Saturday (In Progress)

Saturday was a day.

I had a massage this morning from my friend Leah. (For the moment, I'm having a massage every week. It seems to help quell these massive anxiety storms that have been looming on the horizon lately.) Last week, Leah used the most amazing smelling massage oil on me. It smelled so good that I almost didn't want to take a shower later for fear of losing the smell. I mentioned it to her today and she did me the favor of using tons of the oil, a blend of frankincense, myrrh, and sandalwood. (It smells a bit like the incense used in Catholic church services.) Now, ten hours after my massage, I still smell amazing. She's also going to order a bottle for me so that I can blend some into a bottle of unscented lotion.

After my massage, I came home and woke up Dave. We sat in the sun for awhile, out on the patio. Then he took a shower and we headed off to the dollar store. I went to the dollar store to buy some fake flowers to take with my when I go to visit my Grandma Josie tomorrow. (She was fond of the dollar store--and of fake flowers--so I figured it would be an appropriate thing to bring. I got a handful of poppies in orange and yellow, and some pink flowers, too, and gold ribbon to tie them up.) At the dollar store, I was also peeved to see that the aluminum pans I bought at Target for four bucks were, yes, only a dollar. The same exact pans. Same label and everything. Grrr.

After that, we came home and I was super hungry, so I cooked and ate a gigantic steak that I bought at Whole Foods yesterday. Poor Dave the vegetarian got to watch me eat a fourteen ounce New York strip steak cooked rare. Man, I love me a bloody steak. Vego Dave had a bean burrito and then he had to go off to the studio to teach his class.

I, of course, took a nap.

When I woke up, I started in on my new project, the altar. I was thinking about it last night as I fell asleep, wondering what kind of imagery I wanted to use on the base. The pot tapers at the bottom, which is fine, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to use it right side up. That is, I wasn't sure if I wanted to use it bottom up or top up (if that makes any sense) and I didn't want to commit to a design until I had decided. In the end, I thought, oh, well, I'll make two designs, one half of the pot will be painted so that the design shows with the bottom up and one half will be painted so that the design shows with the top up and then I can use it either way.

For the top up design, my inspiration was this iconographic image by the Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913).



That is Catrina de la Calavera--or maybe it's Calavera de la Catrina. Anyway, if you're familiar with Mexican Day of the Dead imagery, you've probably seen her. I've always been taken with this image and I think it's perfect for an outdoor ofrenda.

I sketched the image onto my pot and then I used some of my white acrylic paint to add some texture to the skull.



Sorry. That's not a very good photo. You can kind of see the pencil sketch I did. Or maybe no. Here's another crappy but closer photo:



Sorry photo numero dos, I guess. Anyway, I decided to mix it up a little and load La Catrina's hat down with flowers and add some sugar skull-like decorations to her face.



That's after about an hour of sketching and painting. Yes, it is very much a work in progress. Flowers arenot my favorite things to paint, by the way--that means that I decided to paint about twenty of them on this particular piece. (Yes, I've completed two of them.)

In a bit, I'll paint in her teeth and then you can see La Catrina laughing at my foolishness.

Update: This is about five hours worth of painting (including time out for a burrito for dinner).



The flowers on her face are a bit too small, but no matter. There'll be a lot more detail added, but I'm very pleased with the color choices. That lime green is one of my favorite colors--as is the turquoise blue.



Ja! Ja! Ja! You painted all those estupid flowers!