cristinaleigh

2011-02-26T10:56:00.000-05:00

2011-02-13T10:24:00.000-05:00

Kitesurfing in Key Biscayne

2010-11-07T10:47:00.004-05:00

Entertaining myself.

A view of my private paradise.

May Skies

2010-05-19T19:47:00.028-04:00

Much happens between sunrise and sunset, but who is so lucky to see both?

Revisiting familiar places in the soul...

2010-03-17T01:22:00.010-04:00

Moon Transition II

2010-01-24T17:55:00.000-05:00

Moon Transition I

2010-01-02T13:46:00.000-05:00

Crandon Beach, a neighborhood in Paradise

2010-01-02T00:38:00.006-05:00

Amazing Rainbow

2009-09-06T11:44:00.004-04:00

A rainbow after a storm is usually expected but not something that makes you sit down and look at the horizon for it to appear. This amazing show of light and water drops never tires anyone and the moment we are gifted with one, we feel like privileged, as if something good is going to happen. May you see another rainbow soon.

2009-07-19T00:06:00.000-04:00

Cold morning in February 2009

2009-02-05T17:52:00.000-05:00

La Ventanita

2008-11-09T10:31:00.008-05:00

La Ventanita
Oil on canvas 30”x30”

When my studio announced the theme of the Art-Expo this year, I spent two weeks thinking, going over several ideas that interested me, mainly the ones on nature: birds, Biscayne Bay, Crandon Beach, the sunrise, the sunsets, and even the bike riders along the Rickenbacker Causeway. This county is full of beauty and the search for a theme that tells all about it was overwhelming.

What could represent Miami-Dade for me? A question came to my mind… When do you know you are not in Miami-Dade County, especially if you are north of the county? It is at the end of a meal at a restaurant and you ask for a “cortadito” and they look at you, stunned, and say, “corta-what”??

Cortaditos are served everywhere in the county. However, the most genuine ones are sold at the ventanitas found all over, but mainly around Little Havana neighborhood, west of downtown Miami. You can find these windows one after another and it’s amazing that although they look so much alike, they each have their own flair, their own identity. Some things are the same: the window is always open, the water cooler, free for anyone, the espresso machine behind the counter, the white Styrofoam cups and the tops, tapitas, the Spanish-English mixed signage. It holds a very informal setting, at the same time inviting you for a quick chat either with the coffee maker or with another customer.

So the idea behind the Ventanita is not so much what it looks but what it represents. It’s a Cuban invention in Miami. Probably – this is my reasoning – they did it to congregate, to talk about their homeland, to welcome the newly-arrived. So, with the same spirit, I also welcome you to this blog and I hope you enjoy a little journey into my world.

Miami, November 8th, 2008

Summer 2008

2008-09-01T15:00:00.004-04:00

Summer is almost gone. I started this painting at the beginning of the season, thinking of the refreshing concept that oranges, grapefruit, limes, and lemons bring to people's minds. At the end they might look like the old-fashioned hard candy we used to buy at the local general stores wherever we were. Slices of lime are added to drinks, grapefruit is good for the flu, OJ is the fruit juice mostly sold worldwide and lemons sometimes remind you of the bitter moments we have to go through in life. However, we have to turn things around and think positively. As they say in Brazil, "se o destino te der um limao, faca uma caipirinha" ("if fate gives you a lime, make a caipirinha" (Brazilian national popular drink). Let's see what the Fall will bring.

PAY ATTENTION!

2008-06-07T16:49:00.009-04:00

How many times have we heard from our parents or teachers, "boy, girl, pay attention!"? When I created the paintings below, I was inspired by playful thoughts, thinking of students who are very creative and intelligent, but at the same time cannot hold their attention on a speech, especially if it is delivered without special effects. They tend to let their imagination run far away. A child may have a notebook paper in his hands and make a boat and in his own special world, place it on the ocean, or be in a Math class and make an airplane and send it through the mysterious and endless space. The cut-out paper dolls was my own way to avoid boredom, but in this case, the notebook paper was also painted.

Key Biscayne, Paradise on Canvas

2008-05-04T18:43:00.020-04:00

The first three paintings are not part of Key Biscayne, but you have to go through them from mainland to get to our paradise. Then you will see our beach, the golf course, the light house, the treasures we appreciate year-round. Please enjoy them as much as we Key Biscayners do.

Yellow Ribbon

2008-03-09T23:06:00.005-04:00

Yellow Ribbon

The first time I saw a yellow ribbon round a tree was when I came to the US for the first time after the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981.) I learned it served as a symbol of welcome for the hostages who were held at the embassy in Tehran. Then I learned more about it: there was a popular song called “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree”, written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown and recorded by Tony Orlando and Dawn. The song has a nice rhythm which you can check at
http://www.geocities.com/holidaysfun/ribbon.html

(copy and paste, please)
The story is about a man who leaves prison and who requested his wife or girlfriend to indicate that she wanted him back by tying a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree in front of her home. If he could see the ribbon from the bus in which he would be traveling he would know she still wanted him.
This painting was based on the above but also on the pictures I see of troops coming back home from Iraq in the last years. The yellow ribbon is not only a sign of welcome for the one who’s returning but also a sign of loyalty of the one who waited.

When the sun rises in Key Biscayne...

2008-03-08T15:06:00.024-05:00

In a Science fair project, we have the constant and variables. The same happens when the sun rises on Crandon Beach. The constant elements are the beach - shore and ocean- and the sun, which no matter what, always rises. The variables are the weather - wind, clouds, rain, which either let the sun light out totally or partially or completely hide it from view. Enough about this. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, here you have seventeen thousand words that humbly quiet me, each one a perfect gift from above...

