Fine Spanish Colonial Art - Retablos

 RETABLOS

A gift from my niece Cayce
and her husband Mario from Santa Fe

Retablos, or in English alter pieces, is a structure or element placed on or above an alter, better known as 'laminas' in Mexico, are small oil paintings on wood and sometimes tin. They are used in home altars in respect of Catholic saints. The literal translation for 'retablo' is 'behind the altar.' This unique genre of art, deeply rooted in European history, was brought to Mexico with the arrival of the Spanish and then ultimately adopted by New World mestizo natives to become what is known today as the Mexican folk retablo.

Retablo was an art form that flourished in post conquest Mexico and reached its pinnacle of popularity in the last quarter of the 19th century. With some exceptions, mostly untrained artists created these sacred images.

Retablos were sold to devout believers who displayed them in home altars to honor their patron saints. There are virtually hundreds of saints, each invoked to remedy a different situation.

Maximilliano Mike "Max” Henderson

Maximilliano Mike Henderson 

This is Maximilliano Mike "Max” Henderson. He was my first cousin, the son of my mother's older sister, Maria Padilla Henderson and my Uncle Sam Henderson.

I love this photo of Mike because he reminds me of my brother, Phillip.

Mike was born June 10, 1937 in Puerto de Luna, New Mexico. Ten years later, his family moved to Tucumcari. The move was traumatic for Mike because he had been attending school in a one-room schoolhouse, surrounded by his family's Spanish language. His formative childhood experience was the complete opposite from mine. I  was born and went to elementary and middle school in Amarillo, Texas and then went to live in Puerto de Luna with my Spanish speaking grandma in the eleventh grade. I can honestly say it was in the top five best experiences of my life and it  changed the trajectory of my life.

April 19, 1954, the year before I was born, Mike married, Mary Esther Moya  in Amarillo, TX. He was 17. The couple moved to Los Angeles where they stayed for 10 years. They then moved to Albuquerque and eventually back to Tucumcari, where Mike made a living doing car paint and body work. By this time, the couple had eight children. Mike had began to create furniture and art for their house.

Later Mike started selling some of his art in Santa Fe. Then when an elderly man showed him a wooden figure of Christ that was broken and held together with duct tape, Mike volunteered to repair it, taking the opportunity to examine the design. He began studying the work of famous artists and books of saints and found encouragement from several famous santeros in northern New Mexico.
Santeros are artists who carve and paint santos, images of saints.

Mike was an International Artist with artwork in Wood Carving and Religious Statues. He was a member the New Mexico Spanish Colonial Art Society.

Mike was closer to my mother's age than he was to my age so I didn't know him very well. We would often stop at my Aunt Mary and Uncle Sam's house when we drove from Amarillo to Puerto de Luna to visit my grandma but Mike was rarely around so we usually only saw each other at weddings and funerals.

Maximilliano Mike Henderson passed away December 14, 2007 at the age of 70, at Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari. He was survived by his wife Mary Esther Henderson; two daughters, Cynthia (Larry) Winn of Gallup, NM, and Judith (Phillip) Guttman of Rio Rancho, NM; six sons, Michael (Cris) Henderson of Pojoaque, NM, David Henderson Clovis, NM, Ronnie (Dawn) Henderson of Rio Rancho, NM, Ray Henderson of Tucumcari, NM, Jay (Louella) Henderson of Pecos, NM, and Tom Henderson of Altus, OK; two brothers, Gracien Henderson of Los Angeles, CA, and Walter (Bertha) Henderson Tucumcari, NM; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, one son, three brothers, and three sisters.

Maximilliano Mike Henderson

The Artist - Painting My Own Truth

My son, Christian called me the other night.

Christian: "What are you doing, mom?"
Me: "Watching Anthony Bourdain and doing some artwork."

Christian: "I am so proud of you. You spend so much time doing your art. Do you know how long it has been since I have painted?

Me: "How long?"
Christian: " It's been a long time."
Me: "What are you doing?"

Christian: "I am on my way home from a 15 hour day at work."

