Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Catrinas y Calaveras


Wherever I go, you come,
your shadow´s on the wall,
as a burning candle,
 all dreaming falls into nightmares,
clouds deluge 
the empty steps I take,
deserted,
I howl desert,
devoid,
will is dying
for without
there is no meaning.




José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) was the original creator of the 
first catrina but the name catrina (catrín for men) comes from 
Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo´s husband and great love and torment. 

Originally, the catrina was part of a movement by the printed media to help 
spread mocking news about the government, they used skeletons and skulls 
and José Guadalupe Posada´s drawings became really popular, 
perhaps you can recognize his work here bellow.



 In Mexico, we celebrate the day of the dead and it´s on November 1st and 2nd.
It´s a very old tradition, the Aztecs and Mayans used to celebrate it and later, when the 
conquest of the catholic church came, it mixed with beliefs of the Spaniards.  

Being so close to the US, we also mixed a little ideas of Halloween
like going door to door for candies and wearing customs.

We are used to think about the dead and the after life as a natural part
of life, we grow up with spooky stories our grandmas tell us and some 
aren´t for children, I remember being terrified at night watching shadows
move on the walls and roofs believing they were ghosts and people
 from another dimension, all this after listening to the stories 
 and sent to bed alone, I even heard voices calling my name!

But we all grow up and learn that fear is only in our minds and that
everything is about cycles, like dying, most come and we
 should embrace them as a natural part of life.  

To me now, death is a change, part of growing and understanding 
better about what you are, the unavoidable change we all most face 
to stretch the soul, consciousness, it´s another state of the self, 
perhaps a wake up of the state of dreaming in which we are now, 
of the great maya, (Illusion).

To me, all this is also fun and inspiration to create after.  I also love Halloween
and creating whimsical characters as many of you know but this year was
all catrinas and skulls and sold most of them when stayed in Playa del Carmen,
I feel blessed and happy that people like my work and I hope to keep painting
and drawing more of these all year long, hopefully you and I don´t get bored of them.

Happy Halloween! 
Happy day of the dead!

Viva la Vida!












Do your own catrina look with this visual tutorial I found on Pinterest!






I travel,
 dimensions of possibility,
 a blink,
blod tear,
flights of longing
 through my veins
dressing up my ghosts,
for the unreachable of you,
you, 
unbearable beauty of shine,
of stars and will,
you, 
unspoken truth,
the silent scream,
the sweet habit, 
permanent and killing,
were madness dwells, inhabits, 
you, 
unreachable,
you,
 horizon.



No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you so much for your sweet comments!