Hello friends, HAPPY SPRING TIME 🌹 in the north hemisphere, welcome to the blog!
I'm celebrating for several reasons: the exhibition of my painting, TRANSITION at the Webster Groves Art Gallery and SPRING time, we're finally starting another spring cycle. I'll finally see flowers and more sunshine, warm days to be outside and renew my inspiration. This is so exciting and makes me appreciate every season of the year and how each one has a special charm.
Also, I was not painting as much as I usually do because I was having intense headaches. It's not something I usually suffer from, but the past days, with the planetary conjunction, the eclipse, the tornado, the solar flares, and all the crazy weather events, I think they've hit me energetically, and has been so much that I had to move my bed again to a place near the window to recalibrate my energy, and has worked because I can now sleep better and suddenly I have surges of intense energy and the next day I was painting, making new projects but not exercise...guilty!.
I feel excited because my painting is moving to another stage of style, something more organic and with more flow, Im still playing with the background at the bottom and I have changed a little bit some parts, I like it!.
Starting a new stage, just like the name of my beautiful painting, TRANSITION, is all about going out and not losing the admiration for nature. Something I love when spring begins is the smell of juniper. I love the smell, scratching some of it and smelling my hands, bringing with me some leaves from Mr. Juniper's after asking him for permission to boil it at home, or keeping them near my work area to enjoy that smell of trees, forest, and greenery.
But back to my painting Transition, here I share some images from the event and some of my favorite paintings.
Here mi favorite pieces from the show
Artist:
-A muddy walk, Laura Green
-Ephemeral moment, Abigail García
-Spring Retreat, Marilynne Bradley
-Pink pants in the park, Sheila Lamberson
-United Bas-relief, Chet Geiselman
-Garden Guardian, Cassandra Klifoy
-Gold dragonfly, Jonty Kasku-Jackson
-Summit of the distant mountain, Sun Liu
-Fragmented view 2, Amir Hamamy Toosi
About my painting:
"I was working during the 2022 equinox a sketch related to the spring, the new beginning, flowers, colors, new light and warmth. A new approach I have seen… I have been working shapes and colors in a different way, or at least I can feel this, everything was more loose, despite the usual blends I have added a lot of juxtaposed brushstrokes, a mix of figurative and abstraction, so far I'm so excited with this piece. 👩🏻🎨🎨🌸.
When I was making and painting this piece I felt like a change was so needed, after the lockdown I needed to hatch to spread my wings and fly to the adventure of a new chapter. With the change of season I thought how accurate it was to paint this, because it was not intentional to paint according to the change but it happened naturally. I just felt right and surprised about being working with colorful flowers, a woman that I see like a representation of new energy and beautiful things to come. Intuitively I chose the white owl, then after a few days I was looking about the meaning of the owl and I was so surprised to find out this:
A white owl represents the law of nature: everything that is born eventually dies and is reborn again in a different form. White owls symbolize change, transformation, and inner wisdom. The color white also symbolizes purity and innocence, representing light.
Now, that my painting is finished I can understand how I have downloaded the information from the ethereal word to the manifestation. The clues were always there and I just connected to make them visible through this special painting".
In other news...I can't tell you how important its to me to sprint time in nature. As an introvert, being in these kinds of places is perfect, and a few hours are all it takes to feel recharged. This week I spent St. Patrick's Day hiking in Powder Valley. I usually visit this place around this time. As I started the trail, my first thought was that I'd forgotten my staff (a piece of branch I found a while ago and sometimes I use for hiking). A few steps later, I found a perfect one! How wonderful it is when the universe responds immediately! So, the whole trail, I was happy with my new staff.
Whenever I see plank-like stones, I like to lie down and feel the stone. I once did this during a hike where I felt incredibly ill, feeling like I was going to get an ambulance. Then I walked over to a large stone where I laid down, I surrendered to the moment, and connected to the stone. I stayed there for a few minutes imagining the stone was giving me back my energy. I know it sounds crazy, but it worked! I felt so happy and surprised, and I loved nature even more.
Have you ever ALWAYS seen hearts everywhere? I see them even in food, rocks, or the most unexpected place. This time I took pictures of some of the many I saw on the tree trunks.
I love seeing mushrooms as decorations on tree trunks! I also saw an unusual-shaped rock.
Happy as a hobbit or something like that, I can't wait for another chance to visit a place where I can feel beautiful energy besides my studio.
