Mary’s shadow. Tlalpan, Mexico city. 2021.
Green. Sans ombre. (‘Sans’ shadow.) All photos were taken in the neighbourhood in January.
Shadow of a walled window.
Bleu sans ombre. Blau ohne schatten. 😉
Cables with bars. And white. And…
Yellow, blue and red with shadows. (Beginning to sound like Mondrian)
Terracotta with window. ‘Calvary’ street for the colour-blind.
‘Jacaranda’ with cable shadows. (Jacaranda should bloom soon here.)
Green ‘chilapan’. River of chiles.
Orange is the new…
A shadow of lavender.
Pure shadows. I understand in Hinduism, shadows can be impure…
Shadows in blue. Ombres en bleu. Sombras en azul.
Shadows of the volcano. Why volcano? Whoever finds out first gets a virtual 🍺 .
Guadalupe’s shadow.
Sky and sand. With bars. Here. Have a bar. Mars ok?
Shadows hatching. Baby shadows like blue. And cream.
Terracotta. “We ran out of oxygen.” (A major worldwide phenomenon, Alas.)
Hiding place for shadows. Behind the door.
Red. “Mexico city is on alert for Covid. The mask is our only (line of) defense”. A word about masks, if I may. The mask forces us to focus. On the eyes. Enjoy the colours. Winter will be over some day in your neck of the woods. Stay safe. 🙏🏻😷
What a wonderful collection of images!!! Love this! Thanks for sharing and hope you are all keeping safe! 🙂
The light here at the beginning of the year is perfect. No rain for a few months, sun is just at the right angle. I like to share those colours with my friends currently in the throes of winter.
A +
Yes, the colours really play with the light well. So rich. 🙂
I really like this post. Well done , Senor.
Muchas gracias Mate. It’s a fun post to arrange. And brings a bit of light and colour to our friends in the North. Waiting for the Jacarandas.
Me too.
Love the provincial look, and quietness of Tlalpan, and other neighborhoods of Mexico city, you may believe you are not in the big Metropolis.
Nice pictures! 🙂
It does feel like a small village. Nos vemos. (Todo bien?)
Si gracias!
Colourful Brian! I especially like ‘Chilipan’. In your neighbourhood one never needs to be afraid of black, white and grey. 🙂 Hartelijke groet, Peter.
Dankje wel Peter. Interesting a bout Chilipan. Some might find it dull, but I like the strong green. This time of the year is particularly good for light. All well?
Tot ziens
I’m good Brian. We had a week of real winter here, including lots of snow and even ice skating on the lakes! Yay! And now, just a few days later, we got spring, 16 to 17 degrees, sun out, everybody happy. We still have C., like the rest of the world, we still are in a lockdown and even have a curfew. So that sucks. We can’t do much more then vaccinate, wait for even warmer days en bide our time. But it’s starting to get on our nerves.
Ice skating is a national sport. And Spring does come out all of a sudden.
And yes, we are all getting a bit raw on the nerves… Patience.
My eyes are drinking these colors like wine
I can imagine. It makes me very happy to bring some colour to my friends in the North. Tout va bien, Lumi?
Oui, merci, ça va. Still coughing but back to work (from home) tomorrow. How’s your daughter?
Spring feels very far away… still snowy and icy/slippery weather over here!
Your kind of weather probably doesn’t help the coughing. Sorry about that. it has been slow recovery hasn’t it? Gini is fine now. Like nothing happened. Probably not recovered smell fully, but she’s ok. Watch your step on the street.
Love all of the different colors of the buildings.
The blue building with the tree outside is my favorite.
Spanish blues are very strong. Combine well with the light.
Toutes ces couleurs donnent du pep’s à l’hiver.
Toi aussi, sois prudent
Bonne soirée Brieuc
Du pep’s? PAs entendu ça depuis longtemps. Ma mère l’utilisait bcp. (Merci).
Courage et patience. Biz.
beautiful images and the colors brighten my mood as I wait for Spring.
That’s the idea… Spring is coming.
Beautiful colors and images.
A special treat for my friends in the North. To compensate the dark and cold. 🥶
It worked. I could feel the heat and sunshine. Those colors are so wonderful. They must make everyone happy. We are thawing out. It’s wonderful. The vortex is gone and the snow is melting. Yay! I heard birds singing.
