Jon T Aguilar / Master Stonebuilder + Artist

06/07/2026

(Discovered this waterfall last week here in La Plata canyon.)

I am seriously thinking about organizing a 1-week WORKSHOP event this Fall here in Durango, Colorado to learn how to BUILD a DRYSTONE PORTAL.

The workshop would involve so much more… real human connection + total immersion in nature + fire + outdoor cooking (local venison, elk, beef & lamb) + my personal design-build principles & methods + tool learning & a lot more!

Whatever I organize is never half-ass. It’s “all out” and meant for you to have a mind-blowing experience that you take home with you whether just for you, your home and family and/or your own stonebuilding business.

If this happens I would limit it to probably x7 persons.

There would be no requirements other than full commitment. I imagine it would last a full 7 days.

If you would be interested let me know in the comments or DM.

05/31/2026

Yep… super cheesy song I chose…😄

Another Weekend Update:

We moved to the West side… I laced the rest of the cheek wall Sam built with the “big boy” wall. Now that the vertical coping is done I’ll focus on finishing up the “big boy” wall before we set red sandstone caps on the entire 150’ run.

1- LEAD DESIGNER & PROJECT DIRECTOR:
Sam Johnson &

2- TEAM:
- Tim
- Tanner
- Nate (new guy)
- Myself

3) MATERIALS, TOOLS, MISC.:

- Moving towards 900 tons of 100% raw ROCK dumped on site that we turn into STONE with tools

- 100% of every stone on this project has been shaped by us with drills, feathers/ wedges, saws, grinders, hammers and chisels

- Excavator, walk-behind, MQuip vacuum lifter are our machines

We got about another 2,000 face feet of freestanding stone wall to build and more features.

05/10/2026

Weekend Update:

Shot this video yesterday. One take. No edits. Apologies for any audio issues🙂

We still have many months to go.

1- LEAD DESIGNER & PROJECT DIRECTOR:
Sam Johnson &

2- TEAM:
- Tim
- Tanner
- Nate (new guy)
- Myself

3) MATERIALS, TOOLS, MISC.:

- Moving towards 900 tons of 100% raw ROCK dumped on site that we turn into STONE with tools

- 100% of every stone on this project has been shaped by us with drills, feathers/ wedges, saws, grinders, hammers and chisels

- Excavator, walk-behind, MQuip vacuum lifter are our machines

We got about another 2,000 face feet of freestanding stone wall to build and more features.

05/10/2026

05/02/2026

Some Raw Thoughts About Being a Creative:

I call myself a High Creative. I ventured into the creative world very late. I thought and planned for a career in the military. I didn’t come across the drystone method until I was 39. Just recently I began to see myself as an Artist and Experience Designer. Now, it’s all I want to do 24-7... design, build, create.

I’ve been saying for some time now that “the time for the Creatives in the world has come”. The insane level of creative urges and ideas came to me after I had a series of very intense experiences and personal revelations in the spiritual realm first from a few psychedelic experiences.

These thoughts then arrived most substantially and beautifully in the past 2 years since I did a “180” in my life and chose to fully follow God with my whole heart.

The world is so full of division, ugliness and fakery right now and we humans desperately need beauty, awe, wonder and connection as part of our experience on this planet.

God is the Master Creator, and he has super-intensified in me a creative fire that feels all-consuming and often overwhelming. The ideas that have been revealed to me are far beyond my own human capacity to execute. I’ve spent a lot of time praying, meditating, asking and listening to God about if I’m supposed to move on any of these ideas. So far, the answer is “yes”, but only one small step is being revealed to me and my team at a time. I have to completely let go of my expected outcome and results too.

(The name of this global venture is “The PORTAL”. It is completely separate from this current stone project here in Durango, Colorado. That is all I will reveal right now.)

(Read the rest of my post in comments 👇🏼)

04/26/2026

LATEST UPDATE from the project I’m working on with Sam for his clients here in Durango, Colorado + Tanner + Timothy

Sam is throwing up wall stone like a mad man. Timothy and Tanner are laying flagstone and I’ve spent 6-9 hours for each boulder to become an end stone for the “big boy” wall.

04/20/2026

Thank you!

04/19/2026

UPDATE from the project I’m working on with Sam for his clients here in Durango, Colorado + Tanner + Timothy

We still have about another 4 weeks on this stairwell portion. Building the end of the “big boy” wall and the inner left side of the stairwell.

04/12/2026

My son Torin drew these pencil drawings of Mos Def and Kendrick Lamar when he was about 11 years old on the first go.

He’s insanely talented in a super wide range of creative skills from building his own banjo to sewing his own clothes based on patterns from the mid 19th century.

02/01/2026

I love reading.

I miss libraries and bookstores that you get “lost in” for a couple of hours.

When I moved into this very small studio north of Durango in September of 2024 I was sitting on a couch opposite of this blank wall.

I had this thought - “I want to have an E X P E R I E N C E of being surrounded by books.”

This design immediately popped into my imagination and I saw the whole “reading nook” built.

It took a while to source the details I wanted (the color and shape of the chair + the map of Spain + the wall covering) but I finished it this week.

When I sit in this space I feel different - a variety of mini-experiences.
azxd