do you think for yourself?

if you are interested in adding one of these limited edition prints to your collection, please visit my online gallery: CASIMIRA

prayers of our grandmothers

"We invoke the prayers of our grandmothers, who taught us to pray, 'God make me a blessing.'  Let their spirit guide us as we claim the spirit of old.  There's something within me that holds the reins.  There's something within me that banishes pain.  There's something within me I cannot explain.   But all I know America, there is something within.  There is something within..."

- Myrlie Evers-Williams (b. 1933)

what are you doing for others?

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

fairies

detail from my studio

"She was an enchantress, inspiring love and beauty. And fairies never quite disappear altogether." 
- Hubert de Givenchy

I simply adore this description of Audrey Hepburn...one of my beloved muses. 

Limited Edition prints of the original Mixed Media are now available for purchase at:
CASIMIRA Gallery

La Frida

mixed media study...imagine on a tote....divine

con collares de colores,
ella pinta sus dolores,
ella escribe sus amores

"I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone. Because I am the subject I know best." 

- Frida Kahlo

¡Feliz cumpleaños Rubén Darío!

2011 mixed media

"Ama tu ritmo y ritma tus acciones,

bajo su ley, asi como tus versos;
eres un universo de universos,
y tu alma una fuente de canciones." - Ruben Dario (1867-1916)

eternal feminine

"I belong to no race nor time. I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads."
- Zora Neale Hurston (1903-1960)

blossom like a flower

2007 mixed media collage from journals

"If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace." - Thich Nhat Hanh

who is your muse?

"It's Gala who discovers and brings me all the essences, which I then turn into honey in the busy hive of my mind.  Without Gala, the world would have no genie: Dali would not exist."

- Salvador Dali (1904-1989)

interested in purchasing one of these limited edition mixed media prints? visit:  CASIMIRA Art Gallery 

ROMANCE is part of an ongoing series of mixed media featuring couples whose love and passion have ignited the world. The collection is currently being prepared for exhibitions.

black and white and color

mixed media prints...the originals are being prepared for upcoming exhibitions...

I notice I have been posting a lot of black and white images lately...and yet I have been painting in wild and wonderful color...

to view some of these prints in C O L O R, you are welcome to visit:
CASIMIRA

xo xo xo

my love of gray wet days

I have stepped into a vintage black and white photograph and could be in Paris, Lima, London or Seattle.  A cool, refreshing mist hydrates my skin.  Nostalgia and romance combined...

"Let the rain kiss you.  Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.  Let the rain sing you a lullaby."
- Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

high priestess

"...Inside the temple are lovely priestesses, chosen for their elegance and grace, who spend their lives serving the goddess, singing and dancing to her glory..." - Mary Olsen Kelly

remembering Tia Melba on her birthday

new moon new beginnings

wearing delicate diamond feathers,
she bathed her dreams in moonlight...
new beginnings...

wishing my beautiful sister a very happy birthday

humility

my son holding one of my sculptures

are you humble?

why?

why not?

"Don't be so humble - you are not that great."
- Golda Meir (1898-1978) to a visiting diplomat

Frida Kahlo and Chavela Vargas

"Painting completed my life." - Frida Kahlo

2013 mixed media featuring Frida and Chavela Vargas

vanity and sentimentality

"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 ?

what do we water our dreams with?

bronze

"Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream."

- Lao Tzu (circa 531 BC)

be irreplaceable

"In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different."

- Coco Chanel (1883 - 1971)

a new world

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." - Anaïs Nin

a free spirit

"I like to be a free spirit. Some don't like that, but that's the way I am."
-Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales (1961-1997)

music, yoga and yogurt

my son - pure joy

"I am a tambourine. Don't put me aside till the fast dancing starts. Play me some all along. Help me with these little sounds." - RUMI

most days begin with music, yoga and yogurt...
today I discovered the most delicious yogurt -"siggi's Icelandic style cream-skyr"

secretos de la vida

mixed media on wood, circa 2009

"What secret are you looking for?

Life will soon reveal it to you." - Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

2013 blessing

mixed media from new series

may the SUN bring you new energy by day,

may the MOON softly restore you by night,

may the RAIN wash away your worries,

may the BREEZE blow new strength into your being.

may you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life.

- APACHE BLESSING

let us stay open

As the year draws to a close, let us honor everyone and everything that came our way - all of the blessings (especially those still in disguise).  Let us release 2012 with love and gratitude.  Let us stay open to joy.  Let us stay open to miracles.  Let us stay open to love...

for my circle of women

"Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is a woman.

A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories.

Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.

Imagine a woman who trusts and respects herself.

A woman who listens to her needs and desires.

Who meets them with tenderness and grace.

Imagine a woman who acknowledges the past's influence on the present.

A woman who has walked through her past.

Who has healed into the present.

Imagine a woman who authors her own life.

A woman who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own behalf.

Who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and wisest voice.

Imagine a woman who names her own gods.

A woman who imagines the divine in her image and likeness.

Who designs a personal spirituality to inform her daily life.

Imagine a woman in love with her own body.

A woman who believes her body is enough, just as it is.

Who celebrates its rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.

Imagine a woman who honors the body of the Goddess in her changing body.

A woman who celebrates the accumulation of her years and her wisdom.

Who refuses to use her life-energy disguising the changes in her body and life.

Imagine a woman who values the women in her life.

