Hope you’re all having a great summer. Here are some of my summer thoughts after having a wonderful time with family and at my favorite place: the beach.

It pleases me immensely to see how my boy loves the ocean. He was born in NYC, but his blood is Caribbean…and I truly love that!

Fruit and vegetable stands, surf shops and Rex Cream’s Ice Cream are my kind of places.

<3 running barefoot on the beach. I know I’ll be fine in a couple of days, but it was hard to run this morning and wear running shoes.

A bikini never goes out of fashion.

My nieces and nephews are awesome! When I grow up, I want to be just like them.

Photo:
7am swim with mama.

Swimming in the Caribbean. Surrounded by family and nature. I’m counting the days…

Where is yours?

Where is My Mind
By The Pixies

Oh
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there’s nothing in it
And you’ll ask yourself

Where is my mind

Way out in the water
See it swimmin’

I was swimmin’ in the Caribbean
Animals were hiding behind the rocks
Except the little fish
But they told me, he swears
Tryin’ to talk to me, coy koi.

Where is my mind

Way out in the water
See it swimmin’ ?

With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
If there’s nothing in it
And you’ll ask yourself

Where is my mind

Oh
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Oh
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Oh
Oh

My first experiment with triangle pose was a couple of years ago. I created an installation with colored rubber bands entitled, Space Between. I didn’t set many rules while installing, I just knew I wanted to create a connection between triangles and colors. I began the installation — on what first felt as a huge wall space — slowly and carefully making triangles. But as I continued making triangles, the installation felt as a yoga practice — it began to flow naturally.

These days I continue to explore triangle pose — both — on my mat and in my home/studio. I’ll be posting images of this new set of triangles soon. I’m excited.

Oh, and how much I love google… While researching triangle pose, I found these great articles: Angle of Repose by Julie Gudmestad and Triangle Pose by Teri Leigh.

Enjoy!

Image:
Rossana Martinez
Space Between, 2007
Rubber bands

Photo contest submission by Jennifer Day
From We Love Birds, a site for bird-lovers from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Dorothea Tanning
Costume Design for Bayou, 1951
Graphite and gouache on green paper
12 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches
Collection of the artist

On view Dorothea Tanning: Early Designs for the Stage at the Drawing Center, April 23 – July 23, 2010.

I’m glad to be back after a couple of weeks of too much happening at the same time. Here are some new discoveries that kept me balanced during busy days.

To begin a yoga practice at home, I got the podcast Yoga For Morning, Noon & Night with Jason Crandell. Each practice is twenty minutes and Crandell is such an excellent teacher. The noon practice is perfect during lunch break at work. The night practice feels great after a busy day.

I often find myself waiting for the bus to travel from the East side to the West side and viceversa. While I commute, I’m either reading or writing. But lately I’ve been looking and learning about NYC’s trees with the application for iPhone, Trees Near You. Watching how trees change in the spring is one of my favorite things and with this new application it feels magical.

With magic in mind, Nueva Luz, the photographic journal published by En Foco has always wonderful artists to discover. The current issue has a fantastic series by Pato Hebert entitled Trying to Catch Your Breath. Hebert describes breathing as a “manifestation of existence”. Wow! and to think that most of the time we take breathing for granted. Pato Hebert writes about the series:

“The images record my breath made visible when exhaled into the cold night air. This very simple but beautiful manifestation of existence moves me. Like my breath, which floats off into the chilly darkness, these images float between figuration and abstraction. They continue my explorations into the evocative and the ephemeral as it relates to our well-being. The title, Trying to Catch Your Breath, refers to the literal process of making the images, my effort to try to record my breath in photographic form. The title also alludes to the spiritual process of trying to catch my breath, to slow down and nourish a healthier, calmer mental state.

The hectic pace and imbalance in my daily living can lead to insecurities, anxieties and fear. Breathing is more of a process than a ‘thing.’ But in cold air, the breath is made visible. In this way the breath materializes and becomes a kind of thing, ephemeral yet palpable, unstable yet compelling. This chilly, condensed form of my breath is fascinating and magical to me, and I wanted to see how it would appear in photographically. These photographs reference the Buddhist meditation practice of focusing on one’s breathing as a technique for being more present and aware. By learning to listen to my own breathing and by remembering to breathe calmly and deeply instead of rushing or holding my breath, I am able to think and act more clearly. I have found this technique to be tremendously helpful in my efforts to improve my own awareness.”

