recuerda mi corazón

we are all a gift to each other.....

inspiration has been slow in coming. nevertheless.......i managed to finish a madonna named "la virgen de huayalolen" named after my best friend's  love of gardening, especially gardening with roses. www.casadulcehogar.blogspot.com 

 i would like to share this post with "recuerda mi corazón" since i just discovered her blog through lynne hoppe

and lloved it.

the rest of the week has been spent mostly exploring the backroads near our home, bicycling, and experimenting with digital art with several neat apps.

i love how this santos cagedoll turned out with a frame from flickr's "playing with brushes".

with this one you can see i got a wee bit ambitious, using several layers and all sorts of editing.

what do you think of our backroads? we live in an area surrounded by farmland, mainly orange and avocado groves.

and this is my largest painting so far, 12x16 on wood panel.  it now hangs in my bedroom to remind me that if you really set your mind to it, you can do it; it just takes patience and perseverance. 

with no formal training, i have read and studied other peoples work, sifting through subjects and techniques that i like. then, i just went for it....trial and error, over and over and over until i got the hang of it.  but most importantly, i realized that it is the process that i enjoy even if some of the results are poor.  being in those creative moments are some of the best moments in my daily life.

when i paint, or sew, or knit, or collage.....i enter a zone, a deep spiritual zone where i find a great calm.

art is so therapeutic....so freeing and to create beauty such a reward in itself. i feel these faces coming alive, smiling at me, thanking me even, almost like i've given birth. 

after three weeks of dis-comfort and malaise, taking antibiotics and almost listless, i am back in full swing. what a scare....nausea for days on end, blood in my pipi and an uncertain diagnosis had me thinking the worst.  but GOD is good and brought me through it.  ill health really makes you think, and value.  so i am trying to make some changes, bought a bicycle and am determined to smoke less, eat better (although i cook really healthy anyway)and go to bed earlier.

the weather suddenly shifted today, calling for the  indoors and reflection, a message to myself to put a little order and play catch up.

"BIRD WHISPERER"

 feats: i finally got to make the miniature book i have for so long wanted to make with dominos.  it will be a gift to a loved friend.

finishing up a few of my fabric pieces, especially the ones i promised a friend in new zealand.

getting my chilean passport.

and new friends thanks to the internet, particularly nina bagley in north carolina, another kindred spirit.

in the midst of illness, an invitation not to be refused. what fortune.......to be invited by scott  to see thick as a brick 1 and 2 live at the greek theatre. ian anderson non plus ultra with the flute and all the other instruments he plays.  and the percussionist was also amazing. 

years since i had been in the los feliz area and the first time eating lebanese food at marouch restaurant.

thank you scott for such a beautiful gift for your father.

summer is suddenly upon us and how things take a turn.

at last, the beach with lombardo's famous sandwiches packed in the "good 'ol days picnic basket" together with kettle chips and antipasto salad, guacamole, peaches and cooling thirst quenchers. ofcourse i spent most of the time beachcombing and for the first time in years found tons of sea glass.

how i love beachcombing. 

another of my fabric mini dresses

and a few works in progress on the wall

and tucked in there, our fourth of july when i love to re watch john adams and ken burn's "the west", reliving america's history that i love so much more each year.

and as for my art......just a,little

Experimentation

how time flies, literally. maybe that's why i painted this bed; could it be my subconscious trying to tell me to get more rest.

things seem to happen faster and faster and faster. lately i feel I can barely catch my breath between events so have been purposely trying to slow down.

not, however, with my painting.

 

both of these paintings won recognition on flickr this week on EXPLORE, a gift to my creative ego. and i awoke one morning to find that i had sold seven of my originals in a 24 hour period.  a few hours later that number jumped to 9. every penny is being saved (GOD willing) for the dream cabin on my land in puerto varas since the central heating alone will be quite pricey. chile can get bitterly cold in winter.

 

friends arrived from puerto rico for more celebrations. the pace of slowing down picked up pace again as we wandered off to santa barbara's botanical gardens and then to the santa inez valley extending ily's birthday as much as we could before her parents moved on to new york where her brother will be taking a class in screenwriting.

KIKI

 

oh how my girl has grown

 

next week will be jon's 29th. hopefully we can join him in san francisco to spend it together; its been hard not having him near.

at least we had him down for a couple of days for richard's birthday, having come down on the Amtrak surfliner train, backpack and david byrne's book as sole luggage. 

we talked about art ofcourse and how to be independent in the art field and how to jump start a small business in order to have the freedom for "what really matters in life". 

i enjoyed him thoroughly as mother/son went for coffee and book browsing at barnes & noble, small walks and he exploring the surroundings on a bicycle and taking photographs which is his passion. 

 

ily & her brother luis gabriel, the one who loves film and will be taking a screenwriting class.

 

ily's mother Kiki, a real beauty and an expert triathlon athlete as well as jovial and very funny.

i have started a new collection.  can you guess? all handmade ofcourse. the one on the left is by nostalgia at the stonehouse (england, and the two others by mary stanley. which made me think i want to paint a giant heart filled with little nooks of words i love, people i love, little miniature paintings of things i love.  will i stick to it?

found on Pinterest ofcourse