Category: Illustration

Welcome to the Flock!

Me había olvidado de mi primer libro para colorear.

La idea surgió de una experiencia más bien mala, estos dibujos estaban pensados para ser un regalo, pero terminaron como un libro para colorear para que todos lo vieran. Como sabes, mi obsesión son las plumas y los picos, y dibujé 48 pollos diferentes. Los libros para colorear son un pasatiempo muy terapéutico -especialmente en estos tiempos agitados.

Actualmente estoy trabajando en un nuevo libro, y este trata sobre las aves de Nueva Zelanda. Un país con aves excelentes.

Gracias por leer y por favor cuídate mucho!

11/08/2020
Floral cord

This piece took several months because I was finding a way to make flowers look like a spinal cord. I drew the background first and then I mounted the paper flowers and the little hummingbird.

There is a lot of similarities in nature and I want to say we’re all very much alike: flowers, plants, non-human animals, humans, and the patterns in nature.

I’m also doing what I should have done a while ago- making something about my father. Yes, he made a lot of big mistakes and I was too little to understand, but I held the resentment in my heart until it was maybe too late. He was a doctor working in emergency medicine and he lived miles away from me. One day he just suddenly died of an AAA (abdominal aortic aneurysm) rupture and I never got the chance to say: “dad, we’re okay”.

Sadly, I understood too late that having him close, and forgiving, would have been good for both of us. Sure, what happened was ugly and I still have issues about it, but people can change for the better. Many things could have healed the wounds besides time – it took so long for me to understand… and now, at this moment in my life, I would have liked to be able to talk to him as a friend and ask for advice… something I never had from him.

We all make big mistakes and the lesson is to forgive and understand, because our lives are short and we never know when will be the last time we see the people who are important to us.

25/09/2018
Time and art as cycles

It’s been a while since I updated this blog. Many crazy things happened to me during this time and, in general, the person who wrote the previous post is someone different from the person who writes today.

At this moment I am still in a steep learning curve. I have identified that the main lesson now is to develop my self-esteem and faith in myself.
A component of this self-love is that you should not forget who you are and where you come from, that you should know and accept yourself in order to know what are you going to to do with your life and what your priorities are. In other words, you have to choose which battles you will fight and which ones you won’t.

I learned that it’s never too late to finish the things that you have in the back burner and never too late to improve things and situations, even if you started a long time ago and it all seems so deteriorated to the point of thinking that it’s not worth it anymore. There’s always hope!

This piece, a dragon in its castle was first made in 1996. I put a lot of effort in it… but maybe because I did not think it was something worth it, I put it away without framing or protection. 22 years later it was obviously falling to pieces but I finally decided to rescue it: I disassembled the whole thing, painted the darkened paper with white gouache, and cut out new pieces to reassemble it again. The whole process felt quite right! New life to an old piece.

And Moana the albatross chick, who had been left without being mounted on a definitive base, also needed more elements and composition, so I started making her a nest and the constellation of the Southern Cross in the sky. It is a piece made with lots of love and dedication. I hope I can visit New Zealand to see them with my own eyes someday…

17/07/2018
Gestural calligraphy series

Rooster

Frigatebird

Abstract calligraphy

Abstract calligraphy

Abstract calligraphy

Grey crowned crane

calligraphic crow

portrait of a girl

heart of letters

pot of tulips

baby birds in a nest

This series was made between 2013 and 2015 to experiment with calligraphic textures that occupy more or less defined areas. They also proved to be a relaxing therapy by not having to think too hard about what to write with a pen. It is related to automatic writing exercises where you shouldn’t think before writing and the hand is not controlled by the conscious mind.

Probably a good way of telling what you do not want to tell anyone, putting it on paper but also hiding it to make it unreadable. Or, you can simply write what people say around you. And then you give the shape and composition you want.

One of my professors in grad school liked the abstract ones especially. I guess the gestural and abstract elements are what caught his attention. I like gestural calligraphy because the hand flows without having to express a coherent language, but must also retain control so the strokes are aesthetically pleasing. And it could mean anything.

For someone introverted like me, it can be a way of express yourself without having to say anything.

26/10/2016
The Raven

This Corvid comes from a literary inspiration (Nevermore, of course). It started as a doodle, I ended up liking it so much that I kept working on it, adding the literary element (calligraphy) as a texture in the background. It could mean thought, it could mean blood, it could mean pain, it could mean a tortured soul, it could mean disorderly intelligence. The raven’s mission is to untangle the confusing thoughts and come up with an answer to the eternal question- what is this life all about?

Buy this smarty-pants bird print on Etsy: The Raven

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15/10/2016
Series: Three Different Birds

These feathered friends were drawn in 2013. I was intrigued by dictionary art, where people print all sorts of images on old dictionary pages. We of course have our share of old books and encyclopedias. I remember I used to read our 8-volumes encyclopedia for whatever I could find, especially chemistry and technical concepts. (Go figure. Or not really. My mom used to be the electricity workshop teacher at a junior high school)

I didn’t have the nerve to cut out pages, so I scanned the ones I liked the most and made a collage with my calligraphy and once again, photos I took. The Red Crested Cardinal features a coral tree, very common in central Mexico. I grew fond of them since I watched them on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Laysan Albatross live cam. It was a birb haven: besides the majestic ‘Trosses you can watch Hawaiian geese, egrets, mynahs, cardinals, roosters, and more.

The American Robin has a white birch tree on the background. I took that photo from a hotel room in Los Angeles. But the bird is one of my favorites, because I know their songs. I am just ecstatic when I listen to them. It’s so beautiful I could cry. I miss their songs so much during the fall and winter.

And the Blue-Footed Booby, as a respectable seabird, includes a set of buoys hung at some Santa Barbara pier. They are so cute with those blue webbed feet. Their courtship dance involves a lot of blue feet bragging. Just adorable. Ahoy!

With these pieces I thought human made artifacts will never be as perfect as nature made creatures.

Buy these prints on Etsy: Booby, Cardinal, Robin

11/10/2016
Music and Words

Sometimes you discover a band after their most glorious period and that happened to me with Depeche Mode. Today they announced their 14th studio album but it’s been more than 20 years since their keyboardist and many other titles, Mr. Alan Wilder left the band. Rabid fans still long for his presence… but that’s a very different story. The case is, to me the band wouldn’t be what it is if he hadn’t been there. I discovered his solo project and never looked back.

As a fan I couldn’t help but try to make a portrait. I’ve drawn many portraits of the people I admire but this was the very first one that was made with paper. I tried to be as accurate as possible. But there’s always missing, I think. That’s why I’m not really a portrait girl anymore. I’m proud of this one, though. The blue background was painted with acrylic, and I used some writings with my calligraphy to make the base of the head.

Mr. Wilder’s music has a lot of the spoken word element, hence the name of the work: Music and Words.

11/10/2016