quiet joy

a morning of buying fish at the shore and painting boats under borrowed shade

the air felt charged with tiny coincidences, like sun sparkles on the sea.

i went down to buy fish at Playa Principal this morning. the beach was lined with fishing boats resting in the sand. fishermen stood near their boats chatting while women with buckets wove between them. one man dug through a container of red snapper to select the ones he wanted.

i got a bit nervous about how to ask for fish, so when an older couple asked if i’d like to buy pan and leche, i did. i then asked if the fishermen here were selling dorado. they kindly told me that this area only had smaller fish for sale. a tour guide nearby said hello and offered to walk me over to a little white shack where a woman sold larger fish. she was selling whole rainbow runners and offered to fillet one for me. i brought the fish home and tucked it into the fridge for later.

it seemed cloudy, so i thought maybe i could paint through the middle of the day without melting. i packed up my plein air kit and scooted down to Playa Manzanillo. by the time i parked and walked down to the beach, the sun had come out again—whoops. i started scanning for a shady spot.

a few fishing boats resting on the sand caught my eye. one was bright blue, with a tall Mexico flag waving in the wind. in the distance, a rocky cliff was lit gold by the sun.

i turned around and saw an empty beach restaurant with tables under a light-brown canvas awning. a woman inside was wiping down tables. i gathered the courage to say, Buenos días! Soy artista. ¿Puedo pintar aquí en la sombra durante una o dos horas?

She smiled and said, sí, me gusta. :) so i set up my easel and sketched the composition while pondering the need to slow down and really follow the plein air process i’d been studying.

drawing isn’t my strong suit, but i was pleasantly surprised that i could capture the gist of what i was seeing. i brushed the surface with transparent oxide red, wiped out the brightest areas, then added raw umber, yellow ochre, and white to block in shadows and light.

i was pretty pleased with the result, not gonna lie. i started to get excited… wait, I might actually be able to do this. this new technique of laying down earth tones first honestly feels like cheating compared to how much i’ve struggled painting landscapes the past few years.

the light was changing rapidly (new goals unlocked: learn to paint the shadows quickly before they shift, and finish a painting in one sitting. the boats won’t be in the same place tomorrow!) i’d been painting for about an hour and a half when I realized i was holding my breath. i took a deep inhale…time to add blue.

i mixed a tiny bit of phthalo into an existing earth mix and tested it on the skyline. it worked! i beamed as i painted the sky and ocean in the background. The foreground was trickier… the beach had a small river that spilled into the sea, leaving rippling pockets of water between sandbars. i blocked in the shapes, though my sand and water colors ended up a bit too similar.

i worked the shapes of the boats and their motors into place, painting the main boat bright blue. then i stopped painting… better to think through the process and not muck up what i’d done so far.

i took a few reference photos and snacked on pepitas i’d bought for 20 pesos from a woman who’d passed by with a basket of peanuts, coconut oil, and other goodies. as i started to pack up, the woman from the restaurant came out and showed me a translation on her phone saying her nephew was a painter, and asked if she could take a picture. she took a few photos then stood with me while i stuffed everything into my backpack, watching with wide eyes as i hoisted it onto my shoulders.

we exchanged ¡Que tenga buen día!s and hasta luegos, both waving happily as i walked away. i immediately felt overheated, so i wandered down the street of shops and stalls in search of a cold beverage.

Sweaty as hell, i spotted a paletería. a young guy chuckled when i asked if they had agua fresca and said no, only paletas. an icy treat sounded perfect, so i asked for mango and was stoked when he added chamoy syrup and miguelito flakes on top.

i walked back down to the beach and sat on a ledge, looking again at my favorite cerulean boat with the Mexico flag. happy as a clam, i ate my popsicle as it dripped red dye all over my shorts. i didn’t care in the slightest.

i came home and made us fish tacos.

small kindnesses and slow steps stitched this morning together. attuning to a new pace and place.