Christmas Villages

I was at Ross the other day, and I saw these dome pedestal cupcake holders.  They are made from glass, come in two pieces, the pedestal foot and the dome.  The box said they were display domes for "cupcakes", well only one cupcake could fit. 
As I was standing there I got a "vision", yes a "vision".  I saw mini christmas villages under glass.  So I bought the cupcake domes, came home, dragged out all my christmas stuff and created these sparkly mini scenes. 
I hope you like them.

Dia de los Muertos

This is my latest oversized card made to celebrate Dia de los Muertos.  I love the way Catarina looks like she's stepping out of the hacienda doorway, dressed in her finest, with her hat and her skeleton filled birdcage dress.  It reminds me of the Aztec Goddess Coatlique with her skull skirt.  I've been finding inspiration this year for all my Halloween and Day of the Dead art within the Aztec pantheon. 
Well, I hope you like my latest creation!

Halloween in my Studio

I just love Halloween, and if its possible I love "making" Halloween Arte even more!  This year I'm working on Sugar Skulls, Arte Cards and some 3d Muerto Scenes!  Hope you like them.

The Eschaton

This little guy was created in a Michael DeMeng workshop at Zinnia in South Pasadena.  I really look forward to when Michael DeMeng teaches in southern califonria.  I enjoy his teaching style, which is well informed, on hands-demonstrations and with a real sense of purpose. 

I've been introduced to Terrence McKenna by my good friend Martin Madzarevic, and this arte piece is named in honor of Mr. McKenna.  I've named him, The Eschaton.  meaning The last thing. "The Eschaton is conceived of as a boundaryless and causeless chaotic attractor that is drawing all space and time deeper into states of novel connection and complexity." 

The Eschaton holds a bell in his left hand, which will signal the "end of all things" and he holds the universe in the right hand with the Earth at the center. 

Raven's Bowl of Berries

This particular canvas was actually inspired by a book.  The book, "The Peach Keeper" by Sarah Allen Addison.  This is one of those "magical realism"  books I love so much.  In the story, there is a description of a magical man who came to Walls of Water (the town) in the 1930's.  He enchanted the town, charmed the women and did "strange" things.  One story handed down from grandmother to grand daughter, was that this man actually put his hand into a primitive painting of a Raven on a bowl of Berries, but to his surprise the raven pecked his hand.  And to this day that painting still bears the red smudge of the magic man's blood on his beak.  So here is my mental picture of the Raven and his Bowl of Berries brought out from my mind into this 3-dimensional reality.

Have you ever been inspired to create from a book too?

Urban Birds - new art, new techniques

 These new canvasas I call, Urban Birds.  I saw a small picture of something like this in an art magazine, and I decided to try:  All you do is collage scrapbook paper onto a 12x12 canvas, then sketch in houses, highlight and shadow where appropriate, add the birdies and voila!  Urban Bird neighborhoods!   I'm going to make a few, and see if other people like them as much as I do.

Art Cards

I really like painting the Bird & Egg canvases, I also enjoy making their companion Art Cards.  I offer the canvases for sale at art shows, etsy and trunk sales.  It's nice to have the cards, because if a canvas has been sold, at least you can still have an art card of that print.  And I also think they are really pretty too!

Alice in Wonderland mixed media paper mache birdies

I stumbled into Michael's the other day and found these sweet little paper mache birds.  Then all of a sudden, "POW" inspiration hit me right between the eyes!  I've been creating with vintage papers and acylic paints lately and I thought why not add Alice in Wonderland scenes and text (in french)  to the backs, wings and sides of these sweet birds and paint them in a kind of robin's egg blue hues and rainbow hues.  So here is my studio, filled with pecking birds awaiting their turn and being painted!  When I'm done I will put a few of these in my etsy store.  I really like them though, so maybe I'll keep most of them around.

Transcend the Supermarket

Sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes when I go to the supermarket I get anxious.  I don't know if it's the people,  the prices or the supermarket staff, but sometimes I feel like I can't breathe. 

Well, one yard-sale-saturday I found a huge folio of The Brawley News, from 1953, it's all the daily newspapers for april thru june. It's  really cool, with the old advertisements, new cars for a thousand bucks, jalopy races and such, but when I ran into the supermarket page I felt anxious (weird, huh). 

So I decided to use that market page and place the Buddah smiling serenly in the middle of all the specials! 
I call this hardboard canvas, "Transcend the Supermarket". Now, I look at this right before I go to the market and chant, "rabbits only 22 cents a pound......"

Turtle crystal baby

Here's my latest crystal creation, he's a turtle.  This turtle is in honor of the two turtles my son recieved for his birthday from my niece Mary Sarabia-Aguilar and her husband Albert.  My son loves those little turtle guys; he's named them Yoshi and Uguay.

