Valparaiso, the beauty hidden in hills

Valpo, is what we commonly call the first port city of Chile. Valparaiso, is a place of legends and love stories, for instance, this is where my great grandparents met, and fell in love. Both as European immigrants, they picked Valparaiso, and then Santiago to bring up a family. 

I'm sure this couple must have walked passed Sotomayor square.

 

 I'm sure they must have taken a funicular up one of the many hills.

I'm sure they must have kissed once they reached the top and saw this view.

They might have dreamt about living in this house...

Or living in this one...

Planting a flower garden filled with these...

To see each morning...and water every night...

This love story, will continue to live by the narrow alleys of the hills.

Through all the passages and all the houses.

That love will remain...

Eternal

As Eternal as life and birth and its cycle.

Because we all try to make a living and form a family.

Create a home

Form a community...

Create a network..

Expand our surroundings

And at the end of the day

Life is there to be enjoyed

So look around you

And see all the colors life can bring.

Not all you see is grey.

I have a quote:

"Life can be...

Beautiful,

it's just a matter...

of...

Perspective".

For Walter & Guillermine, 

that couple I never got to meet.

Interactive Mural: Meditation on Loss

This is a mural that I created for the Southside Hub of Production, held in Hyde Park, Chicago.
For more info:
http://southsidehub.org/

I hope, if you are in the area, that you could check it out and interact with it!

Info:

INTERACTIVE MURAL: MEDITATION ON LOSS

MARIA-CONSTANZA GARRIDO

About:

This piece is dedicated to cherishing life and appreciating the people we know. The only fact we know when we are born is that someday we will die. Death is a transition from one dimension to another. For an artist, letting go of the pain and sorrow that the loss of a loved one entails, means to let go of the paint and the painting and allow others to participate in the experience.

Instructions:

Below, you will find finger paint. Open the containers and start getting your fingers dirty. Paint on the pattern, with any color you prefer and on any shape you like. No worries, the bathroom is on your right.

About the Artist:

Maria-Constanza Garrido is a Chilean born, cosmopolitan and polyglot by nature, deeply inspired by the works of fine arts masters such as MC Escher, Vasarely, Klimt and Van Gogh. MC Garrido has just exhibited paintings in Moscow, Russia. In the past, she has worked as an interpreter/translator, production /costume/set/interior/industrial designer. She is a published photographer for Magaz Magazine, has acted in plays and films in Greece, Egypt and the US, and has won a bike rack design competition in Egypt with 350.org and Nahdet el Mahrousa.

September, 2011 – MC Garrido

CC-BY-NC-ND

Video & music :
Robert Beshara

Recycling does wonders

A couple of weeks ago, when in Hyde Park, Bob and I found a chair. It was dark, it was cold, the poor old chair was left alone in the side walk, for the trash men to take. The chair was is a bad condition, the upholstery was torn, the paint was coming out, the screws loose and the overall looked nasty. This is how we found it.

The old lady looked quite crooked, and needed badly a remake. The wood was still in good shape though, and the Asian style of the chair made us fall in love with it.

So I showered it!

I washed all the dirt and took the cushion part off. It had spiderwebs and lots of dust.

We left it to dry for a couple of days, the wood went back to its shape. I painted it white and varnished it. I sewed a patchwork of fabric samples I had left from some Interior Design work, and hand sewed the whole thing. I needed to find some softy new cushion, when I realized I had bought a pound of fabrics at Purl Soho, it had some white felt in there and used it as the cushion!

I had some  tiny nails left over and hammered them to the wood, and fitting the fabric. The neighbor didn't like it. I hear her banging her ceiling with a broom. So I screwed the rest, less noisy. And this is the end result!

Some landscape fabric patchwork!

Don't just throw a good chair away, try giving it a second life, a new use and a good make over. 

You and the chair will appreciate it. 

Enjoy!

ABSOLUTELY VEGAN - Barking Zappa Pumpkin Muffins - Messy Indie Cooking (Baking) Vol.6

So fall is coming to the Northern Hemisphere, and Pumpkins are making their kingly entry to the market. Although, I used the canned pure, you can still take advantage of the season goods. 

