Natalie's Bag :)

And this is what it came out from the little embroidery pattern that I showed you before. I decided to include some tiny patchwork as well and I did some little changes with the bird.

This bag will be one of my presents for Natalie's birthday in May. She is so excited about turning five!!! Bill and I just had our annual parent meeting with Natalie's Teacher and the school Principal and we were sooo happy to hear all the wonderful things that they had to tell us about her. The most important aspects of our conversation were Natalie's remarkable artistic talent and her great capacity for solving problems. They think that she is a special little person and we agree with them one hundred percent. By the end of the conversation we also talked about Diego and about how a wonderful and caring sister she is with him. We are really proud of our little girl. I want her birthday in May to be a beautiful event, she deserves it!

And here you see one of Natalie's creations. She is fascinated with shadows. When we walk with her she loves to step on our shadows and then Bill pretends that it hurts. She thinks that shadows are something alive. In this picture you see her and her little shadow :)

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And of course I cannot leave you today without saying that I already got the fabrics for the Oscars dress!!!!!! I just went to the same store where I got the ones for el Jardin de Maria Julia. They are beautiful!! I will be back soon!

Elsita :)

WONDERFUL NEWS!!!!!! :)

I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!!!
I JUST GOT A VERY EXCITING NEWS FROM BILL!!!!
THIS YEAR WE WILL BE GOING TO THE OSCARS!!!!!
THAT IS SOOOO EXCITING!!!!!
SHOULD I MAKE A NEW DRESSSSSS?????????
OF COURSE YOU SHOULD!!!!!!!!!
OK THEN YOU BETTER START DESIGNING IT!!!!!
OK!!!!
SEE YOU TOMORROW!!!!

Elsita :)

Embroidery Project :)

I am getting ready to start a little embroidery project. For inspiration I just got the book that you see up there in the picture and I LOVE IT! It has a lot of beautiful photographs of real-deal embroidery works from the 18th Century. During those times embroidery was a serious word and one of the most sophisticated forms of decorative art. What I will do will be very modest, something that a five-year-old girl from the 18th century would complete in fifteen minutes but it will be a nice beginning for me. I just designed a simple pattern that I am more than happy to share with you. Let's see what it comes out from all this! I will show you the final product as soon as it is finished!
See you tomorrow!
Elsita :)

Download embroidery_pattern.jpg

Emotional World :)

I magine the emotional world as a box containing an invisible landscape. Each one of our landscapes has an unique flora and fauna because every human being is different. Now, there is one thing that we all need in order to stay alive and that it oxygen. If we close the door to our emotional world we will get limited amounts of oxygen and breathing will become hard and our invisible flora and fauna will suffer a lot. But if we open that door and share our little landscape with other people we will instantly feel better. I am always looking for ways to keep the door to my emotional world open and I do this specially through my art. Having this blog has been also one of the best sources of oxygen in my life. Many of us are afraid of sharing our feelings with other people because we don’t want to become too fragile or vulnerable but the truth is that there are lots of great human beings out there in the world who are sensitive and who have a lot to give to you. I do the best I can in order to keep my fears away from my self-expression. Keeping everything for myself won’t make me a better person anyway. Now if we feel shy or prefer privacy we just need to be creative; sometimes with a little bit of creativity we can say the most difficult things. And as long as we keep expressing ourselves we will never run out of oxygen.
Let's keep breathing!!
And see you tomorrow!
Elsita :)

Little gift:
I will be sending a tiny card with the illustration that you see up there and the text of this post on the back of the card to 5 of my blogger friends. If you want one of them just let me know here with a comment and then send me an e-mail with your address :)

Makeover :)

And today I am so happy to share this picture of my Mom Margot with you :)
My brother sent it to me yesterday. Here she is after a makeover courtesy of my niece Camilla. The makeover included makeup, jewelry and hair accessory. I think that the job was a success!
Congratulations Camilla!
(Mami quedaste lindisima!)

Elsita :)

(Can you believe that she had a surgery like three days ago!!!!???)
(And now you know how I am going to look like when I am her age :)

A Man In Love :)

Vladimiro has decided that enough is enough! He's been crazy in love with Manolita since he was a teenager but his shy personality has kept him from doing something about it. Now that he is forty-six years old he feels ready for the first step...so he’s got a plan. Manolita works as a Librarian close to her home, which is also close to Vladimiro’s home. Then there is this beautiful park near the library with lots of amazing trees and flowers where Manolita likes to sit for a few minutes everyday before she goes back home. Well, Vladimiro has written a love letter that he is planning to deliver in person to Manolita when she is at the park. And today is the big day! Vladimiro is really nervous but he feels pretty strong. The best part is that Manolita has been also secretly in love with Vladimiro. She dreams about him all the time. I think that something beautiful is about to happen between the two of them. I wish that I could record that historical encounter with my video camera!!!!!
Let's send them lots of good energy! And have a wonderful weekend!
Elsita :)

Alonso And Violetta.

