Vignettes of Puerto Rico

Once again I'm in half of my home -soul and wanting to share all the beauty of my town Jaguas, Puerto Rico with you. So I hope you enjoy- my island dreams!

New Venue & New Ink Illustrations 2

I'm excited to report that I have joined a new venue, Bliss Co-op in Sugar Loaf, New York.

About Bliss Co-op:

Bliss Co-op is a little boutique in Sugar Loaf NY that features the creative works of local & regional women artisans. It gives an opportunity for those artists who need a little exposure in an artisan village without the risk of opening their own shop. More importantly, the co-op is a network of supportive women with varying talents & business acumen to help each member flourish both as an artist & as an individual.

My work along with that of some extraordinary women/crafters/artisans/makers/designers will be featured in this alternative boutique/gallery starting April 1st AND You're Invited!

GRAND OPENING!!!! APRIL 1st
WHOOO HOOO!!!
Come visit one of the best things happening in Sugar Loaf NY this year, if you don’t mind me saying. Celebrate the women who are living their dream, fulfilling their passion & following their bliss.
Bring your friends & family..heck, grab a stranger. Get in on the excitement.
Open for business 12:00pm -5:00pm Followed by a cocktail party from 5:00pm – 7:00pm

Here is a sneak peek of another one of the new illustrations that I have been working on the Bliss space and the stages of its development.

My Consumption 2 start up PROCESS by m.diaz My Consumption 2 PROCESS2 by m.diaz My Consumption2 Final Draft2 by m. diaz My Consumption 2 detail by m.diaz

The Importance of Castles in The Air

Apparently there is an idiom for daydreaming awake of what our heart envisions with disregard for our minds...for having unrealistic desires, or plans that appear so impractical that they will never work, illusory, or a futile flight of fancy, it is what we tend to call Castles in the Air/ Sky. And often it comes to us prefixed with, 'DO NOT...build castles in the air...' but can you imagine what the world would be if anyone had ever refrained from the impossible dream?

So today as a necessary component to being 'a creative' (self-defined noun) I post about the dreaming: big and small of mine...the thinking with my heart and not my head:

sandblasted glass block- Think With Your Head NOT Your Heart Fool..by m.diaz photo by VINCENT THFOIN Branching out: A spiral staircase leads to a tree house in Rambouillet Forest, France Etsy Seller Book of Art Our Secret Harbor Digital Art by Aimee Stewart featured in this months Somerset Digital Art Burning Man Festival SculptureBurning Man Festival Sculpture

Desert festival: For one week out of the year a portion of the desert is transformed into a thriving diverse city known as Black Rock City for the spectacular Burning Man festival in northern Nevada

Cirque De Soleil O Poseidon Under Sea Resort An unlikely surrogate mom... True Love Among the Mundane Rubbish by Kumi Yamashita and Tim Noble + Sue Webster Trashy Shadow Art

Miami International Art Fair III- The Mundane Gets Its Iconic Due

This is the third installment of Miami Art Fair contemporary art and I still have more to share. I'm anxious to show you all some more of what I've been doing lately too, so hopefully you keep coming back for more!

Nick Gentry, Antenna, Mixed Media on Computer Disks on Wood rep. Art Modern Gallery photo by m.diaz

Artist Nick Gentry's work represented by the Art Modern Gallery has gone viral on the blogosphere lately, my students love his work on old floppy disks. Above is one of his pieces entitled Antenna that I saw at the Miami Art Fair.

The next piece that I'm featuring here is this piece entitled Compound 3 by Colombian born artist Juan Raul Hoyos, represented by the Alejandra Von Hartz gallery, made entirely of paper bags. Anyone who is a regular blog follower of mine might recall my post entitled The Potential of a Brown Paper Bag that you can see here which resonates with the same idea of how much complexity you can build with such simple things. In the case of artist Juan, he has built what appears to be a whole congested city developed out of printed bags simply opened and left to evoke a war-torn time and place. For me what was quite powerful was the congested feeling still seemed overcome with abandon and emptiness...like an evacuated space. Too bad it seems Juan does not have his own site and or the Alejandra Von Hartz Contemporary Art Gallery site should have links to more of their artists work so that you could see more.