Me: "Wow, I wonder why you haven't been painting."

Christian is proud of me. That's nice, really nice. I am proud of him too, and I am proud of Adriane as well. They have both chosen a family life. Christian works long hours in the restaurant business and goes home and reads to his six year old at bedtime. Adriane is back in school. I love that. My kids know it has been a long road to arrive to my destination. The place where I can spend precious time on my art. They know first hand that I spent the majority of my life trying to strike a balance, most of the time putting everyone else's needs before mine. I feel blessed that I have reached this stage of my life. Jane Fonda calls it the third act. My children are grown and they have their own families. I still consider them to be my greatest works of art. Now my kids are like established gardens that I spent years tending to and fertilizing. No longer weeding my garden, I feel blessed to be able to spend most of my time as an open channel to the energy that has always been an important part of my artistic being. That space that allows me to create spontaneously. For years I had to live within the boundaries of society and even then I was told that I was too sensitive....as if I had a choice.

Most creative people have rituals to allow their creativity to flow. Sometimes they aren't even aware that they are doing it. When I had a 9-5 job, mine consisted of spending a three day weekend at home alone. Now I have all the time in the world. I'm really having fun with it, taking it a step further with my creative atmosphere. I learned this trick from my friend Lana. Every year on her birthday, she comes up with a theme and we create a set and spend a weekend filming a short movie "on location." It is a blast! So for me, as an artist, it is easy for me to transform my surroundings and spend a few days in an exotic place. Spain, for instance. I cook traditional Spanish food, throw open my French doors and listen to Spanish music and Waa Laa, I am there!

I know... it's not as romantic and tragic as some of my favorite visual and recording artists. Thank God!! I used to think it was a necessary part of being a good artist to be tortured. I couldn't even listen to Townes Van Zandt's music when he was alive because his personal life freaked me out to the core. Christian turned me on to his music again when he was in his twenties, it was only then that I could separate the art from the artist and learned that most of his greatest songs were channeled. I learned to look past his horrible relationship with a close friend. Don't get me wrong, some of my best work has been created in the very darkest of times but I don't need to go back there to experience that emotion. In fact I shield myself from it. Now I meditate and do yoga. I appreciate that Townes would just wake up from a dream with an amazing song in his head. Unfortunately, I sort of bought into the creative ritual needing to be painful. For Townes and many others it included illicit drugs and other deviant behavior. My list of favorites, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keefe and Amedeo Modigliani were tortured artists. That belief took me through some very destructive behavior of my own not only as an artist but many times becoming the muse for art or the music.

I was watching Anthony Bourdain in Tangier the other night talking about his favorite writer, William S. Burroughs. No thanks... I don't even like his book "Naked Lunch." He was a heroine junkie who murdered his wife. The thought of being in one more relationship with someone who plans lunch, dinner and nightly activities around where and what they are going to drink doesn't appeal to me. It really never did but I sort of overlooked it.

However, tonight Anthony Bourdain was interviewing a Gitano, Spanish Gypsy in Granada, Spain. I totally related to his passion, it didn't feel as destructive. He was describing duende. It is the hardest word to translate to English and I have often wondered if it is because it is the nature of the Spanish culture. Duende is the sublime power to attract through personal magnetism and charm. Yet at the same time it is the passion that comes from within, especially in unrequited love. This particular Gitano believes that heartache and pain is required to create great art. I think I am just going to have to make it my goal to prove him wrong.

So just for the record, happy hour for me is the minute I wake up to the sunshine in the morning.

Another SXSW Art Show Today at FIVE!

You Are Invited To Another SXSW Art Show but this one is in the hood! I had a couple of friends tell me they showed up at the Westgate location last week. LOL Other GREAT news! I had a meeting with Jeanne Roe of "Navidad Farms Gift Shop" yesterday and they are now selling my art. There is going to be an open house in April... more to come on that soon!

You Are Invited!

“ The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now." 

- Kelly Rae Robert

You did a good job Mom!

You did a good job Mom!