Alonso the sheep and little Violetta have an amazing sense of smell. They spend most of their time smelling flowers. Unfortunately Violetta has been developing an allergy to pollen in the last weeks and Alonso thinks that they should do something about it. One of the solutions would be the use of a mask or something like that. Violetta agrees, she will do whatever it takes to control her allergy but one thing is for sure: she will never stop smelling flowers. Alonso understands her one hundred percent. You will be OK Violetta, says Alonso over and over and Violetta replies: I know Alonso you're right, you're right.

The End :)

I really hope that Violetta recovers from her allergy. Sometimes we find obstacles for doing the things that we enjoy doing but there is always a solution for every problem. The most important thing is to follow our passions and never let obstacles stop us from doing the things that make us happy.
See you tomorrow!
Elsita :)

Roots.

Here is another tiny piece of my past for you. In this picture you can see my hair and I in my studio in Havana. These group of small photos that I arranged together as a montage were taken in 1998 by a young photographer friend of mine. He used black and white film and he developed them with his own hands. I am so glad that I found them so you can see more or less how my world looked like back then. By this time my career was starting to take off and I had a more solid connection with some galleries in Havana and out of Cuba so I worked in my art day and night, that's all I did.

I adored this studio (which was one of the two bedrooms that I had in my apartment) and as dark as it looks I always kept it clean and organized. I look at all the objects in it and I see so much; every single thing in that room has some story behind. The dress that I am wearing for example was made by myself out of some old cotton sheet. The chair where I am sitting on and the one in front of me were part of a set of six that I bought from a lady who lived close by and they were kind of dynamic because the joints were ready to fall apart. The head behind me is a wooden sculpture that I bought from some man on the street. Now between the two tables and close to the wooden head you can see the biggest luxury that I ever had in Cuba: AN AIR CONDITIONING MACHINE!!! It made a funny noise which is impossible to see in the picture as well as the noise from my neighbor’s apartment who had hundreds of birds (the ones that sing all day long) on top of that add some radio playing Cuban Music and now the picture is complete! I also had a wonderful balcony with lots of plants that I watered every morning. And I loved my neighbors! One of my favorite ones was this old actress who was a celebrity in Cuba before the revolution. Her apartment was full of black and white photographs from when she was famous, she was really beautiful. And there was also her very old husband who was always flirting with the young ladies in the building. He was so funny!

What I am making with my hands in this picture is an installation called: Impermanent. The piece was basically a group one hundred black dolls that had roots instead of heads and they were displayed on the wall upside down like little trees. Down here you can see a drawing based on that installation. With these dolls-trees I was talking about how memories (like plants) grow roots in our minds that keep us alive and make us be what we are. Now many years later I am even more sure about this idea. I realize that I am an accumulations of memories and without them I don’t fully exist. I was reading about amnesia the other day and about how people suffering from this condition struggle trying to make sense of who they are. I am lucky that I have a good memory and that I can remember all the details from my past. I wil never take my memory for granted, that's why I try to make use of it as often as possible.

Imaginary Friends :)

Here you see two best friends. Every morning they go to their favorite spot by the cotton tree to talk about important matters. The girl with the big ears is Magnolia and the little guy with the hat is Perico. Little Perico is Magnolia's creation and he lives in her imagination. For the rest of the people Perico doesn't exist but for Magnolia he is the most real friend that she ever had. Whenever she has a problem she talks with him and he tells her exactly what she needs to hear.
The End :)

Imaginary friends are a great companion sometimes! I always keep a small book and some pens only for them. I try to imagine how they look, how they are and they show up and make me smile. I love it when they become visually real on the paper.

I recently treated myself to this set of 24 fine point markers and this little (6"x 6") book for creating new characters while I am waiting for Diego during his speech Therapies. The name of the friend that you see in the drawing is Loco and he was a test to see how the pens worked! I am in love with these pens I highly recommend them to you as well as the little book. They get alone so well, you would love them! I am going to send Loco to the first person who wants him. Just let me know in a comment and I will contact you for your address.
See you tomorrow!!
Elsita :)

Another Felt Necklace :)

And here is another felt necklace! I cut them (the green and this one) in one single piece of felt and then I placed the flowers on top. The possibilities with felt are unlimited, you just need to take a piece of it and get familiar with the personality of this material which is so warm and friendly; you can sew it, bend it, shape it with hot glue, paint on it with markers, cut it in one million ways, embroider it, combine it with beads and other kinds of fabrics...I wish that I had lots of time to create hundreds of designs out of felt!!! These two necklaces will be in my Etsy store soon! :) And now I have to get ready because today Diego has his speech therapy!
See you soon!
Elsita :)

notes:

Dear GB thank you so much for the link about Michala. I appreciate it.

Dear Marta, it's great that you got the Lanvin book! Isn't it wonderful!