ravaged

2007 Untitled photographic study" One day, I was already old, in the entrance of a public place a man came up to me. He introduced himself and said, “I’ve known you for years. Everyone says you were beautiful when you were young, but I want to tell you I think you’re more beautiful now than then. Rather than your face as a young woman, I prefer your face as it is now. Ravaged.”

opening paragraph of “The Lover” ©1985 Marguerite Duras as translated from the French by Barbara Bray

tulips, mangos & HIM

2007 "MAN-GOES"
It was a lazy Sunday morning. Tumbling out of bed, I made my way to the grocery store in search of tulips and mangos. The sun was gloriously hot – summer was near.

While contemplating what color of tulips to get, red, pink, white, maybe striped...I suddenly sensed something and looked up. Clad in vintage aviator Ray-Bans, a mane of luscious locks swept back – it was him – HIM...

Ducking behind the roses, my heart and mind began a marathon. Why could I not take 5 minutes to shower...2 minutes to comb my hair...had I even brushed my teeth...PANIC. Could HE see me? Why had I not followed my parents’ cardinal rule – be ready to see anyone and be seen at all times?

He looked freshly showered, impeccable as always, but still maintaining the signature rugged manly appeal for which he was famous. I was dressed in yoga gear – black cotton lycra – UGH. Lip gloss was the extent of my beauty morning routine.

Snatching a bunch of tulips, I took advantage of the fact that he was selecting organic tomatoes. I seized my mangos and sprinted to the check-out...

excerpt from my morning and yes I had brushed my teeth

ebony goddess & moon

2007 Untitled mixed media detailshe was an amazon
an ebony goddess
a statue carved from luminous flesh dark as night

she leaned over
and in slow whispering song asked

Do you know how to draw the moon ?


excerpt from “The Goddess Speaks” a manuscript in progress

rain mother

2007 Untitled mixed media
Rain Mother wakes me up

softly

sweetly

slowly

drop by drop

it is time to wake up

it is time to dream and write...

thirst

2007 Untitled mixed media

What do you thirst for?
What quenches your thirst?

I thirst for knowledge.
I thirst for peace.
I thirst for reverence.
I thirst for balance.

Art quenches my thirst yet makes me thirsty for more...

my dancing shoes

2007 "CINDERELLA" - one of my shoes immortalizedviolet
silk satin open-toe shoes
trimmed in exotic leather
a glorious lacquered black heel
encrusted in crystal

He loves to shop. She loves to collect. The shoes did not fit her tiny feet, so she gave them to me. I wore them all night, almost to bed, feeling a bit like Cinderella...I am ready to dance...

the lady of pazardzhik

2007 "LADY of PAZARDZHIK" pencil study for sculpture


I sit.
I wait.
I pray.
I listen in silence.
I breathe in gratitude.
I feel the moon blessing me, bestowing fertility.

excerpt from “The Goddess Speaks”, a manuscript in progress

restless

2007 Untitled mixed media

I woke up feeling restless…wanting to run and run...and not run away, but run towards...what is my soul telling me? I shall sit still and listen...

earth day

2007 Untitled

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money. ~ Cree Indian Proverb

...let us respect Mother Nature and recognize that we are a part of the Living Planet Earth and that She is a part of us...

hearts

2007 "CORAZONES" photographic mixed media study
"Hearts, like doors, will open
with ease
To very, very little keys.

And don't forget that two
of these
Are "I thank you" and
"if you please."

-- Joan Walsh Anglund Copyright 1964

shaman speaks to butterfly

2007 Untitled mixed media collage detailsButterfly, you are my Third Eye.
You are the one who gives me the power of flight.
I belong to you...

Did I even exist before you flew into my life?

excerpt from a short story in progress

shaman butterfly

2007 Untitled mixed media collage detailThe butterfly belonged to the shaman. She relished spreading her glorious wings upon his 3rd eye, yet was still unable to fly. She could not bear to leave him, not even for an instant.

excerpt from a short story in progress

the church fundraiser

2007 Untitled sketch from journal
The vintage car was parked in a handicapped space. The two women must have been in their late 80’s. Both had white cotton-candy hair and dressed in similar hand-knit cardigans with laced-up orthopedic shoes. The taller senior wore a golden crucifix. One of them had a walker, the other a grocery cart. The two were busy whispering, giggling and unloading something from the trunk of the car. When I passed by, they smiled mischievously. I smiled back, finally noticing three cases of enormous wine bottles going from trunk to cart...

excerpt from today’s journal entry

pueblo blessing

2007 Untitled mixed media
Hold on to what is good even if it is a handful of earth.

Hold on to what you believe even if it is a tree which stands by itself.

Hold on to what you must do even if it is a long way from here.

Hold on to life even when it is easier letting go.

Hold on to my hand even when I have gone away from you.