Out of the box Virgen de Guadalupe

This particular canvas really had me stumped for weeks and weeks.  I knew I wanted to create a 3d looking box shrine and place a virgin figure inside, but at first I tried a standing one, but then it was Guadalupe that wanted to be in the shrine.  But after days and days of trying to place her in the shrine and getting really really frustraed, I stopped, and listened and heard that she wanted to shine out of the box with her star.  This canvas was really directed by La Virgen herself.  I'm ashamed to admit that I fought, and fought, thinking I was fighting the canvas, but I wasn't, It's just that I wasn't listening and I wasn't open to her leading. But now I understand.

Believe - a Faerie named Jack

I just love stuff in bottles, bottles filled with water, with flowers in them.  I love the way the sun comes through the water.  When I was little I used to make terrariums filled with plastic dinosaurs, or I used to filll huge pickle jars with ladybugs and create a ladybug ecosphere.  I guess that's why my boys always have terrariums filled with lizards, crickets, newts, and trapdoor spiders.  It doesn't bug me, I know where they get it from, Me.  With this canvas I wanted to take a "snap shot" of what a little girl would have on her self after an afternoon of gathering items in the woods.  This one particular day she happened upon a fairy.  She places him on the shelf in her room and unloads the jacks she's got in her pocket onto the shelf too.   My childhood wasn't that great, so I guess I'm using my art to heal certain aspects of it.  Hope that wasn't too much information, but I really hope you like this little canvas, I do!

Time Grows

Continuing with the hardboard canvas journey.  I just finished this larger hardboard, it's titled Time Grows. I like the still life thing, flowers, vases, eggs, birds, clocks.  Don't know what the Universe has instore for this year, but I'm sure it will be fantastic!  So here goes, Time Grows, hope you like it.

Birds and Eggs a study

Continuing my Bird & Egg journey.  I just finished these four mini canvas.  I really enjoyed working on these, I used my stash of ledger papers and french novels for the background papers.  Then I sketched, stamped, and drew the images, used golden acrylic paints for the color layering, black pastel for the shadows.  The best thing was I really enjoyed was the "process".  It wasn't about making something someone else likes, or something that will sell.  It's about creating something I like, and I guess if I like it so will others. I think the worst part about creating something is trying to figure out "what will sell?", I hate that.  It puts all this pressure on you, to make the sale, to make the money........ that's not what I'm about.    I want my art to touch people, to speak to their soul and ultimately to heal them somehow.  That's why I do it.  So I hope you like these mini's:  Bird and Egg study

Hope perches in the Soul

I love the way Pam Carriker paints eggs.  My goal with this canvas board was to paint the "eggs" the way Pam does.  I also wanted to see if I could use acrylic paint to gradiate colors that would look like a sunset.  This is the second canvas I've painted and stamped and added vintage ledger books to. The quote is from Emily Dickenson a very profound poet.  I love the way the printed words show through the eggs.  I took the vintage pages from the book of Les Miserables in French, the ledger pages are from 1918 and the other pages are from the 1930's.  My son, Michael, says, Wait! You can't tear up ledger papers from the 1918's and put them in your art, isn't that wrong?"  And I say, "No, all things have a life of their own, and this is the ledger papers' new journey in the world."  And he says, "Oh, .....Mom, can I have that canvas, it's cool."    So there you go,  I hope you like the "rebirth" of old ledger papers too.

Sunrise Vigil

Continuing on with my new art exploration, I wanted to try Canvas, that is stretched canvas.  I had never tried and been intimidated actually, but after a seminar on Golden Acrylics taken at Zinnia in south pasadena (www.zinnia.biz),  guidance from somerset studio magazine and some "birdy" inspiration from a very talented artist and friend, Martin Madzarevic, I was on my way. 
So here's my latest creation with canvas, acrylic paint, ink, embossing, distressed birdies and watch parts! 

I've titled it: Sunrise Vigil.     I hope you like it.

Morning Studio - Canvas Hardboard

During winter I take a "break" from artwork styles I usually do and try new techniques, themes and supplies.  I've been wanting to work with canvas for a long time now.  I looked through my Somerset Studio,  Apprentice and Workshop magazines and found an artist style I really, really love.  It's Pam Carriker's article that I found! (Somerset Studio "Aubergine" issue, jan/feb 2010 http://www.pamcarriker.com/).  This article, "The Color Purple" inspired me to use Canvas Hardboard.  I used ephemera, stamps, Golden acrylics, ink, Liquid Pencil, and I even tried my hand at sketching!  I'm excited about these new tools and techniques and very, very inspired.  So here's my very first canvas hardboard creation it's titled "Morning Studio". 

I hope you like it.