The Crow

Once I dreamed about a hybrid creature, mix of a girl and a crow, her face was human, somehow I could make her features bird-like, design black clothing, even giving her wings. Also she had to be very elegant.

Una vez imagine una criatura hibrida, mezcla de una nina y un cuervo, su cara era humana y de alguna manera iba a poder hacer sus rasgos como de ave, le iba a disenar ropa negra e incluso alas. Ademas iba a ser muy elegante.

I started with a wire skeleton and epoxy-clay limbs, they became so sturdy that she was able to stand up by herself! Her head was modeled in stone clay.
Comence con un esqueleto y miembros de plastilina epoxica, estos se pusieron tan duros que la muneca fue capaz de pararse sola! Su cabeza fue modelada en arcilla.

Because the wire skeleton, she was highly bendable, I could move her arms wherever pose I wanted, this was so much fun! Her shoulders and elbows could rotate as human joints do.

Debido al esqueleto de alambre fue posible que se moviera, pude acomodar sus brazos en cualquier pose que quisiera, sus hombros y codos se comportaban como si fueran humanos.

I painted her with acrylics, then made her some black bloomers.

La pinte con acrilicos y le hice unas pantaletas largas negras. 

The doll was very complex, it took me some days to finish her, when I made her dress it was so cloudy that I had to go outside and hand sew, then took the picture with no sun at all.

La muneca era complicada, me tomo varios dias terminarla, cuando le hice su vestido estaba tan nublado que tuve que salir al patio para coserselo a mano. Despues tome la foto sin un rayo de sol.

Her dress was made out of a very nice piece of fabric, it is textured, the leaves are black velvet, the fabric was part of a fashion designer's collection whom I am glad to count among my friends.

El vestido fue hecho de una tela bastante atractiva, esta texturizada y las hojitas son terciopelo negro, esta pieza estaba en la coleccion de una disenadora de modas que cuento entre mis amigos.

Wool is my favorite for making hair, it looks very realistic. For her dress I added some ruffles of very light fabric at the neck and end of sleeves.

La lana es mi material favorito para hacer cabello, se ve muy realista. Para terminar con el vestido cosi unos detalles en tela mas ligera en las mangas y el cuello.

She does noes not need the stand, but still I made it because I wanted to print her name somewhere, the idea was to use rubber stamps and print her name in English, Spanish, and Latin, why? I don't know, I just knew that was part of the plan.

No necesita el soporte, aun asi se lo hice porque queria imprimir su nombre en algun lugar, la idea era usar sellos e imprimir su nombre en ingles, espanol y latin, por que? No se, solo se que era parte del plan.

crow - corvus corax - cuervo

I made her some wings using the quilting technique, the great part is that these wings can be detached from the doll, she uses her wings whenever she wants!

Le hice sus alas con la tecnica del acolchado, lo mejor es que las alas se le pueden quitar y las usa solo cuando uno quiere!

From the beginning I had in my mind making a couple of dolls, she is The Crow, the older sister, next time get ready to meet The Dove.

Desde el principio tuve en mente hacer dos munecas, esta es el Cuervo, la hermana mayor, la proxima vez les presentare a La Paloma. 

Skeleton Chronicles

As I said before, whenever I start missing Mexico I make Frida dolls or skeletons, you already meet the Fridas, now meet the skeleton, skeleton children!

Como dije antes, cada vez que empiezo a extranar Mexico hago munecas de Frida Kalho o esqueletos, la gran mayoria de ustedes ya conocen las Fridas, ahora les presento a los esqueletos, que por si fuera poco son ninos!

These are the skeleton children, two brothers, one sister, they are hybrid pieces, mix of Mexican folklore and New England air. Lets review briefly the work of one of the greatest engravers that Mexico have given to the world: Jose Guadalupe Posada.
 Estos ninos son dos hermanos y una hermana, los tres piezas hibridas, mezcla de folklor mexicano y aire neo ingles, Revisemos brevemente el trabajo de uno de los mas grandes grabadores y dibujantes que Mexico haya dado al mundo: Jose Guadalupe Posada.

 La calavera catrina by Jose Guadalupe Posada

Jose Guadalupe Posada lived and worked during one of the most revolving times in Mexico, that of the government of Porfirio Diaz, who started as a good man and great general, then became a dictator. Posada used to make fun of the president, the rich class, as well as the poor class. For him everybody was the same, and he represented them as skeletons in satyric situations.

