Blue Moon -Billy Holiday.

“I like vessels … you’ve got an inside and an outside. I like things hidden.” — June Schwarcz

June Schwarcz is 97 years old and still enameling today..

I feel quite drawn to work like this, where the more you seek the more details you find..

I once had a conversation with one of my teachers where he asked me why I kept making boxes.. for some reason I am drawn to boxes and hollow structures as well, we decided there was some sort of “protecting” aspect about it.. and when I see her vessels I get just that, I think her subtlety shows through, these are not to be used in a common form, they were made to hold something deeper… they are to be admired and loved as the  beautiful object they are..

This video features her talking about her work, it is so inspiring to see someone so fulfilled and with a life time of memories through making..

 

Oh..well, did I tell you I really like her work? 🙂

Aplastamiento de las gotas- Julio Cortázar.

I don’t know, look, it’s terrible how it’s raining. It’s raining all the time, dense and gray outside, here drops, dull and hard, come against the balcony with a splat!, squashing themselves like slaps piling one onto another, how tedious. Now a droplet appears just at the top of the window frame; stays there quivering against the sky, shattered into a thousand subdued glints, about to fall down but won’t fall, still won’t fall. It holds on tight, all nails, doesn’t want to fall and it’s clear it grips with its teeth while its belly grows bigger and bigger; it’s now a majestic drop hanging there, and then plonk, there it goes, splat, undone, nothing, only a clammy something on the marble.
But there are those that kill themselves and surrender right away, sprouting in the frame whence they jump off outright; I can even make out the dive’s vibration, their little legs falling off and the inebriating scream in the fleetingness of the fall and their annihilation. Sad, gloomy, despondent drops, plump and gullible drops. Good-bye drops. Good-bye.I don’t know, look, it’s terrible how it’s raining. It’s raining all the time, dense and gray outside, here drops, dull and hard, come against the balcony with a splat!, squashing themselves like slaps piling one onto another, how tedious. Now a droplet appears just at the top of the window frame; stays there quivering against the sky, shattered into a thousand subdued glints, about to fall down but won’t fall, still won’t fall. It holds on tight, all nails, doesn’t want to fall and it’s clear it grips with its teeth while its belly grows bigger and bigger; it’s now a majestic drop hanging there, and then plonk, there it goes, splat, undone, nothing, only a clammy something on the marble.
But there are those that kill themselves and surrender right away, sprouting in the frame whence they jump off outright; I can even make out the dive’s vibration, their little legs falling off and the inebriating scream in the fleetingness of the fall and their annihilation. Sad, gloomy, despondent drops, plump and gullible drops. Good-bye drops. Good-bye.

La Strada

 

 

I decided to go ahead and blog about certain scenes and movies that really get to me, this one for example from “La Strada” , I think what we watch, hear, read, should have an effect on us, if not what’s the point..we are used of just diversion, but details,words and images that stir something inside you are the ones worth watching.

I can’t get enough of  Giulietta Masina she  is perfect in this film, her face is incredible, she is capable of expressing an array of emotions without a word and making you feel closer to the character she portrays..

The Fool: I am ignorant, but I read books. You won’t believe it, everything is useful… this pebble for instance.
Gelsomina: Which one?
The Fool: Anyone. It is useful.
Gelsomina: What for?
The Fool: For… I don’t know. If I knew I’d be the Almighty, who knows all. When you are born and when you die… Who knows? I don’t know for what this pebble is useful but it must be useful. For if its useless, everything is useless. So are the stars!

If you want a  sweet yet powerful movie with amazing acting..you should check this one out.

All last month, and a whole new year.

The last month of the year has been really,really special, I’ve been doing so much, seeing things for the first time and learning about how rich and how beautiful traditions and people are here in Guatemala,prepare because this post might be a little long,  this is what happened in December:

First it was the burning of the devil, I had never heard of such thing and well after asking around, the version is pretty much the same but  I liked the most was the one of a taxi driver who told me that when he was a child  people would grab all their old stuff in December, their clothes, matresses back then made of hemp, etc and they would burn them in the front of the house in a way of saying “off with the old, on with the new” this is not done like that anymore because of pollution and sometimes because the whole burning of things got out of hand.. but we have the devil, that it was a must see.

Sadly I waited for it for like a week and then went to ship some packages to the city and didn’t make it back on time for the burning and couldn’t take photos, but you must see the Devil on a bicycle

This was on early December, then there were more celebrations which I managed to go to,

Folkloric dances,delicious food,music,costumes,good friends tons of laughs..

