Yesterday we went with friends to Nuevo Progreso, Mexico for some shopping and lunch.

I’m always intrigued by the talent of the street vendor artists. I love to stand and watch as a painting is created in minutes by a can of spray paint, or by using scraps of cardboard in place of brushes.

Yesterday, I came across a fellow I hadn’t seen before. He was painting the bowls of tablespoons with everything from landscapes to birds, to insects, to flowers or anything else you could imagine.

He had a small palette in front of him and all he was using for a brush was his fingers! He tapped and spread each dab of paint with expertise that I admire and envy.

When I asked him if I could video him creating one, he immediately obliged and painted the one in my feature photo, which I purchased.

Photo Isolated from the Video I shot

My painting “ideas” still come from photos or Google searches. It will always be far beyond my ability to have someone ask me to paint something and then come up with it right before their eyes.

Photo Note: I thought about changing the photo of the artist to black and white (as is my preference in street photography), but decided not to this time. The colour photo better demonstrates that he was creating the piece in my feature photo.

“Creativity is painting the canvas with colors, doing what you do with what you have, knowing the limits and moving beyond.”

Anand Patwa