Where the heart is!

For those of you who didn't already know, we own and manage a very rustic field research station - although "station" is really too grand a word for it. We called the place Los Charcos de Osa, (meaning swamps of Osa, which right now it is anything but!) Here we protect four hectares of tropical lowland wet forest. Both the Los Charcos Blog and our webpages are in dire need of updating. Although, this year, I'm thinking of using Facebook to promote the place, and will probably be loading some image albums shortly.

So... it's not much, but it's what we call home, and I love it! So much so, infact, that apart from my all-to-frequent trips to the city, I rarely leave the property.

When we bought the land, about 5 years ago, there was nothing here. And I have to say that I'm extremely proud of the fact that everything that's here now, we created, with our own hands... blood and sweat and tears! And, isn't it those things in life that end up have more meaning?

Anyway, I guess you could call it slow home-making!

We first started coming up here at weekends, to clear a strip of land, about 20 x 50 meters in total, in order to build on it. A patch of what is known as "tacotal", which is basically scrubby, low quality, secondary growth, and in our case, many thorny vines wrapped around everything! It was super hard work. While we were doing it, this is where we lived...
















Seriously! With a two year old, no water, no electricity, cooking under plastic on a wood fire, and doing the necessary out in the forest, where it doesn't linger for long, thanks to a phenomenal diversity of fauna that exists in this part of the world ;}


















This is my husband Reinaldo Aguilar, known to most as "Rey". He's world authority on the plants of the Osa Peninsula (although he's never gonna say that!) He's my best friend, and a great father. We've been together for 9 years now, and for some reason I'm reminded of the Michael Ondaatji title, "Coming Through Slaughter" ;} I love this picture of him, it was taken as he was about to leap into the forest canopy on a zip line, whilst working as botanical field support to a French film crew.















This is my house just after we built it. Note that I use the word "house" loosly! These days, it has a (nearly!) wraparound balcony, the view from which I will never tire of.















And here we have it! Can you spot the house, nestled in the forest there?



















Here's a closer shot of it















This is the balcony of the guest cabin.

And this is an image of a painting, that I haven't seen in years ('coz, like all of my paintings, it's being stored in the UK). I'm sure there are more images somewhere!



















Casablanca - Catherine V. Bainbridge(c).
Oil and oil pastels on paper.
Aprox. 60 x 40 cm.

Maybe I wasn't so wrong afterall?

Sometimes getting it wrong is actually getting it right! That's the value of hoarding one's creative work and coming back to it at a later stage.

A year ago, almost to the day, I painted this little landscape. A view from the diningroom table, looking out towards the Golfo Dulce (a tropical fjord of the Pacific ocean), and the mountains beyond. I was quietly pleased with it, let's say, as a humble offering to the God of small things.














Golfo Dulce: Oil on paper, aprox. 18 x 25.5 cm. February 2009.

When it was finished, two things happened.

Firstly, I thought to myself, well, it's nice, but it's not right... it's not an accurate presentation of what's out there. Which is basically remanants of lowland tropical rainforest leading down to the beach. People will think I'm crazy if I say that this is a painting of this place - ignoring for a moment the fact that, ok, I am! ;)

Secondly, it reminded me of something else... something I had tried to do two years previously, but which I felt had been totally unsuccessful and so didn't work to finish it.

When I was reminded of the first attempt, I dragged it out from where it lay, dusty and forgotten, stuffed behind the bed (I have several things like that, hidden about the place, that way I don't have to confront my failings headon... but at the same time I cannot completely ignore them!)

When I saw this first painting again, I realized that, although it hadn't worked, persay, there was actually alot of truth in it, because, quite unintentionally, there's a strong similarity in these paintings! And not only that, but I think you can see an ongoing thread in my "style".















Golfo Dulce: Oil on canvas, aprox. 36 x 45 cm. February 2007.

So, forgive me, ye who flock to the Osa Peninsula and just can't see it, but... at this time of year, the landscape looks hazy, and the colors start to appear blanched, and, to me, it starts to look more like something out of Africa (which, incidentally, is one of my favorite movies!)

Sometimes, I think we need to put distance between ourselves and our work, in order to appreciate it for what it really is. Because, if you compare these two paintings with some photos that I've dug up, of pretty much the same vista, and taken at the same time of the year, you'll see that.... maybe I wasn't so wrong afterall???

































Also at this time of year... earthquakes... like the one we just had as I'm writting this post!