Funky Art Queen

Here it is...the moment you have all (and when I say all I mean all 3 of you-heehee) been waiting for. The Frida skirt is making her debut right here. This of course is the front of the skirt. I finally finished it this morning. See, it pays to get up early. I always get so much done in the morning when everyone else is still in bed. First, I get the dogs out, start the coffee, let the dogs in, sip my coffee and I start eye balling all my projects to decide which one I feel like working on. I had already determined that I would get this skirt done this weekend. I also plan to finish Heather's purse and my little placemat project. Oh, and my friend, Renea, said she would not mind getting one of my funky purses for her birthday in July so I better start that project. So, it looks like it will be a fabric art type of weekend. Things could change though! ( I like to add that clause in case my interests change as they so often do. Here is the back and a close up of the Frida Kahlo skirt...

"Llorona" is what they call her. She is the main character in a Mexican Folklore story. My sweet friend Marisa told me this story and I decided to illustrate it through this mixed media piece. Here is a link to one version of the Llorona story . I encourage you to go and read it and then look at the picture again. It will make sense then. Anyway, according to Marisa, Llorona is the equivalent to "booger bears" and such things our parents or older siblings might have used to scare us into doing or not doing something when we were children. Remember? You better not act that way or the booger bear will get you! Or maybe I just came from a weird and dysfunctional family? heehee I created this piece with my prisma pencils, water colors (the shimmering H20 brand) and some inks. It was really done hastily and I think I might could do better now on canvas.

My Sister and I went to El Paso last weekend. We were fortunate enough to find the Hal Marcus Gallery. We met Hal Marcus the Artist and viewed lots of wonderful art. Of course I loved most of it because everything was so vibrant and whimsical. The whole gallery is huge and has a little cafe upstairs. It was closed on Saturdays-darn! Anyway, I was so inspired by Hal's work. I wanted to share it with you. Please click on the link and go and take a look at his work. You can click on each artist's picture to get a sample of their work. I realize I have not updated in some time. This is my usual pattern. I get busy with other things and get distracted. But, I think the trip pulled me back a little. I always dabble with art in some way. I have done several little projects. Since I returned home from El Paso, I started on another "Me and My Little Bird" picture. This one is larger than my normal work. It is 30"X24". Here is a picture of the beginning of this work. ...

mis pequeños pájaros That means "My Little Birds" in Spanish. I had to find that on an English to Spanish translator on the web. I am still working on my Mexican Folk Art Series. I have been looking at a lot of Latin, Hispanic Culture art. Seems like there is a lot of Relgious type things with crosses, Our Lady of Guadalupe, etc. Here is my most recent work. I sold the last two on ebay and I was excited about that. One lady who bought a piece was named "Sharon Stone". I thought that was funny. What if it really was Sharon Stone-the movie star!? Oh, I have arrived! Heehee This was created with my ever so used Prisma Color pencils and water soluable oil pastels (back ground). I did this on watercolor paper (140lb) which I like much better than the smooth paper I used last week for this type of art. I am a busy lady. Here are the other things I am working on. I have several purses and one case in progress. I have decided to make a quilt called "Women of the World...

Alebrijes: These very popular figurines are carved from wood by hand and have a very nice history. The name Alebrijes was given by a Mexican Indian of the State of Oaxaca that once had a dream in which he saw strange animals made up of parts of one animal mixed with others, and those animals were making strange sounds that he could not understand. The one and only word that he could understand was Alebrije. Without knowing the meaning of that word he adopted it as their name. When he awoke, he took a piece of Copal Wood (which is native to Oaxaca) and started carving the animals that he saw in his dream. His animals are very similar of the ones we are presenting here. Creatively carved by the artists hand, no two pieces will ever be exactly alike. Each one a unique piece of art. I have been looking at different Mexican Folk Art on the internet and I keep running into these little wood carved figures. Of course I love them because of their color and whimsey! Here is a link to a great si...

Here is a picture I came up with from that phrase "chicken no make good house pet". I did this with pencils and water soluble pastels. I'm stuck on those again. But this one also had a foundation of acrylic paints layered/textured some. I always do up several ofand let them dry. I put them away and later pull them out to create art on. O.K. so it is a Rooster. Don't be such a rigid Annie. A rooster is a boy chicken right? Just go with it!

I really enjoy Mexican folk art. The colors are wonderful and whimsical. I was looking at a craft book, I believe it is the Cloth, Paper and Scissors book and I saw this phrase, "chicken no make good house pet". This cracked me up! That inspired me to do a series of Mexican Folk Art paintings and works. Who knows what I will come up with. But, I have to do something with a crazy chicken in the house too. Here is a piece I did today. Does she look Hispanic? That is the look I was going for. The Mexican culture is so interesting to me. Maybe that is why I like Frida? The whole Day of the Dead thing is interesting too. So let us see what I come up with while studying this fine culture and ethnic group. This piece was done with pencils and water soluable oil pastels on a very smooth paper meant for pencil art actually but it came out okay. I prefer the water color paper for these pastels but sometimes when the mood strikes the supplies are not there so we make do.