What the G says to the O in GOD.

While the D is clueless. I figured the D is clueless because it's countenance seems to look to our right; the G is also to the right, so it would speak to the O, a frontal and very egalitarian vowel.

Hope you like.

Layback

Know those ubiquitous figures in train stations forever sleeping, like they've been caught up with their beauty sleep and they're now on triple overtime? 

Sandman catches them when they least expect it. It can be anywhere. He waits in those interstitial moments that lies a true vacation. 

 

Done in watercolor and color pencil.

Hands in Poetry

Here's a nice straight-forward charcoal and pencil drawing of hands in the process of typing poetry. Any other hand models out there? :-P

Enjoy.

Word at 4F

 
I've been noticing something of late: house parties in NYC are beginning a certain kind of spike. There's the guys at 5fity 5ive, all about all the different kinds of house music (not to be confused with "house party"), providing parties all over NYC, but originally began as a house party at Apt. 55. There's When We Were Kings, a '70s themed party in Brooklyn that happens at a regular basis, also at an apartment. I know of my good friend Alba Mota's Sancocho parties, where she and her friends have a huge pot full of that good ol' Dominican soup, where partiers can scoop their own bowl of sacocho when taking a break from dancing some Latin music (aside from other genres), and I'm sure you already know in what kind of venues they throw it down.

But right now I want to treat you to the 1st of a series of spoken word, readings, music and stand-up comedy parties where, yes, you have all these literary and showcases going on, but it's also a bonafide BYOB party. I'd like to introduce you to...

WORD AT 4F!

WORD AT 4F's intention is to cultivate poetry and a literary community at Uptown NYC. If you're interested in attending tomorrow, Saturday February 2nd, to party or to perform, please RSVP to wordat4f@gmail.com (after all, it is a party at a very homely home, so some crowd control would be need). This will be a series that would happen roughly once a month, made and hosted by Angela Abreu and yours truly!

And a big THANK YOU! goes out to Angela Abreu for opening up her home to the world for the art and the power of the word.

"Thank You" Menorah

This was a "Thank You" card I drew, a typographical menorah drawing saying "Thank You" I did for a doctor. I really lucked out on the "N" and "K" there. Done on pencil and color-pencil, free-hand.

Headshot Retouch

This is Luisa Inés García.

Actress, with many different side-skills that can be appropriated with her craft. (Directing, Writing, Poetry, Acting, Dance, I believe she does Costume Design, and even freaking Gymnastics)

I did some retouching for her Headshot earlier this year. I tried to smooth out the natural blemishes while keeping true to her look and aura/aesthetics, while enhancing some other areas. True, I could have taken some more of those stray hairs, but dammit if the hair doesn't end up looking like she's wearing a head-piece that looks like hair. You would notice there's probably a 20% increase in eye size. Yup, the rules of subliminal allure, made not-so-subliminal in this blog.

Here's little bio of Luisa Inés García:

Luisa Inés García earned her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (PHTS) in Creating Original Work and Acting. For the past two years she has worked in New York, New Jersey and internationally as a director, actress/dancer and teacher. She most recently co-founded Buffoonocene Productions with Seth Baum (Columbia University’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions), which creates new works built on scientific research to stimulate dialogue and promote activism regarding climate change. The project was debuted at this year’s Nature, Ecology and Society Colloquium at the CUNY Graduate Center and the newest video will be available on YouTube soon! She currently plays the role of María Teresa in In The Time of the Butterflies at the Spanish Repertory (Repertorio Español) .

She's currently directing El Coordinador. “The Facilitator” takes place in an elevator where four people must deal with the ambition and morals of the others. Shut in the elevator, they experience a collective desperation that results in the discovery of the true personality of each person when their fears and virtues come out to play in this game of survival. Winning play of the 1993 Best Dramatic Text Award at the VII North American Chilean Institute’s Theater Festival and the 1994 Municipal Award for Literature in Theatre in Santiago, Chile. 

They have 5 performances!
August 23: 7pm
August 24: 8pm
August 26: 6:30 pm
August 30: 7pm
and
August 31: 8pm 

Written by: Benjamin Galemiri
Directed by: Inés Garcia
Assistant Director: John Gutierrez
The players: Antonio Solar, Billy Martin, Elena Sanz, Ron Sarcos

Set design: Leni Méndez
Sound design: Erin Cummings
Light design: Miguel León Valderrama

Tickets are $10, with premium seats at $20

The play is in Spanish with simultaneous English translation.

You can find more info on El Coordinador.

I crown you, Mother

My mother had her birthday yesterday. It's been a surreal year so far for the family, so I wanted to give her something original, as original as her love, contribution, and warmth that she brings (so, yea, so I'm a mama's boy, yea, I'm a son).

I wanted to do a calligraphy piece from a poem of a poet she likes, Pablo Neruda. But after I found "Sonnet 31", I wanted to crown her with his words more than concentrating on calligraphy. I recently purchased a Pilot Parallel Pen, which I'm excited about, but it has a wide nib, big enough that it didn't give me room to draw the foliage deco that I wanted to design with the size of Bristol board I have. So I settled with a less cooler calligraphy marker.

With the spirit of being original, making a piece that's un-repeatable, captured in the moment, and of being on time, I wanted to do this as a stream of consciousness. I winged the calligraphy, with only one horizontal line drawn in pencil showing the top of the x-height of the first line of the sonnet as a guide to the rest of the poem. The decos are winged too, only loosely sketched in pencil first, just to make sure I have room for everything. I only looked at the visions the poem paints as inspiration.

It's in Spanish, for we are a Spanish-speaking family.


 The shape of the paper is designed so I can crown her with the poem (and I did), like the Romans wreathed themselves (notice how the two loops can go around the ears).

This is the poem in Spanish and in English:

Soneto XXXI

Con laureles del Sur y orégano de Lota
te corono, pequeña monarca de mis huesos,
y no puede faltarte esa corona
que elabora la tierra con bálsamo y follaje. 

Eres, como el que te ama, de las provincias verdes:
de allá trajimos barro que nos corre en la sangre,
en la ciudad andamos, como tantos, perdidos,
temerosos de que cierren el mercado. 

Bienamada, tu sombra tiene olor a ciruela,
tus ojos escondieron en el Sur sus raíces,
tu corazón es una paloma de alcancía, 

tu cuerpo es liso como las piedras en el agua,
tus besos son racimos con rocío,
y yo a tu lado vivo con la tierra.

Pablo Neruda 1959

Sonnet 31


With laurel from The South, and Lota oregano,


I crown you, little monarch of my bones,


and you cannot do without this crown,


that the earth elaborates with foliage and balsam.

You are as he who loves you, from the green provinces:

from where we brought the clay that runs in our blood,


In cities we go about, like so many, lost,


fearful that the market will be closed.

Beloved, your shadow has the plum's aroma,


the roots of your eyes remain hidden in the south,


your heart is a dove-shaped collection-box,

your body is as smooth as stones in the water,


each kiss a cluster covered over with dew,


and I, at your side, live with the earth.
 

Pablo Neruda 1959

"Sonnet 31" is 61 years old. It's older than my mom. :-) 

Happy Birthday, little monarch of my bones.