Enjoy and Happy Earth Day!

Everything feels so new in the spring. My curious boy has been showing me the world from a new perspective. This weekend, we spent long hours with friends, playing in the park, and looking at fresh bits of color — trees, magnolias, daffodils. Very refreshing!

The beautiful sun has inspired me to introduce him to the magic of running. So I’m looking for a running stroller and would love to hear about your experiences. Here are some of the qualities I’m looking for:

*lightweight (mama is petite and our charming neighborhood is old — streets have different levels)
*easy storage (we live in Brooklyn = small apartment)
*reasonable price

I really appreciate any suggestions and/or recommendations.

Thanks and happy spring to all!

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!

Astrud Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Coldplay, Claude Debussy, Gipsy Kings, Dido, Etta James, The Beatles, Barry White, Bob Marley, Elizabeth Mitchell, Feist, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Radiohead, Rita Lee and Os Mutantes among many others. Enjoy!

Across the Universe by The Beatles

Let It Be by The Beatles

Montaña by Gipsy Kings

Cucurrucucú Paloma by Caetano Veloso

Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe by Barry White

Baby by Rita Lee & Os Mutantes

Til Kingdom Come by Coldplay

Also, my friend Lynne, who knows how much I like birds, introduced me to the album, You Are My Little Bird by Elizabeth Mitchell. Although the album is for children, I think adults can enjoy it as well. It has really wonderful interpretations of songs by Bob Marley, Velvet Underground and many others. My favorite song so far is: If You Listen. The album explains that the song was “originally recorded by French singer Francoise Hardy, and is all about how listening can be a magical experience”.

I agree…and hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Chinese Art and Greek Art

by Rumi translated by Coleman Barks

The Prophet said, “There are some who see me

by the same light in which I am seeing them.

Our natures are one.

Without reference to any strands

of lineage, without reference to texts or traditions,

we drink the life-water together.”

Here’s a story

about that hidden mystery:

The Chinese and the Greeks

were arguing as to who were the better artists.

The king said,

“We’ll settle this matter with a debate.”

The Chinese began talking,

but the Greeks wouldn’t say anything.

They left.

The Chinese suggested then

that they each be given a room to work on

with their artistry, two rooms facing each other

and divided by a curtain.

The Chinese asked the king

for a hundred colors, all the variations,

and each morning they came to where

the dyes were kept and took them all.

The Greeks took no colors.

“They’re not part of our work.”

They went to their room

and began cleaning and polishing the walls. All day

every day they made those walls as pure and clear

as an open sky.

There is a way that leads from all-colors

to colorlessness. Know that the magnificent variety

of the clouds and the weather comes from

the total simplicity of the sun and the moon.

The Chinese finished, and they were so happy.

They beat the drums in the joy of completion.

The king entered their room,

astonished by the gorgeous color and detail.

The Greeks then pulled the curtain dividing the rooms.

The Chinese figures and images shimmeringly reflected

on the clear Greek walls. They lived there,

even more beautifully, and always

changing in the light.

The Greek art is the Sufi way.

They don’t study books of philosophical thought.

They make their loving clearer and clearer.

No wantings, no anger. In that purity

they receive and reflect the images of every moment,

from here, from the stars, from the void.

They take them in

as though they were seeing

with the lighted clarity

that sees them.

______________________

If You Listen

By Francoise Hardy

If you listen you can hear

birds sing and flowers grow

If you listen you can hear

my love for you just grow

In the silence that’s around

deep peace and love are found

In the days that will be here

my love will call you loud and clear

And in the silent place

where loneliness is found

I’ll wander through the open door

to look for you

There in that magic land

that lies beyond the clouds

floating on the sea of dreams

I’ll sing to you

Image: One of my favorite birds, the bowerbird, working on his blue monochrome nest.

A while ago, my friend Margie, an awesome athlete, cook, and nutrition expert, recommended me to read the book Real Food by Nina Planck. One of my favorite things to do is to cook simple and fresh food, and I find so many similarities between cooking and working out an idea in the studio.

I’m currently hooked on the book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. I think these books are great tools to open our eyes and remind us that we have the power to change things — even if it’s a small change. Since I’m not into junk food (had enough in art school!) or diets, eating healthier feels natural to me.

