My Friend today.

I'm now in Chicago at my Mother in Law's home putting my thoughts together. I just came back from spending some precious hours with my friend Debra. She's in critical condition at her home but she was so happy to see me. It was sometimes hard to control my tears but I was pretty strong most of the time. Right now she's wearing this special red pin that I made for her. She loved it. I feel extremely lucky to be able to spend this time with her. 

Saying Good-Bye.

The time has arrived for me to say good-bye to my beloved friend Debra. She is into hospice care at her home right now. I'm getting ready for a quick trip. I will be flying to see her for the last time on Friday and I will be back on Monday. My heart is broken in many pieces but my spirit is strong. I don't believe that the departure of the body is the end of human existence. Debra and I will be forever connected through our spirits. True love and friendship stay alive forever.

Five Wool Felt Embroidered Cameo Pins and One Pendant.

 

These are the most detailed and colorful brooches (and one pendant) that I ever made. They're like "small paintings" but instead of paint they're made out of wool felt, glass (tiny beads) and thread. These are really pretty in person.

I wanted to create something unique with my hands during the time when Diego is attending his social skills therapy. For the last few weeks I just parked my car in a beautiful shady area located in Beverly Hills, I turned on the radio to classical music and I started painting (embroidering :). It was such a relaxing experience. That's why they came out beautiful, because I put lots of positive energy into every stitch.

The architecture of these pieces is also more advanced than the ones that I have made previously. They're lightweight but have a nice thick body at the same time. I just love looking at them. Sometimes all you need to get into a good mood is looking at something colorful. In fact, there is something called Chromotherapy, which is some kind os color therapy. I hope that looking at these little creations makes you happy :)

Everything is already listed on my Etsy shop.

 

How to Display a Brooch Collection.

Here I wanted to show you what I did with most of my brooch collection. I had been thinking and thinking for a while about a way to display them that was beautiful and practical at the same time and then click! The light bulb turned on.

During my latest visit to Aaron Brothers I spotted these wonderful shadow boxes. You can open the front of them as if they were doors. Just perfect, whenever I want to wear a brooch I just open the door and take it out of the box, then I can return it to the right place when I'm ready. Yay!!

The black background is fabric and under the fabric there is foam. I just pinned the brooches to the background. It works great!

Now I can wear them easily . Plus I can enjoy their beauty everyday. Aren't they beautiful!? Bellow you will see many pictures.

Little Pink Dress for Natalie :)

Natalie and I had the best time designing and making this little dress. I used linen fabric (I love linen! This movie is a must if you're a linen lover) and some beautiful lace from my studio. It looks adorable on Natalie. (If it was bigger I would wear it myself :)

I very intentionally wanted to make a special dress with Natalie now that she's 8 years old. Because one of the most beautiful memories that I have from my own childhood is about my Mom sewing clothes for me when I was that age. Starting at age 8 girls really enjoy the magic of sewing. I hope that Natalie feels inspired to create her own pieces of clothing when she's a little older. Right now I'm just getting her familiar with the field. She already has a small sewing machine ;)

Did your Mom ever sew clothes for you? Do you remember any special piece in particular. My favorite was a long gypsy skirt full of large red flowers and a simple white top that went with it. I loved that outfit!!! 

Our Mind and our Home.

This is a little corner of our home that I love. The lady is "me" as a fabric doll made by Mimi Kirchner. The boy is Bill as a plastic doll made somewhere in the world. The two toy trucks are little treasures that Bill brought home from his trip to Guadeloupe a few weeks ago. The framed art is something I made a long time ago, it's a pair of scissors made out of dry branches and flowers. The furniture has many small drawers that contain part of my vintage jewelry collection. 

These are just objects, they don't breath or talk or move, but I'm happy to see them everyday :)

 Some objects become representations of feelings and moods that reinforce who we are. It takes time and lots of love to turn a house into a home. A physical home is some sort of private museum showcasing little pieces of our life here and there. Our emotional home on the other hand is basically the same thing, but instead of objects our collections contain memories, lots and lots of memories that we accumulate over the years.

I'm thinking about these things because one of these days I want to do a deep work in our home. Lots of things have accumulated that need to find a new home. I do this once in a while. It's important to keep editing the objects that we own. Some should stay and some should go. The same thing happens with our memories; some should remain forever and some should go forever as well. My home and my mind are very connected, they both need order to be OK :)

Don't you feel great when both, your home and mind, are declutered, clean and organized?

