Mixed Media Artist Rosa Murillo

How To build a cradled hardboard for a painting

2009-09-20T00:12:00.001-04:00

Are you thinking what I'm thinking??

2009-08-19T17:32:00.001-04:00

Are you thinking what I'm thinking??
Originally uploaded by rosa murillo

daily project for the month of august!

artists of etsy, treasury

2009-02-17T09:09:00.001-05:00

artists of etsy, treasury
Originally uploaded by rosa murillo

my first etsy treasury!
thanks robayre for snatching this picture!

How to use rubber stamps and clay to make a pendant

2008-10-30T13:08:00.001-04:00

cardinal pendant

2008-10-09T19:19:00.001-04:00

cardinal pendant
Originally uploaded by rosa murillo

This is one of the new pendants I am working on, come take a look at www.rosamurillo.etsy.com
thanks!

Orlando Commercial

2008-09-13T13:44:00.001-04:00

Painting polymer clay

2008-08-15T21:35:00.001-04:00

2007-05-16T11:08:00.001-04:00

I have moved all my paints and bits of paper to my website:

www.rosamurillo.com

See ya there!

Mariachi Mencey Azteca - Las mañanitas - Tenderete

2007-02-07T15:20:00.001-05:00

Happy birthday to me!
This is our mexican happy birthday song, "Las mañanitas" the literal translation would be "These are the little mornings" sounds weird in english, though...

2007-01-31T11:50:00.000-05:00

The topic for Found Art Tuesday for Jan 30 is MUSIC. This is a fake-pod I made from an altoids tin box. See more pictures, read all the story and the materials in my website

2007-01-23T11:20:00.000-05:00

For "Found Art Tuesday" the topic is "ART" I imagined and art fairy who lives in the eye of the beholder and must make art relentlessly. It's made on a cigar box lid, collage and acrylic paint. Go here to read more about it!

2007-01-16T01:14:00.000-05:00

This is an amulet I made for Found Art Tuesday. The topic this week was "FAME" it was made with a spanish card, three matches, an one worry doll from Guatemala. Go to my website to read the story and see more pictures!

2006-12-26T13:58:00.000-05:00

This piece is called "Cherish" and it's just a reminder to think about the things we value and hold dear. It's made for the Found Art Tuesday project where I make a piece of art every week to be "forgotten" somewhere and hopefully, "found" by someone, and in this way create a connection between two people that don't know each other but that share same thoughts, like this one.

Go here to participate in the project. And go here to see the gallery of the 16 pieces I've made so far for this project. Have a merry Christmas!

2006-11-29T12:16:00.000-05:00

"Buttons" was the topic this week for Found Art Tuesday. It's an assemblage box with a few surprises inside, go see them here

2006-11-29T12:14:00.000-05:00

Clouds For Found Art Tuesday, to read more and to participate in this project, go here

2006-11-19T17:42:00.000-05:00

This is a collage I made listening to "Desert Rose" by Sting, as an experiment on how music you listen to influences the work you re making. I tried to think about the layers and texture of the music and how would the song look like visually.

2006-11-09T12:37:00.000-05:00

This is what happened to the found art for halloween, sometimes things have a will of their own, and rosita wanted an altar, so here it is.

You Only Die Once
enjoy your life with some tradition and why not.. a little superstition as well.

2006-11-07T15:08:00.000-05:00

"Flower" for Found Art Tuesday

2006-11-01T14:45:00.000-05:00

The Day of the Dead + Found Art Tuesday

this is a card for found art tuesdays the topic this week is halloween and it also illustrates our Day of the Dead celebrtion in Mexico.

