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My trip to Buenos Aires - June, 2008

Following are photographs that I took this last June in my hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
If you haven't been there, it's a wonderful place to visit. Lot's of artists, museums & art galleries.

La Boca

La Boca, originally uploaded by doraficher.

This photograph was taken in "La Boca" neighborhood during my trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina in June of 2008. La Boca is the oldest, most colorful, and most authentic neighborhood in Buenos Aires. The neighborhood was settled and built by Italian immigrants that worked in the warehouses and meatpacking plants in the area. La Boca is partly an artist colony, and mostly a working-class neighborhood. All the houses in this neighborhood are painted in very bright colors. This is the home to the soccer team "Boca Juniors". The Boca Juniors is one of the biggest soccer teams in Argentina and happens to be one of the clubs that the soccer great Diego Maradona played for. Their stadium, La Bombonera, is not so surprisingly located in the La Boca barrio.

Mate

Mate, originally uploaded by doraficher.

Mate is the national drink in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, and a common social practice in parts of Brazil, Chile and eastern Bolivia.
The drink is served with a metal straw from a shared hollow calabashgourd. The straw is called a bombilla in Latin AmericanSpanish, a bomba in Portuguese, and a masassa in Arabic. The straw is traditionally made of silver. Modern commercially available straws are typically made of nickel silver, called Alpaca, stainless steel, or hollow-stemmed cane. The gourd is known as a mate or a guampa, while in Brazil it has the specific name of Chimarrão or cuia.
As with other brewed herbs, yerba maté leaves are dried, chopped, and ground into a powdery mixture called yerba. The bombilla acts as both a straw and a sieve. The submerged end is flared, with small holes or slots that allow the brewed liquid in, but block the chunky matter that makes up much of the mixture. A modern bombilla design uses a straight tube with holes, or spring sleeve to act as a sieve.

Man with bicycle & flowers

Man with bicycle & flowers, originally uploaded by doraficher.

Walking around Buenos Aires this past June I ran into this gentleman trying to carry flowers on his bicycle. It was such an interesting site that I spend a while taking photos of him.

Music in San Telmo

Music in San Telmo, originally uploaded by doraficher.

I took this photograph of this wonderful music group in San Telmo last June during my trip to Buenos Aires. San Telmo ("St. Pedro González Telmo") is the oldest barrio (neighborhood) of Buenos Aires, Argentina and also a fairly well preserved area of that constantly changing Argentine metropolis and is characterized with a number of colonial buildings. Cafes, tango parlors and antique shops line up the cobblestone (adoquines) streets, which are filled with artists and dancers.San Telmo's many attractions include many old churches, museums, antique stores and a semi-permanent antique fair (Feria de Antigüedades) in the main public square, Plaza Dorrego. Tango-related activities for both locals and tourists also abound in the area.

Is it ever too late to fulfill your dreams?

Do you think it's ever too late to fulfill your dream or dreams? Do you think there is an age limit to do what you really love? to do your passion? What kept you back from not doing it earlier in life?
I am 57 and I am now doing my art full time. Do I wish I had done it before? I don't know. I did many other things during the process and now I'm here. Are you happy with your current profession? Is there a dream you want to attain?

I feel very fortunate to be able to dedicate my time to doing my art full time. This has been one of my dreams for a long time.

I have been taking this amazing online class: with Alyson Stanfield, author of I'd Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist's No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion. This is helping me learn to promote myself as an artist. I first read the book and loved it. Which took me to her website where I learned about her classes. You should all check out Alyson's blog (Click on her name).
We are now on day sixteen and I have been learning so much about myself, my art and how to promote it. This class has me so excited that I don't want to stop working at night and can't wait to get up in the morning to continue. I am so excited about all this that I signed up to take two art classes at the Fleisher Foundation in Philadelphia: http://www.fleisher.org. The Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, the nation's oldest tuition-free art school, is guided by the spirit of its founder, who first extended an invitation in 1898 for "the world to come and learn art." They offer an exciting selection of tuition-free classes and low-cost workshops for adults and children. Starting next month I will be participation in an oil painting studio class and a watercolor class.

So back to following your dream, or fulfilling your dream, do you think it is ever too late?