Challenge #4...

Red Anemones (detail), watercolor
Chris Beck

Xochitl (detail), watercolor
Pablo Villicana Lara

Thanks to Pablo's ingenuity, our mutual lack of time this month is being turned into a unique challenge -- Crop 'til You Drop!! -- featuring snippets of larger paintings. Because we both draw heavily on elements of our heritage -- different as they are -- we decided to make this a tribute to our grandmothers.

My grandparents built the house I grew up in -- my parents moved in with my grandfather after my grandmother died -- so there were lots of her things around when I was a young child. She had always loved her flower gardens and vases and pretty tablecloths, and even though the elements in my painting "Red Anemones" never belonged to my grandmother, they are vivid reminders of her.

Although Pablo gets a lot of comments on the hair in "Xochitl" (pronounced So-Shee-tl -- which means Queen of Flowers), he says "I was really more interested in painting the embroidery because not only was it challenging, but it brought me back to days of watching my grandma creating magical flowers with her needles and colorful threads. I could go on and on about Little Shell and all the magic she did, from healing babies to her famous tamales, but I'll save that for future paintings."