A woman who sits in circles of women.

Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.

Imagine yourself as this woman."

“Imagine a Woman” © Patricia Lynn Reilly, 1995

peace through courage

"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)

all part of one another

"The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.”
- Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

only that breath breathing human being

"My place is placeless, a trace of the traceless.

Neither body or soul.

 

I belong to the beloved, have seen the two worlds as one and that one call to and know, first, last, outer, inner, only that breath breathing human being." - RUMI

every breath hallelujah

I have not been able to stop thinking of this song...

"I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It's not a cry you can hear at night
It's not somebody who has seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah..." - Leonard Cohen

Merry Christmas

the REAL santa
"It came without ribbons!

It came without tags!

It came without packages, boxes or bags!...

...Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.

Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!" - Dr. Seuss

noche buena - misa del gallo

vintage photo from Grandparents' home, circa 1970s or 1960s
Tonight families gather to celebrate each other and to honor the Eve of Christ’s birth.

Those who are far away are missed more than ever.

Those who have passed away are always remembered.

A feast is prepared and enjoyed amidst laughter and song.

At midnight, bells ring to announce La Misa del Gallo, midnight mass with choir and candlelight.

Esta noche es Noche-Buena
Y no es noche de dormir.
– old Spanish verse

nostalgia

I close my eyes and I can hear their voices.  My beloved grandmothers, truly Grand Mothers...

His Holiness Sri Swami Satchidananda

Sri Gurudev playing with me, circa 1973...
His Holiness Sri Swami Satchidananda was born on December 22nd in 1914.  I am entering a new phase of my life...and it is time to celebrate the light.

I celebrate beloved Gurudev, today and always...

Mother Night births the sun - Winter Solstice - 12.21.12

"Circle round, and I'll tell you a story about when the sun was born again...

It was the middle of winter, and the sun had grown very old.  All year long the sun had worked very hard, rising and setting day after day.  All year long the sun had fed everybody on earth, shining and shining, giving energy to the trees and the flowers and the grasses so they could grow and feed the animals and birds and insects and people...

Night felt sorry for the sun.

"Come to my arms and rest, child." she said. "After all, I am your mother.  You were born out of darkness, billions of years ago, and you will return to me when all things end.  Let me cradle you now, as I shelter every galaxy and star in the universe."

So Night wrapped her great arms around the sun, and the night was very long indeed...

Every time a child said thank you, the sun began to feel a little warmer, a little brighter.  Wrapped safely in the arms of Night, the sun grew younger and younger...For in the long night the sun had rested well and grown young from the songs and the thanks of the children, young as a brand-new baby, born out of Night once more.

"The sun has returned!  The sun is reborn!" the people cried.  And they danced and sang to celebrate the birth of a new day..." - STARHAWK

each other

“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.”
- Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993)

limited edition prints of this mixed media are now available for purchase online: click on red
SHOP CASIMIRA

it's the way you carry it

“It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.”
- Lena Horne (1917 - 2010)

limited edition prints of this mixed media are now available for purchase online:  click on red
SHOP CASIMIRA

joyful opportunities

2004 self-portrait in metal

“Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal;
it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it.” 
- Eliza Tabor

disappointment only creates opportunities - JOYFUL opportunities

humanity renewed

"Teach this triple truth to all:

a generous heart,

kind speech,

and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity."

- Buddha

Humanity renewed...I believe it happens one person at a time, one thought at a time, one action at a time.

recordando a Guillermo Sevilla-Sacasa

mi bello "Popo" de colonias y cuentos,


Popo quien me enseño a dibujar,
a jugar con palabras,
a platicar con seguridad,


a ser una verdadera pavo-real-la,
de plumas blancas y plateadas como las de las hadas,


Popo, siempre impecable y notable,
un genio genial y jovial,
de medallas y honores,
Popo de mis amores,


siento su mirada noche y día,
escucho sus consejos,
segura que nos encontramos en mis sueños..

remembering my beloved grandfather, truly a Grand Father

writing on the wings of a dragon

"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

prayers and love to all

"She Who Heals:

Mother, sing me a song
That will ease my pain,
Mend broken bones,
Bring wholeness again.

Catch my babies
When they are born,
Sing my death song,
Teach me how to mourn.

Show me the Medicine
Of the healing herbs,
The value of spirit,
The way I can serve.

Mother, heal my heart
So that I can see
The gifts of yours
That can live through me."

- Jamie Sams

so many doors

"I feel very adventurous. There are so many doors to be opened, and I'm not afraid to look behind them." - Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011)

12.12.12

"Be humble for you are made of earth. 

Be noble for you are made of stars."- SERBIAN PROVERB

2012 mixed media inspired by a dream

patience, passion, persistence

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." - Harriet Tubman (approximately 1818–1913)

contemplating patience, passion and persistence...

besos celestes

I dreamed with blue oceans and lions,

I heard his voice calling to me...

I wrote to him in blue spanish

~~~~~~~

lineas azules,

besos celestes,

abrazos morados risas rosadas,

y luz infinita...


excerpt from a letter

to have a friend

2008 mixed media

The verb "to love" in Persian is "to have a friend."

"I love you" translated literally is "I have you as a friend," and "I don't like you" simply means "I don't have you as a friend.”

- Shushā Guppy (1935-2008)

Are you friends with yourself?

Do you love yourself?