TRANSITION, SPRING AND ENERGY!

 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

TO LISTEN: YOUR CREATIVE MIND!

A DAY IN THE ST. LOUIS ART MUSEUM AND MY BIG CANVAS

 Hello beautiful people!

I want to start saying that I can be very intense, specially writing and sharing photos, so this post will be long but if you like to learn and see ART, culture and some crazy things, then this post it's for you,

This week I finally got out of my cave/studio! I honestly can't remember the last time I went out to visit a place that wasn't for art or grocery shopping.

VISITING ST. LOUIS ART MUSEUM

I want to show you what I saw at the St. Louis Art Museum, which by the way has been one of the places I've frequented the most since I moved here, I could spend quite a few hours here looking at my favorite pieces and even painting there some studies.

Here we see the bronze sculpture of St. Louis IX, King of France, this sculpture dates from 1904-1906 designed by Charles Henry Niehaus and created by W.R Hodges.

The interior of the museum, as always, feels huge and empty, but the rooms full of pieces make all the difference.

So, lets explore some pieces with me...starting with the European art and those Madonnas. This room always reminds me of the books I used to see as a child, with those religious figures in incredible super intense primary colours with the striking gold added to the halos or to some objects, but another thing that is striking is the framing, the frame or the wood altarpieces itself are another work of art.

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Sts. Christopher, Blaise, Sebastian, and Francis- 1484

Artist

Lorenzo di Niccolò di Martino

This triptych piece always makes me turn around, it's impossible not to see it with that striking design as if it were a golden cathedral. Saints Christopher and Blaise to the left, Saints Sebastian and Francis to the right. Above, in three-part openings called trefoils, God the Father blesses in the center panel, while the Virgin Mary and the archangel Gabriel enact the Annunciation

Here a wide view of the green room.

The Madonna and Child with Saints Louis of Toulouse and John the Evangelist with donors Ludovico Folchi and his wife Tommasa.

Artist

Davide Ghirlandaio

I really like this Renaissance-style piece, the golden shell and the frame seem to belong together, and I also like to see all the details in gold, tiny dots creating the auras with a beautiful composition, look at the classic expressions of the painting period and those skins.

To emphasize the spiritual meaning of the work, the artist uses the technique of architectural perspective with a central vanishing point to draw the eye to the pomegranate, a symbol of Christ's resurrection.

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels, C.1390

Artist

Spinello Aretino

From this painting I like the way the baby takes her mother mantle and his face like wanting to play while the face if the mother is kind of lost in peace. The angles are just contemplating the moment like waiting to see if they approve or not. It takes my attention the color of the mantle, usually they paint this in blue color as symbol or high power, and this one it's almost black...maybe a fashion trend in Italy in that moment?.

Annunciation, c.1515

Artist

Gerard David

I love this painting and frame, it captures that intimate moment that can be projected in this work where Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel giving her the news, we can see the Holy Spirit and the angel's cape with all the jewelry adornments. The angel's white robe is reminiscent of the contemporary garments worn by the acolytes who assisted priests in celebrating Roman Catholic Mass.

And now, lest move to another room...

Mary, Lady Guildford, 1527

Artist

Hans Holbein the Younger

I have to confess that the first thing that caught my attention was the beautiful framing with those little faces like little suns.

Then I can see a not very happy face, maybe she was modeling without wanting? look at those details of the hands holding her prayer book and a rosary, isn't amazing? Can you see some kind of rosemary herbs in the middle of her chest? Not sure if that's rosemary. 

The artist also incorporated green grape vines and leaves (symbols of wealth) and his favorite blue to create a background of considerable beauty.

Portrait of a Lady, probably Camilla Martelli de'Medici, 1570's

Artist

Alessandro Allori

What I really like about this portrait is the light, specially the fuchsia pink with the embroidery on the costume and the way it is decorated, her necklace of pearls, rubies and emeralds combined with her ring are the perfect adornment, fashion in all its splendor.