2006-10-25T12:26:00.000-04:00

This is Found Art Tuesday card number 8. The topic for this week is "Secret" and this gave me a lot to think about, I decided to go with something that although is true, it's not that dark or personal and that I don't mind people knowing about. I used to leave gift cards with a little amount of money still in them for others to find and use, I used to think it would make someone feel lucky if they found something unexpected like this. Never altered them, just wrote some stuff in them, "it's your lucky day" for example. This is the first official found-art-gift-card, read more about it here

2006-10-19T10:38:00.000-04:00

This is card number 7 for Found Art Tuesday, you can read the story behind it and where it was left in my website, here:

COFFEE

It's made in watercolor paper 6X4 inches, acrylics, pastel crayons and felt tip pen marker. I tried to think about how the aura of coffee would look like, that's why the actual coffee cup is blank, (I used watercolor masking fluid for that, so you can see and feel the actual paper)

2006-10-12T18:51:00.000-04:00

This is found art tuesdays card number 6! It's 6 already! It seems I just stared doing these last week but it's now a month and a half. I remember when my daughter turned 6 weeks old, it was a big deal, at least for me. She wasn't waking up at all hours anymore so the whole thing was becoming more predictable, the light at the end of the tunnel shone like a little firefly and my doctor gave the OK to exercise again, and so I no longer had the excuse of being fat because "I had just delivered a baby" but that was almost 4 years ago... and I digress... so, back to today, this is a 6' x 4' card made in watercolor paper with a black marker and a little bit of watercolor, why did I chose red? I should've chosen the blue, shouldn't I? Red was the first color I found and I guess it turned out ok, don't you think?
I was thinking of ways to make the art more visible to the people out there that inhabit this city because no one seems to notice them! So last week I started with a post-it note attatched to the "Home" piece that said "read me" of course people will do whatever you tell them to do and more likely if they're caught with their guard down, so you can guess what happened.. everybody that saw it, read it of course, but left it right there in that little napkins-and-sugar island at the coffee shop! So this time I took a bolder approach! oh yes Huntersville people! this time I put another post-it note but this time it said "Can you set me free! please un-tape me, read me and keep!" so if this doesn't work I don't know what will...
I taped the card to the back of a chair at Cafe Mia (I think they have the most wonderful chairs around) and besides, I love the place... but I couldn't stay and see if the post it worked because my two little sideckicks thought it was a beautiful day to just sit inside (I'm talking about my kids here...) so we left, but I do hope someone found it... and took it for a change.
Please see Kathy La Rocco's Found-Art Tuesdays piece (Welcome back K!) here:
Feel The Warmth
thanks for reading!

I can't upload the rest of the pictures, to see them go here

2006-10-04T22:43:00.000-04:00

HOME

A Post card I made for the Found Art Tuesdays Project. Where I leave a piece of art to be found by someone who has no idea of what's going on...

To read the whole story go to my website journal, rosa murillo

2006-09-29T18:20:00.000-04:00

What comes to your mind when you think about a key? Sometimes you need to know where they are, and sometimes you know where they are but don't know what they're for. Last week my daughter was looking into her daddy's wallet when she found a lonely key. What is it for, she asked... he said (as a joke) "it's the key to happiness, I always carry it around in case I need to use it someday". The real answer is that he had forgotten what it's for.
What would you do if you really had an actual key, you know the metal kind, copper or zinc or whatever.. and know you could use it in case you needed to find happiness? where could you use it? would you use it to win the lottery? or in your body should you needed to be healthy again? I don't know what I would do with it but I think I would be too scared to use it, you know what your mother always says about being careful of what you wish for because it could come true.
Maybe I wouldn't keep it for myself but then, who to give it to? and why? and what for? is anyone more worthy of it? This is the question I release to the world today. I will leave this card tomorrow in the passports office where I have to go get my new one.. It'll have the post it note that says "read me".
I don't know if I'll be able to take a picture of it, but I'll definitely try!

