Divas

Acrylic on board 18"x24"

Divas

The word diva is interesting. It's mostly used as a negative term for women. Someone who is full of themselves. Arrogant and conceded female who is bossy. If male, they would say he sure is confident and knowledgeable.

Divas, in my opinion, are women who are self-reliance, confident and competent. These women do not apologize for what they know. They have a strong work ethic and they're not afraid to ask for anything!

The Late Pastor Wenzell P Jackson loved this painting  and when he found out the title he asked me, “Are you a diva? My reply was yup, and I'm working on it!

The creation of this painting was influenced by the Supremes the legendary Motown group.

This painting was sold to a customer in Japan.

The Dance

Acrylic on canvas board 20"x30"

The Dance

Dancing is so much fun. I use to dance all the time. As a matter of fact, people were shocked to find out that I could dance because I am a quiet person. There's nothing like getting lost in the rhythm of the music. It's so liberating and free. Particularly when you're a kindergartener choreographing routines with your imaginary back up dancers for your imaginary audience to the songs, "Lost in music" by Sister Sledge 🎼 and "Dancin' the night away" by Voggue. It's great to see a large amount of people on the Dance floor showing off the latest moves. There is something special about couples who dance. Their energies are connected They bond through constant movement of spin and turns. The communication of dance can express happiness, sorrow, joy, or pain. I wanted to capture the movements of each couple. It's interesting that some people can't see right away that there are people dancing in this painting. 

This painting was sold to a client in Harlem.

🎼 The song, "Lost in music was produced by the extraordinary Nile Rogers of Chic. He was mentioned in blog entry January 2016.

Conversations

Acrylic on paper 18"x25"

 Conversations

This is my first painting that I created in the series. I wanted to present a group of people in casual conversation. When it comes to communication, I naturally work best in one on one conversations as stated earlier.

I find large group conversations really fascinating.

Figurative Abstract Art

Figurative Abstract Art

Abstract painting has always been an interest for me. I started to experiment with this painting style several years ago. I used to doodle on notepads anything that can get my hands on, I started making these little figures. You can view some of the samples of it in the piece from January post “ My journey with David Bowie”. The figures have involved over time. It was time to make a painting. It was a free-form, expression of painting. This is when I actually let go and lose control of the brush strokes. Sometimes I will paint along with  the music. Other times I would paint in silence. Either way, I let the paintbrush in my heart call the shots. When it was time to enter different competitions, they were constantly asking what category. I never knew what to call this form of art. After some research, I decided to label it “Figurative Abstract Art”.

Figurative: art that show figures, (human or animal form), in a painting or sculpture.

Abstract: art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, forms, colors, and textures.

My Journey With David Bowie

8"x10" Pen and Ink

My Journey With David Bowie

I am truly lost for words. I am profoundly saddened by the lost of Mr. David Bowie.

I was introduced to David Bowie, in pop culture, while following his music video called “Let’s Dance”. This song has a great beat to it. An infectious rhythm to dance a simple “two step” along with. And that's what I did when the girl in the video found a pair of red shoes and started dancing, in her two-step I join too, and I swayed back-and-forth as to smooth voice of David Bowie as he sang “put on your red shoes and dance the blues”. I interpret that  as dance away your blues, so that's what I did! Years later I found out that the song was produced by the legendary Chic front man, Nile Rodgers. Mr. Bowie had great production taste!

He seemed to be an odd looking man, but yet striking at the same time. His appearance seems to be washed out, with the pale skin, white blonde hair and yet he had one I darker than the other (from a childhood accident). How strange, I thought. Yet, his wardrobe was highly tailored and bright in color. Since then, I loved more songs, including Modern love, Blue Jean, China girl, I’m afraid of Americans, Jump, Fashion, Changes, Heroes, Under Pressure, Rebel Rebel.

Something about him was different, but I couldn't place my finger on it at the time. Until I found out he was a Capricorn. Immediately it made so much sense to me. Ha ha! He was a very creative individual who thought outside the box.

For entertainment purposes only, he became my Capricorn brother.

I found out other bits and pieces about him such as, the late Luther Vandross (The ultimate smooth singer!) started off his career as David Bowie’s back up singer. Mr. Bowie also became vocal back in the day when MTV was  new, and he addresses the issue of the lack of or no black musicians were showcasing their music video especially the late Michael Jackson (The King of Pop!). After calling out the industry, the music video channels had Michael Jackson on heavy rotation. He has a keen eye for talent.

Anyway, when I found out that he was going to celebrate his 50th birthday by having a concert at Madison Square Garden, I wanted to celebrate my birthday at his concert but I never had the opportunity.

Mr. Bowie was truly an avant-garde artist.

Christmas Craft Memories

Christmas Craft Memories

There have been many special moments during this 

holiday season, but the one that stood out for me was the time that my niece and I did a painting task. This task involved a lot of green paint!

I did this activity in a preschool classroom, the children loved it! Since we didn't have enough space for a large tree I asked my niece if she wouldn't mind making a wallpaper Christmas tree. Despite of the fact that she was older than a preschooler, she didn't mind creating a Christmas tree.

So we got started with a lot of green paint, glitter and fingers. She didn't mind the messy project. She said she had a really good time.  It touched me deeply. This Christmas tree has been part of our family tradition ever since. Never threw the tree out, we use it every year.

The Wedding

18"x 24" Acrylics on board

The Wedding

In our family, we were excited to have one of our cousins get married. He was the least likely cousin to get married, to be honest. We could wait to witness the wedding. This was a special time in our lives because it was a great reason to reunite with family members visiting from the South and have one big party!

Our cousin's bride was of Cuban descent thus it became a fantastic spectacular event. There were bold and bright colors surrounding the bride. The dresses were elegant and flowing. Look graceful and regal. This was the first time we've ever met her. And we were not disappointed. She was so lovely. So were her parents as well they were gracious and kind.

It was so much going on in this large cathedral, majestic style wedding ceremony. I felt like we were at a celebrity wedding. There was a videographer as well as photographer. The reception, was incredible. The music was a mixture of R&B, hip-hop, and Latin. Seemed like we were on the dance floor all night long. This wedding experience was like no other. It  was a grand production. And guess what, we loved it!!