Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Happy Holidays/Felice Navidad

Card by Judy Perry of Bisbee, AZ.....

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Serpent Heart--poem and painting.

          


 Serpent Heart

Last night at 30,000 feet
Flying out of Mexico City
Death passed us by

We,
Travelers, migrant workers, homegoers, Oaxaquenos
in an overloaded Mexicana flight going home for the
fiesta of Los Muertos, de Todos Santos.

In that overloaded plane
migrants with their boxes, bags,
their hopes, memories of their tierra,
and families, their hard work left in the US,
the young, middle aged and old,
hearts yearning to embrace their loved ones again.

Me too, una Americana con raices profundo
en la tierra Oaxaquena, impatient to resume my
other life.

Suddenly at 30,000 feet a big noise
vibrated thru the plane like aloud fog horn. 
I’d been talking to the guys next to me.

We stopt talking.
No one said a thing about the noise.
Pues, no pasa nada.

Death passed by, gave us a look.
That heavy Mexican plane
in a heavy clouded sky.
I acknowledged it. 
My physical life could suddenly end.

I found my mala, blessed by Tibetan masters,
and began OM TARE TU TARE ......Tara’s mantra
until I could understand and feel calm
the possibility of passing into spirit.

In my mind's eye, my guru appeared briefly. 
I didn’t want to die right then.
I knew that no one on the flight did either.

They just wanted to get home
to their pueblos, their queridos, the fiesta.

I prayed for all of us. 
I finished the 108 recitations of the Tara mantra
The noise stopped.
We started talking again.

I loved Oaxaca even more when we landed.

Mitzi Linn.....2009

Thursday, November 1, 2012

The Milky Way in Peru

I love this photo, and can see how the Milky Way is a road in the view of ancient Americans.  It's also like a feathered serpent dancing in space--an icon for me. Happy Nov and Day of the Dead to all today, Nov 1. 

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Signs of the Time


I am playing around with a mask from Mexico.  Sorta both Halloween, when we mask ourselves and transform into something else, and a nod for the Day of the Dead with the skeleton mask.  

Hallowmas, a pagan holy day/night (Oct 31) and Nov 1 and 2, the Day of the Dead share roots in our human past.   In the language of initiation, time to journey to the underworld, the inner self, to discover new riches inside.  And time to reconnect with one's ancestors, family and clan members living in the spirit realm. And here in el norte heading into the dark time of winter. 

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Day of the Dead Altars


Altar by Mitzi Linn and Vicky Ayers for Migrant Education at Due Fine Arts Eugene, 1997.  It is dedicated to Migrant workers, for those who died crossing the border to work or died working in our fields.


Altar created by Mitzi Linn called "Pensando en La Muerte" for Maude Kerns Art Center in 2003.  Dedicated to the people of Oaxaca.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

El Dia de los Muertos

Painting in gouache by Mitzi Linn.  Title "Guadelupe Returns"

One of my favorite paintings..the Virgin of Guadelupe encapsuled in a corn tassle or kernal.  She returns to the cornfield of an indigenous farmer who is making a ceremony to honor the ancestors and family members gone on, to honor the corn as sustenance and also one of the people's ancestors.  Candles, an old diety or ancestor, and copal are part of the full moon offering.  She holds the fragile earth in her hands.  She is asking if we really care about our planet.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Autumn in New Mexico




Photo I took of the Pedernal from Ghost Ranch one autumn a while back.




Here's one of Georgia O Keefe's paintings of her beloved mountain in New Mexico. One of my favorite mountains too. Wishing I was near it now near Abiquiu and on Ghost Ranch.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Coyote Woman Flies over Abiquiu, New Mexico

Gouache painting I did after spending some beautiful times in New Mexico. And a salute to Georgia O'Keefe who's presence is still felt. Painting title is "Coyote Woman visits Abiquiu." I love fall in New Mexico.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Photo of the Quetzal Bird.

I grabbed this foto from FB. Such an important bird in the mythology of MesoAmerican ancestors....Sept 5 was the day of the Quetzal....

