gila woodpecker

Like clockwork, May brings Gila Woodpeckers to the peach tree that sits next to my studio window. The red cap identifies this one as male.  Every year I watch them and wonder how difficult it would be to paint one.

Last week I read that Spring, in traditional Chinese medicine, connects to the element of wood. Hmmm… I have a 14×14″ panel and one fresh egg (yolk). I put my dry pigments out on the table.

Finally in progress, a Gila Woodpecker on a collaged panel in casein and egg tempera.

Spring, the season of renewal, your element is wood. #GilaWoodpecker
#upward #expansive #creative #activity

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© All Rights Reserved by Monica Aissa Martinez

caballo del mar

Caballo del Mar is Spanish for Seahorse.

A student gives me this small seahorse that once belonged to her grandmother. She gives it to me because she says she knows I’ll paint it. Aimee is correct. I accept the precious object knowing I will complete an anatomy study.

The seahorse is a marine fish in the genus Hippocampus. Hippocampus comes from the Ancient Greek, hippo meaning horse and kampos meaning sea monster.

A few facts:

• These creatures have independently moving eyes.
• Their body is covered with consecutive rings of bony plates.
• Seahorses are fish. They use gills to breathe and have a swim bladder to help regulate their buoyancy. Note: they are not very good swimmers.
• They have no teeth and no stomach. Food moves through their digestive system quickly; they eat almost constantly to stay alive.
• The male gives birth, he carries the brood pouch.
• I believe, when I begin the composition, seahorses mate for life (which is why I paint two), and though they do form a bond, I learn for most, it is usually only through breeding season.

Seahorses were given international protection on May 15, 2004 (under CITES). Millions are now being traded around the world for many reasons including for their use in traditional Chinese medicine. There is also deterioration occurring in the Coral reefs and seagrass were they make their home. Learning this, I have to say, I’d feel even more saddness for them if they did mate for life.

I wish we could be better caretakers of all of life.

Here is the finished anatomy study of a female (facing left) and male (at bottom) seahorse. I place them in the Pacific Ocean, because they are found in warmer waters.

Thanks Aimee.

Caballos del Mar, Mixed Media collage, 12 x 12″

Seahorse’s symbolize:

• Patience
• Friendliness
• Protection
• Inflexibility
• Persistence
• Contentment

the little armored one

Armadillo is Spanish for little armored one. The Aztecs called them  āyōtōchtli meaning turtle rabbit.

The Nine-banded Armadillo is the state small mammal of Texas. It’s believed to have crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico in the late 19th century. They tend to be solitary, mostly nocturnal, and forage at dusk. It feeds mostly on ants, termites and other small invertebrates.

From the start I intend to draw in the anatomy . Usually I begin with the foundation (skeleton) and move back and forth from there. Here, I couldn’t help but complete the covered shell first and it causes me to have second thoughts. Would the anatomy add to the image? I could ruin everything. After reading more I decide to continue as planned.

The Texas mammal has a distinct shell casing made of bone. It has two large shell casings covering shoulders and rump, with seven or nine bands in the middle. When the armadillo is born, the armored shell is soft and leathery, and hardens once the animal reaches adult weight. Its total body length is about 15-17 inches, and the male weighs  11-17 lbs. while the female armadillo weighs in about 8-13 lbs. It has strong claws and a long, tapered tail covered by bony rings. It has 30 or 32 peg-shaped teeth and a long tongue.

A female armadillo reaches sexual maturity at 1 year and can produce up to 56 young ones over the course of her life. A single egg is fertilized, implantation is delayed 3-4 months, gestation is about  4 months during which identical quadruplets are split, each developing its own placenta. It will give birth to the same gender quadruplets from a single egg.

The armadillo symbolically connects to boundaries and shields. It points to vulnerabilities, empathy, discrimination, and the idea of being grounded. The armadillo wears its armor on its back and its medicine is in that part of its body. It encourages us to protect our inner selves.

This week I meditate on the little armored one.

 

el murciélago

Murciélago is Spanish for bat. I like the word, and I like the creature.

Approximately 70 species of bats live in the Sonoran desert region, about 27 of those species live right here in the state of Arizona, more than in any other state. I live near a bat colony and note them as they occasionally fly about the neighborhood.