You raised a son that is an artist

who doesn't give a sh*t about football.

~ My Son, Christian

Last night I was having a conversation with Christian on the phone, we were trying to decide at the last minute what to take to Super Bowl Sunday parties. Neither of us watch football. He cracks me up. He said "You did a great job Mom, you raised a son that is an artist who doesn't give a sh*t about football." True that! Not only does he have no in football, he is a great chief, husband and father.... I am not going to take credit for all of that but Carrie said she married him because she like the way he treated his mom. Awwww.... sweet.

I had spent my weekend painting flowers that he drew. We have this awesome mother-son team, on all levels but especially as artists. He draws flowers and I paint and sell them. A few of them are on exhibit down the street from my house at the "Thundercloud Sub" at Lamar and Manchaca and the ones on this blog will be going up there in a couple of days.

Great News! Kelly Rae and Beth have decided to give us a 2 week break on our "Hello Soul, Hello Business" art business class. As it turns out, I am notthe only one who is having life shattering experiences. There is drama that is coming up for everyone in the class. Everyone's worst fears of being successful are surfacing and our lives as we know it are crumbling. Sometimes to be truly innovative, we have to shake things up a bit and make huge uncomfortable changes. We have step out of our comfort zones and let go of things and people that aren't working for our highest good. So now I have made room for positive change.  I told them next time they offer this class, they need to attach a warning. 

Warning: Only take this class if you are really ready to shake up your life and make big uncomfortable changes. This class is not for the faint of heart.
  

Click here to see art featured on "Sweet Sprout" that Christian and I have worked on together.

The first two flowers are by Christian.

Why I Create

Oprah always says that everyone just wants to be heard or validated. True, very true. Being the youngest of 4 children most of my life (I had a younger brother for 4 years in elementary school who passed away) I never felt like I was heard unless I was upset and crying. Since that was my childhood experience, as I saw it, regardless of the fact that my older sister thought I was spoiled rotten, it seems that I have found myself in situations where I didn't feel validated. I just realized this morning, while working on my "Soul Sessions" class that it is a deep rooted thought. It is sort of an all or nothing thing for me. You are either with me or against me and there is no sitting on the fence, however I seem to have that repeat pattern of attracting the least emotional available men on the planet.

So when someone comes to my house and stands in awe of my art that covers every inch of my house, including my mosaic floors, I realize that is WHY I create. I became creative to get attention. Always thinking outside the box to stand out from the crowd and be noticed.

My family was always wrapped up in my brother's activities like football when I was growing up. Later he became a Grammy Award winning musician and still my parents followed him around the country going to his concerts. These day he is in awe of how far I have come as a designer and a fine artist, but I still seem to attract those that can still ignore my talent. Why? Exactly!  Why? That is the question.

Sometimes I forget who I am.  I have been running with a group of musicians most of my adult life so I normally fall into the background of the their musician talk. Since October I have spent much more time alone reflecting on who I am, what I want and how to get there. This week at Evangeline, I noticed a difference in the way it felt to sit quietly and listen to Danny and Tony talk about $45 guitar picks. Not as willing to just sit quietly and listen. Now that I am no longer the band girlfriend, sitting around and being supportive isn't very appealing. I have art to create!

So this weekend Kathy, John and Tammy were here from Dallas. Kathy had been to my house a million times so she was giddy at the thought of having her brother John and his girlfriend hang out with us at Donn's Depot on Saturday and come to my studio on Sunday. Donn's was fun. I introduced them to all my marvelous musician friends and they totally get music because their dad was a bass player in Dallas when they were growing up. But even more importantly, John is a creative soul, an artist. He gets who I am and what I do. He walked in my front door and his jaw dropped. He stood for 15 minutes looking at my mosaic tile bathroom floor with a dragonfly on it. He stood in my studio and examined every inch of crowded studio space. Kathy emailed me later and said that Tammy was so inspired that she is going to start doing mosaic again. Now that is what I am talking about! Someone gets my creative process!