- click on image to see it larger -

PEOPLE'S FACES

2008-02-23T22:48:00.049-05:00

Painting faces has always been a daring experience for me. So far I have chosen people who are either close to me or whose faces are a challenge to my skill. Some times I don't reach my goal, but in the process I learn many things, patience and frustration management among them. I am pleased to introduce "my people" to you.

Lucia, a sweet girl, in my own very private eyes

Unknown mouth and nose

Sometimes details tells more than the whole face

A famous look - who knows him? Disguised by himself

Michael in New York enjoying a happy free ride

Atsuko, Michael's high school friend

A New England lady's profile

Michael and mother sleeping peacefully

Virgen de la Esperanza, copy

This is part of a painting by Belgium painter Rogier van der Weyden. The folds in Magdalena's head covering intrigued me (copy)

Native Brazilian

Julie, Michael's high school friend

The tenderness of the moment made me copy this painting by a British artist

My very first attempt, also and, most important, a great friend, Patricia

GIFTS FROM THE SEA

2008-02-17T18:11:00.027-05:00

The following are pictures of the gifts that I find when I walk on Crandon Beach. Everyday the sea brings something different, making the one-hour trip unique and full of surprises.

Click on the picture to see it larger.

I never found out what this is, but I named it the Crandon pearl

A jelly-fish that looks like it holds a flower inside

A man-o'war, a jelly fish that comes from the West Africa
coast between the months of September and March

Sea beans, which according to my artist friend Fay, an
expert in sea beans, come from South America

A temporary castle

A blue turtle... maybe jealous of the real ones...

A daring car - driver doesn't know the sea is for boats

Who sent this flower?? I liked it a lot!

A reptile-looking plant

Careful with this one!

Upside down star fish

Twinkle, twinkle, little star fish

Shell with long shadow

Queen star fish - at least it looks like a queen to me

Washed crab

ORION

2008-02-12T15:45:00.000-05:00

Orion
Oil on canvas, 30"x30", 2007

Like many people, I believe, I’m fascinated by the stars. When I was a young girl, I used to go to a little farm my parents owned in the interior of the state of São Paulo. There was no electricity in the house or nearby and so it was much easier for us to see the shining stars. I used to spend a long time looking at them, meditating, trying to solve the mystery they held for me. Later, when visiting Monção in northern Portugal, the same thing happened: no lights and the deep blue sky showing off the beauty of the Milky Way. Nowadays, my sky moments come to me very early when I walk, and many times I see what this painting shows. This is what came to my mind when I heard about the theme of the exhibition at my studio this year. At the same time, I remembered a poem by Brazilian poet Olavo Bilac which I show below in Portuguese and English. It contains its own madness, the special madness that artists need to create. And it’s mainly through this creative madness that we express emotions.

Via Lactea, Soneto XIII, de Olavo Bilac

"Ora (direis) ouvir estrelas! Certo
Perdeste o senso!" E eu vos direi, no entanto,
Que, para ouvi-las, muita vez desperto
E abro as janelas, pálido de espanto...

E conversamos toda a noite, enquanto
A via-láctea, como um pálio aberto,
Cintila. E, ao vir do sol, saudoso e em pranto,
Inda as procuro pelo céu deserto.

Direis agora: "Tresloucado amigo!
Que conversas com elas? Que sentido
Tem o que dizem, quando estão contigo?"

E eu vos direi: "Amai para entendê-las!
Pois só quem ama pode ter ouvido
Capaz de ouvir e de entender estrelas".

Milky Way, Sonet XIII, by Olavo Bilac

Come on, you listen to the stars? For sure
You’ve lost your mind! And I’ll tell you, however,
That, to listen to them, many times I wake up
And open the windows, pale, in awe…

And we talk all night, while
the Milky Way, like an open canopy,
shines. And as the sun rises, melancholic and in tears,
I still look for them in the empty sky.

You’ll say now, "Silly friend!
What do you talk about with them? What’s the meaning
of what they say when they are with you?"

And I’ll tell you, "Love, to understand them!
For only those who love can have an ear
Able to listen and to understand the stars."

EARLY SPRING

2008-02-08T14:25:00.000-05:00

For the last two weeks, the weather has been wonderful. It made me think of early Spring, which naturally made me think of my flowers on canvas. Here they are...

Victoria Regia

Orchids Pots on Rua Itaquera

Water Lilies in Longwood

Hybiscus

Pink Rose

Daisy

Yellow Rose

Magnolia

Pink and Blue Rose

ART FROM NATURE - click for larger image

2008-01-27T20:18:00.001-05:00

This is the beach that provides me with so much inspiration. Visit Crandon Beach right now.

Enjoy your visit!

ELEVEN OF US

2008-01-20T20:05:00.001-05:00

ELEVEN OF US

I come from a large family. To be exact, I am the second of eleven children and this number was always very strong for me. When I started to paint, the image of my siblings always came to my mind and therefore I started a series of eleven of something. Here are these paintings, reflecting a group of informal gathering, a cozy association of elements.

Fish or whale?

2007-06-10T19:07:00.000-04:00

The way I like to paint is the same way an explorer goes on an adventure. There should be some mystery, some unknown information, added to a certain feeling of certainty that you will will find what you are looking for. This painting resulted from a walk at Bill Baggs State Park. I saw a rock surrounded by sand. It looked like a fish. I went around it. It became a whale. So I thought, "let's see what happens if I paint it," and this is the result fo my artistic adventure. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed painting it.