A couple of views of Donna's new studio/classroom/gallery. We're still hanging paintings and generally getting things arranged. - Not too fond of the pink fireplace but understand, ........ the whole room was pink when we moved in! Ugh. The landlords didn't want us to paint over it but we made it a "make or brake" rental issue and they folded (regana dientes, - as the say down here). The whole casa is very beautiful and I'll post some more pics from our rooftop, soon. - maybe today .... I seem to be in that 'ol bloggin mood, somehow.

The Parroquia from Umaran
18x14 in. oil on panel

The Old Gas Pump 14x18 in. oil
SOLD

Reicker's Ranch 9x12 in. oil

SOLD

Oh, - I just remembered. This is supposed to be about painting pictures, - isn't it? O.K. -Here are some more I've done lately. We've had a print made of "Morning Light" and a few of our other most popular things from the past couple of years ................. I'll maybe post a few of those too.

New Paintings

SOLD

This painting "Over the Rooftops" is actually done from our new rooftop terrace in centro San Miguel. Yes, that's right - we moved yet again! The countryside was nice but all we seemed to be doing was heading downtown repeatedly over some very bumpy roads. First we broke an essential suspension part on the car ( which was very hard to replace ) followed by the electrics rattling loose on our trusty moto. Enough is enough and we're happy to be back 2 blocks from the Jardin and Parroquia. The new place is great and we both have a nice studio to paint in. We plan to be here for some time but then ........ you never know for sure, - do you? I haven't posted for almost 3 months now as things have been wildly, unusually, crazy/busy. I wont go into the details here but rest assured the"road of life" has been pretty lumpy too. My oh My there are some nutty people who end up in San Miguel de Allende!

Anyway, things have settled down in the nicest way and we're getting back to some serious painting. We've been selling a few things through the new gallery (Izamal) on Mesones and we're busily getting Donna's Studio/Gallery ready for a hopefully active winter season. Her studio is in a spacious 350 year old casa with high boveda ceiling, capped with an ancient cupula. It's perfect for her art classes - it's got big colonial era"bulls eye" windows, high up on the street side for natural light. It also stays warm even over these cold winter nights because the walls are over 2 feet thick and solid. Also, because our studios and apartment are all in the same location we get to see more of each other during the day, which is a definite plus for us (even after 40 years!). I'll post some pictures of the new place soon. We have a barn owl living in a palm tree about 100 yards from us and every night after the sunset has faded over Guanajuato he/she flies out over the town. It sometimes flies a few loops around the Parroquia towers - we haven't spoken to anyone who has noticed it - they probably think it's an oversize night flying pigeon. It's got a friend too and you sometimes see them in the middle of the night chasing around. Then, when there's a glimmer of dawn in the eastern sky ................. it's back into the rustling palms for the day. - what a life. 'Course you gotta have a taste for rats and pussycats, I guess.

SOLD

The painting is of "ten ten pie", a popular outdoor corner cafe in the heart of San Miguel de Allende. It was painted entirely on location about a year ago.The Amazon ad is for a new book by John Scherber which aims to council people on the joys and pitfalls of retirement in our little town south of the border. It's a compilation of interviews with folks who have already made the move .... more or (sometimes) less successfully. It's a small but representative sampling and the book is full of insight - an interesting read.
"Ten ten pie" is, by the way, the term that the Mexicans apply to the snack they have between breakfast and the main meal (comida- at about 2 pm.) of the day.

