My dad has always been a lover of the arts. He likes paintings, pictures, books, music, plays, you name it. Although if you saw him walking down the street you probably wouldn’t think that about him, haha. He does not dress the stereotype of a man in his 40s that loves those things. I just think that when someone describes a man that like the arts a picture of a man with a wine in one hand discussing a piece he just bought from a very famous painter comes to mind, like in movies. Like a Frasier, for example. But na, my father is a beer guy! Like Frasier’s father, haha!

When we got to Puebla I found out that there was a place called “Barrio del Artista,” which means the artist’s barrio, and I had to tell dad. We went to walk around and when dad saw that the artists also drew portraits (some amazing ones by the way) he said “I’m gonna tell them to draw you guys!” He asked around and all of the painters told him to go to this one guy in specific: Gonzalo Márquez. They all said he was the best one, and by looking at his work, boy, he was! Dad called him and in 45 min he was already drawing my sisters and I.

We each had to sit in a chair facing whatever direction he told us and stay like that frozen for about an hour. It was a little hard, especially from my sister’s part, from what they told me. The only thing that was a little weird for me was looking at the man directly at his eyes – I am terrible at doing so! Also, it was a little embarrassing to be drawn in front of everyone. Sometimes we would get little crowds and other times random people would take out their phone and take pictures of us. We were like, “No, please stop! :'(” But couldn’t move so wouldn’t say anything. Who knows where those pictures are now ._. It’s different to share them yourself. But a complete stranger… Not nice, haha. To calm myself (and my sisters down) from people staring I would say, “They are not looking at you, they are looking at his drawing.”  It kinda worked.

Anyway, a few pictures from our experience!

I taught my Dad (he’s the man in black with his arms in the air) how take pictures with our camera. He had never used it before because he thought it was would be really complex. I gave it to him in the automatic setting and told him to just point, focus, and shoot. He did a good job for his first time! He was so excited. I loved seeing him like that. He looked like a happy child taking pictures of everything. Aw. I’ll never forget that.

So – some pictures by him, some pictures by my sisters, and some by me.

Drawing Astrid:

Drawing the littlest sister:

A little family break:

I mean, people, we were there approx 3 hours! Bottoms up, padre.. You deserve it.

Drawing me:

^ Now these my little sister took. She was so excited about the whole process, and didn’t stop making fun of me. She would say, “You’re a statue!” cuz I wouldn’t move, and then she would laugh. But hey, I just wanted to make the guy’s job easier! I’m glad she documented this moment throughly though. ^

He did an amazing job. We were so, so happy with the results. Especially my dad. We couldn’t thank the artist enough. It was a really neat experience.