october 2025 NEWSLETTER

by Britt Zaist

I became interested in Tamanduas (the Lesser Anteater: species Tamandua mexicana) after seeing their image on the Selva Teenek tee shirts where my good friend, Pamela Cordero is working to help all the wildlife in their care. The Tamandua became the emblem of Selva Teenek as they are a very special species that little is known about. Selva Teenek is the first rescue and rehabilitation center for Tamanduas perhaps in the world but definitely in Mexico.

Tamanduas are arboreal. Their prehensile tails allow them to maneuver through branches with ease, while their strong claws are tools for climbing, finding food and defense. They lack teeth (food is swallowed whole) and have narrow, sticky tongues (up to 16 in. long) that allow them to consume thousands of ants and termites. Tamanduas act as natural pest regulators, contributing directly to ecosystem balance.

Selva Teenek has rehabilitated and released twenty-eight Tamanduas from 2022-2025 that they have received from the authorities. They have six in their care that are not able to be returned to the wild so they live in semi freedom at Selva Teenek and add information to other wildlife organizations of their care. Pamela said they have lots of insects; breakfast, lunch and dinner of special commercial food along with snacks of watermelon, mangoes and coconuts (that they can open by themselves with their specialized claws).

I know what a dog/cat/horse/bull looks like, how they move, their anatomy, etc. but anteaters are completely foreign to me and a great challenge. I´ve bought two books that are all text but no photos. I´ve gone to the PC and Google and looked thru over eighty photos of them in their dual existence on the ground and in the forest canopy. I´ve brought my drawing tools: a filled ink stopper and a full bottle of ink to the PC to study and draw from the photos – hoping not to dump over the ink bottle on the keyboard. Drawing in a confined space is new too but being able to enlarge the photos is an amazing help. Their physical adaptions are a marvel but foreign to me. It’s hard to draw something you don´t understand. But I am trying and learning.

PAINT ME YOUR DREAM

by Britt Zaist

We´ve all had times in our lives where some well-meaning friend/relative---whoever --- has told us what they think we should do. Forget that! So how about being asked to paint a picture of what we´d like to do. That can really make a change happen. And that´s just what Pamela Cordero did – painted a picture of her dream: one that initially involves working with wildlife. And this is not an easy dream. It involves hard work, patience and training. She recently graduated as a veterinarian technician to help the veterinarians who have donated their services free to help the rescued animals. It involves living in poor conditions, taking chances to rescue and help the animals and no doubt heartache when you see what can happen to them. It involves people skills/networking to make changes happen. It involves painting more pictures of more dreams.

Pamela first volunteered at Selva Teenek and did such a good job that they asked her to come back and work for them. Selva Teenek in the Huasteca Potosina (SLP, Mexico) rescues and rehabilitates wildlife and then releases them into the wild again so they have a second chance. They accept different animals from all over Mexico. Some are orphans, some are injured, some were pets. Each animal is evaluated for its chances for survival in the wild. If it is determined that is not possible, then they find their “forever” homes at Selva Teenek.

The photos shown here were sent by Pamela as an example of some of the animals at Selva Teenek. They all deserve a second chance. Donations would be wonderful and there is information following on how to do that. Even purchasing a tee shirt can help to make a difference.

Contact Pamela Cordero: Cell / WhatsApp: 415 119 7968 / email: pamc.selvateenek@gmail.com

I have fallen in love with anteaters (Tamandua Mexicana) which is a logo for this group. I ordered an anteater photo book to see if I can go from drawing bulls and horses to drawing anteaters. Who knows – maybe this is my second chance.

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Let me preface this story with the fact that I am not denigrating my abstract art work; but I am being honest and not trying to gee-whiz-you because I know some tricks and how to make them work.

Now with my gesture drawings, I have earned the right to “gee-whiz-you”. I have studied for years, have worked hard and have had excellent teachers to allow me to do this type of drawing that I consider is my identify. I can´t teach it to you in a 2 day workshop. But I can with my ink abstracts.

I haven´t taught in a while so I am out of the loop as far as who are the best people to study with. I am of the old school where you went to the book store, bought a “how-to book” and followed the instructions faithfully. I read every book by Maxine Masterfield and was lucky enough to take a workshop with her. And Maxine had enough “tricks” to fill at least three books and god knows how many workshops. Now you could probably just go online and upload a video. But suffice it – it's those gimmicks that can work to make an interesting abstract. By the way, my abstract work is not painted with a brush. That´s a whole different thing and does take years of training and talent. But doing “pours”, combining different techniques (i.e. “gimmicks”) can give you a beautiful piece of art without years of study and work.

