Kay Thompson

2008 mixed media

I am Eloise.

I am six.

I am a city child.

- Kay Thompson
(1908-1998)

from “ELOISE” circa 1955

I believe each of us has a precocious six-year-old voice within.

Do you always have to get your way? Do you have the ability to throw tantrums? Do you like to dress in pretty pink with ribbons and flowers? Do you still take pleasure in dessert? Do you enjoy being the center of attention?

My six-year-old voice within is wild and fun and innocent. She wishes to be immortalized just like Eloise - well not just like Eloise - my six-year-old voice is one-of-a-kind, of course...

Mother Teresa

2008 mixed media

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

- Mother Teresa (1910-1997)

smile today...

Amelia Earhart

2008 mixed media

Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace,
the soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things.

- Amelia Earhart (1897-1937)

The soul...when do you communicate with your soul?

Sonia Delaunay

2008 mixed media

He who knows how to appreciate colour relationships, the influence of one colour on another, their contrasts and dissonances, is promised an infinitely diverse imagery.

- Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979)

How do you bring COLOR into your daily life?

With fruits and vegetables?
With clothes and accessories?
With fresh flowers from a garden?
With kisses that make you see rainbows?

Each morning, through meditation and yoga I align and balance my chakras, visualizing the spinning color wheels of energy...

I love to paint and dye my silks...and simply adore my gemstones...

My life is overflowing with color...

Berenice Abbott

2008 mixed media

There are many teachers who could ruin you. Before you know it you could be a pale copy of this teacher or that teacher. You have to evolve on your own.

- Berenice Abbott (1898 – 1991)

To evolve, is to be a true artist...

Some artists get stuck in a certain style...out of fear or for money or for fame...Botero continues to create his obese figures...does he not become bored, I wonder...I am certainly bored of seeing them...

Some label themselves "artists" or "designers" when they are simply copy-cats, imitators...echoes...

It can be scary to evolve...to change...to stretch...to grow...

I believe it is a great danger to the soul not to challenge oneself...

Celia Cruz

2008 mixed media

¡ Azúcar !

- Celia Cruz (1925 – 2003)

When I feel like celebrating life - I listen to Celia's music...

Anaïs Nin

2008 mixed media

What I like best about myself...is my audacity,
my courage. The ways I have found to be true to
myself without causing too much pain or damage...
What I hate so much is my vanity, my need to shine,
my need of applause and my sentimentality. I would
like to be harder. I cannot make a joke, make fun
of anyone, without feeling regrets.

- Anaïs Nin (1903-1977)

I love the artist in me who dares with such security...

I don't use the word "hate" - but I do dislike my need to please others...my need to be loved by all...although the older I get, the less I seem to care...which is a good thing, I hope...

What do you like best about yourself ?

What do you dislike about yourself ?

Janis Joplin

2008 mixed media

You can destroy your now by worrying about tomorrow.

- Janis Joplin (1943–1970)

She worries about what others might say.
She worries about how family may judge.
She worries about going to hell for not going to church.
She worries she has gained three ounces.
She worries she will be single all of her life.
She worries she will be childless all of her life.
She worries she may want a divorce.
She worries he will leave her for a younger woman.
She worries her daughter will become sexually active at thirteen.
She worries about her adult-middle-age-almost-senior-citizen children.
She worries about worries...

WOMEN - STOP WORRYING...
BREATHE and ENJOY the POWER of NOW...

Georgia O'Keeffe

2008 mixed media

To create one's world in any of the arts takes courage.

- Georgia O'Keeffe (1887 – 1986)

Courage...are you living a life of courage?
Are you living a life you are creating?
Too many times I see women living the lives of others...for others...
...for their parents
...for their husbands
...for their children...

Lucille Ball

2008 mixed media

I'm not funny.

What I am is brave.

- Lucille Ball (1911-1989)

Being brave...taking risks...the life of an artist is a life of risk...

Being brave enough to laugh at ourselves is essential, don't you think?

Joséphine Baker

2008 mixed media

Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one's soul; when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood.

- Joséphine Baker (1906-1975)

A goddess ahead of her time...

Carmen Miranda

2008 mixed media

Look at me and tell me if I don't have Brazil in every curve of my body.

- Carmen Miranda (1909 – 1955)

I have always wanted to dress up as Carmen Miranda...I simply adore her layers of jewels and the confidence her smile exudes. I would love to dress Carmen up in my jewels...I have been sketching and playing with ideas for a collection of sculpture inspired by the South American bombshell...

Simone de Beauvoir

2008 mixed media

Change your life today.

Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.

- Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)

CHANGE is a BIG word,
yet I believe it is quite possible to make tiny changes every single day...by becoming more aware

of our thoughts...

of our words...

of our choices...

Maria Callas

2008 mixed media

I don't need the money, dear. I work for art.

- Maria Callas (1923 – 1977)

Well, I do need the money, but I need the art more.
Money is useless without freedom of expression.
Art brings me wealth beyond imagination.

I often listen to Maria Callas while creating and dreaming up designs for sculptures. Her voice always gives me the chills...

I believe she would love my jewels...wear them on stage...

I have a dream of designing stage-jewelry one day...

Emily Dickinson

2008 mixed media

It sifts from Leaden Sieves --
It powders all the Wood.
It fills with Alabaster Wool
The Wrinkles of the Road --

It makes an Even Face
Of Mountain, and of Plain --
Unbroken Forehead from the East
Unto the East again --

It reaches to the Fence --
It wraps it Rail by Rail
Till it is lost in Fleeces --
It deals Celestial Vail

To Stump, and Stack -- and Stem --
A Summer's empty Room --
Acres of Joints, where Harvests were,
Recordless, but for them--

It Ruffles Wrists of Posts
As Ankles of a Queen --
Then stills its Artisans -- like Ghosts --
Denying they have been –

- Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886)

Today's snowfall reminded me of this poem...