About bats:
Bats are from the order of Chiroptera (meaning hand-wing), which describes their most unusual anatomical feature and the reason why it’s the only mammal naturally capable of true and sustained flight. In the course of working on this study I learn more about this magnificent nocturnal creature.

• A bats body is hairy while a leathery membrane makes up its wonderful wings.
• Bats are not blind though see best at night.
• They use echo-location to maneuver through space, and to help find shelter and prey.
• They have an acute sense of smell which helps in the rearing of their young in large maternity colonies. In fact, it’s the way they find their own young in the midst of hundreds of others. I find it particularly interesting that colonies include non-reproducing females that help with rearing duties.

In the lower elevations of Arizona bats mate in late Spring, maybe as early as March.  In Northern Arizona bats can hibernate 5 to 8 months. 

Bats are in serious decline. They are an important part of our ecosystem helping to keep populations of night-flying insects like mosquitos, in control. They disperse seeds and pollinate many plants. In the state of Arizona bats and bat colonies are protected by law.

Symbolism:
Because bats live in the belly of Mother Earth, they symbolize death and rebirth. They are  reborn every evening at dusk. The Native Americans observed them as highly social creatures with strong familial ties. While the bat is nurturing, verbal, enjoys touch, it is also shy, intelligent and gentle.

Bat medicine teaches us to release fear. Think new beginnings.

 

no woman is an island

This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.
― Rumi

 

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I have worked on this commission for most of the last 3 weeks. Normally I don’t do this kind of work that fast, I tell Terri yesterday when I deliver the completed, though unframed, large work on paper. I enjoyed it and I struggled with it. In general my drawing is changing, I am including much more information, if I can figure it out.

There are things about this composition I don’t normally set up to do – like a smiling face. Because I told Terri to stand in a natural way and she stood firm, bright-eyed, strong, chin up and she smiled, I worked very hard to get the face just right – eyes, smile and all.

Here are a few progressive shots of it:

general sketch

 

refinement and muscle structure

 

anatomy goes in

completed head includes cranial nerves in and out the head

I wish I could take that, Terri points to all the internal anatomy in the artwork, and place it here, inside me – she points to her chest. It came from you, I say as I laugh. She nods and repeats herself, I wish I could bring that inside me, now.  That’s a great thing to hear.

This is an anatomy study , it’s a study of an energetic system, it’s Terri. And Terri has brain cancer.

I ask if she is okay with me sharing all this. She nods her head – Yes, I am. I ask a few more times. I feel protective. But whom am I protecting, I wonder. Terri is accepting of her life. Her son, who is present, agrees – she’s accepting it all!  Terri is forthcoming about where she finds herself, and she’s at peace. I see it in her expression. I hear it in her voice. She tells me she’s had 3 other cancers – of the colon, in the sacrum, in the lungs, and now – the brain.

I consider the physical body a lot these days, as I immerse myself in these anatomy studies. The body serves a great purpose, it holds the spirit. As human beings we live and connect with it and through it.

I prefer to use medical terminology when I title a work. This could be different, it is a human body, a female front body, from head to hips. It is a  Study of a Human Female Body, Anterior View. But I am thinking of another title, a sub-title, something like –  Inside me, Inside you.

Thanks again Terri. It’s been some assignment to study your spirit – strong-willed and so directed.

The work is casein, gesso and graphite on cream Arches paper, 36″ x 25″

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The blog posts titled No Woman is an Island acknowledge the people and/or organizations who support me and the work I do.

The art in this post connects to another work completed in 2012. Terri and Patricaia traveled to Italy recently and upon their return, drove to California and married.

6 zygotes

The word zygote comes from the Greek and means joined or yoked.  On a quick tangent – this makes me think of the Sanskrit word yoga which means to yoke, to join or to unite. Here I think physical process, development and growth. And I think mother – my mother.

You recall I am doing an anatomy study of my mother and I want to reference in the composition the 6 children she raised. Initially I think to include 6 embryos. But as I look at resource material and compositional space I choose to set up 6 eggs becoming fertilized by sperm. I also think design: movement, color and line.

