serenity

mixed media on wood
serenity

this is my wish for you today...

summer dreams

detail from a self-portrait
I dreamed with nuns and rosaries and a man dressed in a yellow chicken suit. It was summer in my dreams and I lived by the water.
I woke up to find snow falling.

I love all seasons, yet it is always summer in my dreams...

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. - Albert Camus

take time

one of my journals
what is happening?

what has happened?

take time to be in solitude

take time to be in silence

take time to be in sacredness

This is what is strange - that friends, even passionate love, are not my real life unless there is time alone in which to discover what is happening or has happened.

- May Sarton

take time to BE...

hunting

a recent photograph from a series

"You wander from room to room
hunting for the diamond necklace
that is already around your neck!"

- RUMI

swing by sunset

when was the last time you were on a swing?
strange dreams
last night and this morning
strange day
out of sorts

between moonlight and sunset
with the world upside down
with a cold wind caressing
laughter and freedom...PLAY...

when was the last time you played?

vibrate love

mixed medias on wood
so much sorrow
so much suffering
how can we heal our planet?

let us begin with
inner peace
so that we may
vibrate love

let us be conscious
of everything we consume
news, food, conversations
are these bringing us closer to peace?

"It is not that I do not wish to mix with others, but living alone in freedom is a better path for me. When I think about the misery of those in this world, their sadness becomes mine. Oh, that my monk's robe was wide enough to gather up all the suffering people in this floating world."

- Ryōkan Taigu (1758–1831)

wind

detail from self-portrait
the wind woke me

howling

announcing change

inspiration

2007 photograph, San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
Is this a chicken or a rooster?

Grand Mother grew up on a farm and would know the difference instantly.

This lovely Nicaraguan bird inspired a necklace...white and black stones suspended from vintage red silk and sterling.

Inspiration is everywhere...

beets

playing with ideas
I love beets. I love to eat them and paint with their unforgiving staining juices. Beets remind me of Grand Mother and God Mother. I can almost taste the unforgettable beet soup with Guru Spiritual Mother...

Yesterday, I discovered a jar and a can of sliced beets...both had expired.

What are we holding on to that has already expired?

expired ideas
expired relationships
expired habits

spirit rain

study for sculpture
the cold rain blesses my flesh

in the silence of my heart

I listen to my spirit

don't be afraid of getting wet

go out and dance in the rain

wholeness

detail from mixed media on canvas, circa 1999
"...wholeness, that which our nature requires. It embodies the impulse toward self-realization and indicates the path you must follow, not from ulterior motives but from the core of your individuality. Seeking after wholeness is the Spiritual Warrior's quest. And yet what you are striving to become in actuality is what, by nature, you already are. Become conscious of your essence and bring it into form, express it in a creative way..." - Ralph H. Blum

wholeness
self-realization
essence

a powerful message I received this morning after yoga and meditation...

blessing

study for sculpture
everything is a blessing

everything is a learning

mares y cielos

self-portrait from a series
me visto de mares y cielos profundos

nado entre recuerdos y sueños

me pierdo y me encuentro en tu mirada

vuelo con águilas y mariposas

acuarelas de sueños

mixed media self-portrait


te pinto mi alma
en acuarelas de sueños

te cuento mis secretos
en murmullos celestes

te invento de recuerdos
en las paginas de mi ser

soy esa niña hecha mujer

her song

photographic detail, study for sculpture
she has her own sensual language

she speaks without saying a word

mother earth

our mother

are we listening to her song?

"Everything in the universe is made of union and generation - by the coming together of elements that seek out one another, melt together two by two, and are born again in a third."
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

majestic

detail from roses on an altar
all of us were present

suspended in golden light

she was radiant

our Majestic Mother

dancing under rose petal rain


excerpt from a dream

understanding pain as sacred

detail from a recent photograph
so much suffering on our planet
so much pain
why?

...and I was led to open the book and read:

"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain...."
- Kahlil Gibran

...and I remembered giving birth
labor pain - sacred pain
pain has the power to unite us and together birth miracles...

praying

a recent photo from Nicaragua

You can no more win a war that you can win an earthquake.

