“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
-Marcel Proust

What a pleasant surprise I received yesterday when Erin Loechner from Design for Mankind wrote about my new performance drawings. I feel honored to be part of this great community.

As many of you know and for those who don’t, Design for Mankind is an award-winning blog dedicated to showcasing the talents of the emerging art and design community. They receive over 11,000 visits per day (wow!) which makes them great hosts. I encourage all to take some time to look, read, subscribe and certainly to enjoy this awesome resource for art and design.

Muchas gracias Erin and everyone at Design for Mankind!

Photo: Beautiful hummingbird by Victor Gonzalez, Caguas, Puerto Rico

running with
my favorite music
creative thoughts
and a happy heart

returned home
found two beautiful smiles
and a cup of good coffee

simple things taste so good!

The last couple of weeks have been full of creativity. I found some time to draw, run outside and explore for titles. I like titles especially for abstract work. To me, titles are the little things that tell our story. They help us share ideas with others, and begin a dialogue…

Finding of the week:

“What is often overlooked in this modern world is that everything and everybody has value, that each atom in the universe does indeed have a place…”

-Aadil Palkhivala

Fresh snow makes everything look so pretty in the city…

Daylight, 2010
Performance drawings using colored pencils on paper

This new series of performance drawings continues my exploration into the subtle movements my body makes and my connection to my immediate environment. The works are raw and unedited — I move, I absorb, and visually translate a flow of energy.

Welcome to my new website/blog. There are so many positive things happening this year, I hope to find more time to write. As you probably know, 2009 was an amazing year for me because I had an incredible baby boy. But as many artists who are also parents know, it is extremely challenging to balance a family, a job, to stay healthy and making art. I’m breathless!

I am grateful to have the opportunity to live and enjoy this whole experience. There are not words to really describe it…but my heart has grown so much since I became a mama. And I am thankful to have such wonderful community: my family, friends, neighbors and readers.

As I mentioned on my last post, this web project is a work in progress…My goal is to create a place where we connect, share and have a dialogue. I want it to have the quality of a studio visit, a great run or a yoga class.

Lastly, I want to thank and highly recommend Brad Stephenson who helped me with the new website. Brad is an actor, amazing father, technology developer, and huge Steelers fan — Go Steelers! — maybe next year. Brad was fantastic to work with and so patient with my slow pace. His website is www.bradpstephenson.com. Muchas gracias Brad!

The holiday season is a special time because I go to visit my family and my favorite beach at home. Although I have lots to write, my mind is already there. Ahh! I can feel the warm and salty water.

So…before I say goodbye until next year, I want to share one of my favorite blogs, And the Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman. I loved her last post entitled Back to the Land. She included this great quote by Cicero:

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

I totally agree. Books and nature are simply wonderful. The rest is up to our creativity and imagination — that is what I want to teach my little explorer…

I wish you all have a wonderful holiday season filled with health, laughter and gratefulness. See you in 2010!

Lately, the weather has been warmer than usual — perfect to run outside. Last Sunday morning was a beautiful and sunny fall morning. I managed to run five miles and felt I could keep going. I enjoyed the longer run, but now that the weather is changing again, I’m looking for ways to trick my brain to enjoy running in the cold.

In the I’m a Runner section of Runner’s World, I found an interview with Wolfgang Ketterle, Nobel Prize-winning physicist from MIT where he says:

“It’s quite nice running when it’s cold out. I like the contrast of the warm body, which is at a wonderful operating temperature, with the chill on the skin.”

I like the beautiful way he describes running in the cold. It also sounds like good material for a performance. I’m definitely going to remember his words while I’m out there pushing to get to the six mile…And maybe when I think of my next performance/drawings.

I found Issey Miyake Autumn/Winter 2009 show in Paris so unique. Color, fabric and bodies moving fluidly through a white geometric floor (square). A lot to like!

I’m looking forward to seeing the exhibition Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction. On view from September 17, 2009-January 17, 2010 at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

And would love to make a family trip to Washington, DC to see the exhibition Anne Truitt: Perception and Reflection. On view from October 8, 2009 to January 3, 2010 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The first major exhibition of her outstanding work since 1974.

While strolling around the neighborhood, I saw this nice quote by George Eliot (her real name was Mary Anne Evans, 1819-1880).

“It is never too late to become what you might have been”

Enjoy!

I’m impressed and happy to know there are abstract paintings currently on view at the White House. But I admit I would have added other media, more works by women artists, and works by Latin and Asian American artists — there are none!?

A new discovery for me was the artist Alma Thomas. Holland Cotter writes:

“If the offer were made, which artist from the White House list would I choose for my New York City apartment? I knew the answer: Alma W. Thomas.”

I agree. I absolutely loved her work and story. She began to paint when she retired from teaching at 69. At 80, she had a one-person exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. An extremely important exhibition because it was the first one-person exhibition by a black woman at the Whitney.

My favorites: Thomas used her kitchen as a studio. And for her, color was life, and life was art. Ahh, so fresh!

Image:

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)

Watusi (Hard Edge), 1963

Acrylic on canvas, 47 5/8 x 44 1/4 inches

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

What If
By Ganga White

What if religion was each other,
If our practice was our life,
If prayer was our words.

What if the Temple was the Earth,
If forests were our church,
If holy water—the rivers, lakes and oceans.

What if meditation was our relationships,
If the Teacher was life,
If wisdom was self-knowledge,
If love was the center of our being.

