The Madonna is often displayed on Dia de los Muertos alters. It is believed she will assist in communication with dead loved ones. In my painting I’ve featured her as graffiti, placed on an old brick wall. She is clothed in purple, symbolizing mourning. A raven flying past the wall delivers marigolds to her. The marigolds will then guide the dead’s spirit to their loved ones through both their aromatic scent, and vibrant golden color—a color featured on the Madonna’s halo and carried throughout the painting.
My Southern Louisiana roots are steeped in the many forms of “speaking to our dead”. Thus, Dia de los Muertos was easily tucked in to my ritual of celebrating my deceased loved ones. I knew I wanted to incorporate the Madonna in a Dia de los Muertos painting, but it wasn’t until I had the privilege of visiting Italy for the first time that the vision of this painting began to take form. While I was surrounded by ancient, and amazing works of arts, it was the street art that most inspired me. When I came upon a graffiti piece in Venice and discovered it was created by Banksy, the vision for this painting was complete.
It has become tradition that I dress to match my painting. Here are some of the photos from past exhibits.
If you’re looking to enjoy many beautiful pieces of art from all walks of life this is one event you should not miss! You can catch my work showcasing at New Zone Gallery along the way.
Join us February 2023 to experience the “Mystical Realms” only Meco could create, woven from her words and expressed in the brushstrokes of color on the canvas.
Meco’s (Cheryl Owen-Wilson) show will take you from the mystical aura of what can be seen with your own eyes to fantasies of other worlds where pianos are played by phantom fingers, and hearts crawl along tiled floors.
The writing bug first snagged Cheryl through her penning of a personal essay, for which she received an award and publication. However, today fiction is what drives her writing, with an emphasis on Southern Gothic. Since her roots are buried deep in the bayous of Southern Louisiana, it is a natural fit.
Though she now calls Oregon home, she visits her Southern family often. The theme of family and all it entails are prominent in her fiction. She remarks, “They say write what you know.
I’m the mother of six girls and one boy. That fact combined with the steeped in mystical beliefs culture in which i was raised have given me an abundance of stories to draw from. My grandmama was a believer in voodoo and practiced the every day forms such as creating love gri-gri’s (charm pouches). My great -grandmama cured me of a reoccurring bout of warts on my hand by using a throw away aluminum pie tin, a candle and holy water; the warts never returned. Writing gothic tales, featuring the dead, is quite natural to me because in the South we live with our dead. They walk beside us and talk to us daily.” When not visiting the mysteries of her childhood home she also writes fantasy and science fiction.
When she is not writing, you will find her at an easel covered in oil paint. “When I write I usually have a picture in my mind of a painting to go with the story. The same holds true when the picture of a painting forms in my mind. It’s usually followed closely with an idea for a story or poem. I am one of the contributors to the ShadowSpinners blog post and was greatly honored when asked to provide my vision for the site in the from of an oil painting. You can view it along with my blogs at https://shadowspinners.wordpress.com.”
If you’re looking to get a little lost in the Bayou’s dark tales
Veya Marie St. James has vowed to never again set foot on the Island of her birth—a strip of land buried deep in the swamps of southern Louisiana. Her childhood memories are rampant with ancient superstitions and the bizarre rituals of her estranged mother. Veya long ago rejected that life and those beliefs, but when a mysterious illness threatens her daughter’s life, it all leads to the Island. Veya swore she would never go back, but the Island calls to her, and now it’s calling with her daughter’s voice.
This collection of short stories is brought to you by the writers of ShadowSpinners, a collective blog dedicated to exploring the darker side of fiction. Join us for a journey through the shadows. Wherever you end up, it is sure to be fascinating. Within these pages you’ll discover a wide range of genres, from literary to fantasy to horror and beyond. Humorous, terrifying, thought provoking and strange, but never predictable, these twelve stories explore the hidden corners of human experience.
Writers are wordless in very few instances. But in the case of a friend gone too soon, a writer who will never be replaced, it’s hard to find words. Yet there is much to write. And for Stephen T. Vessels, a man who defied categorization, we all of us, had a story to write for him, printed here with one of Stephen’s last and best stories, now published for the first time, The Ki Trees. So what exactly is The Fifth Fedora? In its simplest terms, it is an anthology of stories inspired by the work and persona of Stephen. He was a man known for many things, the least significant but most iconic of which may be the fedoras he liked to wear, if not his abiding love of Scotch or the fifth dimension he appeared to inhabit, defying all attempts to induct him into the time stream of mundane mortals. His own stories, likewise, defied generalization. Some fantasy, some sci-fi, some noir, a delightful mélange of tentacles and detectives and albino alligators lurking in post-apocalyptic sewers. And so here we’re happy to represent stories that Stephen himself might’ve liked to read, such as “A Million Lost Souls Plus One” by Christina Lay, co-founder of ShadowSpinners Press. “Fallen Angels” by Max Devoe Talley, author of Santa Fe Psychosis.“ From the Journal of Dr. Eduard Charivari” by Monte Schulz, author of Metropolis. “It’s Up to You” by John R. Reed, author of The Mole Train. “Unrequited Loss” by Elizabeth Engstrom, author of When Darkness Loves Us. and contributions by Stacy Allen, Zane Andrea, Jack Eidt, Avery Faeth, Maryanne Knight, Chris Casey Logsdon, Cynthia Ray, Rick Shaw, Silver Webb, Frederick Williams, Cheryl Owen-Wilson, and Eric Witchey.
My most recent Day of the Dead inspired art, Dia de los Muertos–Fortune Telling, was juried in to Maude Kern Art Center’s Dia de los Muertos annual show in Eugene, Oregon. Opening Reception is October 12th, 2018 from 6 – 9pm. The show runs from from October 12th – November 2nd. Below is the website to Maude Kerns website so you can check out their many amazing events.
It has become tradition that I dress to match my painting. Here are some of the photos from past exhibits.
I’ll have my newest piece of Day of the Dead inspired art shown at Maude Kerns Art Center on October 14th, 2016 in Eugene, OR. Below is the website to Maude Kerns website so you can check out their many amazing events.
I’m proud to have two illustrations in Stephen Vessels collection of Science Fiction/Dark Fantasy Tales. The book title is “The Mountain & The Vortex and other Tales”. I will share the link regarding the book. Below are photos of my paintings both on canvas and in the book. It was most fun creating a visual illustration for Stephen’s dark stories. I’ve now read all the tales and author Elizabeth Engstrom was quite right when she said, “Stephen skates gracefully on the thin ice of genius in this superb collection.”
It has become tradition that I dress to match my painting. Here are some of the photos from past exhibits.
Portal Home, is a combination of surreal and nebulas painting genre.
This is one of my newest paintings. It is an oil on canvas print. If my muse had a world, this is where she would live.
MeCo Visions 