My First Ladies Mini Art Retreat is almost here!

So along with saying goodbye to one of the best summers in a while and adding an insane amount of color onto the chicken coop, saying farewell to the college bound in my life and working on my physical self, I have just developed a mini one day Women's Art Retreat to kiss away the year. I hope it is the first of many.

I am super happy with the write up, a two page brochure, which you can see by clicking here:

CREATIVELY CONSCIOUS a Mini Art Day Retreat for Women

I only feel remiss about the space limitations of 7 participants which is practically complete pending on one last confirmation. But like I said, hopefully this is just the beginning of many more in a variety of locations.

Caring deeply about empowering women to live with confidence and creativity in their daily lives is something that I am very passionate about. On too many occasions I find myself coaching women who I know are bursting at the seams with untapped potential to let it out and shine. So why not create a master place and time for it? Better yet, why not set a day to support, playfully push, creatively prod and unleash each other!

An altered book page by Artist Gregg Emery

This weekend's class will use press-less printmaking techniques and the altered book as a vehicle for expression, investigation and rejuvenation. Altered books allow for so much creative versatility and are the perfect fusion between sketchbook and journalling. The following pics are some examples of altered books done my hub and I.

^{A Frida altered book page by marisol diaz}

^{A Valentine altered book page by marisol diaz}

^{Altered book illustrations by artist Gregg Emery}

Being the artist/cook that he is, my hub is making tea-sandwiches despite the fact that he will not be attending the day!

I've developed a syllabi and lesson plan for the day that is enlightening despite skill and comfortability level. I just can't wait!

I'll be sure to document it all here so that you can join us despite distance.

-

Ciao Amarettogirl

Attending to the Sketchbook

I've been daydreaming alot lately in my sketchbook.

However, as I start to fall pretty deep into the rabbit hole and lose sense of the impending end to the summer- I have to keep poking my head out into reality for air - and I thought what better time to share some details of pages with you. These sketches are all unfinished and these photos are pretty shabby and taken with my cell phone...when they're finished I'll post better, clearer and protected images.

This is a sketch of the winner of the television show 'So You Think You Can Dance' doing a dance number while I paused the recording.

an idea of who is more animal by m. diaz - do not use any images off of this site a sketchbk feeling by m.diaz

Considering my beast sketch by m.diaz

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thinking of Yemaya sketch by m. diaz

Hope you enjoyed this little wacky mind-meld with me and that you come back to see and read more about living an off beat ART full life.

Ciao -Amarettogirl

Inspiring Contemporary Artists @ The Opera Gallery in Soho NYC

So at the very end of my Soho day trip we passed one of the many galleries in the city and I said, 'Woah! Wait a minute I think that's a Sas Christian painting!" We quickly crossed the little cobblestone street and sure enough it was a Sas Christian painting there in the flesh.

The Opera Gallery between Mercer and Greene currently has not only some of Sas, but Colin Christian's, Lori Earley's and Camille D'Errico's art work all of which are some of my ultimate faves!

I discovered many of these artists who are now all pretty big names from earlier exposure from my art mag subscriptions Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose! I own a Sas Christian book of her art and a print that was gifted to me but to see one up close and personal was priceless. many of her paintings are around 50 inches in size.

Fast Forward by Sas Christian Fast Forward Oil on Linen by Sas Christian Burn by Sas Christian Oil on Linen photo by m. diaz Hardcore Pink by Colin Christian Cosmic Kitty by Colin Christian photos by m.diaz Denise by Lori Earley photo by m.diaz Weeping Camel by Camille D'Errico photo by m.diaz

Hope you enjoyed this little contemporary art tour as much as I did ;)
- Ciao Amarettogirl

Shopping for Color in Downtown NYC

Here's a post on an island of a different color- Manhattan!

Kremer Brushes

This week my hub and I went on a city trip that wasn't to our usual Astor place haunts, but instead to some new ones that had been on our living-an-art-full-life must see list. We did have to go to one usual stop and that was Pearl art supply store to restock, but all our other stops were new treats!

And if you're a creative, I think you'll love these places too- in fact you might just want to hit the links in addition to reading my blog and bookmark these sites (which are all pretty impressive in their own right) for your next artsy NYC shopping trip.