The bottom part / the ground of the drawing ( a 12″ x 44″ area ) is where I refer to the developmental phase after fertilization and the resulting one-celled organism called a zygote. The zygote stage lasts about 4 days – ironically equivalent to the amount of time this area takes to draw out and paint – 4 full days of steady, intricate progress.

Here are the stages of the 6 zygotes.

Hot summers in Phoenix – I draw all day. This mixed media composition is bright and intense – more so than most of my other work on paper.

I need to start thinking about the title of the work and I wonder if it’s still part of the series called Nothing in Stasis. It is, I decide.

the spongy, tube shaped pancreas

Finally I draw a complete pancreas. It’s hidden behind the stomach and in all my studies I’ve included only a hint of it. The pancreas assists in digestion, it breaks down carbohydrates, proteins and lipids.

The reason I isolate it in this particular drawing is because It also supports the endocrine system and produces several hormones including insulin and glucagon, that regulate blood sugar levels.

The pancreas sits in the upper region of the solar plexus. The area is the brain of our instinctual animal nature and is closely concerned with mobilization of energy for physical and mental purposes. 

Energetically it is an organ of stability and connects to the sweetness of life.

pancreas and spleen

My work is not literal interpretation of the body, it’s abstracted and symbolic. Because I’ve not drawn this particular organ prior to this, I feel excited as I read and work. For me it’s a new shape, new information and new discovery. I am once again impressed by the intricacy of our physical form.

una campamocha, a praying mantis

From whence arrived the praying mantis?
From outer space, or lost Atlantis?
I glimpse the grim, green metal mug
That masks this pseudo-saintly bug,
Orthopterous, also carnivorous,
And faintly whisper, Lord deliver us.
~Ogden Nash~

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Campamocha is Spanish for Praying Mantis. I like the word.

La Campamocha, 12 x 12″, collage on panel

After researching this insect, I feel facts and symbolic connections are a bit out of synch. It may be that the symbolic associations are purely visual. I must say though it’s one odd-looking bug. It’s a cousin to the termite and maybe a prototype of the cockroach.

A little more…

• mantises have compound eyes that give them a binocular field of vision
• their one ear is on the underside of the belly (similar to a cricket if I recall correctly)
• its neck is flexible and rotates 180 degrees
• life span is about 10-12 months
• spiked forelegs help them hold prey securely
• it’s considered a predator
• it’s a carnivore
• they can fly (they can?!)

In terms of symbology …

• mantises blend with their environment and becomes invisible to enemies
• they teach us how to still the outer mind and go within
• the word Mantis is Greek for prophet or seer
• it is the oldest symbol of God.

…. could this be why we found this one staring at us from a bottle of wine….

Since I began working on this insect series I have received emails that include photos of exotic bugs, names and web sites of artists who depict bugs and many interesting reads. I know many of your favorite bugs : cute and ugly. I’ve been visited by a number of insects whom I’m sure wish their presence known (la campamocha en la botella de vino). All the bugs I drew made some personal connect via a friend or were direct. I appreciate it all. If we could learn to respect the smallest of life it would certainly be a better thing all the way around.

The most recent link I received reminded me of the Insect People from the Navajo Creation Myth: Insects in Art and Religion of the American Southwest. 

… enjoy…the bugs.

organs

My current and in process anatomy work is a life-size study of my mother’s body. Though still in the Nothing In Stasis series, I also see it as a tangent. As you recall my last painting was of my niece. I consider this work and the last as studies of anatomy, studies of the female form, and maybe studies of inheritance.

While there is bone and muscle structure, they are not primary in this composition as much as they’ve been in earlier art works. I’m thinking more in terms of organs and tissues. I sketch and outline for a long time before I decide how to approach things.

I like the shape of particular organs especially the ones of the immune system, which I am so curious about. I spend time researching the thyroid and the thymus. The butterfly shaped thyroid is found in the lower part of the neck.and affects every cell in the body. The thymus sits below the breast bone and is larger in a child than it is an adult. I find it contradicting  that it begins to shrink at puberty. I look at various tissue including adipose tissue. It’s lovely under a microscope.

Each organ takes a few days to complete because the work is compact – I want it dense and colorful.

My mother had her gallbladder removed. I include it early on because again I like the shape. It reminds me of how a leaf looks growing off the stem of a plant. Eventually I remove it and place it into the background of the composition. The gallbladder is the first form that fills the lower space behind the physical body – it will appear as if growing out of the earth. I leave a trace of it where it once sat just under the liver. While the physical shape is gone, the energy of the organ remains.

