Archive for November, 2009

30
Nov
09

22 things to do for 22

By Benjamin Allen Ellis 1 Comment
Categories: Events

And probably more than that… but ya gotta start somewhere.

Like, by getting up at 7, buying cement, and enjoying the cloud cover over this mountain town as it wakes…

I love the light coming through, feels good on my eyes.  Santuario at times looks like a setting for a Bjork video to me:

And here we have the store front, with a few changes taking place.

and inside…

Yeah, red.  Love that color, and the range it has.  It’s like Mariah Carey blended with an opera singer, it travels octaves.

And you see that white wall back there?  Doesn’t it look primed and ready, like a canvas??  Stay tuned on that one.

Getting up early meant going below the house to get a stash from the bat cave…

Literally, a bat cave. Two of them in there, floppin’ around.  I was brave though, as I needed these…

in order to set the guy up we hired to start…

building that below, which he got done in a day full of bats, clouds, bricks, spanish, and many, many phone calls.

And then, you know, I stayed up late working on the logo.

Till tomorrow.

29
Nov
09

22

By Benjamin Allen Ellis 1 Comment
Categories: Events

As you know, I’m in Santuario, Risaralda, Colombia.  Beautiful mountain town in the heart of the coffee region.  About 20,000 people in the town, currently about 2 hours from Pereira, a city of about 250,000.  And that 2 hours is a road under construction, so, in time, a much shorter drive.

What you are seeing here today are pictures of the space in which my husband Hector and I are opening a lounge, named 22.

In Santuario, the bars are about a block away from our spot.  Don’t try ordering a mojito there, as they don’t make them.  You order a bottle, get some glasses, and have at it.  Maybe you have a coca-cola or two to wash it back with.  And there is always the local beer.

We’re out to add to the mix, provide an option where peeps can get a mojito, a local beer, or a glass of wine from Colombia, Argentina, or Chile… in a scrumptious atmosphere to boot.

It’s Sunday.  We open Friday.  Yes, Friday.  Can we make it??  Can we do it??  I’ll keep you ‘posted.’  A lot of work has been done.  More info tomorrow (when I can find my camera.  It’s around here somewhere).

Below, 22‘s storefront, which is also fronts our home.  That’s standard practice here in Colombia…  :)

25
Nov
09

Steep

By Benjamin Allen Ellis Leave a Comment
Categories: Draw

I was a diver for a decade.  The summer before I headed into 7th grade, my dad took me to the highschool pool, to check out the swim team.  I’d always loved the water… decent swimmer, why not?

Across the way there were kids jumping off the boards and a guy yelling at them.  I was transfixed… it looked like fun.

When it came time for swim season for middle school, I signed up.  For some reason, I was a day late to practice, everyone knew where to go except me.  And almost everybody got in the pool, about 8 kids walked over to the boards.  I went with everybody.

Which lasted about two laps in the pool.  I got out and told the swim coach I wanted to dive, and went on over.  I got in line, and got on the board.  The diving coach, this loud hairy man without a shirt on, yelled “WHO ARE YOU??“  I answered.  Then I tried to do an approach, and ended up miserably embarrassed.

That was the beginning of a decade… with lots of ups and downs (pun intended).  I think my time with Randy, my coach, and my love of the sport was what got me through highschool.  College diving left me disillusioned, and I left the sport.  Without diving, there was nothing for me at the University of South Dakota, as I was majoring in something that had been decided for me when I was in the second grade ( I know, I know…), so I hit the road.  My big ol’ 84 Bronco, long nights driving the country, searching.  Along the way, drawing and writing and drawing…  The first time I bought myself a sketchbook was when I was 21.  And the road keeps going, on and on.

But diving.  The love of bodies in the air, bodies taking shape.  Still thrills me…

22
Nov
09

Another

By Benjamin Allen Ellis Leave a Comment
Categories: Draw

Even angels look back…

21
Nov
09

Hint

By Benjamin Allen Ellis Leave a Comment
Categories: Paint

19
Nov
09

Drawing Dresses

By Benjamin Allen Ellis Leave a Comment
Categories: Fashion

Had a couple of clients these past couple of weeks.  Lots of sketches, lots of back and forth.  Needless to say… fun!

Clothes are magic.  I love working with people of different sizes and shapes.  Funny, when I was in school for fashion, I had this teacher who would grade me down if I didn’t draw my fashion models like tall skinny poles with boobs.  I did protest; he said “even if you are designing for a larger frame, you still have to present it that way… it’s industry standard.”  So I did research…

… and he was so wrong! Ha ha.  Ah well.  I was part of a class action lawsuit against the school, and won.  Because they… weren’t doing what they said they would.

But, I had a great semester of learning, sewing, and discovering the depth of my love for fashion.  It’s amazing, what clothes can do.  Accentuate.  Deconstruct.  ART!

I’ve had my reservations.  There can be so much attitude attached with the discipline, so much assumed shallowness.  And yes, it can be.

But that doesn’t mean I have to be that way.  Here’s the dance, here’s the rub.  Nothing left to do but feel sew-sew about it all.  :)

17
Nov
09

Snippets…

By Benjamin Allen Ellis Leave a Comment
Categories: Paint

of something I’m working on.

 

14
Nov
09

Where I Live…

By Benjamin Allen Ellis Leave a Comment
Categories: Events

DSC00130

I’ve been writing about the marching bands for awhile now, posting on facebook.  They love their marching bands here in this town, breaking them out at any excuse.  Which is good, since tomorrow is the  marching band competition.  I am actually excited, and hope they go by my window again…

Santuario Bandas de Caminar

Because I doubt they will start at five in the morning.  Tis’ true, it was a kind of wake up call I never expected, which included fireworks.  I now know that it’s a kick-off for the yearly anniversary celebration of Santuario‘s founding.  A pre-sunrise parade.

santuario marching band in full march

Now I get it.  This parade I’ve foto’d was celebrating the local beauty pageant for the farming community.  I don’t know how it all works, but becoming Miss Colombia is a big thing here…

colombian beauty pageant

now in Colombia, the beauty queens wave from tuff jeeps… cuz cars just won’t do.

DSC06089

It’s a big world, and where you go… it’s a different world.  Do I love it here yet?  I don’t know.  Am I finding things to love?  Yeah.

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