Recently I got commissioned to create a design for the All Souls Procession here in Tucson.
At the beginning, I was asking myself a question: "what vision would be the most perfect creative expression of the essence of this celebration"? In the vision that came through I was inspired by the Aztec dancers and their headdresses, also my inner journeys beyond the veil.
For me the main point here is about being able to experience ourselves beyond our limited egoic consciousness, embracing our shadow, the unknown, as part of ourselves. Beyond all the masks of appearances it's ultimately one spirit expressing itself creatively in a multitude of different ways. Physical manifestation is just the tip of the iceberg of who we truly are. We are just the vessels for the divine intelligence flowing through us. Life's journey is to me about learning how to trust it. Allowing the flow and not resisting it. The greatest art is being born when you surrender and you are able to move beyond the control of your conscious conditioned mind, being able to experience from your heart and expanding into the infinite possibilities.
At first, I created an oil painting on top of a gesso panel, then another version of it with inks on paper. Next, I played with both in photoshop to create the final design.
This project turned out to be the ultimate test of my theory about moving beyond the ego, after seeing how your vision can get distorted when someone else is trying to turn your art into a vector!;p
I decided to use it as a precious gem of learning and taking things in my hands, mastering a very precise art of vectorizing from now on!!;)