Kremer Pigments Inc.

Kremer storefront window

I know I've mentioned the book COLOR: A Natural history of the Palette by Victoria Finlay on this blog before but its worth mentioning once again. Every creative, illustrator, watercolorist, designer, painter and well-rounded artist should own this book, and maybe you do. But if you have a hankering to get a hands on visual supplement to the origins of color you need to go to Kremer's.

my hub browsing the stock

This is a shop that sells all you need to create your own paints, dyes or mediums for watercolor, acrylics and/ or oils. They also sell damar, varnishes and inks. The store, lined with shelves of gorgeous bags of powdered pigments specializes in historical pigments as well as contemporary methods. If you like the way the ol' masters did it- or you just want to be in the know - you have to go.

Next stop: Purl Soho

Yarn at Purl Soho

Purl is a fabric store in Soho New York that you will often see advertised in any crafty magazine with gorgeous photos of stacked fabric.

Wool felt at Purl Soho

They have wool felt for felting, stellar embroidery thread, rows of gorgeous fabric and walls lined with delectable high quality yarn for all you knitters and crochet divas out there.

Next stop: Papabubble

What a name right! Well, years ago I took some glass classes at Urban Glass in Brooklyn, NY. For fun I took an additional weekend workshop on pulling sugar. We worked with it very much the way you do lampworked glass.

candies up close

Anyhoo- it gave me an appreciation for handmade artisanal candy and Papabubble is just the place for that! They have shops in some of the best cities around the world like Barcelona, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Seoul & Taipei. They employ the millefiori technique to roll designs into the center of the candy and specialize in making custom designs to order.

Papabubble Artisanal Candy bags for $5

Above you see two Papabubble Candy Artisans making a custom order of candy.

Next Stop- Kid Robot

Ok So we HAVE been to Kid Robot before, but not since they've remodeled and expanded their shop! The Urban Vinyl toy mecca still houses many DIY munnies and Urban Vinyl Artist figures, clothes and blind boxes.

We also went to a gallery where I saw artwork by some of my all time fave artists from our fave art magazines Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose! But this blog has become long enough and it was all just in a single days work- so I'll blog about the gallery next.

I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did and I'm so happy I was able to take you along with us as we depart from chickens, coops and travel to return to our art-full lives! ~.~

Ciao- Amarettogirl

Coming Home to Chick Coop Dreams

While I was away my amazing husband printed out my coop design plans and got to work making the fairytale-cottage-coop dream, a reality.

Obviously, we're still not done, but all my hub did on his own is absolutely stunning :))

I'm in awe of it every morning when I look out my bedroom window to my yard.

Since I've been home we got the run built and added a roosting pole into both the coop n run, the quirky 20-something yr. ol' (7-8wk old) chicks love it! and So do my babies Chulo and Chica!

What's left to do:
Well I already ordered the small operable window and that should be arriving later this week.
We're going to place it on the front rightside of the coop.
Then I'm going to make shutters & a window flower box.
Siding n lots of paint.
Inside- we're adding 2 more roosting poles and insulating the inside walls in Sept.
A few nesting boxes still need doors and the run/coop door needs a pulley system...
then I think we can call it done. Hooray!

Farewell to My Island Once Again

Once again the time has come where I end my time here on the island- leave my little room with the mattress worn through with my body's weight concaved into the center and return to my other life in the states. My entire life I have lived divided between these two places (my mother in the states and my father on the island) yet leaving either one has never gotten any easier - in fact, it has become slightly more difficult each time the older I get...

These little red flowers will forever be such a significant part of my childhood memories in Puerto Rico. My cousins and I would pick them and pull out the super fine thread-like inner stem in the center of the flower and drink the droplet of juice that came out- over and over again. Then we would take one flower's empty stem and insert into the now empty center core of an other flower and make a delicate, natural chain of flowers we could use as crowns or necklaces.

Jazmin & Alexi's Wedding

What laying back at the beach looks like. I have traveled to Europe, Greece, Hawaii and Mexico and gone to beaches in all of those places and never have I ever experienced any beach like those of my Puerto Rico. The warm, clear ocean water envelops me in a way I have no words for- only sensation.