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Fireworks in Sola de Vega, Oaxaca


The annual festival for their patron saint includes this dance with a dancing toro (bull) with fireworks attached. I love these events, but try to stay a safe distance when involved. I suppose though that getting a little of that irrepressive fun energy in the form of sparks is good for the soul.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Maya Shrine and Guatemalan Daykeeper Ritual Layout

I once visited this Maya shrine. I like to study all kinds of spiritual and religious practices. Photo by Antonio Turok of a shrine outside Chichicastenango, Guatemala. An old diety in stone who is visited during Holy Week. (Pasquale Abaj)
Photo by Ed Barnhart from Maya Exploration Center.......a beautiful offering with the colors of flower petals and candles relating to the directions. In Guatemala these offerings are made in ceremonies at old ritual sites (ruins) at mountain top shrines and other places.


Friday, August 17, 2012

An Urn from a Zapotec Tomb at Atzompa, Oaxaca

Here's a recently discovered funerary urn from a tomb at Atzompa, a site adjacent to Monte Alban and outside the town of Atzompa which is famous for its ceramics today. The urn is colored red. From around 700 of the current era. Beautiful. The Zapotecs created amazing urns to bury with their elite. This is an example. Valley of Oaxaca.


Friday, August 10, 2012

Mi Querida Oaxaca

I took this from FB, a site called YO SOY OAXACA......I love this photo looking up from the Alameda, up Garcia Vigil. Boy, I am homesick for this beautiful and carinoso place in the world and my life.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

La Guelaguetza in Oaxaca--final day Mon July 30

La Danza de la Pina features women dancing with a pineapple. Pineapples come from where these dancers live (Tuxtepec area). The pineapple has to be a symbol of the womb, and this a kind of dance about women reaching puberty.

These dancers are flying. I think they are from the Oaxaca coast area.

Las Casahuates....painting and foto.

Las Casahuates.....a painting series. The painting above has a blooming woman tree, meant to evoke the casahuate trees that bloom in the fall in Oaxaca. My friend the feathered serpent and the bird in the tree top have to do with consciousness raising energy (kundalini), perhaps influenced by that lightning striking the old temple base or dance platform.

A photo of a casahuate bloom. Usually they are full of honey bees.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Mitzi Linn's Studio Sale

Oasis # 5 Gouache Painting by Mitzi Linn

My Studio Sale this weekend in Eugene includes my paintings, cards, reproductions, and folkart collected from Oaxaca Mexico. Email me at
mitzi_linn@hotmail.com if interested.

Monday, July 23, 2012

La Guelaguetza in Oaxaca today

Dancer from San Martin Tilcajete, La Danza de la Pluma

Dance group from the Istmus of Tehuantepec....La Sandunga

Chinas Oaxaquenas.......with their offering baskets....

Images from the Guelaguetza in Oaxaca, taken yesterday I think. From a FB site called La Guelaguetza. I really wish I was there. I love the dances from the state of Oaxaca, and all the connections to their history and hermosa cultura.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

OREGON COUNTRY FAIR...43 years of being FAR OUT

Dear Ms Fantasy play us a tune. It's time for the fair again. Here's Mitzi at her funky booth at the fair. She's had a booth since 1980. Before selling her art reproductions, she used to read Tarot. Photo on blog on right side.

You can find out more about the country fair, the hippy institution, that starts today for the vendors and crews. www.oregoncountryfair.org

OUTASITE......FAR OUT.......COOL.....FUN

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

La Guelaguetza in Oaxaca


In July Oaxacans will celebrate another Guelaguetza in Oaxaca. The modern fiesta started in days before the Spanish conquered Mexico, when various groups from the area got together to dance and trade in honor of the local Corn Goddess.

