True Riches Second Part
By Federico Leon de la Vega - August 2006 - Leer en Español
Each day I would wake up to anxiously follow the stock market journey. I consulted with an expert. After analyzing my portfolio he advised to sell everything immediately. How can I sell at 5 dollars stock I bought for 25? -I protested. "In a week they wont be worth 50 cents" -he answered. Once all hope of recovery was lost, I promptly sold all the stock that I had. The money left was only enough to survive a few months.
 I remember in those days I saw a Newsweek magazine where two cartoons expressed the ordeal retired investors were going through. In one of them an old lady was shown delivering hamburgers on roller skates. In the other, an old timer was illustrated at the beach, sitting on the life saver's chair ordering everyone: Back to work! vacations were over! - I admire this virtue Americans have for humor in self-criticism. In that very moment I decided I was not going to be depressed but laugh instead and start over. I had no alternative: I could not fail my family, my sons, mi little two-year old daughter, nor myself. Luli and I immediately reduced our expenses and concentrated our efforts to produce income. Lupita, my sister in law, had come to Puerto Vallarta to help us move from Chapala and decided to interrupt her university studies and stay longer to continue helping in spite of circumstances. Her and my wife managed the operation of a dump truck for a few months. We had purchased the truck to save on construction materials when we were to invest in building some spec houses. Now that we didn't even have enough to buy our own house and the truck became our first business. It certainly wasn't what any of us had envisioned as an ideal job, but there was a lot of construction going on in Vallarta and delivering gravel, sand and stones did pay our bills.
Nobody knew me as a painter artist in Vallarta. Everyday I would show my art portfolio to every architect and designer I could find in all of Banderas Bay. John Youden, the Editor Vallarta Lyfestyles, was a helpful friend and gave me some free advertisement to get started. My studio was practically non-existent, so all my information consisted on a photo of the "Intimate Pair" and two telephone numbers for art buyers to locate me. Juan Collignon also helped by introducing me to some interesting people. Adriana Gangoitti was first to commission me to do a painting.
Lupe Wulff and her family were helpful as they always are. Lupe came to me with an offer I couldn't refuse: she needed 100 paintings to decorate the "El Anclote" apartments her father, Guillermo Wulff was about to finish. The problem was she only had $10,000 US that is $100 per painting. Even in my early beginnings my prices had not been so low, but Lupe has always been a good negotiator and she had brought 50% in cash. This was precisely the amount we needed to complete the price of the lot we wanted to buy, where our Estudio-Café is now located. So on the condition that I would not sign those paintings Lupe and I shook hands on the deal. I then rented a warehouse where I would lay the canvas 10 at a time and work on my knees. They measured 75x100cm each so they took a lot of ground. I did the sizing myself, then coated them with acrylic and began laying different marine subjects on them: fish and sealife, boats and seascapes. At the start I thought I would work in series, like a machine, without worrying much...but this became impossible for me. Each piece captured my attention, and even against and the haste to get it over with, it demanded that I give all I could in those circumstances. This is when I realized that painting was really my thing. I finished the paintings. Lupe promptly paid, we sold the dump truck. Nevertheless, repairs and unexpected expenses reduced our savings considerably, so my brother Gerardo, who has always been a good brother, lent us the balance and with great enthusiasm we finally bought our lot.
Two years later, while visiting John Youden and his beautiful wife Florence, I saw a painting that seemed to me well composed and original in spite of the materials it was made with. I praised their painting -I think it is yours- John said...and yes, I remembered then this as one of the Anclote paintings. John had had one of those apartments and later sold it, but kept the painting. In another occasion, an American lady came to my studio and asked that I sign one of these paintings in exchange for some money. Since the painting was not at all bad I did sign, but refused the money. The flattery I received was payment enough.
We now had a good piece of earth to build on and a clear idea of what I wanted to do with it, but no money to build. While conversing with a newly made friend about this problem I received some unexpected advice which dawned on me as something I had never seen "... my grand parents, and perhaps yours as well, came to Mexico by boat, with very little money. As soon as they could they bought some land and from the very first night they slept and lived there. Your city boy mentality is stopping you from doing what you need do". I then learned from many reputable friends who had gone through lack of comfort in order to build their Vallarta dreams. Mari Pepa Gonzalez' mother, such a good looking refined lady as she is, was one of them. This gave me courage and so we began building with no more than enough to pay materials and labor of the first month; the rest would have to be produced as we went, and so we started.
I resorted to all the strategies that came to my mind to promote sales of my art work. On one occasion I organized an "Invisible Auction" that is, I sent an invitation to all who knew the value of my work to buy one of my large paintings at 50% value in exchange for an immediate cash payment and their patience for the painting to become visible (the paintings were of course still to be executed).
Surprised by the good results, I raised enough money to keep construction going for a good while. I must say that people from Vallarta, both Mexicans and North Americans were very generous. My biggest problem was producing the paintings, which took me more than a year to complete. We ran out of money many times, but there was always a strike of luck or another clever idea.
To be continued next month.
Federico León de la Vega
E-mail: fleondelavega@hotmail.com
Author Note: This is a chapter of a book I am writing about my adventures as a painter artist.
The Federico León de la Vega Estudo – Café is open to the public and is located in Paseo de la Marina 31, Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit. Opening hours are Monday to Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Sundays from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m.
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