Detail shot of Compound 3, by Juan Raul Hoyos, white paper bags, Rep. Alejandra Von Hartz Contep. Art Gallery photo by m.diaz Compound 3, by Juan Raul Hoyos, white paper bags, Rep. Alejandra Von Hartz Contep. Art Gallery photo by m.diaz

This next artist is another one of my favorite three dimensional artists from the MIA. Her name is Shantamani living in Bangalore, India represented by the Galerie Helene Lamarque. Her series of work is entitled Carbon myths and she uses charcoal which for me infers earthy fire, combustion and residue to construct her pieces. Mother Goddess,by Shanthamani rep. Galerie Helene Lemarque Detail of Mother Goddess, by Shanthamani rep. by the Galerie Helene Lamarque photo by m.diaz MINT by Shanthamani, Charcoal, rep. by Galerie Helene Lamarque photo by m.diaz DETAIL shot of Mint, Shanthamani, Charcoal, rep. by Galerie Helene Lamarque photo by m.diaz

Ok so get ready! Here is another moment when my students came to mind...turning around in the Galerie Helene LeMarque booth at MIA and seeing all of these stacked yellow phonebooks carved into these portrait busts! A graduate of School of Visual Arts, artist Long-Bin Chen from Taiwan gave a serious sculptural treat...once again showing us the power of the pedestrian object being risen to iconic stature.

India Buddha Boston by Long-Bin Chen back of India Buddha Boston by Long-Bin Chen a photo by the Museum of Arts & Design Webcam tech blog of Long-Bin Chen at work in their studios


detail shot of Long-Bin Chen's work by m.diaz detail shot of Long-Bin Chen's work by m.diaz here another sculpture by Long-Bin Chen at Mia photo by m.diaz back view of sculpture by Long-Bin Chen at Mia photo by m.diaz another sculpture by Long-Bin Chen at Mia photo by m.diaz

If you have 7 minutes I found an additional treat for you all, this fun you tube video doc of Long-Bin Chen and his work- I think you;ll really enjoy it!

I hope you enjoyed this installment of my MIA art fair experience! I have one biggy left to report on before I start to move on and share some other creativity and art related news- so stay tuned and LET me know what you think! Anybody here who blew you away and why? or was this all just too on the 'what-ever-happened-to-fine-art-supplies?' for you?

-Ciao Amarettogirl

On my way to MIA- Miami International Art Fair

Like a good blogger on Artful and creative living I am on my way to Miami tomorrow for the Miami International Art Fair!

I promise to come back chuck full of photos of more inspiring artists and hopefully some more inspiration to share! MIA features the Projects Gallery of Philadelphia Which represents this piece By artist Alex Queral, acrylic on carved telephone book

So stay tuned in with me while I blog about my trip and share what is sure to be some phenomenal artistic feats since I will spare you those that aren't! LOl!- ciao Amarettogirl

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Little, BIG Delights that Rock My World, & Might Just Rock Yours!

For this 2011 year I decided that I would have a new category on my site entitled, Little Big Delights dedicated to all the little things that bring me GREAT joy and remind me that being present, globally conscious and appreciative of heart smiles can be mesmerizingly joyful.

Every one of these little things makes a big difference in my days, weeks and months of living. Though these things can sometimes be objects, they are not always- sometimes they are sensations; like the smell of a hot pan with sizzling onions and garlic, or the popping sound of wood as it crackles loudly and madly in the fireplace or a warm cup in my cold hands, or the skip of my heart beat when I see a silent smile. Everything wont be for everyone, but hopefully I'll inspire delight or what I call a heart smile somewhere in you too.

Today I'll list three Little, BIG Delights. Though I have done this (highlighted things I love) all along on my blog, wanting to formally categorize them came from a phenomenal book and an inspiring author- so I will start with that particular delight -

• 1. reading

- and though I have my nose in more than one book at this time- in this case I'm referring to a book I just bought for myself that I have been delighting in reading every night before sleep this week:

This book, Encyclopedia of the Exquisite, An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights, is by Jessica Kerwin Jenkins, former Editor of the magazine W in their Paris division, is well-traveled and currently a writer for Vogue. Here is a sample page of the delightful writing Ms. Jenkins offers us immediately in her introduction,

"These entries sprang directly from a file I kept on my desk, bulging with scribbled scraps, Xeroxed articles, quotes, and curious images I'd come across-anything that lit a spark, or excited "intense delight". In my mind I called the collection "Why I Like it Here," "here" meaning on the planet. If I was having a bad day , flipping through the file could sweep me into a dreamy demimonde where things didn't seem so bad."