I spend all day every day alone in my thoughts in my studio. It warms my heart to know that I feed the souls of others with my art. Friday night I was at Antone's, my niece, Cayce' band was playing. Her older brother, Derek, told me that he had a very cool experience this week. He was sitting in the Thundercloud on South Lamar at Manchaca, looked up and noticed my art surrounding him on every wall. He said he sat for a while and just listened to customers comment and said at one time he felt the urge to stand up and say "My aunt is the artist!"  How cool is that?  I have often heard it said by musicians that it is hardest to play for family and friends. Being an artist is the same. The people closest to you seem to have a notion of who you are that doesn't vary much. Being able to paint it on a canvas shines a whole new light on one's soul. Derek said to me "Those painting really come from a really emotional place don't they?" My answer to that is "Yes they do. I have paid my dues to get those images onto canvas. There is a story behind each of my "Luna Chicks" a broken heart, many tears and lots of dreams good and bad... emotion... raw unadulterated emotion.

Love ♥¨¯`* ♥ Love ♥¨¯`* ♥ Love

It is that time of year ... Time to start thinking about Valentine's Day! I have lots of Valentine cards in my Etsy shop so I end up in lots of really sweet Valentine treasuries during January and February. It is fun to see the treasuries people come up with so I am going to list them here as they are created. I am also posting some of the art.

Click Here For Valentine Treasury #1.

Click Here For Valentine Treasury # 2. 

Click Here For Valentine Treasury # 3. 

Click Here For Valentine Treasury # 4.
By the way, I just got back from St Louis and met a friend of my daughter-in-law's and she too is in this treasury. What are the chances of that happening?

Click Here For Valentine Treasury # 5.

Click Here For Valentine Treasury #6.

Click Here For Valentine Treasury # 7. 

Click Here For Valentine Treasury #8. 

Click Here For Valentine Treasury #9.

Click Here For Valentine Treasury #10

Click Here For Valentine Treasurty #11 

Click Here For Valentine Treasury #12 

Click Here For Valentine Treasury #13
Click Here For Valentine Treasury #14
Click Here For Valentine Treasury #15

My Word For 2012 ~ Prosperity

Last year I started a journey of intense creativity.... I use the term "intense creativity" because I have made a living at being creative most of my life but in this past year the fire was turned up in my personal life. There were many extreme changes and the only way I got through it all was to channel all of that energy into art. What I found was that I had been channeling most of my creative energy towards other people's dreams most of my life and very little towards my own dreams. I came to the realization that to really prosper I would have to focus on myself. Now, I am starting a new year, learning to channel my intense creativity into prosperity.

With that being said.... Prosperity is relative. I know people with lots of money that I would not consider to be prosperous. To some, prosperity may mean being able to buy groceries to others it would mean a trip to Paris.  To me true prosperity means not only living in abundance but also being able to live my life the way I want to live without having to compromise my beliefs.

I have an alter in my living room where I light a candle every morning and say a prayer and commit to my dreams. On the alter is my treasure box where I have all my wishes, dreams and prayers written on little pieces of paper. Sometimes those words become art. Prosperity to me would mean that all those dreams, prayers and wishes would come true.

Here's to a full year of prosperity, abundance and fulfilled dreams, prayers and wishes!

30 Days Of Gratitude Day 14

I grateful that my son is an artist!

You're my buddy, my pal, my friend

I feel so incredibly fortunate when I am hanging out with my grandsons and working in my studio.  This week is going to be a busy one preparing for the "Dia de los Muertos" show on Saturday. Fortunately, Dylan spent the weekend with me this past week and helped me get some of my polymer clay pieces made. He is a worker. He always does his best and never complains. When I grow up I want to marry someone just like my grandson! LOL. Seriously, there is always a sense of peace and fulfillment when I am just hanging out with Dylan. I am hoping that when I am long gone that he will be able to share great memories with his children and grandchildren of the days we spent in my studio, in my garden and in the kitchen creating. It warms my heart to know that he feels the same about me. He has lived 40 miles away since he was in the second grade so most of our conversations are on the phone but it seems that when I do go pick him up in New Braunfels, as soon as he throws his backpack in the back seat and jumps in the car, he has profound questions that he appears to save up between visits. I used to think "How cool is that that he saves them for me?" Now I realize he is just that relaxed and cool all the time. At any rate, I am happy to do my part, I openly share all my tricks of the trade and knowledge from the school of hard knocks. I even email him info that I wish someone had shared with me as a teenager.