So, which was more valuable to me? The hard work of learning to draw in my style: ink gesture drawings. But what was more fun---the ink abstracts. See what works for you.

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A TIME OF MAGIC WITH A BUTTERFLY

by Britt Zaist

Once-upon-a-time in a far-away kingdom called San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, there was a beautiful Monarch butterfly trying to make his way to Michoacán.

He tried to keep flying but the rainy season had happened in San Miguel with cold, wet weather. He stopped in a sunspot near some beautiful purple and pink morning glories but the sun soon faded and he fell to the ground upside down. I went out to pick wild flowers and saw him on the sidewalk there. He was trying so hard to right himself that when I put my hand down to help, he walked right up on it. Rather than leave him there, “we” walked into the house and then into the patio where there were flowers to rest on. But every time I put him down amongst them, he would topple over until finally I found a wide fern for him to rest on. My husband, Henry thought we might try some nectar juice and set him on the cap filled with it and hope he would be able to drink. Again, I put my hand down and again magically he walked there to be lowered to the bottle cap filled with nectar. And indeed, he did drink.

That was Day One. I checked thru the day and evening hoping no rain would fall and that no wind would blow him over. So far so good.

But on Day Two, the late afternoon rains came. I rushed out to get him out of the rain only to find him upside down again in a tiny puddle. I reached down to help and once again his legs found my hand to climb up on. This time “we” went into the garage to be safe from rain and wind. He was reluctant to leave my hand and the feeling of him walking softly on it was magic. Finally, he went onto the flat rocks of a plant there. This time I tried sugar water from an eye dropper hoping that might strengthen him. I watched his slight movements during the night but by morning he was still.

A friend told me you do the best you can and forgive yourself the rest. I had magic moments; the butterfly had a little more time. That´s the best “we” hope for and that´s enough.

I put him on a glass saucer – studied him- and marveled at the fact that his underside was different from his topside. To me, he was a beautiful abstract. I will carefully keep him in my studio grateful for a lovely experience that I allowed myself the time to enjoy.

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june 2025 newsletter

ARTanimals show

by Britt Zaist

ARTanimals SHOW FOR THE SOCIEDAD PROTECTORA DE ANIMALES AT GALERIA BLUE MOON (#7 Stirling Dickinson, San Antonio, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Gallery hours: 11 am to 2 pm, 3 pm to 6 pm, Tuesday through Saturday). www.galeriabluemoon.com

Come and see the Galería Blue Moon artists’ (Members: Ri Anderson, Steve Ellis, Andrew Klein, Ray Herrera-Leguizamo, Debra Deutsch Oliver, Pablo Szmulewicz and Henry Vermillion) animal artwork from July 4-19 (OPENING: Friday 4 July from 5-8 pm). There will be a silent auction at the opening on Friday the 4th. A percentage (30%) of the proceeds will go to The SPA Sociedad Protectora de Animales de San Miguel de Allende, A.C.

Do come to see the art and to support a great animal rescue organization, the oldest in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Henry and I went to jail for the SPA years ago. We did it to get the organization back to the members. But - too long a story as those were the early days in SMA of “take-overs”.

Come-enjoy the art and here are a couple of examples to get you to go there.

I am not a member of the Galeria Blue Moon Co-op but I will add here a couple of gesture drawings I donated over the years for the SPA to put on tee shirts and caps to help the animals.

A STRANGE STORY

by Britt Zaist

Years ago, my husband, Henry Vermillion and I moved into a large farmhouse in Raleigh, NC. The house had two floors and a wonderful wrap around porch. It had a large back yard with a magnificent water oak. It also had a large basement.

In those days, I was primarily doing ink abstracts. I bought large quantities of ink and needed to store the boxes somewhere. I had never gone into the basement so I thought that would be a good storage place. I flipped on the basement light and proceeded to carry a box down into it. The further I got down the steps, I had an unnerving feeling that I was being watched. The small bare light bulb didn´t cast light into the entire basement. I just couldn´t shake the feeling of not being alone down there so I dashed back up the steps with the box of ink, shut the door and didn´t mention it to Henry.

This happened in the late 80´s just before Henry and I went to Monterey, Mexico for the holidays. The night before New Years, we found a wonderful bar there filled with visual artists and parapsychics. The visual artists spoke Spanish and the parapsychics could speak English. Henry joined the visual artists and I naturally joined the parapsychics. Somewhere during the late night and “deep in my cups” I told them the story about the basement. They understood the problem and told me to buy 3 gold candles and to put them in something that could not be overturned. Put them lit in the basement and bid whatever was there to leave. Once home, I did that and the feeling went away.

