Color Carne

I dedicated yesterday afternoon to exploring the city a bit further, and to searching for a venue where I could work on art. I happily discovered a theater in the University of Guadalajara (UdeG) that frequently shows movies in Spanish with English subtitles, and vice versa. I caught the tail end of a documentary about women in a Mexican prison. Afterwards I viewed an art exhibit at the University Art Museum by Alejandro Colunga- an artist from Guadalajara with such an extensive and wild range of work.
Further into the heart of downtown is an impressive building (one of the country's finest examples of neo-classical architecture) which served as an orphanage for 170 years, and is now known as "El Instituto Cultural Cabañas." Inside are incredible frescoes painted by José Clemente Orozco (my camera is still in the repair shop- long story- but you can view one of the images here). Not only does this center serve as an art museum, but they also offer music/art/drama/dance/language classes. Much to my dismay, I found out that I was two weeks late for registration for October-January classes. But after a little bit of pleading in broken Spanish I was able to talk with the instructor who allowed me in to his oil painting class as an "exception." I received my list of supplies (taking me back to my college days) and then headed out on my bike to a small art store in Santa Teresita (a colonia very close to our house). I have found that in every art store here they keep a number of the more essential supplies behind the counter. So I struggled through the names of the various colors ("Necesito azul prussia, blanco titanio, siena natural..."). Just plain old azul and rojo wouldn't cut it! At one point I asked the store owner for "color carne," (meat color??) and he brought the tube of paint down and held it to my skin and compared it. Apparently it is FLESH color. But then he went on to make a joke that his skin was a different color, and that Barack Obama is color NEGRO. Ah, right. Funny guy.
I strapped the 4 foot wide canvas to my basket and biked home to go over art words in Spanish.