Carl Judson - Guerrilla Painter Notebook

From Idalma's Roof

Several years ago, my daughter Nina and I spent five weeks studying Spanish in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. We stayed in a house owned by a woman named Idalma.

Of course, I took my homemade
pochade box and a carrier case (the size was 8½” x 14”). During our stay, I painted frequently - often from the roof of Idalma’s house.

Painting from the same location can lend continuity to a series of paintings that otherwise vary widely in subject matter and treatment. Such continuity can contribute to their effectiveness in exhibition. These paintings were displayed as a group in a one-man show.

The Launddry Next Door - from Idalma's Roof
Quetzaltenango, Guatamala
Carl Judson © 1993
Oil on burlap, 7½" x 13".

The bicycle repair shop about a block away (above right) was a beehive of activity, which may have distracted me from the task of composition. The left 40% of
the painting could have been cropped to make a more “conventional” composition.
Maybe I could have made a better choice in framing the subject matter, but then, I’ve never been much on convention.

Bicycle Shop - from Idalma's Roof
Quetzaltenango, Guatamala
Carl Judson © 1993
Oil on burlap, 7½" x 13".

I liked the contrast of the satellite dish with the typical Latin American hillside neighborhood (below).

After a Shower - from Idalma's Roof
Quetzaltenango, Guatamala
Carl Judson © 1993
Oil on burlap, 7½" x 13".

A couple of blocks away, the odd architecture and geometry of 8º Calle (below) evoked a sense of surreal loneliness.

8° Calle - from Idalma's Roof
Quetzaltenango, Guatamala
Carl Judson © 1993
Oil on burlap, 7½" x 13".

Because of the angle of view, painting from a rooftop frequently suggests scenes that are several blocks away, which can produce
paintings that look flattened and/or
abstracted as if viewed through a zoom lens (like the work of Giorgio Morandi, who is said to have used a telescope to paint landscapes from his studio window). I am drawn to the abstract elements in
the subject matter I choose to paint, so this suits me fine. The resulting paintings can have some ambiguities, which tend to leave the viewer a little puzzled.

Xela is the Indian name for this region of Guatemala. The scene below was painted during a constant drizzle. The buildings were six or eight blocks away and the scene is further flattened and abstracted by the steep, bright green mountainside rising behind. The lack of the predictable horizon
and sky makes one of those little puzzling ambiguities that I like.

The surface I used for these paintings is burlap thoroughly primed on both sides with acrylic gesso and then coated and
textured with contrasting layers of bright colored acrylic paints. These unstretched, textured burlap “canvases” were then taped to foam board cut to fit my carrier
case.

The three paintings shown here, 7°
Calle (facing page), Diagonal 11, and A View (both below) are three different angles of the same view. The paint application is quite heavy.

Diagonal 11 - from Idalma's Roof
Quetzaltenango, Guatamala
Carl Judson © 1993
Oil on burlap, 7½" x 13".

The very bright colors of the acrylic under-paintings peek through to energize and unify the paintings. Lundy Siegriest (a Bay Area plein air painter and son
of Louis Siegriest, one of the “Society of Six”) made very effective use of painting on bright, saturated color grounds.

When I travel to places like this to
paint, I count on rugged, portable painting equipment. The combination of Latin American weather and public transportation
can be a tough test.