Today my lesson for my children and grandchildren is from Steve Jobs.
Seven Rules of Success by Steve Jobs

So there are those practical lessons that Steve Jobs shared and then there are those lessons that you can only learn in your grandma's art studio, kitchen and garden. And as much as I have taught my grandsons... they teach me so much more and I feel so blessed that they are my own personal little angels.

Here is my musician grandson, Andrew playing my bass when he was 2 years old. He is now 4 years old and awaiting a new brother or sister.... I am so blessed.

Here's the lyrics to a song by Willie Nelson that I would like to dedicate to my grandsons.

I've Loved YOU All Over the  World

You're my buddy, my pal, my friend
It will be that way until the end
And wherever you go, I want you to know
You're my buddy, my pal, my friend

And I've loved you all over the world
You are my sunshine
You keep my life in a whirl
And you love me sometimes

I'll always follow my heart
Wherever it takes me
And until death do us part
I'll love you all over the world

I'll always follow my heart
Wherever it takes me
And until death do us part
I'll love you all over the world

~ Willie Nelson

There's a New Star Burning In Our Sky Tonigh ~ In Memory of Steve Jobs

It was 1987, I was 32 and a single mother of two children. My life as I knew it had just crumbled and as we all know that leads to serious soul searching. I had always wanted to go to college but life had gotten in the way. Now my determination wasn't just about me, it was about my children. I had no husband and I was a terrible waitress. It seemed that a higher education was the only choice I had. I knew I wanted to be a graphic designer (at the time the title was commercial artist) I looked into going to UT and Austin Community College. Then someone told me there was a really good Commercial Art Department at Texas State Technical Institute in Amarillo. They had a computer lab with Macintosh computers unlike any other. I was sold. But wait, that meant that I had to move back to a Amarillo and not just Amarillo, extreme north Amarillo. By the nuclear plant, Pantex. Well as Steve Jobs said "It is all about connecting the dots." I was going to have to go way off of my beaten path to get to where I wanted to go. Not only was I going to have to move to Amarillo, I was going to have to leave my 8 year old son with his father in Austin.

So there I was a 32 year old student, living in family housing with my 9 year old daughter. The campus was on an old army base so family housing was a duplex where the officers lived. It was a block away from the computer lab so I spent every waking hour at the computer lab.  I laugh when I think about what I was able to do on that computer now. I was determined to make use of all the fonts and colors available. Little did I know that a man my age had invented this work of artful magic in his garage just 3 years before. At that time (1984) I had a Calico computer that I had bought at Target, it was basically a word processor that the kids played games on.

So yesterday was a sad day. Oddly enough as I was multi-tasking on my Mac, working in Photoshop, sending emails, reading Twitter and chatting on Facebook I learned that Steve Jobs has gone to the big computer lab in the sky. One by one all my applications on my computer stopped working except the internet and none of them are working even now so as soon as I finish this post my computer is going to my own personal computer genius, Sammy so he can fix it for me. What would I do without my Mac all day every day?
 
Sometimes it seems that bright stars burn fast and bright for a shorter time than most and then move on. I am hoping that Steve will be sending us ideas from the beyond. Thank you Steve for sharing your genius with us and I would also like to thank my computer lab professor Steve Cost for sharing his genius as well.

┈┈┈┈◢◤┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

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┈▇▇▇▇▇┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈  

┈◥▇▇▇▇◣┈┈Ⓢⓣⓔⓥⓔ┈ 

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Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

"If today was the last day of your life would you being doing what you are doing today?

We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will."

