Of palettes and paddleboards
“Written in Sand,” by Zen Del RioPaintbrush and surfboard Catching an art wave with Zen Del Rio It was my last question of the afternoon, but it might as well have been the first: So tell me, Zen, how did you get your name? Zen Del Rio in his Lunada Bay studio. Photo“While my mother was pregnant with me, in 1957, she had the pleasure to see a Zen master named D.T. Suzuki, and she was impressed with his way about him, the way he answered all these analytic and philosophic questions. After the lecture she walked up to him to thank him and he touched her belly and said, Don’t be surprised if you have a Zen baby. And so she thought about it and ended up giving me that name.” Soon after, Zen Del Rio was born in Mexico City where he lived until he was nine, when his family moved to Malaga Cove and lived near the Neighborhood Church. His mother, Gemma (Zen also has a sister by that name), was an accomplished artist and taught various classes. “I grew up in her studio learning about art, and I knew early on that I was meant to be an artist.” In Malaga Cove, and living only a block or so from the beach, Zen picked up another lifelong passion: “My older brother Juan’s friends were surfers…
Read this story on easyreadernews.com