2006-09-12T11:30:00.000-04:00

So here's my new found art tuesdays card for this week. It's made with a loteria card from a Mexican game (it's like bingo). The topic is STAR and I thought about making some kind of positive message for the person who'll find this, and not only a random story to which they wouldn't feel related to and have trouble understanding. The caption reads "You are the star in the movie of your life" I'm sure I've read this before somewhere, or maybe was it in a movie?
I left it in the women's locker room at the gym and I waited to see who found it, I'm always interested in seeing their reaction, and as I stood idly there, I saw a lot of people walking by, even standing in front of it and they either didn't saw it or didn't care to pick it up. I went upstairs to workout and after about an hour came back, and the card was still there! I've been thinking about that and I think this is becoming an interesting sociological experiment! are we so saturated with information and images that we don't stop and see what's around us? or is it that we are afraid of getting into someone else's business by picking up something that doesn't belong to us? what if opportunity is passing us by right now and we haven't stopped to listen??
See other contributions to Found Art Tuesdays here:
- Kathy Larocco

2006-09-08T16:22:00.000-04:00

Join me for Found-Art Tuesdays, here

2006-09-06T12:21:00.000-04:00

Don't you just love the Starbucks Cards? I find them to be very pretty and clever illustrations, there's always people having coffee or something fun happening. I've been collecting them whenever I see a new one and use it in some way in a painting. I just found out today that there's some very serious collectors out there trading cards between themselves or buying cards from other collectors in other countries or states... I wonder if the guys in starbucks know about this and take advantage of it, you know, releasing different cards in different states and things like that.
Well anyway, this card I made yesterday for found art Tuesdays (its the first one I make!) is about Betty Sue, a girl that goes to starbucks everyday to get her venti chai latte (I wonder what that tastes like) and even though she tells everyone she's there for the coffee, she's secretly also there to see the other regulars, like Gavin (that handsome guy that never knows you exist), she will sit in the table by the door and watch him as he flies in and out with the same grande half-caff latte with skim milk, wondering where he's going to and what he'll do today.
What she doesn't know is that Gavin is there everyday secretly wondering if that pretty red head will be there at the table by the door, reading her paper and drinking her chai.
I'll leave this card today at the starbucks in a table to be found by someone, I wonder who it'll be!

2006-09-04T17:05:00.000-04:00

SAFE for Illustration Friday

The Stories they tell us to make us feel safe.

I made this painting a couple of years ago, it's called "Niños Heroes" or Heroic Children, It's about a story that is on the Mexican history text books (which doesn't mean is true) about these children soldiers (13 to 19 years old) that defended the Militar Academy in the Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City in 1873 from some bad guys (the American Army) and the story goes that they chose to die than to stop fighting them. I think the school system and the government tell us these stories to make us feel safe about our government in Mexico and trust that they would defend us with their own lives... maybe they did back in 1873....
I used a very old 5 000 peso bill with the illustration of these brave soldiers and I wrote their names in between.

www.rosamurillo.com

2006-08-29T12:08:00.000-04:00

update on my latest exhibit here! ( in my website)

2006-08-11T10:28:00.000-04:00

Time Stand Still!

There are so many things to do, and so many things to see, I find myself dwarfed by all the artists I see here and there, so many blogs to see, time isn't enough! I find myself sleeping less and less reading and reading, looking at all this art, inspiring yes, but oh I feel so sad.. so many swaps I want to enter, so many things I would like to learn how to make, so many workshops, so many great ideas, and also, so many things I have to do in the day... the kids, the cooking, the picking up, the boo boos, the driving here and getting there, the gym, the play dates, the playground, the pool, the day is for everyone else, the night is for me, so I sleep less and less... and yesterday I went to the doctor and found out I needed a tetanus shot... a tetanus shot!!!??? can you still get tetanus these days? the nurse said yes, it's everywhere, the bacteria lives in every corner of your house (her exact words) yikes! so there I was, getting a tetanus shot, small tears came out, I don't know why. and today my arm hurts, and my head hurts and my whole self needs comforting and a reason to think it's all worth while. and now I need to go be somewhere and do things, like every other day, so off I go, and I will try to remeber I can't enter (and keep up with) every yahoo group with the word "collage" in it, every art swap, every juried exhibit, every gallery call, if I want to sleep a little bit... cause everything else is not winding down, there's gonna be messes and boo boos and cooking and laundry and cleaning and folding laundry, thats not stopping anytime soon.... and thank God for that, I love my family and taking care of them.

have a nice weekend everyone.