Also, I did some picks with preserved nature, these are already sold but you can find more preserved nature on my ETSY
TO QUOTE:I am still reading "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" so here what I liked:
-"I offer myself to my love and to my neighbor as myself, this is how all creators speak".
-"The voice of beauty speaks softly, penetrating, slipping only into the most awakened souls".
-"If you have to be a servant, then look for the one to whom your service will be most useful".
-"I look in search of homelands, but I found no home anywhere. I am a vagabond in all cities".
TO WATCH:I did a Unboxing-Art Review-How to video, I have purchased the Acrylics by Folk Art to paint on ceramics and if you are a DIY person, this is for you. My creative energy has been so INTENSE that I have retaken an old project: PAINTED MUGS! When I was living in Des Moines I wanted to create mugs from scratch, but I did't knew a place for pottery, then when I moved to St. Louis I found a cool place called Pottery Hollow where you can paint pottery, I did a few amazing mugs for personal use, and now I have made a few for sale, in this video I did the first one as I was learning how to. My mugs are hand painted, dishwasher safe and they are available HERE
Today I want to continue with the topics related to my painting Terranauta and the talks or events that were taking place this week about ASTROLOGY. They say that "Where you put your mind, you are there", well, for me it applies to putting the mind and the paint brush so that things synchronize.
But first here some pictures of the painting in process, I have the sky almost ready, at the beginning I was making several textures with small brush strokes but at the end I change it all into blends.
For those who don't know, among several of the things I do, I dedicate myself to illustratingAstral charts or also called Natal charts. Since I can remember, as a very young girl, I was always felt drawn to the planets, the zodiacs, psychology and history through this astronomical-astrological science. I loved the nights when my dad and I would lean on the car window to watch the stars while we put on face masks made of wet leaves from the lilac tree.
Last week I gave one of my astral charts to an artist with whom I have contact, I sell the charts, I do not offer them for free because I understand that the subject for many is ambiguous, unknown or simply does not interest them, or people can get confused about Astrology and Esotericism, well,...I am not a bad witch. However I dared to offer the chart as a gift because the personality of this artist is very unique and I was curious to know some of his characteristics from the astrological point of view, so it was kind of a study for me and a bonus gift for him with whom there is something that as in my town they would say: "it scares me but I like it" or "has a I don't know what, what do I don't know" sounds confusing in english, but in Spanish has all the idea. The things is, I find differences in personality, he may seem to me at first impression as a total egocentric and a brat, with airs of superiority, Mr, Perfect, Zatatustra's Superman (which by the way is what I am reading) and all those qualifiers that in turn makes an artist a genius and a figure until the grave, however we are connected by the passion to create, we respect our ideas, differences, we agree on many things and I admire his dedication to creativity, the way he defends his point of views, he works with passion and also he creates with his hands from scratch, for me that's so valuable, all this makes him magnetic in some way.
Anyway, the point is that while I was diving into the aspects between planets, houses, and zodiac signs, I realized how my work has been related in some way to space, the stars, and mysticism.
My Terranaut reminds me of the most earthly aspects, because he is not the being that left planet Earth to explore outer space, on the contrary, he is a being from another place that has come to explore the planet Earth, and not for the first time, but many times! She is familiar with it, however she feels alien and she knows it. (The Terranaut is female, it's me, but also can be you!)
I started to think about the zodiacal series of portraits I did where I read the beautiful Greek mythology about the zodiacs, that's right friends, many of the zodiac signs have roots in Greek mythology, where astronomers of that time observed the sky and created beautiful stories to explain what they saw.
Here are some examples of the legends associated with the signs of the zodiac and the portraits that I did.
Aries: The golden ram, sent by Queen Nephele to protect her children, and whose fleece was hung in a sacred grove consecrated to Mars. The symbol of Aries represents the animal's face and horns, while it's astrological colors, white and red could represent the white of wool and the red of the sacrifice.
Taurus: The Minotaur, fathered by the god Poseidon and Queen Parsiphae, who was imprisoned in a labyrinth and finally killed by the hero Theseus. In ancient Greece one myth tell us that Taurus was Zeus, who changed himself into the the white bull that leap into the sea with the Phoenician princess Europe on his back takin her to Crete. On their arrival, Zeus transformed himself back into a God and announced his love for Europe.
Jupite's exploits was commemorated on Earth by naming of a continent in her honor and placing Taurus in the sky among the stars.