Jose Guadalupe Posada vivio y trabajo durante una de las epocas mas dificiles en Mexico, aquella de la Revolucion Mexicana, del gobierno de Porfirio Diaz, quien al principio fue un buen hombre, gran general y termino convirtiendose en dictador. Posada se burlaba del presidente, de la clase alta, de los pobres, para el todos eran iguales y los representaba como esqueletos en situaciones satiricas.

I got inspiration from him and painted my version of a skeleton lady, this time I used the dress from Veracruz, the Jarocha costume. And named her "Maria Clara".

Me inspire en Posada y pinte mi propia version de un esqueleto, use el traje tipico de Veracruz, el vestido de las jarochas y la nombre "Maria Clara"

Maria Clara, Oil on paper, Margarita J. Hernandez-Maxson, 2007

She became the mother of the skeleton children, one day as I watched her, I told myself that the time had come for Maria Clara to have children, and they were going to be multidimensional, so they could go play!

Asi que se convirtio en la madre de los ninos esqueleto, un dia la estaba viendo y me dije a mi misma que le habia llegado la hora de tener hijos. Los ninos iban a ser tridimensionales para que pudieran ir a jugar!

"The horsey", Mixed media, Margarita J. Hernandez-Maxson, 2012 SOLD

"Fishing", Mixed media, Margarita J. Hernandez-Maxson, 2012 SOLD

"Me and my dolly", Mixed media, Margarita J. Hernandez-Maxson, 2012 SOLD

All children are made of stone clay over a wire armature, their limbs bend at wrists, elbows, shoulders, and even every finger has independent movement, they are able to move the head in every direction and sit. They even stand up by themselves without the need of a base! I made the stand as an accessory for printing the piece's name.

All of them can release their toys, and change posture, they are so strong than even my quality control manager (my 4 year-old son) could not break them. Actually they went far beyond my expectations and showed me how far can we go in the art-doll path. 

Todos los ninos estan hechos de arcilla de piedra, sus brazos se doblan en las munecas, codos, hombros, todos los dedos tienen movimientos independientes, pueden mover la cabeza en todas direcciones y sentarse. Hasta pueden pararse solos sin la necesidad de una base! Hice la base como un accesorio para imprimir el nombre de la pieza.

Todos ellos pueden "soltar" sus juguetes y cambiar posicion, son tan resistentes que nisiquiera mi jefe de control de calidad (mi hijo de 4 anios) pudo romperlos. Estos ninos desafiaron mis expectativas y me mostraron que tan lejos se puede llegar en el camino de la confeccion de munecos de arte. 

 Their clothing is taken from that of the Victorian era, New England children specially, with nautical or country based attires.

Su vestimenta es la propia de la era Victoriana, de los ninos de Nueva Inglaterra especialmente, que estaba basada en detalles nauticos o campestres.

In the case of the boys, their hats can be taken off, they are not glued to the head!
En el caso de los ninos, sus sombreros se les pueden quitar, no los tienen pegados a la cabeza!

 Finally, the lovely girl, her doll is a skeleton-looking piece, of course, the dolly measures only 2".
Finalmente la ninita, su muneca tiene carita de esqueleto por supuesto y solo mide 5 cm.

Self portrait

Self portrait, Frida Kalho, 1940/ Autorretrato , Frida Kalho, 1940

I could have called this painting "Self portrait as Matlaczihuatl", however Frida just called it "Self portrait".

Pude haber nombrado esta pintura "Autorretrato como Matlaczihuatl", sin embargo Frida solo lo llamo "Autorretrato"

In the painting Frida presents herself once more in the Yalalag outfit, one of her favorites. Yalalag is a town located in Oaxaca. I guess Frida liked Oaxacan outfits for a variety of reasons, first because Diego liked them, second, because these outfits are among the most spectacular in Mexico, third, because her mother was from Oaxaca.

En la pintura Frida se plasma a si misma nuevamente en el traje tipico de Yalalag que era uno de sus favoritos, Yalalag es un pueblo ubicado en Oaxaca. Creo que a Frida le gustaban los trajes oaxaquenos por una variedad de razones, primero porque a Diego le gustaban, segundo porque estos atuendos se cuentan entre los mas espectaculares de Mexico, tercero, porque su madre era de Oaxaca.