2006-08-05T11:41:00.000-04:00

This week's theme for illustration friday is CAPTURE. The first thing that came to my mind was a caged bird, but even more dramatic... a bird with his wings sewed shut?
This is a quick card made in a menu from one of my favorite cafes, Cafe Mia I love the gelatto! it's 5 x 5 inches.
I plan to leave this in one of the tables in the cafe as "found art" to find out more about found art, you can go here.
I used acrylic paint, pastel crayons and black marker, also I used a postal stamp from Mexico with a design of an iron gate, adding to the feeling of capture. The eye is a lens from a disposable camera... (I find inspiration everywhere!)

2006-08-04T00:07:00.000-04:00

Today I was looking for interesting competitions to enter, and I came across this open call for artists, it's about immigration and the issues it rises. I have been very interested in this theme since I came from Mexico some years ago and even though I am not in a difficult position with the INS, it breaks my heart to know people that are living with the constant fear or being deported any day but have the strength to work as hard as they can. I will say that I know they can't just break the law and expect the government to be ok with that, but there has to be a way to resolve this situation for the ones that are here already.
if you are interested in participating, here's the information on the open call,
Mail Art Project book on the theme of immigration - FL
Deadline: December 31, 2006. Mail Art Project - Sophie Blachet, director of Art Vitam and Valeria Pouza, independent curator, are seeking Mail Art works for an ongoing Mail Art Project book on the theme of immigration. The Mail Art Project will proceed in two phases: Phase One: we will collect over a period of six months (beginning in June 2006), a range of mail art works sent royalty free to be published in book form. Only 100 works will be chosen for inclusion in the book entitled “Mail Art Project 31.12.06/Immigration.” All works will be, however, be exhibited online at http://ganthine.blogspot.com. Phase Two: Beginning of January 2007, Blachet and Pouza will choose 100 works received for publication in the book. Selected artists will be contacted either by regular mail, e-mail or phone by the end of January 2007. Theme: Immigration. Coming, going, staying, living, borders, boundaries, legal, illegal… it’s your call. Format: Anything goes, from postcards, envelopes, to large format works on board and works on paper. No entry fee. Works will be juried, and not returned but exhibited and documented online. No royalties to artists. The book will include one full page reproduction of the work with description of the work, name of artist and artist details (in three languages). If you are interested in participating, please send works to: Mail Art Project 31.12.06/Immigration, P.O Box 975, Miami Beach, FL 33119. For more information please contact: In English/French: sophie@artvitam.com; In Spanish/Espagnol: mailart@artvitam.com

2006-08-02T00:10:00.000-04:00

well, I left the card in an envelope in my local YMCA, in the treadmill I used.... of course I stayed and watched to see what happened when someone find it! I got really excited when this old lady hopped in the treadmill and stared at it. And of course she didn't open it, she must've thought someone had forgotten it, even tough the envelope read: FOR YOU! how much clear do you need to be? she even picked it up and turned it over, where it read: YES IT'S FOR YOU! OPEN! and of course she didn't and left it there again. She finished her workout and left.... bummer.... I'm sad
I imagine I'll find the envelope tomorrow in the lost and found bin. So what have I learned?
1. No more envelopes, it creates a barrier and people aren't comfortable opening someone else's mail (at least they think it's someone else's mail)
2. No more YMCA, I need a coffee shop or a place like that, as my husband politely pointed out:)
3. I need to write something in the back of the card, like.. "this is found art" or something like that, spell it out for them, they don't expect it and that's the point.... but I wanted it to be absolutely anonymous so they don't know why they found it or who left it there...
I hope I have better luck next time!