Gemini: The twins Castor and Pollux, sons of Leda, one by Zeus and the other by a mortal, who were united in heaven by Zeus after Castor's death. Gemini also was known as The Great Twins, and the Asterism of heaven and earth, one of the most important asterism belonging to the realm of Anu, Anu as I have mentioned in my previous post was an ancient sky God who ruled the upper heavens and the twins guarded the entrance to the solsitce gate as it opened a pathway to the earth, their duty likely being to prevent evil from descending onto humanity.
Cancer: The Roman scholar Macrobius tell us that the Chaldeans created Cancer the Crab that scuttles backwards, the Sun stopped its daily March northwards along the eastern horizon at sunrise, then reversed it's direction after reaching the summer solstice. In ancient Greek, Cancer its a giant crab that Hera commanded to rise from the depths of the sea to help Hydra agains Hercules, the crab was just a distraction. For this portrait I painted the actress Angelique Boyer who now owns my illustration.
Leo: The Nemean lion, a terrible animal that Hercules had to kill to acquire his strength and virtues. The supernatural beast lived in a cave in the mountain valley of Nemea, where Hera had settled the lion after training it how to terrorize the people. Hercules defeated him with his bare hands. Ancient astrologers taught that the world was created when the Sun was in that sign
Virgo: This is my solar sign and I just loved the story and I totally identify as I am a pacifist and nature lover.
The goddess Astraea, daughter of Zeus and Themis, who ruled the earth in the Golden Age. For the Sumerian, she symbolized the Goddess of grains, barely fields. Virgo was also a Moon Goddess represented by a crescent moon over five stars constellation. Ancient Greek astronomers associate this constellation with Dike, the Goddess of justice. The tale tells Dike lived on Earth in the Golden Age of mankind, an era of great peace and prosperity. Humans lived as Gods, knowing neither work or war, but Zeus overthrowing his father Cronus, the less noble Silver Age began along with shortening spring and division of the year in seasons. Forced to labor for their food, humans grew quarrelsome and greedy and no longer honored their immortals.
Dike, was sickened by this, assembled the humans and chastised them, turning her back on the human race, Dike spread her wings and retreated to the mountains. Humans declined into the Bronze age, beset by disaster and war. Dike could no longer bear humanity's sins, so she left Earth for the sky, finding her place next to Libra, the scales, a symbol of justice.
Libra: The scales of Themis, the Greek goddess of justice and balance. Libra is the only sign that it's represented by an inanimate objet, in some versions of Libra's creation tales were linked to Virgo, in those scales she weighed the fate of mortals.
Scorpio: The scorpion that was sent by the god Hades to punish Orion. To the Babylonias, Scorpio symbolized darkness, and it was know as "the best of death", a creature that swallowed the sun bringing darkness to the world. In Greek lore, Scorpio represents the Scorpion of very great size that Gaia (Goddess of the Earth) had sent forth to defeat Orion because he had threatened to conquer any besat the Earth produced. The result of the battle has different endings. In one version, the Scorpion stings Orion in the heel, and he succumbs to the venom. In another version, Orion defeats the Scorpion in a mighty battle, but Apollo, the God of prophecy, tricks Artemis to complete the job with a bow and a arrow.
Regardless the outcome, Zeus admired the courage of both participants and pace them in the sky as a lesson to all to not be too self-confident.
Sagittarius: The centaur Chiron, son of Saturn, who was half man and half horse. But the lore it's ambiguous. Sagittarius or Chiron, son of the Titan Cronos was one of the many centaurs in Greek mythology. Chiron however differed from all of the other centaurs for a number of reasons. One main reason was that Chiron was born half man and half horse, whereas the other centaurs were born of the sun and rain clouds. The arrow of this constellation points towards the star Antares, the "heart of the scorpion", and Sagittarius stands poised to attack should Scorpius ever attack the nearby Hercules, or to avenge Scorpius's slaying of Orion. for this portrait I painted the Model Nils Verberne.
