Now Comes the Hard Part; What Will You Think?
Here you have it, a project that has been rambling round my head for years and finally got started three months ago when my assistant, María José, suggested, “We’re not doing much else, why don’t we start on your recipes-with-prints idea? Suddenly, getting up in the morning in the boring and confusing life under Covid controls began to have meaning. It’s true, happiness is a project.
The recipes are my own personal favorites. Some of them I inherited from my mother and grandmother, some from friends and some of the best local dishes from our pueblo, Pinos Genil. I have included some vegetarian dishes and some are my own creative experiments. I hope you will find them interesting. This has been an inspiring learning experience for me and I’m happy to see the result.
Preparing an edition is, beyond the image making, a lot of work. The Spanish would say it’s a combination of “arte y artesanía.” Once you’ve refined your sketches and burned them onto plates, you’ve got all that printing to do by hand. Though this edition is a small one, with only 19 portfolios, each one has 16 prints. Add to that the hand coloring of all of them. Then there was the text. As it is impractical to handwrite the recipes in English and Spanish on plates, the answer was a print shop and all the complication that entails. For both of these problems I had extraordinary luck close at hand. They are named María José, my near-daughter whom you have already met, and our neighbor, Ricardo, who owns one of Granada’s most exquisite print shops, la Imprenta del Arco. I’m forever thankful for his patience with all my changes and his excellent criteria concerning my doubts. And I don’t want to forget María José’s lovely daughter, Silvia Romera Braojos, who did the translation into Spanish and the formatting of the text.
Young Old Friends
So each DIN-A4-sized recipe has Ricardo’s offset text on one side and my hand-pulled original print on the other. One of the advantages of living in the same place for 50 years is that you know whom you can rely on. And our pueblo, Pinos Genil, is a great place to live. I have an added advantage here. In the late 1970s I used to give painting lessons in the town square to all the children who were interested, and today I am privileged to have all of those children as 40-and-50-year-old friends.
I haven’t had much feedback yet, except for our old friend, the doctor/painter, Rafael Sánchez, who dropped by last night for one of his amusing visits. He saw the portfolio, said, “This is art on the outside and art on the inside,” and took one home with him. That was encouraging, Rafa, thank you.
As for how to enjoy/display/use these prints is up to the owner. You would have to have a pretty big kitchen to frame and hang 16 prints. You could leave the portfolio on a coffee table (along with a pair of white cotton gloves). Or enjoy figuring out your own creative solution. If you think you might like to have one of the 15 remaining portfolios (discounting one each for María José, Ricardo and me) you can email me at maureenluciabooth(at)gmail.com.
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Printmaking Courses in Spain 
The finished portfolio looks fantastic, Maureen. Well done!
Thanks, Harald. This will be a nice little boost for the artist.
What a wonderful project. Buen provecho!
Thanks for your good wishes, Dot.
Maureen, this is a great idea and what a way to utilize the pandemic hours! I’m sure it’s gorgeous.
What a rewarding project, Maureen. Buen provecho!
I would love to see this!
Hi Sheana, You’ve seen a sample of it on my site. If you want to see it up close and feel the texture of the paper you’ll have to come down to my studio. When is that going to happen? All the best, Maureen
Absolutely beautiful Maureen! Bravo to you! XxOo
looks great Maureen! I can’t afford the portfolio but I’d like to.pop in next year and get your recipes!xxx
Looking forward to it, Luisa. See you then. Maureen
Dear Maureen and Mike, It’s certainly NOT hard to respond that your “Maureen’s Kitchen/La Cocina de Maureen” portfolio edition of prints and recipes is absolutely terrific. I think it signifies an impressive and courageous response to the unbelievable pandemic circumstances! So many art groups had to dismantle or try to Zoom during those trying 18 months, and yet you two created a personal and community effort that resulted in an amazing artistic accomplishment!
I am just barely back in my neighborhood print shop this May thanks to a long time mentor here who is practically offering private “classes” just to keep the print shop up and running. I also know the creative demands of making plates and pulling prints, hand coloring the individual prints, and then compiling everything. Of course I also appreciate that at the same time all involved in sustaining this effort are meeting your high standards. It’s thrilling for me to see that you have done this, even at my great distance.
I have been trying to figure out how to support your work. With too many of my own paper “masterpieces” collecting dust here, I now only aim to make 3-4 “winners” of every print, figuring one for each child plus an extra for whichever relative I was thinking of (of course with love!) while I made it! Selling artwork is not my game, sadly.
That said, you need to demand $2,000-3,000 + for each portfolio, a price few average folks can manage. However, my print shop circle artist friends were mulling over how you might reap some deserved benefit from your publication. What I think is a brilliant idea was suggested…with Tapas restaurants opening all over the US (of course all over Granada and Spain, etc.) you need to sell the prints and the pandemic story of the community banding together to heal via this project as a pitch for such restaurants to frame and decorate with the contents of the portfolio. I can think of no more appropriate adornment for a classy Spanish restaurant! In short, CONGRATULATIONS and best of luck as your lock down victory saga unfolds!
With love thinking about you in your studio and su casa, Cathy Naro
Sent from my iPad
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Cathy, you are kindness and generosity personified. I’m not sure I deserve such praise, though I admit I love it.
You know who prodded me to get to work on this portfolio? Mª José, my assistant, who is like a daughter. Then she helped me pull the prints and color some of them.
Re: pricing. I don’t know what to charge, so I wrote a couple of people in the States who know about that stuff. Let’s see what they say. I doubt it will be in the $2000-$3,000 range, but there are 16 hand-illuminated prints… We shall see. My experience is that overpricing is the kiss of death.
Re: Tapas bars. That’s a good idea, but not this time. This is more my personal cookery theme. If this works I could think about a tapas theme. That would be fun.
Oh, could I have your permission to quote from this lovely note of yours on my website?
Glad to hear you’re getting back into making prints. It’s great for your colesterol. (We saw a sign posted along our favorite riverside walking path yesterday that said, “Picking up the trash along the way is also good for your colesterol.”) P.S. You can see some recent pictures of that walk on Mike’s village blog, here: http://somospineros.com. The text is in Spanish but the photos are photos.
Meanwhile, thanks for your support. You’re such a quality kid. And you really made my day.
Big hugs from both of us for both of you,
Maureen and Mike
Glad to learn about your exciting project, and “Maureens Kitchen” looks gorgeous with the print recipes.
Thanks, Mamta. Soon you’ll be able to come down and see us.
Big Spanish-style hugs for both of you,
Maureen and Mike