recuerda mi corazon

The Women of Juarez...a closer look

for the women of juarez....

precious metals...

to signify the unmeasurable worth

of a life taken from us all.

the presence of the natural world.....leaves...

wind blown, golden

signifying autumn, the season of loss

and letting go...speaks in a language of melancholy and tender longing

for all that might have been.

the comfort of nature,  

represents the living, as we, together embrace

the memory of a life, so needlessly stolen. 

our awareness and acknowledgment 

create a sanctuary.

where finally in peace an angel resides 

admonishing us to "recuerda mi corazon"...

"remember my heart".

thank you monica for inviting us to employ our hearts and hands in bringing awareness to this important cause. thank you rick underwood for taking these remarkable photographs with the perfect peace of a pure blue background.

to each artist that took pause from the always alluring appeal of everyday life to

exult the life of another, i am humbled with your tender regard. each tribute rivets my heart to the power of art to give voice to a shared world where we are all inexplicable tied to each other. 

 

hand-me-down-camera-blues

today

i am desperately seeking

camera advice!

yes, i am shamefully soliciting every single one of you artistic/sensitive types to pony up and help me out! just look at my attempts at Self Portrait Wednesday (be still my aching heart!!!!) where's the contrast, resolution, life force??? where are my clothes?

and my completed Women of Juarez? i cannot, for the life of me, capture the full piece without losing all detail.

note to self: i am seriously lacking hair and zoom lens.

i know this.

digital, SLR,  IS, mega pixels, reasonably light weight for easy mexico travel...cannon? nikon? sony?  my head is spinning in my stark white skull and my eyes just gloss over in frantic green horror as i peruse the possibilities.

i am trying to maintain composure, but can you feel me beginning to grind my teeth just below my passion red lipstick???

please help me find inner peace and a decent, reliable, i-am-so-in-LOVE-with-my-camera-destiny.

i will remain riveted to the comments section, hope against hope, you will all take pity and help me discover my innercamera. and yes you will all be richly rewarded with new, improved titillating visual delights. 

no, no ,no...please do not leave without baring your cameraknowledge soul!

A-Dressing the situation

when i started reflecting on a dress... for someone whose life had been violently cut short of so many dreams...goals...hopes...desires, i knew i had to work with metal. i wanted to give this woman...these women, substance. weight. form. a place in my heart, and a place in the world.

 

i wanted the techniques themselves to be difficult to achieve. something that would require dedication, problem solving, an investment of time and close attention...lending deep reflection to this arduous memorial journey. i  wanted my comfort level both physically, spiritually and mentally to be compromised, stretched, taxed. 

 

and i wanted the pain, struggle, to be transformed into something beautiful. i used metals from the earth. precious metals to signify the unmeasurable worth of a life taken from us all. the presence of the natural world  appears as leaves...wind blown, signifying a season of loss and letting go. still the beauty of the natural world embraces the memory of a life lost and creates a sanctuary where finally in peace an angel resides admonishing us to "recuerda mi corazon", "remember my heart".

 

a long night with my women of juarez....needs yet another day. until then  please linger HERE.

where the emotion of each artists voice whispers a resounding remembrance to the women of juarez.

 

el amor le impedia ver sus defectos

love

blinded

her

to

his

faults.....

el amor le impedia ver sus fefectos

love blinded her to his faults

honest, not all my mosaics are sacred hearts, saints or skeletons. i made this wall mural for my mother....for her cocina of course!!!

anima sola.....

anima sola

purgatory's penitent Hottie contemplates eternal salvation

a taste of summer, revisited

a taste of summer

we sat on dry stacked stones and reached across the bed of young chard. my husband on the lower side...his wife on the higher, and we reached towards each other as we tended these beds of possibilities, these promises of meals to share, these slender hopes of new life. there was something so vital between us. all this hope, this pungent, wild in the mouth explosion of garlic and green, and a splash of basalmic vinegar that would soon grace our summer meals.

the full moon bowed to our sudden innocence. so we rocked in a sea of contentment tying our hearts to the earth, to our hands that reached without knowing towards each other, in a simple prayer of care taking. so vital was the life that rose between us, so spring green and safe, so comforting, that without hesitation questions filled the sweet shade between us. "who would you most love to spend time with, living or dead, that you have not seen in a long long time?" "what is the single most important thing you would change in your life if you had the chance?"

husband reeled with emotion, suddenly rising like a wild moon, chard hummed in agreement to the import of such brazen revelation. "why do you ask?" are husbands first words.

"i just don't know how long a life awaits me, so i ask myself questions that rivet me firmly to the moment", wife replies.

we sit in the gathering dusk, one plate to share between us. pungent young chard, thinned to allow the growth of many. balsamic vinegar, garlic and a single fork. we eat the promise of many meals to come, when the harvest will be so abundant our separate plates will fill, but none will be sweeter than this first taste of summer. when our words conjured up memories of those we love closer to us in the riveting moon light. when we passed one plate between us, when the thunder began, when we wanted desperately, for the other,  to have the last savory bite of fulfillment.

we sat on dry stacked stones and reached across the bed of young chard. my husband on the lower side...his wife on the higher, and we reached towards each other as we tended these beds of possibilities, these promises of meals to share, these slender hopes of new life. there was something so vital between us. all this hope, this pungent, wild in the mouth explosion of garlic and green, and a splash of basalmic vinegar that would soon grace our summer meals.

the full moon bowed to our sudden innocence. so we rocked in a sea of contentment tying our hearts to the earth, to our hands that reached without knowing towards each other, in a simple prayer of care taking. so vital was the life that rose between us, so spring green and safe, so comforting, that without hesitation questions filled the sweet shade between us. "who would you most love to spend time with, living or dead, that you have not seen in a long long time?" "what is the single most important thing you would change in your life if you had the chance?"

husband reeled with emotion, suddenly rising like a wild moon, chard hummed in agreement to the import of such brazen revelation. "why do you ask?" are husbands first words.

"i just don't know how long a life awaits me, so i ask myself questions that rivet me firmly to the moment", wife replies.

we sit in the gathering dusk, one plate to share between us. pungent young chard, thinned to allow the growth of many. balsamic vinegar, garlic and a single fork. we eat the promise of many meals to come, when the harvest will be so abundant our separate plates will fill, but none will be sweeter than this first taste of summer. when our words conjured up memories of those we love closer to us in the riveting moon light. when we passed one plate between us, when the thunder began, when we wanted desperately, for the other,  to have the last savory bite of fulfillment.

el verano empieza

 

this day one year ago marks the beginning of  "recuerda mi corazon" a place i come to share my heart, voice, enthusiasm, and creative explorations. of course, there is so much more to it than that. i needed a refuge of safety where love, courage, generosity, compassion, and truth resides. a place to leave behind the mundane and be lifted by the sacred. a place where all that is broken, lost, and un fixable can be forgotten in the pursuit of larger dreams. 

i came reluctantly. 

sometimes barely holding on to the hem of blind faith. yet each time i sat here opening up, i left satisfied, nurtured, hopeful. every time i emptied my "self" i walked away filled. and for a while i did this seemingly alone. until, one by one YOU found your way here.. 

there is something so powerful about sharing, supporting, listening, seeing. this YOU have so generously given me, until through time recuerda mi corazon has become a place of healing. a place where together we remember our hearts.