The last one of 3 night scenes around the Jardin

Warm Summer Evening
oil on canvas 30x30 ins.
SOLD

The photo isn't the best but you "get the picture" so to speak. There are a lot of changes going down around here lately. The month of august was about a total washout for the gallery and coming as it did on the heels of a lousy July in which very few of the summer tourists made it down, we have decided to close the gallery. We made this final decision a couple of weeks ago and we have made other arrangements for the exhibition of our work. Strangely, today was one of the best days the gallery has had over the year in which it was open. Nine paintings went out the door under the arms of various happy shoppers! As weird as this is, we are not about to alter our decision. Over the year the gallery made a profit but the last 4 or 5 months were excruciatingly boring. All the galleries in town are feeling the pinch but one in particular is still quite active and we're pretty enthusiastic about joining them. Galeria Izamal has a great location right next to the historic Angela Peralta theater, with some of the best restaurants and night life near at hand. We like the people and beginning on the 15th of the month we'll both be gracing their walls with Dickson originals. Also we'll be displaying a few from mid October on, in the Frank Gardner Gallery. He is a great guy and a fine painter himself, with an already solid reputation in the states. He happens to have the gallery a few doors down from ours on Zacateros, having been there for many years. He's not having his best year either, of course but he has a good following in town and beyond and over the coming years I think it should be a good relationship for all. Frank has friends among some of the finest painters in America today. They come to town from time to time and it's kind of startling to unexpectedly happen upon a real master or two painting in the Jardin on occasion.
We also will be putting some things in the Aurora studios complex at the Generator Gallery, starting the beginning of October. Beyond this, there is an on-line San Miguel art auction thing about to happen and we're climbing aboard that as well. It should be interesting to see how these various venues work out over the next while. We actually have no regrets about leaving the responsibility of our own gallery behind and are quite enthusiastic, in fact. Donna has just rented a much better studio space for the giving of her well attended classes. It's just down Zacateros, the other direction from Franks and the north light is superb. I'm tempted to set up my easel there too but I fear it might be a bit distracting. At any rate we are trying to keep up a presence on calle Zacateros so that people can still find us when we suddenly vanish during their absence from this fair town. ............... enuf, enuf fer now, 'till next time, T.D.
Warm Summer Evening

SOLD

Another night scene just completed last week and I'm happy to report as sold yesterday! We've had several sales in the last week of both Donna and my work, so things are not all bad here. That is not to say that things are rosy, by any means. The general economic situation here is about abysmal. Tourists and residents alike are being subjected to an endless barrage of misinformation. If it's not been the swine flu it's been the narco-trafficantes - there seems to be the feeling in the air that to travel at all in Mexico is a dangerous proposition. I even saw an article in the New York Times that asked the question as to whether Mexico might be on it's way to becoming the "new Afganistan"! ............ say what? - I have my theories as to why all this is coming down the pipe but you folks will just have to do your own guesswork ...... if you're so inclined.

We are in the midst of yet another move across town. We will also be showing beginning September in the Aurora studios complex. So we are very busily occupied and will not be found hanging around the Jardin for the next while. But as stressful as these times are we are still happy beyond words to find ourselves in Mexico. No, it is not at all dangerous in the streets of San Miguel and it's still the same old sunny and colourful place as I remember 40 odd years ago. Love It! ........ talk to you soon, Tom.

La Musica de la Noche Tom Dickson

I thought I'd post this latest oil of mine just finished last week, so .............. here it is. We put it in the gallery window and it seems to be stopping a lot of people cold on the street. I'm also working on several other night scenes of San Miguel and will post them when they're done. We've had a lot of people in to ask the price of that one ( 3200 U.S. ) but people are pretty keen to hang on to their pesos these days. All the same, that one is not going to last long. I like doing night scenes so will probably try to keep one or two in the gallery in future. Speaking of the gallery and galerias in general in San Miguel; ours ( Galeria Los Laureles ) has been more or less just floating since mid April. The summer is usually slower than the winter here but this year has seen the fewest tourists in town in many years. There are many reasons for this and the Mexican people are feeling the pinch at every level. It certainly is not the optimum time to be in the business of selling art but all the same I must report that our gallery has made a healthy profit over the past year and we intend to keep at it as long as the discerning art lovers out there make it possible. However, we do find ourselves looking wistfully forward to those halcyon days of winter these days......... Donna's art classes continue to attract a lot of students as her reputation as a top notch teacher expands. She loves the challenge and her students love her, - she certainly has a way of bringing the best out of them, - some of the more serious among them have shown tremendous improvement over their studies and it's greatly rewarding to D. as well.