IdiomART’s palette of art,
culture, and magic.

By: Jennifer Hunter
Photos: Courtesy of idiomArt.

One day, maybe 20 years ago, I passed by a house on my walkaround in Los Angeles. The house wasn’t anything special. It sat on the corner next to a real estate company in a mixed neighborhood of businesses and apartments.

But there was a big window on the second floor that overlooked a colorful garden, and I thought, “Wow, I want a window like that to look out of one day when I’m writing and painting.”

IdiomART - Issue 44Do I need to say it? Thoughts become beliefs that define your life and your experience of it. Fast forward a few decades. My novel launched on April 30, 2020. I had big windows in my place in LA, but they all turned away from the view of my garden and they weren’t on the second floor. But the Universe had heard me and we were making tracks.

Now with my first book published, it was time to learn to watercolor. I moved to Cuenca on August 17, 2020. The world may have been shut down, but I wasn’t.

On recommendation, one of the first places I went to was idiomART. It plunged me into the familiar and felt comfortable and right as soon as I walked in the door.

I took as many classes idiomART offered back at the end of 2020. And then I met Alberto Soriano, master artist in watercolor, oil, and acrylic. I started taking month-long group and private watercolor classes with him.

At first, what I created was a dripping mess. You know, if all your colors run together in a pool of water, you really do get gray-brown blobs running down your paper. It’s no wonder that writing felt so much easier in comparison. Obviously, I had forgotten about the buckets of tears I had shed. Yet in due time, as Alberto happily reminded us, “¡Mas agua! ¡Mas agua!” we all came to feel more accomplished.

idiomART is the only intercultural, creative community space in Cuenca that exists to fully support local artists.

So, whether you are exploring an art exhibit, enjoying a cultural road trip, crafting fantasy fairies, rocking the beat with musicians, whirling with the dervishes, tasting exotic wines, chanting, drumming, weaving textiles into stories, and yes, learning the art of watercolor, oil, or acrylic, this is where you come to stand shoulder to shoulder with the artists who understand your dreams—where together you can co-create anything.

The beauty, power, and boundless possibility of idiomART resides at the center point of your imagination.

I’ve included a few samples of my drawings with their accompanied watercolors to show where a true artist guided me.

These were all done within my first year of study with Maestro Alberto Soriano. And coming full magical circle, I live on the top floor of a beautifully renovated patrimonial home with a 38-foot window that reaches floor to ceiling. From my perch, I look down over a tiled courtyard with luscious plants and colorful flowers.

IdiomArt Issue 44

idiomART is located at Mariscal Lamar 14-25 & Esteves de Toral at the 3 de Noviembre transvia stop

Jennifer J. Hunter website https://www.jenniferjhunter.com