Another birthday rolls around. 63!

Walk Among the Stars, ATC, mixed media, 2025 dlRomero

I turned 63 recently and have been celebrating Deb Fest all month. Jelly pedicure, massage (my first since my spinal surgeries!), good food, new art supplies. While I try to act gracious about my aging, inside I cringe. But as they say in 12 step: Fake it 'til you make it.

I do dye my hair, wear makeup, wax and choose to be on HRT. I am a queer femme. (alpha  twist) It is going to be interesting to age while retaining my youthful energy and sensuality. Also, I have the added burden (yes, I say burden because that is how I feel about it now) of living with disability.

Female, brown, queer, 60+ and disabled in the US... I am going to have to really dig deep to transcend the mainstream expectation of what that looks and acts like.  There are not that many examples. 

My first step toward age acceptance was to take an honest assessment of what I need to live fully. My walker, HRT, lube, beauty salon (in my case I go to the Aveda School for inexpensive services), low heels and comfortable clothes, medication. physical therapy. These are but a few of the things I now need to live comfortably. Then, and only then, am I being creative to embody those new living tools with a style that reflects my inner goddess. She is sassy, sensual, colorful, loving and creative. 

You would think that this order would be logical, but no. I kept putting my first step as employing items and practices from my younger days. I keep rejecting my walker; but until I know I do not need it anymore, I have to proceed as if I will continue to use it. I also have difficulty accepting that I need to leave behind any type of higher heels.  I was not a stiletto girl, but I definitely liked a wedge or cute sandals with a little bit of heel. But since my spinal surgeries and RA, I my joints need the stability and comfort of low heels. 

I do think I have great legs, but I'm not one for short shorts or skirts anymore. 

One good thing is that I never once felt frumpy wearing glasses. I love frames like other women love to collect shoes. I notice frames on other women and I comment and engage in chitchat around it. When I was actively dating, I would go to a few singles functions or happy hours and men there told me I had a sexy librarian vibe because of my glasses. I thought OK, great. If that works for you, it works for me. Women did not say such silly things.

I took this photo of myself last week before we went to Bahama Breeze, where I toasted my birthday with Bahama Rita's, my favorite cocktail. Initially, I was delighted. I like the colors and my smile. But a quick second later, my attention zoomed onto my softer jowls and neck. I wasn't going to post this picture but then I thought about it and thought hey this is how I look at 63. My neck and skin is creepier and looser. And it is still a nice portrait. The colors, the large earrings, the lipstick and highlighted curls. I felt cute.

Maybe because I had aging on my mind, I made this ATC of an older woman jauntily walking with beautiful red skirt and her backpack. I placed her in a cosmic setting and call it "Walking Among the Stars". Wouldn't you know it, clipart images of older women  enjoying themselves in creative, lovely ways are scarce. When I did find images, they were always of white women and drawn in a caricature style that was more comical than lovely. There are some images of older black women that are elegant, often with a religious angle. Forget about finding any using assistive walking devices.

As a crafty mermaid, I am part of a community which shares ATC's and makes paper mixed media together. Literally all the art that I see in this community features cutsie images of young people with lovely sentiments, a la Lifetime movie style. Hey, I watch Lifetime movies occasionally, but only in small doses. I cannot take the sanitized, saccharine settings and storylines. 

I am trusting that my art will find its own niche market. I want to highlight older women living with integrity and flare. Also issues that I consider important to my life as well as our times. I hope to get as old as the woman depicted in my ATC. And I hope I am as whimsical, fun and expressive as my lady walking among the stars.

Kokopelli

 #LindysChallenge25 ⁠

This is my first entry in a Lindy's Gang's monthly challenge. It is pretty simple as I don't have a lot of supplies yet. The March challenge was to use two Lindy's gangs products and incorporate rubberstamps and music. 

I chose a depiction of the southwest indigenous icon Kokopelli, dancing and playing his flute. I hope to bring indigenous elements to my mixed media works as I am half indigenous from Peru. But wow, trying to find stencils or stamps of Andean indigenous motifs is very hard. I have actually found none. Thus I am portraying another indigenous motif from North America.

Although trained as a painter, I enjoy paper crafts. From card making to art journaling to mixed media. This art journal page utilized Lindy's gangs spray paints and powder pigments, along with rubberstamps and a stencil. 

If you are interested in working with such materials, I encourage you wholeheartedly. It is so much fun.. All you need is an imagination, playfulness, and a workspace. Enjoy a 10% discount on Lindy's Gang products with my link. Use my discount code at checkout: DEBORAHSFL

Resistance in Bloom

I created this 12”X12”mixed media canvas inspired by the brave Palestinians living in horrific conditions while enduring a genocidal onslaught by Israel. I look at videos by people one the ground there and am heartbroken and enraged. One thing stands out to me within their misery; and that is the Palestinian people’s perseverance to still display their culture and joy for life. Amid ruins, you see them in groups dancing their Dabke and cheering each other in joyful expressions. Facing famine, Palestinian chefs, living in tents, are making videos of how they cook versions of Palestinian dishes with whatever food they can forage. Their determination to survive is expressed in everything they do. 

This art piece consists of collage, acrylic ink and paint, pencil and gelatos.

I went for a grungy background with muted keffiyeh designs floating on surface. I included two black bullet holes. I overlayed this with collaged brilliant flower petals, symbolizing the joy for life coming through. I scribbled messy black outlines over my flowers. 

Although I initially saw the piece being about the Palestine struggle; while creating it, I realized it also speaks to all people enduring battles and not just surviving but thriving. And for me, it really hit home regarding my struggle as an artist living with aggressive RA.

You see, I wanted to create floating flowers over the background that would really pop. So I cut each petal out of vibrant papers I had painted and printed.

But my hands were not cooperating. Due to my RA, my hands and fingers are very stiff, painful and I have lost dexterity. Cutting and gluing the flower petals was very difficult. Just holding paintbrushes and such  results in constant drops. It was maddening.

But I persevered. I took more breaks and it took longer than before. My art is my version of brilliant flowers floating over my private war zone. This piece also speaks to all people who choose to celebrate joy and spread love while dealing with their own struggles. If you like this piece, you can buy a print of it in my Etsy shop.

When I feel defeated as an artist by my body’s inability to move pain-free or with my loss of hand dexterity, I often draw inspiration from the life of renowned Impressionist painter Pierre-August Renoir (1841-1919).  Few people know that in the last several decades of his life, Renoir lived with debilitating rheumatoid arthritis. At a time when little could be done to treat the disease, Renoir, confined to a wheelchair, used his own ingenuity and positive thinking to devise and build contraptions that would hold the paintbrush to his crippled hands. 

Over 200 of his beloved impressionist paintings created during these years hang in museums around the world. He is one of my heroes.