As the book is categorized alphabetically, I have so far; seen the sky filled with 'Aerostations' through the eyes of Marie Antoinette & King Louis the XVI, gone Alfresco, learned to make Blancmange, reveled in the powerful history of the color Black, abandoned convention with the origin of the Bob haircut and am looking forward to unraveling the mysteries of the feminine Boudoir and the Carousel tonight! Ms. Jenkins form of writing is delicious in it's clarity and focus.

Ok drumroll for

• 2. van leeuwen Earl Grey Black Tea Ice Cream

The lid of my van leeuwen earl grey icecream

Unfortunately, I first encountered this beautifully designed, pale-yellow, ice cream truck this past summer in NYC when I was in the middle of cleansing and detoxing my body from sugar. And though I was thoroughly entranced by the elegant illustrations and the over-all marketing aesthetic, the moment I asked the Seller if she had nutritional information for the ice cream and when she said no - my will power (at the time made of iron) kicked in, so I walked away and had none...fast forward months later and many pounds less on my body, I was in my local whole foods and discovered the same beeauutiiiful aesthetic packaged in pint size containers in the frozen foods section - with a nutritional chart! All I needed was that and an espresso cup-size portion and I was in HEAVEN!!

and finally my last Little, BIG Delight

3. These antiqu-ish rustic BLANK pin cushion clamps:

This past summer my hub and I went up to his parents in BOMBAY NEW York - yes I said Bombay (7hrs. north of nyc) out by the Canadian Border and by/on local Mohawk reservations. Like I often do I love to go through the local antique shops. This time I found these sweet little BLANK clamps. I'm actually sure they're not really antique (just made with that look) but as a budding seamstress - I think they're BRILLIANT- seeing as I can glue any pin cushion of my choice on to it - like my hand-made by me felt cupcake pin cushion! PLUS they were only 6 dollars AND they clamp onto my ironing board and my sewing table!! Woo HOO!!!

Hope you enjoyed these LITTLE BIG DELIGHTS and that you find some of your own in your daily life!- Amarettogirl

Creatively Invoking The New Year with Sorority, Intention, Incantations, Stitchery & Felt

All of Us CC's photo taken by Erin with Annamaria's Camera- thanks Erin!

I was fortunate this New Year's eve to have an opportunity to get together with a portion of my CREATIVELY CONSCIOUS Sisters (some of the original collection of women from my women's art retreat this past summer) and do a crafty version of a New Year's Invocation.

My gift to the women were little precut and personalized embroidered heart sachets that had charms, wishes and love stitched onto them.

One of the unsewn, unsealed, unstuffed New Years sachets I made for the Ladies of CC

As part of the process, I had each woman consider what the people, places and things that impede their daily dreams and goals are and on that sheet of paper physically write and name those things as what I like to call our 'Chief Censors'.

Beginning the incantation photo by CC Sharon

After that we wrote down what our deepest desire was for this up and coming new year...not so much a resolution but more something we wanted to see realized and manifested in our lives.

I wanted us to ritualistically experience a metaphor for being released by that chief censor into action towards our deepest desire. So I brought a stainless steel bowl in which to individually 'torch' the chief censor and watch it burn into ash and into the ether while asking to be released from it verbally. Our Burning Bowl photo by CC Sharon

We rolled up our our deepest desire and placed it along with stuffing and fragrant filling into the core of our heart sachet. Each woman went through the process of physically stitching her deepest desire into her heart....

the unstuffed sachet I made for CC Kesha CC Kesha Sewing her sachetCC Khadine Sewing her sachet CC's Khadine & Sharon working on their sachet's together CC Annamaria's sachet The Other side of CC Annamaria's Sachet

"Wishing you all a wonderful New Year!!"-Amarettogirl

So Excited! The Karma Seed LAUNCH is today! And I have MINE!