The Wounded Seagull, 1788

Artist

Jules Breton

When I saw this piece years ago I felt in love with it, the light and the details of the hands with the seagul are so beautiful. The artist was fascinated by the “mystic wildness” of Breton women and focused on this peasant’s compassion for a wounded bird while other healthy birds glide in the distance. Yes! thats the feeling I get: COMPASSION. Actually I did two watercolors inspired in this painting and they are available on my Etsy. 

Girl with birds 2/2

Girl with birds 1/2

Let's move to another room...

The Dreamer, 1879

Artist

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

I have always liked Renoir because his works seem very fresh to me, both in color and brushstrokes. I like how the optical illusion of the loose brushstrokes creates detail at the same time.

The look and the finger on the lips have been classified as "saucy" for their time. Although I see myself with a doubtful face rather than a flirtatious one.

Léonard Renoir, The Artist's Father, 1869

Artist

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Painted when the artist was twenty-eight, Renoir’s work represents his 70 year-old father, who was a tailor from Limoges in the south-west of France.

I don’t think I’d ever paid attention before to this portrait of Auguste’s father, but you can still see the artist’s style in the brushstrokes, although the colors are darker except for the pink of the face, and what I think makes it more striking is the frame

Head of a Peasant Woman, 1884

Artist

Vincent van Gogh

For me the title is a bit strange because it is not just the woman's head, but well, as we know Vincent was very related to the life of the peasants and here we can see one of his works in dark tones, where the white tones are the ones that stand out the most, this piece was created before Van Gogh changed the palette to his super bright tones. It is not one of my favorites, but it is a Van Gogh from an early age.

Vineyards at Auvers, 1890

Artist

Vincent van Gogh

Stairway at Auvers, 1890

Artist

Vincent van Gogh

Factories at Clichy,1887

Artist

Vincent van Gogh

In these pieces we can see that Vincent colors his brushstrokes more vivid, with the red colors of the poppies and roofs predominating, the waving yellows of the grass and that peculiar shape of the stairs where everything seems to be in motion, green meadows and smoky blues getting lost among the clouds. Have you seen the tiny couple in the middle of the factory field?

Vineyards at Auvers it's strange to me because Vincent has an unusual composition where in the center we see only the grass, the small houses at the very top and a line of red poppies on the left almost coming out of the frame. What is it that draws our attention the most? What is your focal point of reference? He plays with focal distances.

And now...

Water Lilies, 1915-26

Artist

Claude Monet

This is absolutely beautiful to observe, so meditative and peaceful, the effect of the colors and the wide view is enchanting. Monet and me, both flower lovers.

This painting constituted the center part of a triptych, which was separated in 1956 when it was sold at Knoedler's. The left panel of the composition was sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, and the right panel was purchased by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Can you imagine all them together? what a marvel!

Now lest see the Picassos, surprisingly the museum has many pieces but this time I will focus only in 2: Seated Woman from 1973 and Pitcher and fruit bowl from 1931.

Im not a fan but I appreciate his works and I do like a few not cubists,  But speaking of cubism, here we can appreciate how the woman's body, especially her buttocks and her face, are fragmented, creating different perspectives.

Pablo was a crazy man and artist, his still lives were full with secret meanings, it is said that this work is a disguised portrait of his lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter. The pitcher is painted in the brilliant yellow often used to represent Marie-Thérèse's hair while the green apple suggests the shape of her breast and the curling black lines referring to the contours of her body. Who would imagine!

But now lest deform images even more. Here a few images from the abstract section.

Fuel Rods, 1984-87

Artist

Anselm Kiefer

I like abstract art, but not all of it. However, I do like some of Anselm Kiefer's pieces quite a bit and the way he handles color balances and textures.

Anselm Kiefer combined paint with the unlikely materials of lead, copper, and straw. Blackened furrows extend toward a distant horizon while a rusted ice skate and a porcelain shard, both placed in the foreground, emphasize the surface of the painting.