The Corn Goddess is still honored at the opening of the modern fiesta, held at the auditorium overlooking the city. The dancers and musicians are from pueblos all over the state of Oaxaca--mostly the indigenous peoples -- Mixe, Mixtec, Zapotec--They identify with their pueblo usually, not their indigenous language group. Still, that word is Zapotec--Guelaguetza--and means an exchange of goods and services. This exchange still goes on in the pueblos (towns) when there's a wedding, baptism or some other fiesta.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Jaguars--Ancient Olmec and Modern Mayan

Ancient carvings from the Olmecs of the Jaguar, one of their most represented spirit animals. Below, dancers in Jaguar costumes from a village in Chiapas, Mexico.
According to Walter Morris, who took the photo, these are like the traditional warrior costumes of the Aztecs. The cloth is painted with spots. The masks are carved wood, and worn as helmets.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Heirloom Ear of Corn--Jewels


Isn't this beautiful? Produced from a seed from a traditional Cherokee farmer in Oklahoma but grown by Seeds Trust in Arizona. Seeds Trust is on Facebook.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

April's Flowers

Photo by Lin Reilly. Here's the grand old cherry tree blooming in the Rose Garden a week ago in Eugene. It is a hundred years old I think.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Biblioburros

I love this photo of a lending library on the back of burros going from village to village in Jalisco, Mexico.  Some kids will be really happy about their arrival.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

I'll Never Be Satisfied with Being Dead by Mitzi Linn (Homage to Arya Tara)



My new video. Photo of my Thangka of Green Tara, my art work, some photos. I am singing and playing the song I wrote in the 1970's. Art (c) 2012, Music (c) 1974 (Mitzi Linn's first songbook) Hope you find it relaxing to listen and watch.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Spring in Oregon ?*#?+?

Collage by Mitzi Linn.       Arya Tara #4

Another Buddha image created in the last couple weeks.  I should have gone somewhere sunny and warm this winter.  What was I thinking?  Still, I can imagine myself somewhere with sun shining and moon rising in a clear warm sky.  Perhaps its a pureland? 

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Mexican Buddha (Homage to Arya Tara)

Collage--A-Tara #2 (c) Mitzi Linn

I am creating some collages with my prints and Buddha images taken from a catalogue. It's fun to cut and paste--seeing where this goes. I plan to make a slide show with another one of my own songs using these new images. Kiki called this piece Mexican Buddha. Hum.... Enjoy......

Friday, February 24, 2012

Join the Fiesta in Oaxaca

I love these parades down the Alcala. I can almost hear the umpah band, the drums and see the smiles of the dancers. Next week the International Dance Festival will provide great entertainment for all the Oaxaquenos, and their extranjero devotees.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

El Sol y La Luna Mask.....


Here's an iconic image of Mexico--the sun and the moon. Un imagin iconico
de Mexico. I got the mask in Oaxaca years ago, but it is from Guerrero.
Compre la mascara en Oaxaca pero viene de Guerrero.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Flamenco

Flamenco #1---Gouache study by Mitzi Linn

This is a study for paintings about flamenco, one of my favorite dance forms.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

"Angel's Song" by Mitzi Linn


Music and Artwork (c) Mitzi Linn,1974 and 2012

My latest video with me singing and playing a song I wrote in the 1970's. I uploaded paintings I made since 1990, making them panoramas with iPhoto--that gives the full screen effect with double images.

Angel was a real person in my life at Wolf Creek. Her flip out and then healing affected many of us, her friends and commune mates. The story called "Angela's Metamorphosis" on my other blog Wild Wisdom Highway tells a more complete story. There's a link on this blog with my photo reading Tarot many years ago at the Oregon Country Fair.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Earthblankets--new paintings

Earthblanket #1 gouache painting by Mitzi Linn 15"x 18" for sale.

Earthblanket # 2 new gouache painting by Mitzi Linn.....8"x 18" For sale.


It feels good to be creating some new work now in the new year. I hope you enjoy this post. Wishing all the best in 2012.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Welcome to 2012


An ancient statue of a Zapotec woman embodying a goddess. It was on the cover of a Mexicana airlines magazine some years ago. Another find in my image archives. She's ceramic with red paint. It's a common color called cochinea made from tiny insects that feed on cactus in Mexico. The Zapotecs started Mt Alban around 500BC in the Oaxaca Valley. They inhabited the valley for thousands of years before that. They used hieroglyphics like other ancient cultures in the Americas and the Middle East. Lucky for us the Zapotecs still live in their original homeland.