Overview- What is The Karma Seed

The Karma Seed UPDATE _ KARMA SEED NO LONGER IN SERVICE! THIS IS AN OLD POST! KARMA SEED enabled individuals to have positive, meaningful impacts on the lives of many, with minimal effort and cost. The Karma Seed was based on the concept of ‘pay it forward’, but updated the idea to fit the culture of the 21st century. The concept of ‘pay it forward’ is simple: A person does a random act of kindness for a stranger, but rather than returning the favor, that stranger instead ‘pays forward’ the good will by doing a random act of kindness for someone else. Unfortunately, an inherent problem with the traditional ‘pay it forward ‘system is accountability. There is no mechanism to track whether or not the favor is passed on.

Our Karma Seed package from former student Chris Loh

That is where The Karma Seed comes in. Karma Seeds are individually numbered plastic cards that can be databased and tracked online. Seeds were once able to be purchased online—$3.00 for a single seed, $5 for 2 seeds, and $10 for 5 seeds. HOWEVER UPDATE _ NO LONGER IN SERVICE!!! After a customer purchases they are no longer receiving seed cards, you can no longer register it online and hold onto it until an opportunity to help someone (preferably a complete stranger) arises. After the favor is completed, the customer hands his or her Karma Seed to the recipient of the favor,

asks them to visit the website where they can briefly share the details of the favor and asks them to pass the seed on by ‘paying forward’ the favor to another stranger.

The Karma Seed is ideally transferred from stranger to stranger until the card is physically destroyed or lost.

A consumer might question the purpose of purchasing a Karma Seed in the first place. Why pay to do a favor for a stranger? Why buy knowing it will be given it away. And, after all, a Karma Seed is simply a piece of plastic, with no obvious extrinsic value.

It is the potential for something amazing to result from that mere piece of plastic that makes a Karma Seed so powerful and desirable.

Embedded in The Karma Seed is the concept of ‘The Butterfly Effect’. ‘The Butterfly Effect’ is, “a metaphor that encapsulates the concept of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory namely that small differences in the initial condition of a dynamical system produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system.” More simply, in the context of The Karma Seed the butterfly effect describes how the random act of kindness can result in something much larger that benefits hundreds of people.

So consider being a part of this and check out the Karma Seed Site as soon as possible.

On How to Be ALONE...

For all my creatively conscious readers, here's a bit of inspiration of a different sort. Folks often ask how I do much of all the things I tend to busy myself with. Well it is true that I am childless and while that certainly helps... I also know how to be alone with myself.

So my bro Orph just hooked me up with a video he knew was totally me and he was so right!

If you have only four minutes and thirty five second- this video is worth every iota of it.

A video by filmaker, Andrea Dorfman, and poet/singer/songwriter, Tanya Davis. Davis wrote the beautiful poem and performed in the video which Dorfman directed, shot, animated by hand and edited. The video was shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia and was produced by Bravo!FACT http://www.bravofact.com/

Enjoy! and Ciao I'm off to see the new Harry Potter Movie...wink wink

Dead Birds

My dogs love to bring me gifts. They truly leave these gifts for me to find the second I walk through the door from work. Mind you they have a spot and window they sit at every day to wait for me to come home. They have internal clocks and know when I should be home. When I'm on time they are filled with abnormal joy at my arrival, when I'm late I find wicked behavior like chewing on my table legs. Regardless, they are cognizant of where I come from and when. The gift they are most proud of was perhaps my worst...a dead squirrel that they left on my living room carpet right at the entrance for me, fully intact I might add. All my pups lack are opposable thumbs, wrapping paper and ribbon.

So last week I arrived home from work to get a new gift. I screamed out in complete bloody agony to find a dead little limp bird laying on my living room carpet.

Then just as I got acclimated to the reality of it, and as I was trying to figure out how to pick it up, I walked outside my back door to let the chickens out into the yard and in horror there was another dead bird at my feet. My stomach turned like if this was all a bad omen...a rain of dead birds. However as I faced being home alone and having to address these birds, I gathered courage and began my usual twisting, turning, bloating and wringing of a problem. I couldn't help but to see them as dauntingly beautiful, fragile and spiritless. So on a week where I would have paid to have an extra hour in the day, I proceeded to spend the next four hours photographing dead birds. Here is just one of the results:

my two little dead birds photo by m.diaz