2006-07-31T11:47:00.000-04:00

Funky hair mermaid

Ok, so you might think I'm a little crazy, but let me explain this first and then make any judgements you may feel neccesary. This is a card I made that I plan to "forget" somewhere so that someone may find it and hopefully keep it (so it doesn't end in the trash). It's the first one I've made and hopefully they'll be more. This is an idea I've been playing with for some time, it's what I think art is all about, it's getting a reaction either possitive or not, about something you make. This is a very quick card I made today, I know it's not perfect but that's really the idea, making art without thinking too much about the outcome, or how much you can get from it. I'm putting it in an envelope that says "it's for you, open" there's also a tag where I wrote "Unexpected things happen everyday"
I feel so excited about this, it's like when I was small and I was doing something I shouldn't be doing and thought I could get in trouble! like a little adventure. Making art feels fun again!! what are they going to think about my work?? IT DOESN'T MATTER!!! will they like it?? I don't care!!
Isn't it fun??!!!

ps, I can't load the picture in blogger right now, I don't know what's going on... you can go here to see it funky hair mermaid I'll try to load the picture again a little later

2006-07-30T12:08:00.000-04:00

Clean (1)

When I was a young architect just out of college, I was working with an architect that designed very modern architecture, he asked me to design an elevation for a new discotheque we were building, and the sketches I came back with were, for his taste, very "scenographical" meaning, they looked too busy, like a theatre set. You see, in architecture slang, "clean" means simple design. (I think), this is a drawing of the way the final design of the elevation looked like, or at least that's how I remember it, you can see the actual project here: varshiva nightclub I like the way the sky looks so "dirty" it could also work for the "opposites" theme of last week. This sketch was made with pencil and acrylics on watercolor paper.

Clean (2)

The cleanest soul there is, the virgin Mary of Guadalupe. This is a detail form a painting I did called "494" It's acrylic on canvas with yellow tin foil.

2006-07-26T13:53:00.000-04:00

I love love love U2 and if you know me, I have a lot to say about George Bush, so what do you make about Bush singing "Sunday Bloody Sunday"? it's really interesting, take a look...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6805063692754011230

enjoy.

2006-07-25T01:31:00.000-04:00

Horray for this!!!!

I'm getting my new website together, this is not finished but check it out anyway, there's pictures from my work as an architect and other stuff, see you there!

www.rosamurillo.squarespace.com

2006-07-22T00:29:00.000-04:00

Opposites

When I saw this week's theme for illustration friday : OPPOSITE, I had a lot of ideas about opposite things.. old and new, tall and short, etc... and also started to think about how men and women often reach opposite conclusions about the same subject, as I was looking for a man and a woman to illustrate this topic (in the magazine I often use as my supplier of interesting faces) I came across this picture of a wedding, I thought the expression of the woman here says a lot about what she's thinking: She's ready for her new life! looking straight to the camera sooooo happy to be there, making plans for their new life together!.... and then I saw the guy.. what was he thinking about? he's clearly somewhere else.. what could he have in his mind??? well, I took a guess and I think I'm not too mistaken about it...

I used watercolor paper and acrylic paint, a picture in newsprint paper from a magazine and pastel crayons and markers for the accents. I tried to work the composition better this time since the last ones I've made seemed to me a little bit rushed. And come to think about it, these illustrations I've made for IF look so different from my regular work, I'm having fun exploring new themes and media!

thanks for the visit!

2006-07-19T16:54:00.000-04:00

Self Portrait

This is a piece I just finished, I'm planning to use it for my website which I'm STILL working on! I didn't think it would take so long, but it's coming along... I've never been good drawing faces so I tried this technique where you use a copy of a picture and collage it. Don't I look like a saint? I didn't plan it to look that way! but it reminds me of those religious icons in the middle ages where all the saints would have a halo around their head!

Anyway... I liked the colors and the overall feel of it.