As Michael Pollan says in his introduction to The Omnivore’s Dilemma:

“Eating is an agricultural act, as Wendell Berry famously said. It is also an ecological act, and a political act, too. Though much has been done to obscure this simple fact, how and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world—and what is to become of it. To eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake might sound like a burden, but in practice few things in life afford quite as much satisfaction. By comparison, the pleasures of eating industrially, which is to say eating in ignorance, are fleeting. Many people today seem perfectly content eating at the end of an industrial food chain, without a thought in the world: this book is probably not for them; there are things in it that will ruin their appetite. But in the end this is a book about the pleasures of eating, the kind of pleasures that are only deepened by knowing”.

So thanks Margie! And here is my list of recommended books for those interested in food, nutrition, wellness, and social responsibility:

The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution by Alice Waters.

Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman.

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan.

Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck.

I still remember the day I decided to sign up for a 5K in Central Park. I didn’t know what to expect, but wanted to know how it felt to be part of a running event. The race was in the spring, but on that day, it was raining and cold! After the race, I took the train back to Brooklyn and I was soaked from head to toe. My running shoes were so loaded with water that I could hear every squishy step. But watching the first signs of spring unfold while I ran and feeling the high energy from other runners was wonderful.

Since then, I have been pleasantly surprised by other interests that were always with me, but I never found time to do. These pleasant surprises stir me up (as Bob Marley sings) when I let routine take over me or when I work harder than I play. What fascinates me is how they have found their way into my work. They are awesome at keeping things fresh, active and creative in both my art & life.

Even though the summer is just beginning, we’ve already had every imaginable kind of weather in New York. I hope you all have a wonderful summer full of pleasant surprises and that you allow them to stir you up a bit or a lot…either way, it’s a great feeling!

Image: All I Need is You, 2008
Colored pencil and blue thread on paper

As I turned and walked on the street to get to a meeting, I could sense I was a stranger. I knew the only way to make a connection was by using a universal language ⎯ an unconditional smile. So I smiled at the people around me and they smiled back at me…and there was a connection.

After the meeting, I thought of the nice experience I had while commuting that morning. What I enjoy about experiences like this is how they go beyond any differences in race, language, or culture, and become a union of people ⎯ a human connection.

The idea of making a human connection has been part of my work for a while. I appreciate when other artists or people in the arts understand my work. But while making the work, I think of a different type of viewer: a stranger, someone that doesn’t have an art background, someone that doesn’t know me or where I come from. My goal is to be as transparent as possible and make a person to person connection with the viewer.

With that idea in mind, I’m currently working on a series of works related to movement. What I’m trying to visually show is a certain energy I feel while being active. The movements I make are extremely simple and I want to keep that simplicity in the work as well. I constantly use the word simple (I know!), but to me a simple gesture (like an honest smile) has a stronger meaning than a complicated installation that doesn’t show who the artist really is.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a chance, or a better word to describe it, the privilege to attend the New York Women’s Foundation annual breakfast. The highlight of the event for me was when the Acholi women from Meeting Point International in Uganda received a Vision Award. These women work breaking stone into gravel. They received an award for raising $1,000 from their salaries for the displaced families in Houston and Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina. As one of the women said: “I give you the love which was given to me the first time by people who did not know me. So the greatest thing in the world, even greater than any suffering or illness, is the love we have for one another.”

In June, I will be participating in various 5K and 10K races as part of Art Movement, an initiative I’m starting to fundraise for beach cleanup in northwest Puerto Rico. The beaches in that area are absolutely beautiful, but there is also garbage. And there is little information about how to recycle. These are the beaches where I grew up and I want to make sure they are pristine and preserved for generations to come.

Art Movement began last year when I learned a good friend’s computer, video camera, and equipment were stolen from her studio. Seeing my friend upset made me think of ways I could help her even if I couldn’t provide financial assistance. We are both artists, runners, and came to New York from other places of the world (she is from Canada, I am from Puerto Rico) to be artists. The least I could do was to show her I cared and wanted to do something to help her.

I invite everyone to join Art Movement. The goal is to connect artists, runners, and anyone interested in the environment to participate in one way or another. Please email me if you are interested in participating. More event details to come.

Video: Smile Like You Mean It

By The Killers

Yesterday, the sky was so foggy and gray in the morning I decided to wait and run a bit later than usual. I went for a run when the sun was already shining. It felt so good to finally wear shorts and feel the cool air in my arms and legs.