~Pueblo Blessing ~

mermaid, monk, tail & saint

2007 "Under The Sea" mixed media
“...in 1450 a beautiful Celtic mermaid named Asenora swam ashore on the coast of Cornwall where a Benedictine monastery had recently been established. After removing her fish tail and hiding it among the rocks, she explored the area on foot and discovered the community of men. She made many clandestine visits – -

....Suspicious that Asenora was no ordinary woman but a mermaid, and greatly alarmed by her presence, the abbot of the monastery hid himself by the water and waited. He witnessed Asenora swim ashore, remove her fish tail and hide it in a niche in the cliff.

When she wandered off in the direction of the abbey, the shrewd abbot retrieved the fish tail, bundling it into his robe. He tucked it inside a secret compartment hidden under the seat of his chair, in the church. Without her tail, the poor mermaid could never go back to the sea, and soon the wildness of it drained out of her. Asenora was converted, and eventually became Saint Senara...”

excerpt from “The Mermaid Chair” a novel by Sue Monk Kidd @ 2005

Has every saint somehow lost her wildness?...

birth

2007 Untitled mixed media sculpture in progress
Birth is a process involving pain, blood and tears. Birth signifies a new beginning. Birth announces change. I birth each of my sculptures to life...from dream to reality...

excerpt from my journals

of roses & archangels

2007 Untitled detail from sketchbook
“As for the roses, you could not help feeling they understood that roses are the only flowers that impress people at garden-parties; the only flowers that everybody is certain of knowing. Hundreds, yes, literally hundreds, had come out in a single night; the green bushes bowed down as though they had been visited by archangels.”

-- Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923)

excerpt from a book my husband gave my Grand-Mother Lillian in 1997

new lessons

2006 Untitled detail from pen & ink wash
Are you open to learning new lessons...even if they contradict what you think you already know?

one's world

2007 Untitled mixed media photographic study

"To create one's own world in any of the arts takes courage."
- Georgia O'Keeffe

elegance

2007 Untitled sketch


"Elegance is refusal."
- Coco Chanel

queen or king of what

2007 "CORONA I" pen & ink on paper
What crown do you where? Where and what do you rule? Do you treat your body and soul with the majesty each deserves?

devouring books

2007 Untitled mixed media collage detail
I just finished reading another book. The words, the stories - - they nourish my spirit and give my imagination wings of freedom.

muse

2007 Untitled mixed media sculpture study




















She poured stars into my hands and asked me to WISH.

She explained the sacred beauty of stones and told me to DARE.

She blessed the pen and paper and begged me to CREATE.

gold goddess

anticipating CASIMIRA transformation



goddess of gold

dressed in moonlight tonight

goddess of old

bathed is sunlight tomorrow

goddess of gold



excerpt from my meditation journal

ISIS

2007 "ISIS" mixed media collage study for sculpture
I am Isis, mistress of the whole land...I am she who separated the heaven from the earth. I have instructed mankind in the mysteries...I have ordered the course of the sun and the moon. I am queen of the rivers and winds and sea...I have made justice more powerful than silver and gold. I have caused truth to be considered beautiful. I am she who is called the Goddess of women...

- excerpt from the Inscription on The Temple of Isis at Sais

what people say & think

2007 Untitled page detail from my sketchbook
Most of my adult life, I've worried about maintaining a spotless reputation. I consider myself somewhat of a recovering perfectionist and am still battling with a desperate need to please everyone - with the exception of myself, of course. What will people say when they read this? What will people think when they judge me or attempt to analyze my artwork? I do not know. Do trivial matters merit my precious time, energy or attention? I think not.

la flor y sus raíces

2007 Untitled mixed media photographic study
La Flor pidió que la jalaran, que la cortaran. Esta Flor era muy ambiciosa y demasiado caprichosa. Ella abría sus pétalos y sacaba su fragancia con orgullo y petulancia.

La Flor pidió que la jalaran, que la cortaran. Una vez separada de sus raíces, la Flor se sintió libre. Sus nuevos amos le dieron agua bendita de cristales. Estos amos la amaron, la velaron. Hasta el día que le salió la primera arruga, hasta el día que se le calló el primer pétalo. Una Flor marchita, ya no es considerada tan bonita. La Flor sin raíces murió sola y triste.

she dares it all

2007 Untitled mixed media collage detail




She dares it all, removing designer armor, peeling away layers of masks and baring her naked soul.


excerpt from “Vulnerable Power” a CASI-MIRA series of writings

enano de mariposas

2007 Untitled mixed media collage detail
El enano era un galán. Entró al Salón de Escudos como un sultán. Dos tigres, una avestruz y seis jabalíes lo escoltaron a los aposentos de la Diosa Blanca. El enano le traía las mejores Mariposas Maravillas para adornar sus cabellos de plata.

excerpt from a short story in progress