Birthday Mom

Soooo here I'll spill the beans. My mom would probably hate me for saying on line - or at least whine about it n.n - but today it's her 50th birthday. 50!!!!!! :D So of course, I cannot let it pass that easily... Let's throw her a virtual party!! :D

I am Winter

I had been threatening with a winter piece for a while now. I was just fascinated with our snowfall - it was my first play in the snow ever. Oh, you should've seen me - I was as graceful as Bambi on the ice.

This is why all I needed was an excuse to make a Winter piece of procrastination, and I found it. Inspired by the theme of Ólafur Arnalds' latest album (which comes out today), "For Now I am Winter", and in particular by what I suspect may be going on between the "This Place IS a Shelter" and "This Place WAS a Shelter" and the music of "We (too) Shall Rest": this here is Winter, finding a piece of life herself has nearly destroyed, and choosing to end in order to bring it back. I tried to make it speak of the beauty of the ephemeral, and the   aggressive nature of change which is nevertheless indispensable for growth. Nothing can stand still.

I honestly think I'll end up doing something completely involving music soon. You shall hear more, don't worry ;)

Glinda - Wizard of Oz

Et voilá! :D Here's the final result for my Tribute Piece for the Wizard of Oz Exhibition at Gallery Nucleus starting on March 16th: Not in Kansas Anymore. If you know me (and I think you may) you know I LOVE BUBBLES. So obviously, a fairy that TRAVELS BY BUBBLE is bound to drive me insane with joy. And for me, this is the case with Glinda, the Good Witch of the North/South depending on whether you're going by the book or the movie. And again, though I tried to keep her puffiness and glitteriness and sparkliness from the movie, I also tried to bring back the royal attitude and serenity from the book - in which, incidentally, she's all in white. And of course, since she's the one who sets stuff in motion (let's try and forget the unsettling article in Cracked that I love but it's not really canon), we need to have the main four: Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion.

This is a book that I loved as a child and a movie I must confess I discovered in adulthood, AFTER reading Wicked and seeing the musical. Nevertheless, I adore it. The Lollipop Guild has my full support. So I was really, really happy to be able to partake in this exhibition.

If you're in the Alhambra, CA area around March 16th, go and take a look!!! And let me know how it went- other AMAAAAZING artists are exhibiting too... send me pictures!!! And tell me how the golden paint works out ;D

Friends

There's a slight variation for Valentine's Day in Mexico. Yes, just like everywhere else, it's impossible to get a table anywhere and people get whiny about not having someone, and people who do get cornier than usual. But we also celebrate friendship - it's, literally, "The Day of Love and Friendship". So your friends and loved ones give you chocolates too - nobody eats alone or is deprived of the celebration. And I think that's special - after all, friends are there when relationships start and when they end and in every bit in-between... so they deserve a LOT of credit and love too.

This is the way I've always celebrated it, and I shall continue to do so. So for all of you wherever you are, Happy Love and Frienship Day!!! :D

Ofelia y el Fauno

El Laberinto del Fauno. Which in english got weirdly translated to Pan's Labyrinth and, as a result, in french is known as Le Labyrinthe du Pan - even though this Faun is a Faun, not Pan. Pan had a very different view on life, dear translators.

This movie can take the title of "Erika's Favorite Movie Forever and Ever until the World Ends Again". It's so so beautiful - the story is so simple and yet so rich, and it's got such an UNBELIEVABLE visual fantasy - the creatures, the costumes, the color coded-scenes... THE MUSIC. I love it to pieces and as a whole. It's the one movie that can make my  brother and I watch and discuss as if we were looking at it for the very first time. I cannot emphasize how much I like it - and since it's the one key that can take me out of a visual or storytelling block, I thought it was about time to do a proper tribute to it.

Gracias, Señor Del Toro. Ya se lo he dicho pero nunca será suficiente. Gracias.

Esta película es oficialmente MI película favorita de todos los tiempos - así, sin más ni más. Es LA película. ¡Me encanta! Es también la cura infalible a un bloqueo - no hay forma en que piense o vea o escuche esta película sin dejar de sentirme inspirada instantaneamente: supongo que mucho tiene que ver con el nivel de genio de este hombre y el cuánto me gustaría poder aspirar a ello. Si un día llego a la mitad de lo que ha logrado, seré feliz. Así que, por esto y mil razones más, es momento de hacer un tributo en agradecimiento.