 

~ Steve Jobs     Feb 24, 1955 - October 5, 2011

 

Synchronicity

Synchronicity— n
	an apparently meaningful coincidence in time of two or more similar or identical events that are causally unrelated

"Flying Lessons" With Kelly Rae Roberts this week has been fun and informative. No, I'm not learning how to fly a plane, I'm learning how to soar with my art biz. I'm amazed that I had become so well versed in how to connect my musician friends in the online world but clueless as to how to do the same for myself in the artist world. That' a well trained woman for ya. I would insert a LOL here but I am realizing that putting myself on the back burner for a solid 56 years has not served me.
Okay, so timing is everything. I don't think I was ready to soar before now. The synchronicity involved in my decision to sign up for "Flying Lessons" is more than perfect. I read somewhere that when you are on target, synchronicity happens. I have been somewhat focused on my art my whole life, but I sensed that this year was time for me to soar in my art biz. This transformation didn't come without growing pains. My new "Luna Chick Series" evolved from a place of deep healing and that, my friends, is another blog.

Rene's Red Guitar By Christina

Painting by Christian Ethridge

I have been a mixed media artist since the 90s. For four years I had been creating mixed media pieces with the focus on music and vintage nudes. Thank you Rene for sending me in the direction of music. I wanted to go there, I just didn't know how. I have lived in and around the Austin music scene for the better part of 30 years. My friends Rene and Danny had just bought a new house twice the size as the one they had been living in and had to buy all new everything. They needed art. Rene saw a painting of a guitar in a furniture store that she liked but the guitar was brown and she wanted a red guitar to match her lamps. She asked me to paint one as a gift for her husband. I had NEVER painted a large canvas painting, not even in art school. It was scary and fun all at the same time. My son was staying with me at the time so I asked him to join in on the fun, well actually I asked him to draw a large guitar so I could paint it and I came home from work and he had gone off in a whole new direction with the painting. So I bought another canvas and did it myself. Our paintings turned out vastly different but equally wonderful and Rene bought them both for her new house.

Red Guitar Butterfly Blues - SOLD

Shortly after that I started dating, Tony, a Gypsy Jazz guitar player. I started listening to lots of Django" Reinhardt music and as usual, my art seemed to have followed the music. Naturally, I painted and sold lots of guitar paintings, mostly RED guitars.. Because Gypsy Jazz music originated in Paris, France, I became very interested in the art of that time and at the same time was exploring the idea of selling art on ebay and discovered ACEOs. I started creating collage art with vintage nudes and music. I thought this would be a great way to break into selling on the internet without hurting myself. ACEOs would be easy to create and cheap and easy to mail. That was four years ago and I am still selling my ACEOs on ebay and Etsy.

ACEO By Christina

Then after a very rough few months, my artwork took a turn to being a muse to dive deep into some old wounds. I ended up with my Luna Chick Series, paintings that looked much like myself as a teenager but more angelic. I had a  article written about me in a New Mexico newspaper it opened all kinds of doors.  After seeing the paintings on Facebook a friend approached me to create "Angel Greeting Cards." That same day I got a package in the mail from another friend with a Kelly Rae Roberts "Create" angel ornaments and a crystal as a gift. It felt like a message from the Universe saying "Yes! Create Angels!" My friend and I continued to throw ideas around, we painted a few angels then she backed out after realizing there wasn't much money to be made selling cards at local stores but the wheels kept turning in my head, I already had product in stores and online so I continued on track. That very week another friend of mine invited me to hang some of my art in a new flower shop. I went to the flower shop to meet with the owner and she had a Kelly Rae Roberts skins on her Mac. Later that day I went to a gift shop where I have my art and two booths down was a booth full of Kelly Rae Roberts art. The messages on Kelly Rae's art were the same messages I had been painting and she was obviously doing very well financially doing her art.

Luna Chick By Christina

So, long story longer, I am learning from the best and taking notes. The message, dream big and work with a team!

Pay Attention To What Your Heart Is Drawn To

Video By Goose42

dream whirling... from goose42 on Vimeo.