'Vida Y Muerte' - A Soul Work Complete

 

Hello Lovelies! 

Posh post time. I was honoured recently to accept a generous invitation to show some of my work at the All Souls exhibition at the Cultural Arts  Centre in Temple, Texas. Going along with my resolve to follow a more intuitively creative path, I've chosen to stretch my creative focus by using exhibitions and competitions as practise in working to a brief. The following piece is my primary entry and is entitled "Vida Y Muerte" . It's just shy of 50cm square, took 48 hours to complete and is drawn with a nib pen and Indian ink, with Windsor and Newton coloured inks, chosen for their transparency and vibrancy. During the process I went through the usual stages of frustration and angst-ridden doubt, but when all is done I confess to being rather pleased with the result.

    I wrote a perfectly acceptable explanation of all the bits and pieces and thought processes contained in the drawing so I have copied and pasted them below, along with some hopefully useful close-ups of the work itself. Hope you enjoy the art and if you have questions go ahead and leave a comment - I'll look forward to hearing from you!

 

 

 As always with my work it is loaded with symbolism. The cat represents La Santa Muerte with her crown and solemn expression, gazing on her destination in the afterlife even whilst journeying through our realm.

  

 A cat was chosen as a symbol of that gateway between worlds, and the picture is taken from reference of a stray cat I used to feed many years ago. She was old, but tough, and although she looked like she'd been through the wars, she carried herself with dignity. I wanted to reflect her stubborn and enclosed, self posessed beauty.

 

 

 

 The 'crown' is represented with twigs (a nod to my own pagan beliefs) but each stark branch carries buds which promise new life. Some bear berries - again the promise of new life but I wanted to add the spirals as a recognition that even this solemn event - La Dia De Los Muertos - carries with it an element of fun and celebration. Also, they lend just a little to my love of Tim Burton's twisted vision of another, darker world.

 

 

 

The butterflies represent souls, and a metamorphosis from one state of being to the next: a sense of becoming something more... The Monarch especially is closely linked with the celebration as its migration patterns and routes coincide and their colour is added to an already splendid array. The coloured inks have a very slightly raw and garish aspect which was carefully considered - I didn't want subtlety in shade, more an explosion of vivid light.

 

 

 

The flowers represented are featured heavily in the traditional ceremonies - with the exeption of anemonies.

 

 

 They have been added because when my grandmother died, my mum dressed her hair with them. The headdresses worn by women during La Dia De Los Muetos remind me very much of that snapshot in time. They remind me of death and the passing of a loved one. They remind me that beauty and dignity are present even in dark times. 

 

 

The snake is a common symbolic figure in many mythologies, here chosen to represent deceipt on one hand, and healing on the other. Its inclusion is meant to add a sense of power and presence, and is a play on the character of La Catrina, a richly dressed pastiche of rich women, often featured wearing a boa. The cat is wearing a boa. The snake's tongue curls round the fur and decorations eventually becoming the tail and body of the creature, my interpretation of the ouroboros, symbolising infinity and the cycle between birth and death. It is adorned with the markings of a traditional sugar skull and features a marigold on its back, a flower used to decorate graves and attract the spirits of the ancestors. Unlike the other flowers, its stylised design lends itself to the pattern of the scales of the boa.

 

 

 

I wanted to add bones... a bird skull chose itself, selected by my subconscious. Once it was drawn I considered the meaning: not only are birds the prey of cats (seems relevant, given the main subject) but also - I have always held with the superstition that if a wild bird flies into the house, it signifies a death on the way. I don't have many superstitions but this one was passed down the family line for generations.

This was something of a labour of love in the end, and a little voyage of discovery and fascinating introspection which is something I love about an intuitive approach to art.