I made a whole album of the folkloric dances that you can find over here

Then there where the celebrations of the Virgin, the cutest thing in the world, with a bunch of little kids dressed up in typical clothing.

the little girls where so cute, and the little boys with painted mustaches it was just too adorable, they had this little scenes where they could take a photo with the virgin

I have a photo with the virgin but I didn’t fit in the chair , some little kids where cracking up when they saw me go in there to take a photo too, and then I told them my friend forgot to dress me up 😛

You can see some photos of this day over here

Ohh I’m so in love with this country, can you tell? I feel so happy, I smile so much , I can’t remember the last time my neck was killing me from the stress..

I had a very mellow christmas with some amazing people around me who I’m happy to have in my life, and got so many cute presents that where completely unexpected that really need a blog post of their own.

I am a horrible blogger and didn’t do a Merry Christmas post, so MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Then some relaxing days where I did manage to make some jewelry, not pressuring myself too much just enjoying what I do.

Some just for fun:

Now the year is done and I am here on the first day of the year thinking what comes next, there is a lot going on, many decisions to take, isn’t it nice we have the power upon our own life to guide it to the path we choose?

There is a trip coming soon, there is a long journey , some sad decisions, some opportunities for growth,one more time of giving it all away to start in a new place, but all this I have to tell you later because is too early and I still have to figure out things myself.

I like the new year, I feel really good, today I’m starting RAW today, remember the ring a day??? now everyone is making a ring a week, is such a wonderful group of jewelers who do amazing work and support each other,  this time we are doing a ring a week, which is very exciting because there is really more time to make some really nice, more planned pieces.

Feeling ready to work, to move, to take on this year..

And wishing all you that this year is the best one  of your life and only my heart knows  gratitude  I feel , for all your support, in so many ways this past 2010

Happy new year!

-Nat

“The Day The Saucers Came” by Neil Gaiman

That Day, the saucers landed. Hundreds of them, golden,
Silent, coming down from the sky like great snowflakes,
And the people of Earth stood and
stared as they descended,
Waiting, dry-mouthed, to find out what waited inside for us
And none of us knowing if we would be here tomorrow
But you didn’t notice because

That day, the day the saucers came, by some some coincidence,
Was the day that the graves gave up their dead
And the zombies pushed up through soft earth
or erupted, shambling and dull-eyed, unstoppable,
Came towards us, the living, and we screamed and ran,
But you did not notice this because

On the saucer day, which was zombie day, it was
Ragnarok also, and the television screens showed us
A ship built of dead-men’s nails, a serpent, a wolf,
All bigger than the mind could hold,
and the cameraman could
Not get far enough away, and then the Gods came out
But you did not see them coming because

On the saucer-zombie-battling-gods
day the floodgates broke
And each of us was engulfed by genies and sprites
Offering us wishes and wonders and eternities
And charm and cleverness and true
brave hearts and pots of gold
While giants feefofummed across
the land and killer bees,
But you had no idea of any of this because

That day, the saucer day, the zombie day
The Ragnarok and fairies day,
the day the great winds came
And snows and the cities turned to crystal, the day
All plants died, plastics dissolved, the day the
Computers turned, the screens telling
us we would obey, the day
Angels, drunk and muddled, stumbled from the bars,
And all the bells of London were sounded, the day
Animals spoke to us in Assyrian, the Yeti day,
The fluttering capes and arrival of
the Time Machine day,
You didn’t notice any of this because
you were sitting in your room, not doing anything
not even reading, not really, just
looking at your telephone,
wondering if I was going to call.

Gestalt Prayer

I do my thing and you do your thing
I am not in this world to
live up to your expectations,
and you are not in this world to
live up to mine.
You are you
and I am I
and if by chance we find each other,
it’s beautiful.

Frederick Perls

---

(psss just to add a lil note :

The “Gestalt prayer” is a 56-word statement by psychotherapist Fritz Perls that is taken as a classic expression of Gestalt therapy as way of life model of which Dr. Perls was a founder.

The key idea of the statement is the focus on living in response to one’s own needs, without projecting onto or taking introjects from others. It also expresses the idea that it is by fulfilling their own needs that people can help others do the same and create space for genuine contact; that is, when they “find each other, it’s beautiful”.

At Gestalt Therapy’s core is the promotion of awareness, the awareness of the unity of all present feelings and behaviors, and the contact between the self and its environment.

 This was especially true in the 1960s, when the version of individualism it expresses received great attention.)