This page presents art—paintings and drawings—that I created in Yelapa, a community surrounding a cove and surrounded by mountains, off the Bay of Banderas in the state of Jalisco in Mexico, at the beginning of 2019. (Some earlier paintings I did of Yelapa can be found here.) Yelapa is unreachable by car and its calles are rocky and often steep, so the only motorized vehicles are ATVs, known as motos. And the only way to get there is by boat, usually from Puerto Vallarta (or, if you're ambitious, you can drive to the “truck stop” depicted in one of the paintings below, and hike down from there).

HOUSE IN THE JUNGLE
9"X11" • $450
I climbed the rough trail that circles up and around the town waterfall to paint this. There are several of these kinds of buildings up there. I think the tree in the lower left corner is a mango. If anyone recognizes the tree that puts out the boughs of globby leaves seen at the top, let me know.

BOATS IN COVE
11"X9" • $450
View from Casas Garcia where we stayed. Most of these boats double as taxis and cargo carriers.

TRUCK STOP
15"x11" • $650
This is as close as you can get to Yelapa in a car or truck. A passing farmer told me the tree in the center is called a salate.

PEACE WALL AND PALM TREE
11"x9" • $450
This is near the center of town. The image of the potted plants was painted onto the “peace wall” by our friend Cynthia Packard.

HORSE AND CELLPHONE
15"x11" • $650
Rio del Tuito is shallow and flat for the first mile or so upriver from the beach, full of people and horses and birds, and lined by sandy beaches and willow trees. I suppose the river creates an opening in the forest canopy that makes it a good spot to talk on the phone.

MOUNTAINS AND VINES
11"x9" • $450
View across Rio del Tuito, a half a mile upriver from the bridge.

TETHERED HORSE AND SANDBAGS
11"x9" • $450
Yelapa horses sometimes roam free, but this one wasn’t.

CONSTRUCTION SITE
9"x11" • $450
This is a view from one of the many guest houses under construction around the edges of the village.

ABANDONED RESORT
11"x15" • $650
This is more of a colored drawing than a painting. It’s a view of a remarkable resort, set into the steep slopes at the easternmost point of the cove, that apparently didn’t make it. The palapa-style units are strewn with broken microwaves and TV sets and maintenance equipment, and the serpentine cement walkway leading to the resort has collapsed in a couple of places, so you have to jump over a chasm at one point and clamber through the rocks below at another.

VINE AND DOORWAY
9"x11" • $450
The house next door to where we stayed, and the strange tree and vine between the two buildings. The stairs at lower right lead to the lagoon and beach, some distance below.

LAUNCH SITE
11"x9" • $450
While I was painting this meadow 600 feet above the village and the cove, a paraglider came up the trail and launched right in front of me.

RIVER HOUSE
9"x11" • $450
House on the road to the town waterfall (“la cascada”), viewed from across a river.


These are pages from a small sketchbook. The original drawings are not for sale but prints are available.

VIEW FROM THE RIDGE
My most challenging hike brought me to this spot. I started climbing from Rio del Tuito near the school, and pushed myself more than I normally would because I sensed I was approaching a mountaintop, but it turned out to be merely a ridge between two foothills. It was too late in the day by then to start a painting, so I did this instead.

YELAPA YACHT CLUB
At The Yacht Club (which is not a yacht club) the food is good, there’s a nice view of the town beach and harbor, the flower arrangements are lovely, and they have entertainment almost every night. A superb guitarist/singer named Oliver Greenlaw leads several bands that play here and at Mimi’s and The Oasis—he was setting up behind me while I was drawing this.

STANDUP PADDLEBOARDING
The foreground shows the eastern shore of the cove, with the remains of a pool. The path along this shore leads to the spot depicted in one of the paintings above, “Abandoned Resort.”

STICKS AND FRONDS
I sketched the debris at my feet while I was working on a painting and waiting for some colors to dry.

ROAD TO TOWN
“Calle Marlin” is the main drag that runs through Yelapa, viewed here at a spot halfway between Casas Garcia and the village.

ISLAND
The black shape, center left, is the river beyond the island, and beyond that is a sandy and shady beach where horses and cattle and birds hang out. None of the mammals would hold still for me, but I did manage to work in a chicken.

LITTLE RIVER, BIG ROCK
I wish I could have included a living creature in this one for scale. The rock is at least 15 feet tall. You can see a little bit of the little river in lower left corner.

Paintings are sold unframed. For all inquiries, email me (Nick Thorkelson): nthork@nickthorkelson.com
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