2006-07-18T12:11:00.000-04:00

this is another siren I did about a year ago. It was bought by a woman in Mexico and she told me she comes every day from work and talks to her about her day and that cheers her up. I thought that was delightful! I really like the way this one turned out, I like that she has a friendly face

2006-07-15T00:30:00.000-04:00

Sacrifice

This is Illustration Friday's theme for this week, I could think of many ways to illustrate this topic, but the issue of illegal immigration from Mexico to the US kept coming back to me. Just think about this for a moment, what would you do if you had no job, no money to buy food for your family and no hope that the situation would change for the better?, Would you go to another country, a place where you don't speak the language, leave your children to the care of relatives, just with he hope that you will get some kind of job, doing anything and everything, working 2 jobs sometimes! whatever it takes to send back some money so that your kids can go to school and get some food.
I don't know if I would be able to make such a sacrifice, I mean, for my kids I would do anything! but you need to be very brave to make that decision! You're leaving and won't come back for many years!! that scares me.... but those who come here not only have hopes, they have faith! Maybe that's the key to surviving the melancholy and getting the strenght to go on.

"El Mojado tiene ganas de secarse, el mojado esta mojado por las lagrimas que bota la nostalgia, el mojado, el indocumentado, carga el bulto que el legal no cargaria ni obligado"

2006-07-13T12:13:00.000-04:00

La Sirena

Siren is not the same as mermaid.
Sirens are mithological creatures that are believed to have a beautiful voice and not necesarily be half fish and half woman, but women with bird legs, or little birds with a woman's face.
In Greek mythology the Sirens were nymphs who lived on an island called Sirenum scopuli which was surrounded by cliffs and rocks. Approaching sailors were drawn to them by their enchanting singing, causing them to sail on the cliffs and drown.

This Piece is tha last Journal I have finished. The Siren image is an altered Loteria card, a Mexican game that has been around since the 1800's. The images of the Loteria are an icon in mexican culture.
With this piece, I wanted to explain the meaning of siren and a term I learned here in the U.S. "Siren Song" (algo que parece alcanzable, muy deseable pero que te lleva a un final incierto y muchas veces desastrozo)
No one can say what the siren song sounds like, but I can suggest it sounds like something very familiar, very safe, that could never hurt you, but that will get you going around in circles and you'll never reach it. And it would be a disaster if you did because you would be absolutely disappointed. Mythology also suggests siens are the ugliest creatures, only their voices are beautiful. (Some people would go through life believing only what they want to believe and not the truth.)

Las Sirenas son agiles y sutiles, nunca se dejan alcanzar para no perder el misterio, cantar en cualquier idioma es facil para ellas, el truco es siempre mantener la ambiguedad.

2006-07-11T00:33:00.000-04:00

Skyline (by my daughter)

This is my daughter's contribution to Illistration Friday! She is 3 1/2 yers old and since she was about a year and a half she has enjoyed painting more than anything else I've seen her do. She's well acquainted with different media, she loves bruhes more than crayons or anything else, although sidewalk chalk is a close second. Last Friday she saw me painting the illustration I submitted (skyline) and I was telling her about the buildings and the general idea while doing it, and later on saturday we looked together to a lot of the other artist's great submissions... so, you can imagine my surprise when she handed me this painting saturday afternoon, I asked what it was and she said, "They're buildings, Mommy, like the ones we were looking at in the computer" Well, I'm a proud mom, and I wanted to share this with everybody.

2006-07-07T23:30:00.000-04:00

skyline

If this picture needed a caption, it would be something like "I don't really want to be here right now"

When I saw that this week's topic of Illustration Friday was "skyline" I immediatly thought of NY City's skyline at night, which to me seems boring (and a friend just told me this week, it's been copyrighted!!!), so I started to think about other cities I know whith interesting skylines, I wanted modern buildings that would make an interesting figure when doing a white-black kind of drawing. As you can see here, I made up a new city, it has buildings that may not be buildable (If that's a word) in real life, and it might even be a different planet (did you see the two moons in the top right corner?) but thtat's not important, the focus of the illustration is actually what's goiong on in the front. There's a woman with a worried look in her face, and she seems to be thinking about being somewhere else. I don't really know what's happening in the city behind her. Is it on fire? Is it just the way she percieves the city because she doesn't like her life there, maybe?