Here is the recipe:

• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• Chai powder mix spices (Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger)
• 1 cup pure pumpkin
• 2/3 cup soy milk (Almond milk is delish)
• 1/3 cup canola oil 
• 1/2 of crushed peanuts (walnuts or pumpkin seeds work well too!) 

Preheat oven at 350 F/ 175 C.

 Start by mixing all the "dry" ingredients, flour, sugar, spices, baking powder and nuts. Separately, mix the "wet" ingredients, pumpkin pure, soy milk, oil... Pour the "wet" into the "dry. Mix well.

 

Looking nice and fluffy, ready for the oven!

Off they go for 10 to 15 min in the oven. If bigger these might take up to 20 min. Check with a tooth pick or spaghetti.

And VOILA!

We ate almost all of them in one go!

I also made 4 large ones. The total was 12 small and 4 large.

The Muffin Prince would have been proud! In sweet memory of FZ.

Domino Knitting Hyde Park Pillow

I've been redecorating my fiance's apartment recently, and I thought of making a few handcrafted pillows for him to feel "at home". I got a 1lb bag from Purl SoHo on my last trip to NY, and started mixing the fabrics together. So far I've sown 2 pillows, and still planning the rest. More to come soon!

As well, I got some Debbie Bliss yarn, baby cashmerino, in 4 different colors. I was knitting this pillow cover for the past couple of weeks and I decided to share the pattern with you. It's pretty simple, and all you need to do is keep up with the math. I did this Op-Art pillow.

I learned the technique from Maie Landra's book "Knits from a Painter's Palette". Check out the Klimty Klimt Jacket I made for my mom:http://schizoart.blogspot.com/2011/03/klimty-klimt-jacket-finished.html

Here is my version adapted from the book.

My suggestion is always start with an odd number of stitches, more than 11 would be good to differentiate the colors you are using, Begin by using 2 different colored yarns. I made the big one with 4 colors and I must say the yarn got tangled a couple of times... Here, I made one starting with 29, 53  and the big one with the four colors being 145 stitches in total.

I'm no Pro with instructions so here is my way...

Let's do a sample:

Cast-on 31 stitches. Knit the first row and purl the last stitch on needle. On WS, move 1st stitch to the new needle, continue to knit till 1 stitch before center, meaning, knit 13. 

Decreasing part: As you reach center, place on needle 1 stitch, knit two stitches together and slip the one you moved before on top of them. I know there is a much faster abbreviation than mine. If you know it,  I'll be glad to post it here. ( I think it's sk2p in the knitting lingo)... Knit the coming 13 stitches and purl last one. 

Change color as you begin the RS, knit first row, and purl last stitch. On WS, move 1st stitch to needle and knit 12, make the decreasing in center and knit the 12 remaining stitches and purl the last one.

Change to first color. Continue in this method, keep decreasing till you reach 3 stitches, then bind off. 

There you go. 

 Happy Knitting :)

Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND)

Baking with YumBots - Messy Indie Cooking gone Robotic!

I recently purchased these cool muffin/cupcake silicone moulds from the closing Borders on State. I was actually attempting making apple/cinnamon pancakes but I guess I shouldn't have included the apple in the batter. The pan got stick and so, my Yumbots were the perfect solution.

Eventually, I thought well, if these don't become pancakes, they can become Cupcakes! I baked it for 45 min or so at low temperature.

In the end, I got these sort of apple pie thingies, that were tasty yes, but not exactly what I wanted. 

Anyhow, I just thought I should post the pictures of the wanna be pancakes turned cupcakes but actually apple pies. 

Enjoy.

My first Art Exhibit! WELCOME!

You are welcome to come to my exhibit, opening on the 16th of May 2011, at 7pm,  at the Chilean Embassy in the Russian Federation, Moscow, Denezhnyi Pereulok 7, building 1. 

You can bring your friends and relatives...

Thank you and blessings to all!