It’s interesting doing this particular work. The fact that this is my mother and the body of a woman who is 20 some years older than I am makes it familiar and yet unfamiliar at the same time –  difficult and fascinating.

I consider this work a meditation for sure.

bringers of order

 

I spend a long time looking at this Carpenter Bee though a lighted magnifying glass. The beautiful copper and gold wings determine I will complete my bug series with it. The abdomen is shiny black and has hair only along the edge. Based on what I’ve read I suspect this one is female.

The external body of this bug appears hard and opaque and I try to imply that with a dark contour, but I get so caught up in detailing the organs – it could appear that I have created another sort of bug. My composition is bright and jewel toned.

I don’t know that this looks like a Carpenter Bee in general – it seems more like an ant, or a wasp. They’re all related – all are of the order of insects called Hymenoptera (hymen – membrane and ptera – wing).

 

Out of curiosity I research bee mythology and in general, throughout time, bees have a reputation as bringers of order. What does it really mean, that they are dying off these days? Are we closing one era of order to bring in another?

I’ve enjoyed these bug compositions. It’s an unusual tangent for me. My thought these days is that while we study insects in grade school, we should revisit that study as adults. Life varies and is purposeful – it deserves our respect.

tale of a hawk moth

You landed on my screen door to get photographed and drawn, didn’t you? I ask the striking creature / bug / moth that clings to my screen door one early morning, last week. It’s there all day and doesn’t seem bothered while we enter and exit. First thing the following day, I go to the door and sadly – it’s gone.

Liz, a friend who lives in California, sends a text – Is this the same kind of moth you had on your door yesterday? Did my moth fly to California overnight to visit Liz? One can think that with the photo that is attached.

I learn (via Facebook where I’d posted the photo) it’s a Hawk Moth. It flies like a hummingbird, Dave writes. Donna comments it’s a White Lined Sphinx Moth an important pollinator, especially of my neighbors Sacred Datura. Nature is amazing, says Nancy. And as though reading my mind Dominique notes … as your reputation spreads among the arthropods you will surely encounter more six-legged friends. Just keep the screen doors deployed. And it’s unanimous – Yes! It arrived to be drawn.

After more reading : I conclude the reason it left at night is because it’s nocturnal and if it did go to California, it did so because it can go without eating for long periods of time.

Here is the Hawk Moth.

The questions at the start: Do I focus on the external design of the moth? Do I try to include internal anatomy?  I do a bit of both.

I include its larvae (and anatomy) which is medium to large with a stout body.

When complete the organs I include make it appear like some sort of wired, electrical moth. I’ll leave the wings as they are – dark, dense and lined. And furry – the moth appears to have hair – but in fact it has scales and they keep it warm as it flies at night.

I talk to Robin, a neighbor, and I tell her about the great moth at my door. She looks horrified. I guess some people find them creepy. I don’t. Though I learn something that I’ll keep from her – some Hawk Moths can have a tongue as long as 14 inches. Not this one, I’m sure.

…one more composition for the bug exhibit.

today i am a fly

Today I am a fly – it’s all I could think while painting the one image below.

Fly (detail) – casein collage on panel, 8 x 8″

From the start of this bug series, I want to paint a house fly. Here is what I know: flies carry over 100 pathogens, they feed on liquid or semi-liquid substances besides solid material (softened by saliva or vomit), and they deposit feces constantly, their entire body is covered with hair (like) projections, and the female is bigger than the male.

Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis come to mind.

I work on the small 8 x 8″ for a good while, but it’s good to be done. I don’t want to be a fly anymore.

Below is a detail of the grasshopper I painted. I don’t know why I didn’t post it before. I painted it for its symbolic association – one who has much to learn.

I also learn I should always photograph a work before I varnish it, otherwise the sheen interferes.

Grasshopper detail , varnished casein collage on panel, 10 10″

Certain I was only going to make 4 works for this invitational exhibition. I woke up early to organize this post and when I open my front door, this sits on  the screen at eye level – a beautifully symmetrical moth – I am told it’s a hawk moth. Has it arrived to be drawn? I wonder.