What I know is that she seems a little aprehensive and ready to get going. What do you think is going on with the city? what's the place in the blue bubble? maybe home? or a vacation in the beach? One thing I know is that she's pretty emotional about it because her heart is pounding so fast!

The buildings are made with collaged paper (napkins, old journal pages) and then I drew some lines and windows, I also painted the white house in the blue bubble, (I had fun! it reminded me of my work as an architect), the paint I used is acrylic and the picture is from a magazine.

I think the picture would've looked better in black and white, but didn't have time to go make copies!

Thanks for listening.

2006-07-05T23:54:00.000-04:00

One of those days....

Today was one of those days when I start something that can't get finished because there's another thing that pops up and needs inmediate attention.. as my husband says, it's like putting out a fire before it gets out of control. Well, today was a day like that, with a hundred fires to tend to. My two little fires were in the top of the list, so after drawing with chalk in the sidewalk, a frozen pop, and a big boo boo in the forehead, I managed to take this picture of my feet in the grass. But now that I think back about today, there were some other things I got to do, for example, I talked to my mom over the phone for a while, I made cherry yogurt ice cream (that everyone loooooved) and we got to be outside for a bit, before the mother of all rains poured down this afternoon... Sometimes I like to measure my days in things accomplished, but even though there's a basket full of laundry that needs to be folded, and a bunch of other things that I didn't finish today, I think today is done, today was fun, tomorrow is another one.. (wink, wink, all you dr. seuss's fans..) and i'll just go to bed.... goodnight everybody.

2006-06-30T17:31:00.000-04:00

sticky

I thought it would be fun to participate in illustration friday
This week's theme is sticky, I thought about a sticky song, for me it's usually any song by britney spears... you know when you hear a catchy song and no matter how much you try, you can't get it out of your mind?? it can drive me crazy sometimes! I've been stuck with oops I did it again, many, many, many times....
This image is a lady in a class or seminar somewhere, and she's trying desperately to pay attention to what's being said, but somehow she's lost in her world where she's queen, and britney rules!
The text in the green bubble has the song's lyrics and also some thoughts, like for example... "i wonder if she still has that red jumpsuit... but more importat, i wonder if she still fits in it!"...

2006-06-28T11:47:00.000-04:00

Now don't get me wrong, I also love going to starbucks and getting my coffee from the very talented baristas that can make your wishes come true adding all kinds of flavors, caffeine, whipped cream, and even, if you're in the mood, sprinkles!
But I would always enjoy my coffee more if I'm the one brewing it, filling the kitchen with the smell of coffee is a wonderful thing... From choosing the kind of coffe I want (it also depends on my mood) maye a lighter blend for a breakfast coffee or maybe an expresso blend? mmm... and then, choosing the right coffee pot! I have two that I use fairly often, one of them is an italian stove top coffee pot that I still find fascinating to see how it works! it's the kind of instrument I would never put in the dishwasher, I always treat it with respect, washing it by hand.
The only thing about this coffee pot is that I can only make 2 or 3 cups of coffee and sometimes it seems it takes forever to brew.. so now recently a friend gave me a percolator as a present, I loved it! I can brew about 12 cups in one minute!

And then there's the choosing of the cup! One of my favorite parts of my morning! I have a plastic traveling cup for the car, but for some reason it doesn't taste the same as drinking from a ceramic cup, and if you're like me, you might have a favorite one...
Maybe I'm crazy but it doesn't taste the same way.

My percoltor looks like this! very modern looking if you ask me

2006-06-26T16:30:00.000-04:00

Today I just finished this commision! this piece is going to Guadalajara, Mexico, I hope to send it tomorrow. It's called 494, it's based on a caption from a book from Saint Jose Ma. Escriva de Balaguer (the founder of the Opus Dei, to learn more click here) the book is called the way and it's an interesting book full with counsel and thoughts that lead to reflexion.

