I woke up this morning and focused on this book jacket cover with the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe on the cover. I was mesmerized by the simplicity of her face, the decorative aspect of the illustration and the wonderful iconic gesture that she had and figured I would do a bit of googling for fun. Turns out, this Virgin is from the same template as the other Virgins of Guadalupe--with the hands always in the same place, the veil describing her figure, sometimes a red dress, sometimes not...always with the spiky mandorla...a true, almond shaped mandorla. I came across this very interesting website, Catholic Home and Garden from a woman who has merged her love of quilting with her faith and creates these prayer quilts. She shops online...either on ebay or online stores with some very interesting results. Love the palettes (as you scroll down the page)-- and the sheer vibrancy of the images. I just tooled around ebay, and yes, there is a great selection of fabric (by the yard and 1/2 yard cuts). Who would have known?
And now, I need to soak all that in. Then I started searching retablos or exvotos and came across this:
eBay seller Granconopio is offering another superb octopus-related ex voto. Here's the translation:
When I left to fish the sea of the dawn was as a silent puddle of fused silver calm and quite, but sudenly I felt that my boat shook and from the waters an enormous octopus came out and I saw in the paleness of the moon how tentacle by tentacle it climbed to my boat. I invoked the Virgin de Guadalupe because the animal was dangerous and my boot staggered, I heard a fly of wings and I saw as two birds flying around the octopus that tried to sent them away without getting it, until very annoyed it rushed again to the sea , in that moment the first gold of the sun melted with the silver and in that gleam I saw an angeles miracle that went away flying and I thanks.
Here is a link to those offered today on ebay>>
I really dont know what this has to do at all with anything...just that it ran through my brain and thought this curiosity might amuse you too.
Double downpour yesterday. Need to call the school and review this years schedules. Work beckons.