Her necklace is based on that of the Aztec goddess Matlaczihuatl, she was the goddess of the ocean, and wore a necklace made of seashells. At some point the shells become fang-like pieces, warning us about the agressive nature of Matlaczihuatl. The red embroidered symbol means "rain" (Quiahu in nahuatl).

Su collar esta basado en el de la diosa azteca del oceano Matlaczihuat, este estaba hecho de conchas marinas, en determinado momento las piezas se transforman en algo que parecen colmillos, indicando que la diosa posee una naturaleza agresiva. El simbolo bordado en rojo significa "lluvia" (Quiahu en nahuatl).

 The net on her head is for fishing sea creatures as well as men's souls, she was a men eater. Although she does not have flowers on her head in the original portrait, I decided to add two. Red looks great on purple.

 La red en su cabeza es para pescar criaturas marinas lo mismo que almas de hombres, la diosa era una comedora de hombres. A pesar de que no tiene flores en la cabeza en la pintura original, decidi agregarle dos. Rojo se ve muy bien sobre morado.

I don't think I am going to make more Frida dolls, I want each one of them to be one of a kind. They are the last of the series, and won't be replicated. The chapter is finally close! Thanks for visiting!

No creo que vaya a hacer mas Fridas, quiero que cada una de ellas sea unica en su estilo, tampoco seran replicadas, son las ultimas de la serie. El capitulo de Frida se ha cerrado! Gracias por visitar!

"Self portrait with hand earrings"

Autorretrato con aretes de manos, Frida Kalho,  1940

There she was, looking at us proud of herself and her accomplishments as artist, but still hurt because her personal life was not what she wanted. Frida paints both her success and pain in a single image.

Ahi esta Frida, orgullosa de si misma y de su triunfo como artista, al mismo tiempo lastimada porque su vida sentimental esta lejos de ser lo que ella quisiera. Pinta su exito y su dolor al mismo tiempo.

The making of the doll required to make much more flowers than any of the others, I used the old technique of bread dough for the flowers, and painted them with acrylics, for the hands I used paper-clay.

La confeccion de esta muneca requirio hacer muchas mas flores, use la vieja tecnica de migajon para realizarlas y despues las pinte con acrilicos, para las manos use paper-clay.

I used wool for her hair, and needle felted strand by strand, then I braided it in the traditional Aztec style, and put on the flowers.

Use una aguja para afelpar para colocar lana en su cabeza, ya puesto le trenze el cabello al estilo Azteca y le  anadi las flores.

I got the opportunity to use a very special vintage fabric for her shawl, the necklace was made of modeling paste and acrylics, I decided to omit the blood drops in her neck, her blouse is a very simple white cotton piece with yellow embroidery.

Tuve la oportunidad de usar una tela antigua muy especial para hacer su chal, el collar fue hecho de pasta para modelar y acrilicos, decidi omitir las gotas de sangre en su cuello. Su blusa es una prenda simple de algodon bordada a mano en amarillo.

What a great doll, she is 12 inches tall and look as proud as in the painting. Two buttons in her head allow her to be displayed in a wall.

Una verdadera belleza, mide 12 pulgadas y se ve tan arrogante como en la pintura. Atras de la cabeza tiene dos botones que le permiten ser colgada en la pared.

Frida had an exhibition in Paris in 1939, at the opening was the great Pablo Picasso, he approached Frida and told her in Spanish: "Senora, soy su mas ferviente admirador, por favor acepte este humilde presente" ("Mam, I am your most fervent admirer, please accept this humble present") What he gave her were the peculiar hand earrings that she later painted in the self portrait. They were so unique that even Diego Rivera painted them in another portrait of Frida.

Frida tuvo una exhibicion en Paris en 1939, el gran Pablo Picasso acudio a la inauguracion y se aproximo a Frida diciendole "Senora, soy su mas ferviente admirador, por favor acepte este humilde presente". Lo que le dio fue el par de aretes de manos que despues pintaria en su autorretrato. Los aretes eran tan peculiares que hasta Diego Rivera los pinto en otro retrato de Frida.

  Back view of the doll

Vista trasera de la muneca

Thanks for visiting, next time you will meet "Self portrait". It is a short name for such a deep painting.

Gracias por visitarme, la proxima vez conoceran "Autorretrato". Un nombre muy corto para una pintura de significado tan profundo.