I ran to DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and then made it to my favorite spot, the Brooklyn Promenade. It was still a bit foggy — I couldn’t see my dear morning friend, the Statue of Liberty. But I noticed the bright yellow flowers and trees glowing along the Promenade. I reached for my iPod and played Yellow by Coldplay. Just awesome!

I thought of the artist Wolfgang Laib. In his work, Laib uses materials taken from nature like milk, pollen, beeswax and rice. His yellow pollen installations are my most favorite. He lives in a remote region of Germany and collects pollen from fields around his home. The installations are usually simple arrangements, but with an incredibly striking color.

And there I was totally inspired by nature. Seeing the transformation of a gray sky — like a blank canvas — into art…and it was all YELLOW!

The album of the week is one of my favorites: In Rainbows by Radiohead. I listened to it while I ran through the Brooklyn Promenade looking at an amazing pink sunrise. It reminded me that very soon everything will be green and in bloom. I also enjoyed the album’s melodious music and poetic lyrics while cross training at the gym (not one of my favorites) — a good way to forget how boring a rowing machine can be!

I’ve been playing in my head the song Weird Fishes/Arpeggi. This song makes me think of the reasons we choose to make art. What makes us follow the need to create? How do we honestly make work that moves us and is accessible to others? It’s so important to follow what makes us turn and feel. As the song says, it would be crazy not to follow…follow where that leads.

For healthy living, the spring is a great time to get house plants and help purify our air quality. Plants are easy to take care of and — like all of us — just need a bit of TLC (tender loving care). Don’t know where to begin? A good resource is the book, How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 House Plants that Purify Your Home or Office by B. C. Wolverton. Have fun!

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
By Radiohead

In the deepest ocean
The bottom of the sea
Your eyes
They turn me
Why should I stay here?
Why should I stay?

I’d be crazy not to follow
Follow where you lead
Your eyes
They turn me

Turn me on to phantoms
I follow to the edge of the earth
And fall off
Everybody leaves
If they get the chance

And this is my chance

I get eaten by the worms
Weird fishes
Picked over by the worms
Weird fishes
Weird fishes
Weird fishes

I’ll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape

I’ll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape

During the winter, I usually hit the treadmill at the gym. This winter, I decided to take the challenge to run outdoors. Although I’ve been living in New York City for a long time, I just can’t get used to cold weather. Anything below 60 degrees is cold for me.

For those of you interested in making the jump from the treadmill to running outdoors, there is a great amount of helpful information at Runner’s World and Active.

The first time I went for a run, I was all packed and layered like an onion. After running for five minutes, I was an overcooked onion! The trick to run outdoors is to dress for 20 degrees warmer because your body’s temperature increases. It’s fine to feel a bit cold when you start running.

Music is another great tool to keep you warm. I like to jam with Bob Marley.

Having a goal is also important. While running I keep repeating myself: Get home as soon as possible. It’s 20 degrees and still dark outside. Are you crazy?

Today it’s snowing in Brooklyn. It looks beautiful and it’s extremely quiet. But I guess I’ll have to go and say hello to my little friend, Mr. Treadmill.

I hope you all have a nice weekend and stay warm!

Gratitute has been the theme of this week. During the last couple of days at work, we have been receiving thank you letters and calls from organizations that were given grants. I like to smile, but every time I answer the phone and hear someone saying thank you, it makes my smile bigger.

It’s true when people say that gratitude spreads like ripples. The whole experience has been so refreshing. And it made me think about all the wonderful things that give me plenty of reasons to be grateful.

1,2,3,4… healthy life, wonderful family and friends, beautiful days, and the creativity that inspires me to want to make this beautiful world a cleaner, healthier, more generous and united place.

Thank you so much for reading art & life. I wish you have a holiday filled with love and colorful moments!

1234
By Feist

One Two Three Four
Tell me that you love me more
Sleepless long nights
That is what my youth was for

Old teenage hopes are alive at your door
Left you with nothing but they want some more

Oh, you’re changing your heart
Oh, You know who you are

Sweetheart bitterheart now I can tell you apart
Cosy and cold, put the horse before the cart

Those teenage hopes who have tears in their eyes
Too scared to own up to one little lie

Oh, you’re changing your heart
Oh, you know who you are

One, two, three, four, five, six, nine, or ten
Money can’t buy you back the love that you had then
One, two, three, four, five, six, nine, or ten
Money can’t buy you back the love that you had then

Oh, you’re changing your heart
Oh, you know who you are
Oh, you’re changing your heart
Oh, you know who you are
Oh, who you are

For the teenage boys
They’re breaking your heart
For the teenage boys
They’re breaking your heart

This morning, I unconsciously ran toward the Brooklyn Bridge. I was still a bit sleepy when I realized I was on the bridge and about to get to the first anchorage. At that moment, I looked up and noticed that the sky was pink and the sun was a huge orange ball. I ran back to Brooklyn looking at the beautiful sun and feeling strong. I love New York in the morning!