While contour line, pattern and texture of the insect are alluring, I would want to include its anatomy. That seems like a challenge.  I’ve already gotten back to my figure studies, but this bug show is not for a good while. I have a few more small panels. I might find time for another bug.

 

meta-mor-pho-sis

metamorphosis noun
: a major change in the appearance or character of someone or something

biology : a major change in the form or structure of some animals or insects that happens as the animal or insect becomes an adult

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I learn more about the Palo Verde Beetle than I ever intend. Many people appreciate it and its particular clumsiness.  When it surfaces – only to mate and then die – you can assume it’s 3 weeks before our first monsoon storm.

I have come across it both at its larvae stage and in its full mature stage. For the most part my images are meant to be internal anatomy studies. But in this case the  external form is provocative – dark, opaque and hard – like a suit of armor – I can’t ignore it. So the anatomy is in there, but the external presence of the bug remains primary.

I am glad to be done with it. The painting itself is more startling than these photos.

palo verde beetle

I received an invitation to take part in – of all things – a Bugs in Art themed show.  I wouldn’t naturally do this sort of examination, but because it is so out of my comfort zone – why not. I enjoy studying life and maybe I enjoy overcoming fears.

This Palo Verde Root Borer has been one interesting challenge. A friend gave me the creäture. I know it’s not alive but I am nervous the entire time I paint.

It is oddly beautiful in its larva stage – it is large, yellow with bright red dots – and can live for 3 years before emerging from the ground. The adult on the other hand – is black or brown in color, has long antenna’s, and spines on the thorax which form a collar around the “neck” of the beetle. They have wings and can fly. The mature beetle emerges in the humid summer months to mate and dies soon afterward; adult lifespan is about one month.

Derobrachus geminatus – this longhorn beetle is native to the American Southwest and northern Mexico. It derives its name from the Palo Verde tree. It is one of the largest beetles in North America and can reach up to three and a half inches in length. I met my first one soon after moving to Phoenix. I might never have come here if I’d known about this bug.

Palo Verde Study – mixed media collage – 10″ x 10″

I’m not complete with the composition. After laying it out I decide to show the wings.  I photograph  and post at this stage only because I know the work is going to change again. This is an anatomy study, as best I can figure out the bugs insides, I take liberty especially with color. I add green because it should be verde even if only in my imagination. I will darken things up a bit more soon. Maybe.

After spending several days looking at it under a magnifying glass I decide the creepiest  thing about the bug are the antenna’s. Next bug I paint will be something less intimidating – I need the break.

 

no woman is an island – continues

One show is the riotously antic, articulate show of paintings by Monica Aissa Martinez. This colorful, well-designed art seems to cavort through paper and canvas, with two humanoid abstractions (of assorted and combined cocktail glasses, beakers, squiggly lines) showing the convolutions of humans’ pairing-game. While whimsical, Martinez’s show is beautifully designed and painted, with a message built in – partnering may look hilarious, but it has serious, even threatening dimensions. – Roberta Burnett in a Special for the AZ Republic

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Synchronous
Casein on Linen
12 x 12″

Veronica and Greg drop into my studio on a Friday evening, in March. Veronica walks along the walls looking at work. She appears to be searching for something in particular. She explains she is interested in buying a wedding gift.

I recall a series I made a few years back that expresses the nature of relationship – the balance/imbalance of masculine and feminine energies. I open my flat file drawers and we look through work. I pull out a few small paintings. She likes two of them. Last week she decides which one she’ll take.

When is the wedding? I ask Veronica.
March 29th.
What a generous gift.
We want to give them something important and symbolic – something special. Art.

Thank you Greg and Veronica. The gesture is thoughtful and I appreciate my work being part of a grand day.

And to Heather and Andy – Happy Nuptials to the both of you.

synchronous – syn – “together,” – chronos – “time.”
– at the same time or frequency: simultaneous, in synch, in step

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The blog posts titled No Woman is an Island acknowledge the people and/or organizations who support me and the work I do.

This small painting is part of a large series of works on paper and canvas titled → Relationships – the ebb and flow. I completed the body of work in 2007. One might say in the bigger picture I was questioning and studying relationship, while in the smaller picture I was trying to understand basic electronics.