This week has been go by without notice and I have been organizing part of my life around.
If I could put it into one word would be CHANGE.
What make us change? several things for sure, in this case I felt the need to make changes due the lack of space and wanting something fresh. I have notice that I have been changing many aspects of myself and I am always happy to embrace the best ideas and moves as possible, because no matter how scary or excited change can be I will always focus in the positive.
I will share the change from an artistic lense and the factors that made me change some things.
First, I want to start saying that I am very excited with my new sketch!
Im working with a swan, I like swans a lot, they are so beautiful, full of grace and a symbol of love and partnership. And what does change has to do here? Well, my next painting was not supposed to be a swan, but I have to postpone my first idea as I will work in a different canvas for that one.
Here Some images of the first doodles. I will be working with acrylic and oils, stay tuned!
Last weekend I visited Laumeier Sculpture Park for second time, was a good walk with some interesting pieces but not my hit.
Here you can see the most “excuse me, what?” Sculptures, many of them not in my photos Avelina Lesper would understand why😂🧐🫣
My favorite is La libelluleby Arman Fernandez and also I have enjoyed the Triangular bridge over water by Dan Graham. But I don’t like the bridge 😂 I liked the double exposition it creates when you stand there, so cool.
"Founded in 1976, Laumeier is one of the first and largest dedicated sculpture parks in the country. In 1968, Mrs. Matilda Laumeier bequeathed the first 72 acres of the future Laumeier Sculpture Park to St. Louis County in memory of her husband, Henry Laumeier. In 1976, local artist Ernest Trova gifted 40 artworks, with an estimated market value of approximately one million dollars, to St. Louis County for the formation of a sculpture park and gallery. Laumeier Sculpture Park opened as part of the St. Louis County Department of Parks and Recreation system on July 7, 1976. One year later, Laumeier Sculpture Park was officially incorporated."
Also I have good news!
My small paintings are now available in our local coffee shop The Glendale Grind!
Also my hand painted and botanical mugs, these will be displayed in a few days as the owners are building a special display for them.
Yes! this is a good thing, it means a good change as my art will have more exposition to locals and not just my online sites.
If you are in Glendale, MO you have to visit, the drinks and pastries are delicious, they have available also work from other local artist, so this coffee shop it's full of goodies.
Changes can start in small or big amounts, I'm still working with more changes but I will share about it on my next post,
By the way, you have...
TO EAT: I made potatoes with chili and cheese, so delicious! the recipe HERE
TO LISTEN: I have listened a lot of music as usuall but something that I felt like I wanted to share is the song of "Sleeping Away" by Moby
Stay bright and beautiful! Embrace change in the best way because it's happening JUST NOW!
Today I want to tell you about my new painting, it's my newest painting and I finally finished it, it's called Venom and Velvet.
This oil painting is a rich and evocative composition that merges classical still life with a touch of the mystical. At its center is a lush bouquet of blooming peonies and camellias in soft shades of pink, white, and crimson, their petals rendered with textured, expressive brushwork and a sense of full ripeness.
I love peonies and I had the inspiration by the peonies that I have seen in my garden and my visit to the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
What makes this piece especially striking is the shimmering black-and-silver blue snake coiled as a vase, partially hidden among the flowers. Its textured scales catch the light in a way that makes it appear alive almost—a symbol of both protection and danger, echoing themes of transformation, temptation, or hidden knowledge.
When I stared at the painting I wrote on the canvas background “A snake shed its skin to grow, so you must let go to rise.”
The dark, subdued background throws the flowers and serpent into vivid relief, creating a dramatic contrast that heightens the surreal, almost mythological quality of the image. The fallen blossoms on the table suggest a passage of time or a quiet aftermath, inviting the viewer to linger and contemplate and let go.
Overall, it's a beautifully balanced painting—sensual, symbolic, and arresting—blending nature's beauty with a whisper of threat or mystery.
This painting is 24x30”, cotton canvas signed in from, includes certificate of authenticity. and you can get it HERE
Here you can see my painting in different daylights indoors and outdoors and how the colors and background change depending on the light.
Although snakes are not my favorite animals, it was a painting that I really enjoyed doing and painting the scales was very relaxing and I liked the combination of colors and the brushstrokes. I feel very happy with this Still Life.
In other news...These last 7 days I have been sunbathing and watching the clouds and I happened to see some super pretty clouds. My attention was caught by a rather large cloud in a blue tone. It looks like a sphere. It had a spherical shape camouflaged among more clouds and other clouds that I managed to take over the sun that had the flashes of the rainbow.
Curiously, it was very synchronized since I was working with a printed canvas that someone requested of the Terranauta. So it was all very celestial and related to space. Here I leave an image of the printed canvas 16x20" that went to Texas.
You can get the original HERE, for prints you can contact me.
During the week I have been reflecting a lot about my kitty and I want to share with you what happened.
On Sunday, Pibi wandered out of the house because the door was left open. She was probably out for an hour, a time we weren't home.
Pibi isn't a street cat; we only let her out into the yard a couple of times, so it was frustrating to think she wasn't familiar with the outdoors, wandering among cars, animals, and the cat-hunting owls and falcons.