 

The Secret.

 

Here is my second painting for the show in December. The Title is: The Secret.

This girl is transitioning from childhood to adulthood. 

Her expression became a little obsession in my mind before I started the painting. I wanted her face to look young but also wise, alive but melancholic at the same time. My intention was to represent all those mixed feelings that appear in our teenage years. She's closely in touch with her own nature for the first time (first period, first kiss...) She's suddenly becoming a young woman.

 The birdie symbolizes life, so life is trying to tell her some important secret. The fruit on her chest/heart represents her inner growth.

(I forgot to say that both, this painting and the previous one, measure 11"x14". They're both acrylic paint on canvas)

What important "secret" did you learn as an adult that you would share with a teenage girl today? I would love to hear from you. Mine would be: Please don't rush, take your time and make smart choices in every aspect of your life because you will become the choices you make.

 

The print from this painting is already available on my Etsy shop.

*

Fallen Tree

 

UPDATE: The print from this painting is already listed on Etsy.

 

I'm so excited to share one my latest paintings with you. It's for a show in Puerto Rico in December. The pieces that I'm creating are inspired by different subjects but the main focus is childhood and the sometimes painful process of growing up. 

After thinking a lot about this subject I realize that we never stop developing. Once we stop growing up physically we still have the capacity to keep growing up emotionally. No matter how old we are, there is always room for growth.

I see childhood as the basement of the home that we become later on. Our roots are always located deep in childhood and the experiences that shaped our vision of life back then.  

The name of the show will be Fallen Tree, which is the title of this painting. This title comes from the idea that trees are powerful and vulnerable at the same time, just like children. Lots of fallen trees manage to survive under extreme conditions, as some of us did as children. The show will be dedicated to anyone who had a difficult childhood.

(I also wanted to mention that this little girl has been in my thoughts a lot in the last months, her story breaks my heart. RIP Caylee A.)

 

Catching up.

We're still here in the mountains, enjoying this super hot summer.  

*Last night we took the kids to see Cars 2. Diego spent half of the time narrating the movie. Once in a while when he got bored he said: YOU KNOW? I LOVE THAT MOVIE RANGO! Totally unrelated, but that's Diego :) But then he got right back into narrating. We're always worry that people are going to get mad at our little loud boy, but they seem to find it funny in the end.

*Bill's foot is recovering really well and fast. It's amazing, very soon he will start taking tango lessons (I wish! :o)

*I few days ago Natalie told me that she wanted to have a sister! But since Bill and I are already done with the baby production we came out with a creative solution. I said that once in a while I could pretend being her big sister. She loved it! So now, once in a while I play my new character and it's lots of fun. Natalie gave me a nickname that I don't even know how to spell but it sounds like a pet's name. 

*We haven't made a single handmade book as we planned before this vacation started :o

*But in my free time I have been painting a couple of canvases for my solo show in Puerto Rico in December. I can't wait to share them with you!

*Diego composed his first song ever at a restaurant the other day. When he got his paper and crayons, instead of drawing he started composing the song. It goes like this: "Don't you leave me here. What is that stinky smell, America? aaaaaa, aaaaaa, aaaaaa. Life is beautiful." He sang the song over and over again, with a very serious face following the written text on the paper. Fortunately there was a loud table next to us with a group of people celebrating a birthday party or something like that, so we didn't have to take our singer outside.

*Last night it was bug attack! For some reason our cabin was full of bugs flying all over the place and making noise. The kids were asleep while Bill and I were trying to kill them. It reminded me of The Birds with bugs instead of birds. In the morning they were gone. I wonder if they're planning to come back tonight :0

*And last but not least our Internet was dead for days. But a man in a motorcycle came to fix it. Diego asked him with a loud voice: WHAT'S YOUR NAME SIR? Fortunately he was really fun and responded great. Some people don't get Diego's sense of humor. And best of all the Internet was fixed thanks to him realizing that we had plugged something into the wrong place.

Now I have to go. It's getting dark and... Wait!!! I see bugs coming into our cabin again!!!! Help!!!!!!! If I never come back here you will know why!!!!!