Somos Novios

My first beach trip of 2012, I went to Venice and took Flix along for fun.  We were walking along the boardwalk when suddenly I heard this song.  I literally stopped in my tracks to see where it was coming from… I LOVE this song!  There was a man on my right that was painting, playing the song from a cd player he had on the ground.  The paintings that surrounded him were so vibrant and colorful (you know how I feel about colors).  They weren’t the typical political or creepy images you see in Venice which was quite refreshing.  They were paintings of what seemed to be a simple life, island life, someplace warm and sunny.  As I stood there recording him painting (so I could get the song on video) he turned around and gave me the scariest look ever.  I immediately stopped the camera and apologized (I could never work for a tabloid).  To my surprise he greeted me with a warm hello and allowed me to continue recording him at work.

His name is Jean Joseph Monfort.  I talked to him for a little bit and found out that he is trilingual (English, Spanish, and French), and  that all of his paintings are inspired from his land of origin, Haiti.  What really impressed me was that all of his work is painted solely from memory.

More about my day at the beach soon…

♥