s.o.s. - s.o.s.

summer camp . is . over

help.

send reinforcements.

needed at the front lines:

nutella 

oreos

coffee

sanity.

I love how this new painting turned out. And so happy it's finally finished and on it's way to Canada!

It was made under commission and meant to be a wedding present. I was inspired by the poem that was provided, The poem is by Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese poet, and talks about marriage: (I wrote excrepts of the poem on the painting (In spanish), and the images were all inspired on it.)

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

I wish I had read this poem around the time I was getting married, because I remember how I felt that everybody wants to give you some good advice on what to do when you find difficulties in the road of your life together. One of these golden nuggets of information was that I should never go to bed angry with my new husband, to always try to sort things out, and talk. right away, never let things fester for more than a day.

Ok. WRONG. I tried this, I actually thought it would make our relationship stronger if we tried to solve every little detail that was troubling us. But later found out that some things need their space and their time to sort out. Not all has to be sopken, not all has to be addressed right away. I am not saying you should not talk about what's bothering you, but there is a time for everything.

So here are a few details of the painting, the client loved it! woo-hoo!!

Ps, I am in SHOCK on how expensive it is to ship something bigger than an envelope. I mean, I know this painting is big and all, but it is costing almost a third of the price of the artwork! it is outragoeus! AND they made me pay a FUEL SURCHARGE! Do I really have to pay them the gas they are using to deliver this, ON TOP of the overpriced delivery charge??!! Is there nobody watching this? Are they allowed to do this?

FORGOTTEN.

A few thoughts on this topic.....

A dream that you forget after the first minute or so of waking.

An old memory

A Photograph that is lost

A shoe that is misplaced

An old friend

Something that was forgotten but no more.

You remember that video I made of HOT, this cigar box that had collage on it, and how I poured some resin, and added like 3D things to it, and they stuck on the resin, and stuff? And then Jeff, the guy at 52 projects, actually POSTED A LINK TO THE VIDEO! and it got a gazillion links! on youtube (ok, maybe a thousand or so, but still, my most successful video to date, thankyouverymuch)

OK, so the news are.. that this little box HAS SOLD! I had it in my etsy store for what seemed to be forever and I was ok with her hanging around my living room wall,  but then Susan came along and she took it! (yay! hi Susan!) So now that little piece of my heart is on it's way to California. I have to say, tears were shed at UPS. Oh, I miss you already, but happy it found a home.

And speaking of etsy... I just updated the store with new stuff. So come take a look, I made a few more pendants that are there for sale, and I also decided to start tasting the waters on etsy-custom work!

So I am now taking orders to make those little pendants with names and pictures of your child, (or maybe you!) I made one for each of my kids, and I LOVED THEM! I plan to hang them from their school bags once the new year starts.

And I am also thinking of making them for my nephews and nieces come Christmas time. I am having fun making them, so the custom work will be the perfect excuse to keep making 'em!

Besides, you know I'm not making art for the money, that would be hilarious! but I still do need to sell once in a while, because craft stores don't like to part with supplies in exchange of paintings (I've asked!) They prefer money, it seems. Weird, huh?

*ahem* Welcome World, to the World Premiere of my new video:

How to paint POLYMER CLAY with colored pencils!

I KNOW sounds kind of weird, right? colored pencils on clay? Or maybe it's not weird at all, and I just have to little information on polymer clay, and maybe it's something that is done all the time, but at least, IT IS NEW TO ME! So I am very giddy about it, and of course, you know how I love to overshare everything I do, so here's a video I put together:

So, usually the only way I willingly tackle a big canvas is if it is made under commission. The whiteness usually scares me and draws me into a *blank* mode. But once in a while, one of this big paintings finds me, so I eagerly take on the project. And yes, I started this painting and after going blank for a while, I finally got a good idea, also, there's a few guidelines for this one:

*Incorporating Lebanese and Colombian heritage

*Brown, Ocre, Yellow

*It's meant to be a present for a wedding. (awwww, I know, how cute) so there has to be something wedding-y and romantic about it, maybe bells? something old, something new, borrowed and blue? doves flying? or is that only for peace?

I decided to attack this problem with the help of a poem that the commissioner (what an important title to be given to somebody!) provided, it's about how two trees can only grow side by side and not in the shadow of one another, (will post the poem once the painting is completed) so here they are, the two trees, it's still not finished but you get the idea. More pictures once it's done! cause it's still a work in progress, and I need to send it out the door ASAP! The wedding is ONE week! ack!

here's a few pictures of the process of what I like to call:

BIG BIG PAINTING 1.0

 BIG BIG PAINTING 2.0

AND 2.1

BIG BIG PAINTING 3.0

Just a side note. Today we went to see Mamma Mia, you know, the movie. And after being uncomfortable for a while in the beginning, and feeling kind of weird with all that singing, (Pierce Brosnan singng??)  I finally got into the rythm of the movie (ha! rythm, get it?) and I really enjoyed it. This is the first movie where I have experienced a movie theatre suddenly busrting into song. It was weird in a liberating kind of way. I had always wanted to sing along and maybe do a little clapping in a movie theater. Today I got a chance, it was AWESOME.