Paseo de la Princesa - The Princess' Path - every year I visit I walk it - either alone or with fam- this year was no exception.

Saying Goodbye to 'Hershey' a local, wild, free and perhaps abandoned dog (sadly like so many others) that I befriended.

Some Supermarket Spices- thankfully there are still native industry products made.

Getting inked at home by my brothers personal tat artist. In this pic you can see my beaded arm and hand being held by that of my cousin's hand while I get inked with a Taino petroglyph of the sun on my foot. Three of the Nuyorican cousins visiting for our cousin Jazmin's wedding got inked that day.

My niece Chami and I - who didn't give me a moments rest while I was in Puerto Rico but who at this moment along with my dad- I miss the most and am finding it most difficult to balance out and justify being away from.

This will be the last Puerto Rico post for a while and stay tuned because while I was away my amazing husband worked his magic on the chicken coop and just you wait until you see that gorgeous thing!- Ciao Amarettogirl

Island Girl- Puerto Rican Vignettes II

Today we went to the Pueblo...and for my family that's Caguas and with all the malls around these days less and less shops have remained open and much of the integrity of the Pueblo shops has been lost, but they're still considered one of the places to go for more inexpensive versions of things.

Island Girl- Puerto Rican Vignettes Part I

So I haven't been blogging much lately, but no worries- I'm preparing an onslaught of cool and interesting blog posts coming to you soon! For now, due to my dad's ill health and my cousin's wedding I've had to leave the coop completion to my hubby Gregg, while I return to my island hub in Puerto Rico for 2 weeks. I thought I might share some Puerto Rican vignettes along the way with you ;))

Quenepas Or how the Jibaritos all around me on the island spell it...Canepas- (which I will honor here) are one of my favorite snacks...you crack open the green skin and pop out a juicy, fruity and somewhat massive seed ball that you suck the life out of before you spit it out.

Note-

When I was a little girl, I lusted after a batch of canepas that my older cousin and her schoolmate got a hold of. Back then canepas came in the same little brown paper bag like the one you see in the photo above.
When the older girls obliged my puppy eyes and gave me a canepa, I was so eagerly sucking the life out of it that we broke out laughing - with this gumball size thing in my mouth. Before I knew it- in one split second- I began choking violently on the slippery seed as it fell down my throat and lodged itself into the much too small space.
my bag of canepas - --- photos by m.diaz I remember holding my throat, as I lost sensation and began to see the room turn into double images. I walked in random circles, straining and turning dizzy, unable to breath. As the older girls saw what was happening they started to yell,

'¡Mami, Mami se ahogo Marisol con la canepa!!!'

My aunt came running up to try to hit my back to get the villianous seed out. When that didn't work, my aunt recalled her NYC candy-striper-nurse's-aide days and grabbed me by the ankles, turned me upside down and positioned me against the arm of the sofa to smack my back...until the seed was finally dislodged and fell out.

I had a sore,irritated throat for days after. And for those who know me - yes, that was THE aunt. Life is messy and quite ironic and 'she' my DREDLIMA, is the one that saved my life. That's what I think about whenever I eat canepa.

Luquillo beach...so so so warm and salty and buoyant I float on my back effortlessly and feel so familiar, at home and at peace with this body of water.
hipstamatic photo by m.diaz

Limbe- or little frozen ices/sorbets, in all the classic Puerto Rican flavors like coco, and parcha (oh so good!)

Piragua / Water Ices- mmmmmm mmmmm mmmm- one of my favorite flavors is Tamarindo (tamarind).

Me....

Coop Dreams

DIY Chicken Coop Progress

With the exception of an afternoon with two young helpers, my hub and I have ventured into the ambitious and often treacherous territory of construction alone. Neither of us being very welled versed in building we're visual artists and naively feel construction should be a natural extension off of scultping or vice versa ;9 Luckily my hub did spend some time in Japan many years ago and helped to build an art studio- hence there was a little resevoir of memory for things like framing. Alas inspite of nearly experiencing major limb amputation- we have something we can pat ourselves on the back for! Here is the progress of our coop thus far.