Collecting Owls

I began my love affair with owls many years ago when I was a child. Over the years I have collected, sketched and painted owls.

Recently, my neighbor passed away. She was 101 years old and also happened to be an avid collector of owls. I was pleasantly surprised to find out she was a fellow owl lover.

We will miss you Pauline. Thank you for all those wonderful conversations over the garden fence.

The Owl & The Moon- Pastel- Combined Media – 9 X 12 inches

“The crow wished everything was black, the owl, that every thing was white.” – William Blake

“In the Native American tradition, the owl is the totem for people born during the time of the Popping Trees Moon – the period between November 11th and December 10th. The time of year when owls may be often seen silently hunting at dusk, making use of their keen sight and excellent hearing. The deepening winter time is regarded as the time of coming into wisdom – a time for telling of experiences, storing memories and learning – hence its association with the owl – the bird of wisdom.” – Unknown

Work In Progress

Spent most of the afternoon working on the painting below, using a texture stamp I made on the background and the face.

I found this process adds interesting detail to the overall look of the painting. Hopefully, I can find some time to work on it over the weekend.

The Morrigan – Combined Mixed Media 11X 14

Close up of the face

Work In Progress

I spent this morning working on this painting and had to stop because my allergies were making my eyes water. This time of the year always finds me suffering from seasonal allergies. “C’est la vie!

Yesterday was very stressful because we had a family member go back into the hospital because of complications from a surgery performed last week. I am happy to report he is doing well and will be going home tomorrow. We are all breathing a big sigh of relief, this was a very rough two days!

Playing With Fire -Combined Mixed Media

Angel In The Garden

While going through some of my old digital painting files this morning, I came across this angel painting I made for a slate sign that hangs by our garden gate.

It was one of those creative moments where I did a quick draft, printed and glued it to the sign, thinking I would someday go back and finish this painting, of course I moved on and forgot about it.

Angel In The Garden Rose Arizmendi 2004

Our Garden Angel

The Mask of Gaia

Creating paintings of masks has been a life long passion for me. I also like making masks out of paper mache, plaster, ceramics, etc…

I have a series of mask paintings I have been working on for several months. Below is one that is almost finished.

The Mask Of Gaia (C) 2008

“The hypothesis of Gaia is the idea that we may have discovered a living being bigger, more ancient, and more complex than anything from our wildest dreams. That being, called Gaia, is the earth.” James Lovelock