Author Information
My grandfather’s paintings
My grandfather started painting when he was 20 years old. He loved to leave his house with a piece of paper and a pencil to draw what he way on the outside. He lived on Temixco, Guerrero with his family until the age of 24, when he decided to come to Monterrey to pursue his architecture career. He met Lolita, my grandmother, and she fell in love with the paintings since the first time she saw them. When it was the 50-year marriage anniversary of Lolita’s grandparents, he gave them a painting of a sunset, which is one of Lolita´s favorites. When they got married, their little house was filled with grandpa’s paintings. Grandpa used to have an ability for perception. He could look at something and estimate the dimensions, and place everything it interested him into paper. Eventually, with the evolution of technology, grandpa got a camera.
My grandfather used this camera and the abilities he had developed during his degree to capture beautiful landscapes, antique houses, and exotic flowers in great angles. He would then use these pictures and his photographic memory to do paintings about all of his pictures. He was truly proud of his country; he loved Monterrey’s mountains. Sometimes he would go to “La Huasteca” and just sit and watch the mountains. He also loved painting doors of different colors and sizes because he liked that they meant hospitality. He was a lovely, simple and joyful person who would do anything to help other people and make them feel good. He would sometimes give away his painting to important people in his life. My grandfather always had the gift for expressing emotions through his art technique. He was able to transform everything he looked at into a painting with such a unique detailed that he was eventually known mainly as a painter apart from an architect. The years between 1985 to 2000 were his years of glory; he had his most stunning paintings. He used to mostly paint with watercolors and fine brushes, but as time passed by, he started using thicker brushes, so he stopped making paintings as detailed as before. Grandpa had numerous expositions and he sold many of his paintings throughout Monterrey. Whenever one of his 23 grandchildren celebrated a birthday, my grandfather’s gift consisted of one of his precious paintings. Unfortunately, we lost grandpa last year; he is gone but never forgotten. He left us the best and most beautiful legacy that will stay in our hearts forever. Rest in peace abuelito Pepe.