- Jeannette Rankin

praying for Haiti

praying for peace

praying for our planet

perspective

a Nicaraguan sunset
my husband and child dance and laugh

ZIGGY MARLEY sings "it's family time...it's time to be free...lift up your hearts with a smile, lift up your feet with a dance, lift up your spirit with a song..."

everything gets put into perspective

forever in my heart

detail from photograph taken in Rivas, Nicaragua
un altar a Nuestra Madre
Luz de Vida
Cancion de Amor
Ojos de Alegria

an altar to Our Mother
Light of Life
Song of Love
Eyes of Joy

remembering beloved Tia Indiana who lives forever in my heart

this day

detail from mixed media

Nothing is worth more than this day.
- Johann Von Goethe

wishing my beautiful beloved sister a blessed birthday and year

forgiveness freedom

detail from a recent photograph taken in Rivas, Nicaragua
forgiveness is freedom

it is lifting one's heart and giving it wings...

The act of forgiveness is the act of returning to present time. And that's why when one has become a forgiving person, and has managed to let go of the past, what they've really done is they've shifted their relationship with time. Forgive and call back the energy wasted on past events.
- Carolyn Myss

awake

self-portrait from a series
I love waking up before the world. I sit in silence an enter my soul. I imagine what is possible. I whisper my dreams into the dawn. I forgive others and myself. I listen to him breathing and give thanks for the moment, for being awake.

mujer

mixed media self-portrait from a series, 2010

soy guerrera de otros siglos

soy reina desde antes

soy gitana bailando

soy esa que grita su verdad en silencio

soy mujer


...English translation, although I prefer it in Spanish


I am a warrior from centuries past
I am a queen from long ago
I am a gypsy dancing
I am she who screams her truth in silence
I am a woman

rejuvenate

photograph taken in Rivas, Nicaragua this past December 2009
how do you rejuvenate yourself?

I dance

I stretch

I meditate

I dare

I pray

I take long showers (which are not very good for my delicate skin)

I laugh

I cry

I write and write and write

I wonder

I dream

I love

I kiss him and him over and over

I forgive everyone, including myself...

"We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden." - Johann Von Goethe

best day

every day is a happy day for him
Write in your heart that every day is the BEST day of the year.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

floating world

I just love this series of recent photographs

I see people in the world throw away their lives lusting after things, never able to satisfy their desires, falling into deep despair and torturing themselves. Even if they get what they want, how long will they be able to enjoy it? For one heavenly pleasure they suffer ten torments of hell, binding themselves more firmly to the grindstone. Such people are like monkeys frantically grasping for the moon in the water and then falling into a whirlpool. How endlessly those caught up in the floating world suffer. - Ryōkan Taigu (1758–1831)

a quote that found me after morning meditation

creation

2009 photograph of my son holding "VOLCAN" solid sterling silver
my God Mother
also his God Mother
our Queen Tilly says:

Your son is holding your creation, holding you. The fact that it is a ring signifies the unity and bond between Mother and Son. He is the future holding the present - the sterling silver treasure from the depths of Mother Earth formed into a volcano representative of the power and forces of Nature. His open fingers signify that he will hold your hand for a while but then venture out on his own taking with him the love, strength, confidence, guidance, and inspiration he gains from you. Your son - your most beautiful creation is sharing your art with the world.

- Edda M. Sevilla Somoza

let's dance more

detail from a recent dance with baby, 2009 photograph
I dance every single day and yet I realize I do not dance enough...

when was the last time you danced with complete abandon?
with complete joy and freedom?

let's dance more
and more
until we fall to the floor in ecstasy

wild woman

mixed media self-portrait from a series, 2010
every woman has a WILD woman within
she dances with complete freedom
she does not care who stares, who judges
she is secure in her wildness

every woman is a WILD woman
there is RAW beauty in our wildness
there is SACRED light in our wildness

"You were WILD once. Don't let them TAME you."
- Isadora Duncan

a new decade has dawned

mixed media photograph of me in front of a portrait by Robert Barberena De La Rocha
a new decade has dawned
what are your wildest dreams?
what are your wildest desires?
what are you passionate about?

who is in your wildest dreams, supporting you?
who is part of your wildest desires?
who are you passionate about?

"Choose to be in close proximity to people who are empowering, who appeal to your sense of connection to intention, who see the greatness in you, who feel connected to God, and who live a life that gives evidence that Spirit has found celebration through them."
- Dr. Wayne Dyer