I have found this:

"In this ravaged view, Kiefer merges ancient mythology with the realities of modern technology. The 14 vertical rods at the center of the composition allude to the Egyptian myth of Osiris, a god who was turned into 14 pieces before being reassembled by his sister-wife, Isis. The rods also represent fuel rods used in nuclear power plants, such as the one at Chernobyl that catastrophically failed in 1986. The painting's monumental size and imposing physical bulk are matched by Kiefer's ambition to address the profound issues of death, destruction, and renewal that continually confront humanity."

And now....

Ici, 1992

Artist

Joan Mitchell

Really? No matter how big or small, or how many words about the meaning of this...I don't like it, this is HAMPARTE (Hamparte means the art of not having any talent).

But now from one crazy thing to another I want to show show you what I have found...

Relief with Winged Genie

Culture

Assyrian, c.2400–612 BCE

This is a carved image in this relief may represent a mythical being known as a winged genius. The figure ensures fertility and stability by pollinating a sacred tree with a cone and situla, a bucket with a handle. The cuneiform inscriptions on the surface of the sculpture exposed the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II's splendid endeavors and exploits. 

I have seen this before in past visits but never with atention, and now...BOOM! I saw it!

What I saw? Not only an unknown deity but one that I have begun to know: THE ANUNNAKIS.

When I made the comment, a person looked at me as if I was crazy and that's fine, but I was quite excited to be able to witness this piece a few centimeters in front of me, where a key being from a magnificent part of the beginnings of humanity is carved and that perhaps many who see this piece have no idea about, since not even the description offered by the museum mentions it.

Last year I was reading a little about these beings that have inherited so much to us. The Anunnaki were a group of gods in the ancient Mesopotamian religions of the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. They were believed to be responsible for the fate of humanity.

The term "Anunnaki" comes from the Sumerian word Anuna, which means "descendants of An". An was the Sumerian god of the sky.

The Anunnaki were described as children of the Earth and sky.

It is said that thanks to them we have all those unimaginable constructions that can't be attributed to man due to his height and strength.

The Anunnaki were depicted as human-like in appearance, with wings but often of extraordinary size and strength. They were believed to have magical powers and to be made of magical substances. The Sumerians credited the Anunnaki with many of their technological and scientific advances.

Now I have to return to make a selfie with him!

NEW HUGE CANVAS!

In other news, I have finally received my new canvas and this one it's going to be the biggest one that I have paint and I am so excited! I have already started to transfer my sketch and for sure will be so challenging, but I love challenges specially when I want to paint, here some fun pictures with the projection of my digital sketch and next day doodling it. What do you see?

Of course I will be sharing more about this as I go along with it.

TO WATCH: Don't miss my newest video where I talk about Medusa Myth and also you can see how I painted my Medusa. The video it's in spanish but you can turn on the subtitles.

TO EAT: I made raw salsa verde and this is delicious, perfect for rice, beans, vegetables or just tortilla chips, you can see the recipe HERE

TO LISTEN: "Larger than life" by Backstreet boys...I know, I know, but they have a few songs that makes me dance and enjoy a lot and I was happily dancing while I was doodling my sketch, the music feels so energetic and vibrating that was perfect to work with.

TO QUOTE:  I am currently reading "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" Book by Friedrich Nietzsche just because I remember when I was in the uni, there were some rebel people loving this, so I was curios to know about it. so I will be sharing my favorite quotes so far. (I shall wrote about my opinion about the book once I finish)

-"For great souls there is still a free life. Truly, he who possesses little, is possessed even less".

-The world revolves around the inventors of new values, it revolves without anyone noticing it. But the people and fame revolve around the actors: that is how the world moves. The actor has spirit, but little consciousness of spirit".

-"If only they were perfect as animals".

-"And with what kindness does the sensual know how to beg for a piece of spirit when she is denied a piece of flesh?