Juneteenth

I am sad yet joyful….

People of all colors are risking their health

during the pandemic

protesting through marches across America

and worldwide! 

for #BLACKLIVESMATTER 

Everyone is saying and showing,

No more… enough is enough!

The modern day lynching has to STOP!

Juneteenth is a reminder that we have come a long way,

We still have a long way to go.....

Peace and love to all!

Quote about HOPE

 

Paper Flower Art 🌸

Hello Spring, goodbye Covid-19!

Trying to remain positive and productive during these trying times has not been easy but not impossible!

I have an official checklist on surviving  Covid-19:

Wash hands, always! ✅ 

Sanitize ✅

Keep social distance ✅

Stay indoors, only essential shopping ✅

Wear facial mask when out doors ✅

Be creative ☹️

I forgot about keeping up my home decor. 

It might sound strange to think about home decor, but when you are stuck in the house during a pandemic, your surroundings could play a major role on your mood. I know that this is true for me. I decided to create a Spring Decor based on the materials I had already. Remember, shopping for spring decor is not essential!

It is necessary to brighten up your environment if you can.

It was my first attempt of making paper flowers. By the time I finished, and placed it in the living room, each family member would look up and say, "Oh, flowers, nice!"

Be creative  ✅ 

Remain positive  ✅

Okay, okay, I’m only human, I’m working on remaining positive😉

I was inspired by Robert from Kin YouTube channel on DIY giant paper flowers. Check out his YouTube page, Crafted with Robert Mahar. He does amazing work!

Please everyone, take care...remain safe!

178th Street @ Crotona Parkway

18"x24" charcoal on Illustration board

It was a warm sunny day in The Bronx. A casual visit to my paternal grandmother’s house, “Grandma Red”. 

“Grandpuba”, her son would always park directly in front of her building or as near to her building as possible. We entered the lobby, walked up one flight and knocked on her apartment door. When there was no answer, we realize she must be at the park across the street, of course, on a nice day like this! Once we cross the street to Crotona Park, we spotted her immediately. She was hard to miss, wearing a pink stretch jersey summer dress and her fiery red hair was almost the same tint as the cranberry juice that she was sharing with a friend on the park bench.

Everyone in the neighborhood called her “Red” because of her fair complexion. I asked her if I could call her “Grandma Red” when I was a little girl because I thought that it was cool that she was a natural redhead. She was a gregarious soul who could talk to anyone. Small talk, chit chat, or deep conversations it didn’t matter. Good conversations, particularly outside, was a bonus! While she had a diverse group of friends, a few of them looked like misfits or bums. Never judge a book by its cover! Those are ones that always had her “back” on Crotona Avenue. She always was able to carry herself strong. She was always one of “the boys”. No one messed with her.

65 Years of Ministry

60 Years of Ministry

Serendipity

Serendipity

Merriam-Webster dictionary 

Definition of serendipity

: the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for

also : an instance of this

the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

I studied painting, not graphic design.

I assumed that one day someone would just want a nice pretty painting of a flower or maybe perhaps a portrait.

As I started to look back at my artwork under the subject, publications, I realize that many of these assignments are various and random. The projects ranged from computer art to photography. These unplanned opportunities came in assorted ways. A networking convention, a “can you do me a favor?” scenario, or a stranger viewing my work and has shown interested to publish my work. My goodness. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I will be involved in “Publishing”! I paint pretty pictures and I enjoy the process, but never did I imagine that my skills would be needed as a graphic designer. Then I thought about one of my favorite professors in college name Morton Kaish who was known as Professor Kaish. He always wore a tie, dress shirt, slacks, sometimes a shiny shoes with a white pressed smock. Always professional. He spoke with a monotone voice. His presence was calm and easy going. I am known to give people whom I’m fond of nicknames. Therefore, I code named him, Papa Kaish because he has this way of story telling that was smooth, comforting and reassuring whether the topic of discussion were art techniques or the art industry. As if he was telling you a bedtime story. I don’t know how all or most of my classmates felt at the time, but you could’ve either fell asleep, zone out or pay close attention. And if you paid attention to his stories, guess what?, He had real knowledge to share “to spit out!” You either caught the message for that moment or you missed out! 

I chose to listen very carefully. One of his favorite words was serendipity. He would remind us to look out for it, he would encourage us to embrace it. Sometimes I understood it when it came to art techniques, but I really began to understand the term more during my career as an artist. Believe me, If I haven’t embraced the wonderful serendipity of unusual opportunities, I wouldn’t even have a category called publications. I Consider them blessings and maybe one day someone will ask me to paint a pretty picture of a flower as well. For right now, I’ll just continue to embrace serendipity by following God‘s blessings and see where it takes me next!

"A fortunate stroke of serendipity"