Yup, Getting Older

Words To Live By

December Full Moon Altar: Our Lady of Guadalupe

December 12th is the feast day of Mexico's embodiment of the Divine Feminine, Our Lady of Guadalupe. She displays all Virgin Mary's traditional symbols from Catholic Spain, but is also clearly a brown-skinned, pregnant indigenous woman, thereby amalgamating imagery of pre-Conquest Mexico's Mother Earth goddess figures such as Tonantzin. Ten years after the brutal Spanish Conquest of Mexico, Our Lady of Guadalupe arose from visions experienced in 1531 by Juan Diego, a recently converted, former devotee of Tonantzin.

Like other creations of syncretism, Our Lady of Guadalupe facilitated coexistence and seeming unity between two completely different cultures at odds with each other's world views, positions of power, and self-interests. Her dual origins could both buttress oppression and, conversely, symbolize resistance to it. She served both purposes over the centuries, often simultaneously.

My statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe came from Sacred Source many years ago. Just last year, I learned from blogging buddy Frank of Reluctant Rebel that celebrations of her feast day involve the making and display of luminaria. These simple lanterns, like Guadalupe herself, can embody very different meanings. Traditionally, they shed welcome light in the darkness of winter, while in modern-day celebrations, luminaria are often used to symbolize hope during a nation's darkest hours.

I placed two kinds of luminaria on the altar: glass votives through whose designs the candlelight glows . . . 

. . . and traditional luminaria which I made from small paper bags, using not-so-traditional paper-punch cut-outs and multicoloured fibre-optic tea lights.

The altar cloth is also surrounded by red and gold poinsettia decorations because this beautiful plant is native to Mexico and Central America.

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]

Friday Face OFF -- Blue Eyes

For this week's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food, Gardening blog . . .

Another direct-to-paper sketch

done in permanent ink and watercolour wash,

based on art which I found on the internet.

With its cutesy cartoonish style and oversized eyes,

the original had a clear Japanese kawaii vibe.

I enjoyed trying to reproduce its "look."

Like virtually every student and beginner,

I always tend to draw eyes too

disproportionately large anyway, so

it was nice to do it deliberately this time, LOL!

[Art and photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]

Coffee With Just A Dash Of Christmas In It, Please

Titillating Tidbits (NSFW)

Oh, and here's the

seasonal Christmas content --

Friday Face OFF -- Little Miss Princess

For this week's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food, Gardening blog . . .

Another direct-to-paper

ink and watercolour wash

sketchbook portrait of 

someone I can only call . . . 

Little Miss Princess!

Amirite?

AMIRITE?

It's the sunglasses and the pout.

[Art and photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]

Celebrating Everyday Heroes