Picarones Ready to Go.

Last week I sketched my “Picaronera” on the 4x5 canvas she’ll be living in. Now the question is how long will it take me to finish it. A great friend of mine, I don’t want to mention his name (David Rosenberg) was taking bets last week on Facebook on how long it'll take me to finish this painting. David said it'll take me 8 months. David, I don’t think it will take that long (thanks for the faith in me buddy).

I’m ready. I gotta move fast, if my plan is to build a body of work (8 to 10 paintings), I better get started now, paint, finish, and then paint some more, otherwise I’ll be 90 years old and still trying to build a body of work. Estella (my wife) and Camila and Matteo (my children), are very supportive, they encourage me to get started and they like what I do, and that motivates me to keep going.

Tonight I paint. I’m very curious. I love the journeys of this paintings, it's like discovering a new character and personality every time. I know my “Picaronera” is there, but I’m not so sure what she looks like. Yet.

Hugo.

La Picaronera. Getting Started.

“The Picaronera” is the traditional “Picarones” maker. Nowadays you can find Picarones in most Peruvian restaurants (yes, we have them in my restaurant). You can find them in fancy establishments, served on beautiful plates, “gourmet style”, also with designs made with the syrup that they come with, nicely and carefully placed in some beautiful structure (even I love that), but the fact of the matter is that the Picarones were created centuries ago and trace their origins back to communities of low social statuses. Picarones started being sold in the streets in little carts, mainly by female street vendors.
(picarones: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picarones).

Today, The Peruvian cuisine is world famous, its taste and enormous variety has taken it to different restaurants around the world. But we can’t forget that a great part of the Peruvian cuisine, like the picarones, was created by people of low income, families that had to figure out how to eat with the little resources they had to survive. Something great came out of those difficult situations, and what started centuries ago has now become an additional reason for Peru being a great country to visit.
Peru is world famous because of its geography and history, but also because of its well known and highly-acclaimed gastronomy, that continues to grow and reinvent itself.

My intention of painting these traditional characters is to illustrate my memories of my my upbringing in Lima, Peru. It is also a way to immortalize these characters, in a sense, a homage to them. Lima is changing, and every day we see less and less of these characters selling their goods in the streets. My goal was to make sure they’re never forgotten. And believe me there are plenty of characters I remember, so I’ll be doing this for a while.

Hugo.

The Bullfighter. Ready. And now what?

Well, after approximately two years, two years! ...of painting, stopping, painting, changing, correcting, being lazy, and painting some more, I finished The Bullfighter. I thought I saw this bullfighter almost finished many times, but I was wrong, it needed more of this, more of that, etc. This bullfighter had fallen forgotten in the back of my mind many, many times. It took so long to rescue him and finish him. I really hope you like it. I finished it a couple of months ago, now it hangs framed, in one of the walls of our restaurant. It is the biggest painting.

What did I learn from all this? ...I learned that I loved painting in this large format (4' x 5'), and I also learned that this is the last time I wait so long to finish something I started.

And now what?
Like I said previously, I finished this painting a few months ago, an this time I’m not going to wait to start a new one.
I will paint again some traditional character or street vendor from the city where I grew up (Lima, Perú), somebody I remember. This time I will go back to some food street vendor. I’m pretty sure this time will be a “Picaronera”, which is commonly a lady that sell “Picarones” which are something similar to doughnuts, with lots of syrup on the top check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picarones

My 4x5 canvas is waiting. White, empty, just waiting to be the home of my next character.

Best regards,

Hugo