That is so good news. Melting. And the birds coming out and sing. The chicklets must be thrilled.
joyful colour palette…here we have a lot of beige…dull…always a wonder….the post has a New Topographics feel to it…I like that….nice shadows as well Brian…have a cheerful and joy day ~ tot ziens hedy ☺️🤗💫
Those colours brighten one’s day. As tulips brighten the Dutch landscape in Spring. 💐
more culture rich fun here – love the extras in colors and backgrounds
Living in the “South” has many drawbacks. But the colours! Save the day.
oh the colors is so right
🙂
peace
Peace indeed. We all need some. Like now.
☀️🙏😊
Looking at these blocks of gorgeous colour, saturated then fading, is like looking upon a palette of Newton and Winsor oil paints – they makes me wish that I could paint.
Newton and Windsor. Sounds oh, so utterly posh. Paint? Try it. Watercolours first. (easier) Let your hand do the work. 🎨
They are a range of posh paints 🙂 I think starting with a pencil is more my level, simple sketching.
Do. And I’m sure you can find tutorials on line. Personally, I love pencil. Paint is like an afterthought…
That last sentence is a potential metaphor for so much!
LOL. Need to write it down. Hmmm. How can I place that in a story? Ohhhh. I have a character who’s an artist… Hmmm. 🤔
Such a glowing, colourful, collection of shadow pictures. Your Volcano challenge has defeated me
Volcano challenge. I’d forgotten about that. This entire area, south of Mexico city had a volcano eruption centuries ago. So all the stone available is black lava. Which that house is built with… Voilà.
Ah – local history, then. Thanks
A lot of colonial buildings are built with this black lava. Gives a different touch. Cheers.
How is it that I’m so fixed on the the green door, even so a colourful post that inspires me.
Interesting. You’re the second to mention the green door. Which I took… just in passing. Light felt right.
All well with you Paul?
Very well Brian, I trust the same for you, hoping this year will see us through the multiple madnesses.
Very multiple. I count close to half a dozen springing in my beloved France right now. Sigh.
Yes, sigh. enjoy the weekend.
U 2.
🙂
I enjoyed your studies in light, color, and shadow with commentary. My favorite is “Shadow of a walled window.” The composition is perfect. In another two weeks or so, maybe three, it should be sugaring weather here in the Granite State.
Thank you Liz. Had to crop that one a bit to… find the right balance. (I’m a big believer in leading lines. Don’t like centered photos)
Sugaring? As in melting? Thawing?
Sugaring as in tapping maple trees.The nights have to be below freezing and the days above freezing for the sap to run.
Is that right? Didn’t know that. Of course now must be the right time to do it. 🍁
Yes, sugaring time is getting close.
These are excellent spring colours. You create a gallery just by looking around. I zoomed in to find that volcano, but didn’t earn the beer.
You create your own galleries my friend. And so beautiful. Volcano. That was a bad.. joke. Thing is this part of the city had a volcano hundreds or thousand s of years ago. All the stone is black lava. And when you know you can tell the house is built with lava. here’s your 🍺
Juhuuu! Gracias!
🙏🏻
Oh I like that green door.
You too? That’s 3 of you. Never thought it would have such appeal. 😉
I have a bright yellow door. We were on the fence determining if it should be yellow or orange. And naturally it didn’t come out the yellow I wanted but people in the neighborhood love it. They find it cheerful I guess.
Now I understand. 👍🏻
I just took a look again. I really like the colours with which they paint their houses.
That comment was pending. Sorry. Sometimes, WP hides the comments. Grr.
Sometimes they end up in the spam folder … even comments by followers. 😀
I just checked both “pending” and “spam”. All clear. Tschüß “Brigitte”. 😉
Beautiful colors! Bring mood up !
That was the idea. Seldom does one manage to communicate exactly what one wants. But I’m glad it helped your mood.
I think we just might have spring this year. Too early to tell but the colors of those houses are truly wonderful. It seems as if people would always be smiling and while I know that’s silly, because you can used to anything, they still sing.
True. They sing. Often. I have seldom met a culture that enjoys partying and singing and dancing as much as Mexicans and latin Americans. Sounds like a cliché, but it’s not. Maybe a way to get over all the daily problems. 💃
Love the vivid colors.
Those are the colours of the South. It is a respite in our “winter”. Bright light and colours. All well with you?
I love colourful buildings, my student digs were across the road from a row of houses that were all painted pastels it was so beautiful each day to look at them as I walked past. I should take a photograph of the houses next time I’m in the area to share as whilst there I never took one. Where I grew up most of the houses are brick cubes really with red tile roofs and I do enjoy the variety in London.