The requirements from the clients were few, she wanted two small canvases ( each one is 8" x 10") and it's meant to hang in the entrace to the house, so I thought, who can give you a better welcome that Mary!, this theme also suited the client, so I started thinking about the virgin Mary, and the first thing that came to mind was the basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City (wonderful altar!) and of course, flowers (It's customary in Catholic churches in Mexico to give flowers to Maria as a sign of respect) I wanted to try something new so I drew some the flowers by hand, they seem to be glowing for some reason! :)

I liked this theme, it's the first time I've drawn a Virgen of Guadalupe, and I loved the outcome! the little golden squares remind me of the altar in the Basilica, and the flowers, they look kind of mechanical (and luminous), for these I used pieces I found in a disposable camera (inspiration is everywhere)

2006-06-24T18:18:00.000-04:00

i'm not really surprised by this, but i don't really like this writing in english, not that i don't like the language, but i don't feel that I really come accross as i wish, sometimes i feel a little stiff, for lack of a better word... or i feel that i can't find the right words. i think the problem might be i'm thinking things in spanish and then trying to translate as i go, and it dosen't really work so well...or is it "work so good" i dunno....and then there's the thing about the site... it's a little frustrating to realise how little I know about computer programming, I wish I could draw stuff on the site by hand and glue some other stuff manually, I guess I could but I would be the only one to see it! (and i would ruin my computer screen in the process, though it would look pretty...) But not to worry, I'll figure this thing out, and in a couple of weeks I'll have a beautiful site with all kinds of pretty links and cool fonts, oh well, if not, i'll just keep the template like it is since that's the reason they have them for, anyway...
I guess I'm a little sad about Mexico loosing the game today, we were all so excited about it... there's always a next time.

2006-06-22T23:37:00.000-04:00

These are new pieces for my journal series. This one is called "traveling fairies" These two friends are having a great time! where do you think they might be? Maybe a beach somewhere in Greece....or Bombay.
I wanted them to look like they were flying in the sky but they would have none of that, they wanted a beach! so there you go.

For this one I used a real picture, the wings are a from a London map, and a piece of an old 1879 hand written deed from Mexico

This one is called "Fortune fairy" I started this one with the idea of a traveling fairy, she would know everything about foreign currency (since she lives in a bill) and she might be traveling far from home (since she's from Canada, as you can see...) maybe somewhere like China or Japan, but then she started telling me I had it all wrong, she was not traveling anywhere, she was someone else I hadn't figured out yet, so as I kept working on her, she started to give me numbers... lotto numbers!! and that's when I realised... she's a fortune fairy! She always knows the winning numbers though she won't tell you.
Well, maybe if you keep her around, she'll bring you all kinds of fortune...

For this piece I used a canadian one dollar bill, a piece of an old 1879 handwritten deed from Mexico, real insect wings from an ugly thing called cicada (if you want to find out how they look like, go here http://cicadamania.com/cicadas/ )

Also I used tissue paper with stars, and a check stub from 1947 (from my husband's grandfather!)

2006-06-22T17:57:00.000-04:00

2006-06-22T16:51:00.000-04:00

Hello!
My name is Rosa Murillo and I am an artist! Yes! I can finally say I am a working artist... and for a while there I thought I was an architect (which is what my diploma says, anyway) still, architecture is a dear friend, but only in painting and collage I have found true meaning. (By the way, that's me in the picture with the little wings)

I work with collage and acrylics, and different found papers and postal stamps, I've been working on collage for a few years and now I have a few new projects I'm exited about, one of them is a series of journals I'm preparing with different themes, these ones are about fairies and the inspiration they bring

, it makes me smile to think about little fairies helping us without us even noticing them!

This one on the right is called "Writer's Fairy" and I imagine her watching over someone who is writing a great novel so she'll make sure the writer always finds the right words and ideas.

Please come bck soon for updates o new collages, thanks!