a lot of love

a fun candle


sugar
eggs
cream
flour
pineapple preserves
coconut
candles
a pan fit for an angel

There is a lot of love in those bags!
- check-out clerk at the grocery store

we had a delicious dinner
one year later
visiting Australia and Thailand instead of Peru

volcanoes

detail from pen & ink, circa 2006

The only mountains he had ever known were the three volcanoes, which came up to his knees. And he used the extinct volcano as a foot-stool.

- excerpt from Antoine de Saint-Exupery's
"The Little Prince"

I've been thinking and dreaming of volcanoes lately...

dawn in golden slippers

mixed media study


When I opened my eyes
hardly had dawn
in golden slippers
touched me

- SAPPHO

simplify

detail from a simple sketch that became a series in progress




simplify

simplify your life

he says

freedom & time

mixed media completed this weekend, from a series
I was organizing a bookshelf and stopped to view some photos from about 14 years ago. I was younger - and thinner, but I feel more beautiful today. I know who I am, where I stand and where I am headed. I am centered and balanced.

Yes, I may be overwhelmed with chores and lack of 8-hour sleep, but I am learning to give myself freedom and time to play and take naps...and to be in the moment and just give thanks...

dream messages

detail from mixed media


They were living in a luxurious chateau in France. I was overjoyed to see my beloved Grand Parents. André Breton came to visit and we discussed my art, my writing...

Words make love with one another.

- André Breton (1896-1966)

excerpt from last night's dream

the laundry can wait

2009 mixed media from a series
there are about four loads of laundry to wash, dry, fold and put away

and all I want to do is paint
and finish a fabulous necklace
and play with baby
and take a nap

the laundry can wait

unraveling meditations for manifesting

detail from mixed media, 2009
He sat in his green rocking chair, unraveling meditations for manifesting as the praying mantis appeared at the window...

excerpt from a true story in progress

baby artist

2009 marker on paper by baby
He asks to sit on my lap every morning to draw. Some days it is with a pencil, other days with a pen. Today it was with a purple marker. I am in love with my baby artist...

to remember or to forget?

detail from a mixed media in progress
I have kept a journal since childhood. Isabel Allende advices to write what should not be forgotten. What about things that are best left in the past? What needs to be remembered and what needs to be forgotten? Do we really have the power to decide?

silence

mixed media in progress
are we afraid of silence?

Within each of us there is a silence - a silence as vast as the universe. We are afraid of it...and we long for it. When we experience that silence, we remember who we are: creatures of the stars, created from the birth of galaxies, created from the cooling of this planet, created from dust and gas, created from the elements, created from time and space...created from silence. Silence is the source of all that exists, the unfathomable stillness where vibration began - the first oscillation, the first word, from which life emerged. Silence is our deepest nature, our home, our common ground, our peace. Silence reveals. Silence heals. Silence is where God dwells. We yearn to be there. - Gunilla Norris

are we afraid to remember who we are?
are we afraid to be healed through silence?

40 years

detail from a circa 1998 sculpture

only 40 years ago
a human being
walked on the moon

where will the next 40 years take us?

where will the next 40 days take us?

...the next 40 minutes?

...these next 40 seconds?

el perdón y la memoria

self-portrait, 2009 mixed media
el perdón y la memoria
amantes que se traiciónan

forgiveness and memory
lovers who betray each other

- excerpt from a series of writings in progress

ephemeral existence

study for sculpture
how to respond

when we do not speak the same language

the goddess guided me to the book and I read:

Crystallize my existence

in a drop of dew

Sparkling, ephemeral

with strivings of every hue.

- Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave

oh, our ephemeral existence

all is illusion

one strange day

detail from an old sketch
The Once-Great-King would travel for hours on horseback to consult an unassuming crone who had studied with renowned healers in India.

The wizened old woman lived on a cave-like secluded farmhouse amidst herbaceous vegetation known for its medicinal and supernatural properties. She concocted magic perfumes and potions from her enchanted herbs.

The petite soothsayer was in direct communication with the spirit world and the Once-Great-King trusted her predictions and visions with his life and his kingdom.

One strange day, when the moon and sun were both presiding over the skies, a swarm of butterflies appeared, attaching themselves to every living tree in the land. The flutter of countless wings created a humming chant that reached the Once-Great-King’s ears in waves...he understood the time of great change had finally arrived...

- excerpt from a story in progress

thirsty for more

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...

originally published in April 2007

this morning I woke up thirsty, ready to create
I finished a necklace
and hope to complete a short story by the end of the day
the baby is teething and wanting to play

el rey azteca

mixed media study for sculpture, 2009
el rey azteca se vistió de mis sueños

cantó de cristales y piedras con sedas y palabras

el arte es aire


the aztec king dressed in my dreams

sang of crystals and stones with silks and words

art is air

musa de mis sueños

my Great Grand Aunt: Margarita Debayle Sacasa de Pallais
Margarita, musa de mis sueños

inspirando, recordando...siempre amando


Margarita, muse of my dreams

inspiring, remembering....loving forever

life is relationship

2009 mixed media
All of life is relationship, and it is how we relate to people, to things, to ideas, and to our past actions that defines who we are. - John McAfee
I opened up the book and this quote appeared...life is relationship...

beach story

my Dad and me on the beach, circa 1970s
The beach holds memories of sand castles and salty smiles. It is where I need to begin telling my story, telling her story...with Father Sun and Mother Moon...

excerpt from my journal

blue lips

my blue lips
she paints her lips in blue waters

no ordinary woman

detail from self-portrait in progress
“...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

you are no ordinary woman
go back to the sea
swim in the wildness
just be
no ordinary woman

mermaid life

my eyes in mermaid hues

conceived and birthed

in salt waters

mermaid life

respect

detail from self-portrait, 2009
If you wish to be respected, you must respect yourself.
- Spanish Proverb

Aretha sings about it, but it was Grand Mother who taught me (by example) how to respect myself...

writing on wings of dragons

detail from mixed media, 2009

To attract good fortune, spend a new penny on an old friend, share an old pleasure with a new friend and lift up the heart of a true friend by writing her/his name on the wings of a dragon. - Proverb

...writing on wings of dragons...it is what I am called to do...

access the goddess within

detail from self-portrait study, 2009
she telephoned
feeling abandoned, forgotten and alone

I wanted to tell her to be strong
to access the goddess within

instead I listened
and sent strength silently

just begin

self-portrait, mixed media 2009
there is so much to say...
so much to do...
where shall we begin?
...let us just begin...NOW...

thoughts before meditating this morning

freedom

Lady Liberty
I have a magnet on my fridge which captures the essence of freedom for me. It reads:

DANCE as though no one is watching you,
LOVE as though you have never been hurt before,
SING as though no one can hear you,
LIVE as though heaven is on earth.

- Souza

do you dance, love, sing and live with freedom?

completely nude

my ideal bathing suit
I am quite comfortable in my skin and actually prefer to see my body completely nude instead of in one of today's bathing suits...

...shall I propose we go to a clothing-optional beach?

stop & remember

unaltered photographic detail of a leaf
we are so busy

on telephones that are computers and cameras and more

we are so busy

running and planning and thinking ahead

we are so busy

we forget who we are

we forget why we are here

let us stop and remember

my story HERstory

detail from mixed media design for tshirt, 2009
In retelling our stories, we uncover the positive, empowering legacy that we've been given...we can only rewrite our stories at the mythic level.

- Alberto Villoldo

I opened up his book and received a direct message...for I have been rewriting, retelling my story, which is also HERstory...