I walked and searched for her for over an hour, constantly repeating her name. I made my decrees, talked to some cats I saw to "intercept Pibi so she could return home" and I was worried that the tornado would start in the afternoon.
After being unsuccessful in my search, I returned home and put her food dish and toys in the yard, following a neighbor's recommendation.
What I want to share is how I felt and how I processed it.
The first thing I felt was angry because they didn't close the door, but I never showed my anger verbally, only by pacing quickly and desperately. But what caught my attention, and what I didn't expect to happen, was that I felt an enormous detachment.
My kitty has been the best; I love her. She's my companion almost every day, almost every hour. She's my teacher.
While all this was happening, I felt ready to let her go. I thought about her more than myself. I thought maybe our learning cycle was over, her mission with me and my family had concluded. I hoped she was okay, that someone would find her and take care of her or report her with the chip so I could return her home. I felt ready for any scenario. However, as I write this, I don't know if a part of me would have been devastated as the days passed with my kitty. Because when I took care of a bird for two days in 2019 and it died, I cried so much for a whole week.
But with Pibi? She got lost, and I felt ready. I've been working on detachment for a couple of years now, in ways that might sound surprising because they would see me as heartless. Not only in losing a pet, but also one of my women (mother, daughter, sisters), a home, an identity, and even my life. Well, everything we are given in this life, EXCEPT the essence and connection with God, with the source. For me, that is the key to BEING, where nothing matters and where everything begins again because it is a personal process.
Five minutes after I left Pibi's food and toys in the yard, SHE CAME BACK! And one of the thousands of sparks I had already given with love returned to my soul.
Practicing detachment is hard; becoming aware of it is an individual lesson.
I am very happy that my kitty returned home and grateful for EVERYTHING because it was yet another lesson. As a highly sensitive person, it's difficult because I'm super emotional, but I'm still learning that maybe detachment is the perfect balance between mind and heart.
TO WATCH: I did a video about my painting Venom and Velvet where I talk about it and you can watch me paint from beginning to end.
TO TRY:I'm back to meditation. Last year I started meditating almost every day, twice a day, when I woke up and before going to sleep, and I loved it. I connected in many ways. Incredible things happened to me. It was a great experience, but at the end of last year I stopped meditating, but now I've started again and I feel connected again, and I love it. I recommend to meditate, even if it's just 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night, and preferably doing grounding. I like to listen hertz frequencies and face the sky.
Welcome to another section of the Saturday blog, so get ready because this post will be quite long because I have a lot of photos.
I've been working nonstop on the painting of the vase-shaped snake and the peonies and camellias, and it's progressing very well. The snake is now ready, and even though I don't like vipers, I've really enjoyed creating the scales.
Painting flowers is one of my favorite things, although sometimes it can be a bit complicated, especially when I want something that doesn't look so abstract. But in the end, I'm always happy with the result. In my torture of indecision about whether I want realism or abstraction, I find a happy medium. For the peonies and camellias, I ended up using fairly loose brushstrokes, and they even seem familiar to Van Gogh's, with all those lines and spots that I loved.
The flowers changed quite a bit from start to finish, and this time I worked on different areas at the same time, allowing the oil to dry a bit and allowing me to work again. This frustrates me, but at the same time, it helps me be more skillful and multitask.
Here I show you part of the evolution.
For the background, the background is another story...the background is in a super dark color with black and light colored veils that mix together and the truth is it was quite complicated in oil because the colors on a black background ended up disappearing and that was a mess, but in the end I managed to rescue the tones and make them even more visible than I thought and I liked the result.
Taking a day off from painting but not being immersed in flowers, I visited the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis. Every year I like to go before summer arrives and the heat wreaks havoc on the walks, so I couldn't have been more inspired by so many flowers, especially peonies and roses.
The garden is divided into several sections and here I share a bunch of photos of my favorites.
I visited the house of Henry Shaw, who was garden owner. The Italian Renaissance villa was designed by the firm of Barnett and Peck in 1849 as the country home for Henry Shaw. Shaw named the house "Tower Grove" because of its prominent tower and grove of sassafras trees. The house is made of brick and stone covered by stucco.
Shaw made Tower Grove his permanent residence in 1851 to oversee his plans for an extensive garden on his property.
The house is located on the grounds of the Missouri Botanical Gardens and was designated a City Landmark in 1971.
Garden founder Henry Shaw not only died on the grounds, but remains here to this day, buried in a mausoleum just a few steps from his country home.
This week at the entrance to my studio, I finally saw the beautiful pink and white peonies blooming like fluffy marshmallows. I picked some to put in my window. I enjoyed the long grass...I love long grass. During a walk, I came across some beautiful red samaras that I took home to maybe make jewelry with.
Has been a blessed week and I recharge every time into nature, no mater if its only being barefoot at my garden while I see the flowers and the grass or if I visit some places. I feel very fortunate to be able to love and respect nature and to find beauty and inspiration even with the most simple leaf because for me it's wonderful!
May your days be filled with nature, beauty and inspiration.