Capricorn: The goat Amalthea, who raised and fed Zeus. In Greek mythology, Capricornus is associated with the god Pan, who was half goat and half man. The constellation is also sometimes identified with Amalthea, the goat that raised Zeus. In Greek mythology, the constellation is sometimes identified as Amalthea, the goat that suckled the infant Zeus after his mother, Rhea, saved him from being devoured by his father, Cronus. Amalthea's broken horn was transformed into the cornucopia or "horn of plenty"
Aquarius: The god Poseidon, who was depicted as a man with a water jug. In Greek mythology, Aquarius is sometimes associated with Deucalion, the son of Prometheus who built a ship with his wife Pyrrha to survive an imminent flood. They sailed for nine days before washing ashore on Mount Parnassus. For this portrait I painted Henry Cavil as The Witcher because I was watching the series, after I finished my painting, there was a episode where he has a water jug that he was taking care...what a synco!
Pisces: The fish that saved Aphrodite from the waters of the lagoon. In Greek mythology, the constellation Pisces is associated with the goddess Aphrodite and her son Eros. The myth states that they transformed into fish to escape the monster Typhon. They jumped into the Euphrates River and tied themselves together with a cord to avoid losing each other. Another myth is that an egg fell into the Euphrates River. It was then rolled to the shore by fish. Doves sat on the egg until it hatched, out from which came Aphrodite. As a sign of gratitude towards the fish, Aphrodite put the fish into the night sky.
For me, believing or not in astrological influence and taking it as a guide to follow is not what draws my attention, what moves me is precisely how our ancestors gave meaning and form to the sublime and unattainable, how they used psychology and characteristics according to studies through observation of the cosmos and how they pigeonholed the characteristics for each sign in a way that fits and sometimes we can't explain how.
However, I believe that there is planetary energy that in some way influences us and a classic example is the Moon, probably women are more sensitive to identifying this energy.
How many women do not rely on the lunar phases to understand their body and the effect it has on fluids, tides, new cycles, births, emotional increases such as anxiety, light intensity and sleep disorders and much more! Now, imagine all that we don't know about not only the moon but everything in the vast universe?
In other news, Im so excited and grateful because I was selected for the exhibition "Into the Woods" organized by Webster Arts in their Gallery. Do you find familiar this name? Yes! this is the same of the same Gallery where I was juror las month, so this time it's my turn to put my art on their walls.
The piece that was selected was "TRANSITION" and I love this piece, I made this oil painting during 2022 Equinox and was about spring, warm weather, flowers and new beginnings, but I will talk all about this in my next post and it's available for sale on my ETSY or in Webster Arts Gallery.
Meanwhile, here some pictures where I was retouching my painting, at the end I had to paint the borders of the canvas as I didn't liked the white raw border when I framed it, then I added varnish.
I had a vintage brown frame but I have painted it antique gold to make it more luminous, the result looks juts beautiful! by the way, for the frame I have used golden painting by Folk Art by PLAID.
Im so excited about spring and finally take sunbaths, the daffodils are out now so yellow and shining bright under the blue sky, I have also new ideas for my botanical work that I will share once I put hands on it. I have been working for several years with botanical jewelry and other nature preservations, here some guitar picks that I did, I always forgot to take pictures or share about my work with nature.
These are pics with natural cedar from some pines near my studio, also moss and also a beautiful 4 leaves clove
TO WATCH:Keeping my mystic vibe, I did a video explaining about natal charts and the difference between astrology and astronomy, this video it's in spanish but you can turn on the english subtitles, you can watchHERE
TO QUOTE:I am still reading "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" so here what I liked:
-He who consumes life dies his death victoriously
-In your dying, your spirit and virtue must continue to shine like the evening twilight around the earth; otherwise, dying will have been a failure for you.
-So I myself want to die so that you, my friends, may love the earth more for my sake, and I want to return to being soil to have rest in the one that gave birth to me.
-May your spirit and your virtue serve the meaning of the earth. That is why you must be fighters, that is why you must be creators.
-To create, this is the great redemption of suffering and the relief of life. But for the creator to exist, that requires suffering and much transformation.
TO LISTEN: About 7 years ago I listened for first time LONDON GRAMMAR and I just loved the voice and the atmospherical sound of this band, this week I was listening "Missing" while I was painting the Terranaut and this song made me move very soft, I never had put attention to the lyrics before, this band has powerful lyrics and this was not the exception. you can listen HERE
TO EAT: I always like to celebrate St. Patricks day...since I can remember! why? well, im not Irish but my inner magical fairy and Celt love this, I liked to read about the Irish Folk, myths and legends.
So! I have been making special deserts or dishes during this day, but this time I made a classic of mine, CLOVER JELLO PIE, this is yummy, pretty and easy! you can get the recipe in my blog HERE
