She, who walks among the dead

Mixed media on panel

16" x 20"

2012

"Inner Self-Portrait" group show, 2012 

Price TBA

sailing through the depths of a blue hope

she moves across vague oceans

in nudity, darkness, divinity,

communing with demons and serpents,

sleeping with angels and devas,

grabbing words brought from the invisible.

heart is the same that sees through the mists,

guiding bare steps through the inner abyss.

she is Persephone in the Underworld, dying and being reborn a thousand times,

bringing the hope of a million Springs and the interlude of Winters.

fingers that touched the dead, may they now awake the living.

from loneliness, may them bring out the light of a gentle alchemy

may flowers arise from broken dreams

may birds sing above the solitude of sins

may she, once more, reinvent herself from her own mortality.

-----

Navegando através das profundezas de uma esperanca azul

ela se move través de vagos oceanos

em nudez, escuridão, divindade,

em comunhão com demônios e serpentes,

dormingdo com anjos e devas,

agarrando palavras trazidas do invisível.

o coração é o mesmo que enxerga através das brumas

guiando passos nus através do abismo interior.

ela é Persephone no mundo subterrâneo,

morrendo e renascendo mil vezes,

trazendo a esperança das Primaveras e o interlúdio dos Invernos.

dedos que tocam os mortos, possam agora acordar os vivos.

da solidão, possam eles trazer a luz de uma alquimia branda

possam flores surgir de sonhos despedaçados

possam pássaros cantar acima da solidão dos pecados

possa ela, uma vez mais, se reinventar de sua própria mortalidade.

caminho em solidao atraves de oceanos vagos

em nudez, olhos vendadados, tocando o vento,

agarrando palavras trazidas de lugar nenhum.

apenas o coração, enxergando atraves da bruma, guia-me os passos nus.

sou Persephone no Hades, morrendo e renascendo mil vezes,

trazendo em si a esperança de milhoes de primaveras e o descansar de invernos.

dedos que tocaram os mortos, que agora acordem os vivos

que façam renascer das cinzas da incerteza a luz de uma alquimia branda

que flores brotem dos sonhos despedacados

que passaros cantem sobre a solidao da neblina

que eu possa, mais uma vez, metamorfosear-me sobre as cinzas de mim.

The Serpent's Stratagem

Acrylics and pencil on panel

12 x 12

2011

NFS

If Only Tonight We Could Sleep

Acrylics and pencil on paper

8 x 11

2011

$120

Certain Destinations Are Inevitable

Acrylics and pencil on paper

8 x 11

2011

$120

Salome

Acrylics and pencil on canvas

6 x 18 in

$300

Dryad

Acrylics and pencil on canvas

6 x 18 in

$300

Temporal

Acrylics, oil based pencil and watersoluble pencil on gessoed hardboard

14 x 18

2011

$800 USD

Temporal means "storm" in Portuguese.

Rebirth

Rebirth

Acrylics, oil based pencil and watersoluble pencil on gessoed hardboard

16 x 20

2011

$1,000 USD

Fragmented

Acrylics, oil based pencil and watersoluble pencil on gessoed hardboard

14 x 18

2011

$800 USD

Colors in us

I should be packing and mailing my art materials to the Northwest right now since I have now little over than 2 weeks from my move, but the muses govern my life and they act through mysterious ways. Experimentations with abstract underpaintings are not a new thing in my journey but it seems that i am feeling more and more drawn to it, specially since my interest in the ties science + spirituality + art was ignited some time ago. I am fascinated by the concept of color being nothing less than light in different frequencies, and light being the constitution of matter (a cool, nerdy article here.) It is very symbolic to me the representation oh human bodies and faces coming out of colors. Do we have colors in us? Music? The thought of it thrills my heart and make the muses have multiple orgasms. Serious intentions about a series of figurative works mixed with expressionistic abstracts, without a concern with deep conceptualization besides the interaction matter/color/light. New, exciting paths to explore.

Still untitled. Acrylics and pencils on gessoed masonite.


The abstract underpainting. Pale in my past experiments, getting stronger and more assertive now.


Working on these experiments unleashed something, and have made me feel a lot freer. I think I might have been blocked for several months without a conscience I was really facing a block. Going to write more about this experience and this devil, the artist's block, in one of my next posts.

Venus

Acrylics, pastel and watersoluble pencils on gessoed masonite

11 x 14

2011

Original sold.

Yemanja

Acrylics, pastel and pencil on paperboard 

11 x 14 

2010 

Original sold. 

Luz y Tiniebla

Acrylics, watersoluble pencil and pastels on canvas panel

24 x 36 in

2010

$1,300

in Progress: Lady of the Serpents (or Self-Portrait with Serpents)

Another self portrait. No, I am not obsessed with my own image (although I am a Leo rising), I am just the easiest and cheapest model I can find. ;) Actually this portrait has a good reason to be. It is the development of a dream I had, 2 nights before turning 40. A friend of mine suggested me to paint the dream, and here it is. I'll talk more about the dream as the work progresses.



This is the first version. The detail is cool, but the vision of the whole seemed a little overwhelming to me, so I decided to redo it. It took me a little training to get adapted to how the acrylics behave on gessoed masonite. I am a little spoiled by the absorbency of the paperboard and had a bit of a hard time trying to get the glazes to have the same transparency on the board surface.

Second version so far is looking like this:

falling in love.

this has been odd phase, in which i've been alternating days of lethargy with others of normal activity. a block of sorts. i don't know if the transition to the new materials have been causing this. yesterday i started working in some small works on paper and since then i've been slowly coming back to my normal self.

but anyway... i'm glad to finally share my new experiments on this new surface that brought me much excitenment and a happy sense of artistic enlightenment: the masonite board.

masonite is a type of hardboard much used in construction and furniture. it's light, thin, smooth, and very inexpensive. if you apply coats of gesso on it you'll have a nice surface to play using almost all types of traditional media - including oils, acrylics, pastel, colored pencil, charcoal, and graphite.

it takes a little time to prepare it, since you have to sand and prime  (acrylic gesso) and sand a little more between coats, but it's well worth the effort. for my particular technique, i think it was the perfect find, since it allowed me to do my pencil work just the way i like it without cursing the texture. by the way, the texture is something else you can create according to your needs. pencil won't erase well, but a moist rag or paper towel will do the trick. 

acrylic paints keep their vibrancy and look way more alive and luminous on a primed masonite than on canvas. the picture doesn't do the justice: these greens and blues are to die for. unfortunately i am not going to finish this painting; it was supposed to be a depiction of the goddess Isis, but i'm not really feeling it, so the figure will be covered soon. but the background will certainly be reused.

now i have a set of wooden strips resting on the back porch, destined to become cradles for other boards. i'll spend some time measuring, cutting and sanding them, but when i think about the money i'll save, the extra job  just makes me smile: no need to frame the pieces, not mentioning that buying the boards already cradled are amazingly expensive. i'll report all the process of preparing the boards as soon as i get started.

+

I'd like to thank all the people who's been buying e-tickets for the Solstice Giveway. i feel really joyous. God bless you all.

The Mirror

Acrylics,  pastel and pencil on board, 

11 x 14

2010

$280

Illustration for the poetry book "Liquid Dreams", by Ricardo Blancas.

Chasing After Light

 I’d chase after you at the speed of light,

but what’s the point?

You’re already ahead of me.

Instead I’ll pace my self,

continue to move forward,

knowing that at some point in time,

you’ll come across a mirror

and reflect upon it.

 At which point,

I’ll still be traveling towards you.

With open arms and a smile on my face,

I’ll meet you a long the way.

(Published under author's permission.)