During the last couple of days, I have been immersed in the ING New York City Marathon because I received a letter from the New York Road Runners about my volunteer assignment for November 4th. I have been waiting for it the whole month…I am so happy I was given my first choice: interpreter in Central Park. I have watched the marathon since I moved to New York and decided to volunteer this year. It is a cool and positive event.

There are many other volunteer opportunities in New York. The Mayor’s Volunteer Center has a list of opportunities by area of interest and there is a section for arts and culture. Another great place to find volunteer opportunities is the Idealist Project by Action Without Borders. Enjoy!

Beautiful Day (Live at the Brooklyn Bridge)
By U2

The heart is a bloom
Shoots up through the stony ground
There’s no room
No space to rent in this town

You’re out of luck
And the reason that you had to care
The traffic is stuck
And you’re not moving anywhere

You thought you’d found a friend
To take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand
In return for grace

It’s a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It’s a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away

You’re on the road
But you’ve got no destination
You’re in the mud
In the maze of her imagination

You love this town
Even if that doesn’t ring true
You’ve been all over
And it’s been all over you

It’s a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away
It’s a beautiful day

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Teach me
I know I’m not a hopeless case

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out

It was a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away
Beautiful day

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Reach me
I know I’m not a hopeless case

What you don’t have you don’t need it now
What you don’t know you can feel it somehow
What you don’t have you don’t need it now
Don’t need it now
Was a beautiful day

I am so happy October begins tomorrow. September was a very busy and hectic month. Wow, I hope you all survived it.

I don’t have a lot of time to work in the studio, but have a system – like many other artists – where I carry a small sketchbook with me. I use it to write about things that inspire me or ideas for future projects. I was browsing my sketchbook and found a funny page where I wrote: Lively Up Yourself! – after Bob Marley’s song. I must have been having a not so pleasant day.

This Bob Marley and the Wailers Live at the Rainbow concert is awesome. Matthew brought it home (he knows how much I like Bob Marley) – sweet! I started to watch the concert seated, but by the third song I was dancing in front of the TV. Lively Up Yourself is one of my favorite songs. I love how Bob Marley feels the music when he starts dancing – beautiful! And the lyrics are so positive. It is the best medicine to lift anyone’s spirit. Enjoy!

Lively Up Yourself
By Bob Marley and the Wailers

You’re gonna lively up yourself
And don’t be no drag,
You lively up yourself cause reggae is another bag
You lively up yourself and don’t say no
You’re gonna lively up yourself cause I said so

(Hear what you gonna do)
You rock so you rock so like you never did before
You dip so you dip so, dip thru my door
You come so you come so oh yeah
You skank so you skank so be alive today

You’re gonna lively up yourself and don’t say no
You lively up yourself big daddy says so
You lively up yourself and don’t be no drag
You lively up yourself cause reggae is another bag

What you got that I don’t know
I’m a trying to wonder why you act so
(Hey, do you hear what the man seh?)
Lively up your woman in the morning time you’all
Keep a lively up your woman when the evening come
And take her take ya.

You rock so you rock so you dip so you dip so
You skank so you skank so and don’t be no drag
You come so you come so for reggae is another bag.

Get what you got in that bag
What have you got in the other bag
You got hanging there?
What you say you got?
I don’t believe you!

I, I still remember
How you looked that afternoon
There was only you

You said “it’s just like a full moon”
Blood beats faster in our veins
We left our trousers by the canal
And our fingers, they almost touched

You should have asked me for it
I would have been brave
You should have asked me for it
How could I say no?

And our love could have soared
Over playgrounds and rooftops
Every park bench screams your name
I kept your tie

I’d have gone wherever you wanted

(I still remember)

And on that teachers’ training day
We wrote our names on every train
Laughed at the people off to work
So monochrome and so lukewarm

And I can see our days are becoming night
I could feel your heartbeat across the grass
We should have run, I would go with you anywhere
I should have kissed you by the water

You should have asked me for it…