Spirit, opening doors to higher realms of consciousness, receiving images and ideas about techniques on how to commence a new body of work, a new painting.As I prepare for this new artistic endeavor, I feel so excited with this new energy growing inside of me, I take my time contemplating, internalizing, until I can no longer wait, like a volcano that can no longer retain the liquid rock. My paints are so colorful and ready...Suddenly I start getting ideas of color combinations, it is Spirit taking over, guiding me...I observe in total awe as creative energy starts manifesting right in front of my eyes. The love that flows through me is pure bliss. Characters, shapes and forms, start appearing in the painting, it is alive.Life is creating through me.

 

The following video is an interview reviewing her development as an artist, and her current interests.

Cuernavaca, Mexico. Top: Chris at work. Bottom: With finished works. Photos by Don Karp