Alina as Odalisque
pencil 7.5 x 11.75in
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by Henry Vermillion

Maria, my drawings of whom are lost to time, was my first model in San Miguel – in 1992. Maria was a shaman/curandera as well as a model, and as sensible and practical as anyone I've ever known. She did a spiritual "cleansing" of my wife, Britt, to help prevent her from falling in the cobbled San Miguel streets. The cleansing helped.

Sad Alina
charcoal, pastel on paper 31 x 24in
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Luz was a sturdy ranch-born woman. At age 18, an American offered her a job at the Instituto Allende. She came on the appointed day, was directed to a classroom where the American art instructor welcomed her, and to her shock, showed her the screens where she would undress before she modelled. And she did it, then and for years until her grandchildren told her she should stop.

Alina was a beautiful woman with a haunting trace of sadness in her face. She later died of a drug overdose in Veracruz.

Martin is modest and soft spoken, a body-builder, and an excellent model. He occasionally has to cancel his modeling dates because his other job comes first: he's a mariachi.

Martin
conte on paper 8 x 11in
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Pillo has been a regular model in my weekly life drawing sessions since 1993. "Pillo" – which is slang for a rascally or shrewd person – is only a shortened version of Elpigio, his real name. Like the rest of us, his physique has changed since 1993; he's thinner and less muscular now, and more interesting to draw. One thing has not changed: he uses his hands as a dancer would - expressively. Pillo is proud to say that he has never had a paying job other than being a professional artist's model.

Pillo, a funny pencil drawing
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Henry Vermillion was born in El Paso, and grew up in small towns in Texas and New Mexico. He graduated from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, with degrees in English literature and biology. He studied Social Work in the MSW program at the University of Texas in Austin.

In November of 1992, Henry, his wife Britt Zaist, and five other painters opened the co-op Galeria Izamal, which, until its closing in January of 2022, was San Miguel's oldest art gallery.

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