Soon after, we had a party. One guest was a North Carolina historian who asked me if I knew that this property was a burial site for Union soldiers who had been killed in a battle nearby. I told him this story. Coincidence? Perhaps…

MARIO COOPER

by Britt Zaist

My favorite teacher at ASL (Art Students´ League of New York) was Mario Cooper. My goal in the early 80´s was to study drawing (Gustav Rehberger), oil painting (Francis Cunningham) and watercolor (Mario Cooper) at the League. What started out as a watercolor painting course blossomed into a friendship with Mr. Cooper and his wife, Dale Meyers. And he didn´t just teach painting. He taught the whole concept of art, philosophy, literature, music. Time was spent in class introducing his students to other artists we knew little about, to new (for us) ideas: the Golden Mean, Fibonacci numbers, to stories about his past and how they lead to his becoming the president of the American Watercolor Society. I learned one story firsthand about his bringing his art work unannounced to Harvey Dunn, a famous illustrator who later became his teacher. In Mr. Cooper´s watercolor class, everyone (but me) had trained artistic skills whereas I had been a secretary with good steno and typing skills. The latter he had more use of to compile information for the American Watercolor Society. He gave me that assignment, I did it quickly and walked over to the Hotel des Artistes to deliver the completed work. The doorman sent me up. I figured that was o.k. But going unannounced was not as Mr. Cooper patiently explained. I was mortified but forgiven and therein began the friendship.

For this story, I went thru files that I haven´t looked at in over 40 years. Files with the value studies that we would go to Central Park to make, beautiful brush stroke studies that Mr. Cooper showed us how to make with watercolors that would granulate. And the books he wrote – one with a lovely inscription to me. All a part of a time well spent in NYC that I was so lucky to have had.

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This story was generated by one of the people in my husband´s (Henry Vermillion) Tuesday Night Drawing Session. He wanted to know if I would teach him to draw in my style. My response “No, that takes a good deal of work studying the figure, learning anatomy and composition.” And it does. I was very fortunate to study drawing the figure with Gustav Rehberger at the Art Students´ League of New York. He was an incredible artist who took time with his students. At the League, instructors only needed to come a few days a week to lecture and demonstrate leaving the day-to-day instruction with their carefully chosen monitors who worked exactly in their style. Mr. Rehberger lived in the Carnegie Hall Apartments across the street from the League (ASL). His classes were large with all of us straddling the “donkeys” (wooden drawing “desks”) around a raised platform that held the model. Mr. Rehberger would lecture and demonstrate the required number of times but he would also come in daily to check, to offer help- always asking permission to draw on your pad to show you where you were going wrong.

He demonstrated brilliantly and fast. He gave me one of his one-minute demonstrations (pictured here) with a promise I would not sell it! Forty-one years later, it is still mine- a reminder of a magical time spent studying painting and drawing full time at the League. But I learned the most from him. To paraphrase him: “You have the first minute to capture the gesture, the next to articulate the form, the remainder to individualize it.” I have never gotten past the first minute leaving the viewer to fill in the rest. But I couldn´t have done that without studying with Mr. Rehberger-learning anatomy and watching his demonstrations.

He was the vice president of the Pastel Society of America (one of its founders). He would give wonderful art and music performances to large audiences drawing apocalyptic horses and figures to classical music- having his last stroke end exactly with the last note of the music.

A friend reading these newsletters of mine quoted George Burns: “You should not live in the past, but it is (SO) nice to have one.” She is right and it´s nice to share the memories.

GRAY FOX

by Britt Zaist

I met a nice man at a friends´ dinner party who wanted me to draw a gray fox for him. I am used to having clients provide the photos to work from. It was a busy time at the gallery (Galeria Izamal that I managed for 29 years) and I didn´t feel like going thru the research work for a gray fox. So, I stalled… He didn´t come back to SMA again; but he did send with his friends an enormous, expensive wildlife coffee table size book for me to select the gray fox photos to draw from. I honestly still didn´t want to do it. More time went by and the book remained unopened in my studio.

Then these same friends told me that their friend had cancer and was having a hard time paying his bills. I felt awful because he had bought this expensive book for me to keep and to draw from. I opened it right away– found photos to work from and drew a number of drawings of a gray fox. I scanned them to him to make his choice from and said I would send that piece in “his” book free as a gift from me. But it was too late. The nice man had died.

Eventually the drawings all sold…no doubt to people visiting the gallery who thought it was a dog. With my work-you never know… When we moved, I gave the book away to another artist who did wildlife drawings. I told him this story. He said it was sad that the man never got the fox drawings but that someone somewhere was loving them. That´s nice but I still feel badly about not doing his work promptly and for accepting his book.