Brick cubes are the image that comes to mind with London. Though not exclusively. Do take a photograph.
“Whilst”? Long time I hadn’t read that. Americans tend to shorten everything. (I still say “towards” though.)
A bientôt Charlotte.
I love these pictures, your sight, imagination, wonderful. E.
Thank you E. I’m glad you liked it. A bit of colour is always welcome isn’t it? I remember the long dreary winters in Paris… (Reason I fled)
Thank you for your comment. E.
Great photography. Beautiful coloured facades there in Mexico. Amazing array of colour and looks like every shade of colour out there you can imagine. It does bring some cheer to winter in your part of the world. Here in Australia while the Victorian architecture is amazing, many buildings here are devoid of such shades of colour. I like your interpretation about masks. They do indeed encourage us to focus…focus on if we’re being too close to each other, focus on the important things happening in the world and affecting our lives.
Hi Mabel. Glad you liked the colours. There are many colours in Asia too, but Oz must be a tad “Anglo”. Brick red and grey?
Let’s focus indeed. I keep saying this pandemic should push us to revisit all our old habits, and change a lot of stuff.
Hope all is well with you?
You are spot on. It’s very Anglo here in Australia. Definitely a fair bit of brick red and grey. Beige walls are also common. I remember when I was in Singapore, their public housing blocks were very colourful and attractive. Even the most nice-looking apartments here in Oz are…dull.
Hopefully this pandemic helps us to reevaluate our lives. All is good here…I thought with the pandemic and work-from-home life, things would be more relaxed. Actually became more busy lol.
Anglos can be a bit “grey”. One needs to learn to know them. Half my family are English. My grandmother was English. Born in India.
I heard that about home office. People actually work harder.
I am guessing your family are more than ‘grey’ in colour and personality, and great conversationalists given their background.
Some say with a home office, people are more productive. Others lament the fact that there are more (virtual) meetings to attend which means more time at work. It’s different for everyone.
We talk too much. 😉
But yes, it is different for everyone. I think personal interaction formal or informal is what is lacking most.
Yes, we talk too much… Every colour around us has something to say too 😀
True. Some people even associate colours with sounds. Music.
Good observation. Colours and music go hand-in-hand.
Love those colours, Peng Yu. Take care if you venture outside.
We put a mask on. Cross over to the other sidewalk, when there is somebody coming our way. Touch wood until the vaccine… All well, Peng Yu?
Wonderful to hear that you are taking precaution. All is well here too, Peng Yu. We just had news that schools and offices are reopened. Not sure if it is a good thing. But the vaccination is rolling out slowly but surely. As foreigners, we probably are last in the batch to be vaccinated.
Depends on the local legislation. Here, there are no differences between locals and foreigners. Besides we are already “Immigrants” with permanent residency. Like I said: fingers crossed. Cheers Peng Yu
Superbe !
Merci, chère amie. ces couleurs font du bien dans la grisaille de l’hiver, s’pas?
Tout va bien chez toi? En ces temps troublés? 🙏🏻
This was a brilliant series of shots Brieuc. I love the color. My world outside is grey and I’m so so sick of it. I could use a little green sans ombre these days. I love the shadows of utility lines and other urban features projected on the vibrant paint. The intensity of the sunlight comes through as well. Bravo!
Thank you. It’s the 2nd or 3rd time I do a colour post in “your” winter. I remember the darkness all around. It’s good to send some light up North.
elegant shots!
Thank you “Trisha.” It was a pleasant exercise.
Nice photos, Brian. I love the big, bright blocks of colour on Mexican walls. It seems very fitting for the climate and culture. As for winter being over, I’m not sure it’ll ever end. Need to consult a Groundhog.
A groundhog? I saw that movie only recently. Relaxing in today’s meanders.
What beautiful colours you are surrounded by! Lovely images (yeah, yeah, I know, I am way late to the game. Am cleaning out my inbox 😉 )
No such thing as too late. Jamais trop tard. I liked doing this post. Like sending light and colour to my Northern friends. Biz. A+
True. Et j’imagine! Lovely of you to send us light like that! xo
Hey, if I found a patent to can and store sun and light, I’d export it North and be the richest man on earth. 😉
Well… we do get quite a bit of sun, and come summer the humidity will be what we will be complaining about 😉
Tsé, les québécois sont pas mal chialeux!
Chialeux. Haha.
😉