-For the Rainforest Benefit, NYC, 1998

A bunch of ideas for the new web/blog have been floating inside my head. I like the idea of a blog because it’s less static and could function as a sketchbook. I hope to find some time to make the changes soon.

My little Tarahumara will be 7 months next week and is already crawling fast! And while I attempt to flow in yoga class, I’m amazed to see him be so naturally flexible. He can flow from downward facing dog to plank to pigeon pose with no trouble at all. Signs that he may become a runner or yogi just like mama.

A good read for new parents is From Birth, Engage Your Child With Talk by Jane E. Brody. And Animal Playground by Putumayo Kids is a beautiful collection of animal-themed songs from around the world. The video above is from one of the album’s song The Littlest Birds by The Be Good Tanyas (Canada).

I can’t believe October is already here. Happy fall!

I’m currently reading the book, Born to Run, a book about the life and running skills of the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s Copper Canyon, which are considered the greatest distance runners in the world. I began enjoying the book when I read:

“…That was the real secret of the Tarahumara: they’d never forgotten what it felt like to love running. They remembered that running was mankind’s first fine art, our original act of inspired creation. Way before we were scratching pictures on caves or beating rhythms on hollow trees, we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid self-propulsion over wild terrain…”

I can’t explain how it happens, but one tends to complicate life and get tangled in the “rat race”. Suddenly, what we love to do becomes a chore. The Tarahumara’s secret is exactly what I want to remember daily. To always love everything I do…including just doing absolutely NADA.

Image:

Tarahumara men costumed for rituals. Photo from National Geographic’s article, A People Apart by Cynthia Gorney. Photograph by Robb Kendrick.

I was sleepy too and left my sleepiness guide me through the streets of Brooklyn. I set my iPod to shuffle songs. The cool air woke me up when I found myself in DUMBO right in front of the water. I stopped for a couple of minutes to look at the view. It felt as if I was right in the center between the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge. I’m petite, but at that moment I felt so small. What an amazing place, I thought.

Bruce Springsteen’s song, Working on a Dream started playing. The song’s lyrics are beautiful and I love his voice when he sings: “I’m working on a dream, though trouble can feel like it’s here to stay…” The song reminded me of yesterday’s yoga class when the instructor asked us to find intention before we began the class. The purpose of my practice was to have strength and patience when life seems tough.

So here I am today, ready to do all I can to help a friend. I invite you to join Art Movement on Sunday, September 13, for the 19th annual 5K run/walk — Komen New York City Race for the Cure.

To join us or to make a gift, please visit Art Movement’s Race for the Cure. If you can’t be with us on that morning, please consider making a donation.

Every dollar counts! The money will help local organizations provide breast health education, screening and treatment.

Let’s be active, be part of the change, and help make the dream of a world without breast cancer true.

THANK YOU!

Our next Art Movement event is next month. We are participating in the 2009 Komen New York City Race for the Cure on Sunday, September 13th in Central Park. It would be great if some of you can join us. I’ll post all details about how to get involved very soon.

And as always, I’m enjoying my most precious project, Mateo. He is learning and growing so fast. As you can see in the photo, he really knows how to make me smile!

I dedicate my miles to the memory of a wonderful person, New Zealand artist Julian Dashper (1960-2009).

The list of things I would like to enjoy during these warm months is way too long. Sure I can do some of these things during the cold months, but the energy that the sun brings in the summer is unique.

I don’t know how it happened, maybe it was having beautiful Central Park as a background. I’m so excited that I’m running three miles again. Three miles isn’t a lot, but for me it feels like a marathon.

I also found a new yoga class that took me back to my very first experience with yoga. Everything felt so new and every muscle hurt the day after! I love when moments like this happen — when suddenly the things that we thought we knew how to do feel fresh and everything shines again.

Eating to Fuel Exercise, Runners Tell Their Stories both by Tara Parker-Pope, and The Reservoir in Central Park, an audio guide by the Central Park Conservancy are perfect to keep us moving and inspired.

I hope you’re all enjoying the summer and doing some of the things that you love to do!

The collection has four tiny books perfect for little hands: Alligators All Around (an alphabet book), Chicken Soup with Rice (book of months), One Was Johnny (a counting book), and Pierre (a cautionary tale). The simplicity of the stories and illustrations make them enjoyable for both kids and adults alike.

A couple of weekends ago, we went to an art opening in Staten Island. It was rainy and cold — June has been very wet in New York. As we were traveling back home in the S.I. ferry, I couldn’t stop thinking about Chicken Soup with Rice. When we got home, I went straight to the kitchen and cooked a warm and delicious chicken soup with rice…still laughing!

I love books and these days I’m enjoying reading with Mateo. I take him to our local bookstore where I found another great book called Open House for Butterflies by Ruth Krauss. The book, also illustrated by Maurice Sendak has simple thoughts and illustrations like the books in the Nutshell Library. Some of my favorite thoughts are:

Look! I’m running away with my imagination.

There should be a parade when a baby is born.

Suppose old people grew down as young people grew up.

Easter eggs are all different outside but they’re alike inside.

A baby makes the mother and father — otherwise they’re just plain people.

Yesterday shows another day is here.

Everybody should be quiet near a little stream and listen.

A baby dances with its feet in the air.

I think a race looks prettier when everybody comes in even.

So always take some time to look, enjoy and imagine!

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand”. — Albert Einstein