Sappho

2008 mixed media

We are going to dance

So come now

you delectable Graces

you Muses with the glorious tresses

- SAPPHO (approximately 612 B.C. – 570 B.C.)

I dreamt with a golden child – perhaps a future muse of mine.

I imagine all of my muses dancing in circle - in wild abandon...

...celebrating womanhood...

Billie Holiday

2008 mixed media

Somebody's on my mind
Like an old sweet song, "The Lasting Time"
Somebody's on my mind
So I'm walking on clouds on a silver line
To dream my dream could be my mistake
But I'd rather be wrong
And sleep right along than wake
Love may be blind I'll take my chances
That it cares this affair, my real romance
That's why you'll find somebody's on my mind

- Billie Holiday (1915 – 1959)

One of my favorite voices...I love to play her music during dinner parties and while creating my sculptures...

Anna Pavlova

2008 mixed media

To follow, without halt, one aim; there is the secret of success. And success? What is it? I do not find it in the applause of the theater; it lies rather in the satisfaction of accomplishment.

- Anna Pavlova (1881-1931)

This Russian ballet dancer is remembered for her portrayal of a swan...a graceful dancing swan...

Qiū Jǐn

2008 mixed media

Don't tell me women
are not the stuff of heroes,
I alone rode over the East Sea's
winds for ten thousand leagues.
My poetic thoughts ever expand,
like a sail between ocean and heaven.
I dreamed of your three islands,
all gems, all dazzling with moonlight.
I grieve to think of the bronze camels,
guardians of China, lost in thorns.
Ashamed, I have done nothing;
not one victory to my name.
I simply make my war horse sweat.
Grieving over my native land
hurts my heart. So tell me;
how can I spend these days here?
A guest enjoying your spring winds?

- Qiū Jǐn (1875-1907) translated by Zachary Jean Chartkoff

A writer. A poet. A feminist. A revolutionary. A hero.
She believed and fought for FREEDOM, for women's rights to marry, to be educated, to be free of bound feet...

Melba Debayle Tercero

2008 mixed media

The color of my eyes?
It is like a glass of ale with the sun shining through it...

- Melba Debayle Tercero (20th century - timeless)

She visits my dreams as fairy and goddess.

She is God Mother to my Father.

She is Spiritual Mother to my Mother.

Aunt Melba...Tia Melba...Happy Birthday...

Joan of Arc

2008 mixed media

I am not afraid...I was born to do this.

- Joan of Arc, or Jeanne d'Arc (1412 – 1431)

What were you born to do?

Are you doing it?

Francesca Woodman

2008 mixed media

The theory behind the work is important, but for me it is always secondary to the satisfaction of the eye.

- Francesca Woodman (1958-1981)

A young American photographer known for her black and white images depicting the female body as primary subject matter...there is a dream-like quality to her photographs...a dream that at times becomes a nightmare...

Eva Duarte de Peron

2008 mixed media
Time is my greatest enemy.

- Eva "Evita" Duarte de Peron (1919-1952)

Her grave in Buenos Aires is an altar of fresh flowers, letters, photographs and prayers. Many adore her and many do not.

She was a strong Latin American woman - a leader in several regards.

I believe either my grandfather or great-grandfather once danced the tango with her. She was a professional dancer and an actress - perfect for the political arena I suppose...

Maria Montessori

2008 mixed media

We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry.

- Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952)

She was the first woman in Italy to receive a medical degree, and worked in the fields of psychiatry, education and anthropology.

A child’s education and development is not all math or logic...I too believe in balancing science with poetry...

Anne Frank

2008 mixed media

When I write, I can shake off all my cares.

- Anne Frank (1929 – 1945)

On her 13th birthday, she received a little plaid book from her father.

I read her published diary early in grade school and it changed my life...

Pocahontas

2008 mixed media

Pocahontas (aproximately 1595 – 1617)

She was the daughter of a chief, equivalent to a daughter of a king.

She saved the life of an Englishman and promoted peace amongst the colonists and Native Americans.


Today marks 365 days of BLOG...

I have written every single day for a year...

Cleopatra

2008 mixed media inspired by an ancient coin

Be it known that we, the greatest, are misthought.

- Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt (approximately 69 – 30 BC)

She was a teenager when she became Queen of Egypt.

She spoke several languages, at least nine.

She was the last Pharaoh of Egypt because after her death Egypt became a Roman province.

Eleanor Roosevelt

2008 mixed media

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.


Women are like teabags. We don't know our true strength until we are in hot water.


Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.


No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.


Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.

- Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962)

Her words influence my life on a daily basis...

Lady Murasaki

2008 mixed media

Foolish indeed are those who trust to fortune.

- Lady Murasaki Shikibu (approximately 973 – 1025)

She was a Japanese noblewoman who kept a diary for years.

She is considered to be one of the world’s earliest novelists.

Every woman needs to keep a diary. Writing is as necessary as breathing – at least for me.

Rosa Parks

2008 mixed media

Each person must live their life as a model for others.

- Rosa Parks (1913 – 2005)

She has been recognized as Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America and around the world. She is a symbol of freedom and self-respect combined with dignified courage. She is a reminder to be true to ourselves...

Coco Chanel

2008 mixed media

Fashion passes; style remains.

- Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (1883 - 1971)

She liberated women from corsets, giving us freedom of movement in garments – a luxury previously reserved only for men.

I believe every woman remembers the first time she acquires a CHANEL, even if it is just lipstick.