New Artwork: Happy Birthday, Prince!!

So, today is June 7th.  This is what I call my “Gemini birthday,” because this was the day I was due. However, as I mentioned in the previous blog, I was not born until the 30th.  “How many people weren’t born on their due date?” you may ask.  “How does that relate to their astrological chart?”  Well, I don’t know.  I just like to claim Gemini because it would explain why I have some of their tendencies.  I am a true-blue Cancer but I have a little edge that is not typical of Cancerian people.

Anyway, if I had been born today, I would’ve had the same birthday as His Purple Highness – Prince Rogers Nelson. (Side Note: Allen Iverson was also born today.)

Prince is an idol of mine and one of the most influential artists in my life.  I jokingly refer to him as “my husband,” because he is the prototype – the kind of guy I’d like to marry.  He’s talented, free-thinking, compassionate, graceful, deep, AND sexy.  Did you know he’s a Vegan?  At least, that’s what I heard..

Yeah, we’d be the odd couple for sure.  But we’d have a helluva lot of fun, I’ll tell you that much.   Cuz we’d be on the same page.   Sometimes, the lyrics that he writes make me think he ripped a page from my own diary.

I would love to post them all, but there’s not enough room.  So, my favorite Prince lyrics at the moment would have to be from “Love Like Jazz” on Lotus Flow3r:

Eye want a lover that can improvise
Eye want a lover that can make me cry

Baby eye don’t care what you learned in lovemaking school
U and me we ’bout 2 jam
Make love like the first woman and man
Eye don’t wanna know ahead of time
The notes you play should b a
Reaction 2 mine
Nothing planned or contrived
Then both of us will arrive
At r destination

*Sigh*  All this Prince talk has inspired me to do a likkle sumtin’ in honor of the Purple one…  From his beloved Violet (that’s my middle name, fyi.)

It should be done by tomorrow.  Nothin’ big… a simple drawing in comparison of what I’d like to do for him in the future.  I really want to paint him inna surrealist style… And not from a photo – he’ll have to be my live model.

6/8

I wanted to incorporate the Gemini symbol – those are the Roman Numerals behind him…  and I’m going to use a gold paint pen on those, I guess.  Then I’ll perfect the eclipse behind him.  I always associate eclipses with Gemini – I don’t know why, because they’re ruled by Mercury.  I dunno.

p.s. Please read the following article if you’re into the stars and that type of thing.  I found it very interesting:

http://www.lynnkoiner.com/astrology-articles/neptune-retrograde-2008

I finished!  I’m probably gonna work on it again once I get some natural light tomorrow.  Butfor now, I’ m done.

Oh, that blue planet in his neck area represents the throat chakra.  Read more about that here:

http://www.chakra-colors.com/Throat-Chakra/

Ok, NOW it’s finished.  I think…

Cancer, The Mother of Creation

I was born on this day 31 years ago.  Did you hear that?!  I’m 31 years old!  I think somebody lied ‘cuz I don’t feel a day over 12.

I don’t care to celebrate, but I do find the day of my birth to hold some significance, because I am so much into Astrology.

My sun sign is Cancer, the crab.  Cancer is a water sign, and we’re ruled by the moon. Deep, sensitive, creative and romantic – these are traits that are often associated with people born under my sign.  And they describe me to a large extent.

Anyway, I’m gonna use this time, from now until July 21st, to steadily create and focus on expressing that deep love and romanticism through my creations. Gemini was a time of exploration and freedom, and my mind was opened a little more each day.  I came up with so many ideas, and now I just want to put them on canvas. (Speaking of, here’s a post from Kanye’s blog that I really loved… check it out – http://www.kanyewest.com/home/#/home/page/52/)

Maybe you, too, can use this time to create something.  If everybody used their free time to make something, our lives would be a lot more fulfilling.  ’Cuz we are all gods, and we are all creators in some form or another.

Shout outs to all my Cancerian peoples out there!  i.e. H.H. the XIVth Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Frida Kahlo, Carlos Santana, my sister…  And a big “Happy Birthday” to those born on the very same day as me – Mike Tyson, Fantasia Barrino, Lena Horne (R.I.P.), Buddy Rich and David Alan Grier.  (You see the similarities? ;P)

Patrice Lumumba was also a Cancer, and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium in June 1960.

Poetry for the Gemini

The Yin to my Yang, Miss Essence Marie Mercer, was born on this day in 1979, exactly 24 days before me.  I was actually supposed to be born on the 7th of June, but since my grandmother was out of town, my Mom refused to have me on that day.  I guess she did Kegels or something until my grandma arrived on June 30th, then she let me loose.

Anyway, Essence is sort of like my twin, even though our personalities are like night and day.  I think we balance each other out – she’s taught me to be more assertive and less fearful, while she’s learned to be a little more sensitive and quiet from me lol.

Big shout outs to ALL the Geminis in my life.  You guys are one of my favorite signs, despite the negative things people like to say about you.  Life would be soooo boring if you weren’t around, I swear…

————————————————————————————————

You’re two-faced, they might say

switch like night turns to day

———-

shooting star, here one minute

then the next, you’ve ascended

———-

out of sight, you have flown

left your light, in my bones

———-

see down deep, into my cells

what others miss, you know well

———-

and you’ve taught me to be

like the air, fast and free

———-

Gemini, my best friend

loyal ’til the very end

———-

sure you’re quick to change your mind

but a deeper love, I’ll never find

———-

swear I won’t hold too tight

when you’re ready to take flight

———-

I’ll just sit back and smile

not gonna be in denial

———-

cuz I’m sure of ONE thing

you’ll be back, after while…

————————————————————————————————

Some great Gemini people:

2Pac, Biggie, Frank Lloyd Wright, Prince, Gauguin, El Debarge, Kanye, Lauryn Hill, Marilyn Monroe, JFK, Maxwell, Miles Davis, Lenny Kravitz, Morgan Freeman, Allen Iverson, Johnny Depp…

**Wow… it’s a trip, because I just discovered Diego Velázquez, a Spanish painter, was born on this day.  I was thumbing through a book of “the World’s Greatest Art”  a few weeks ago and I came across this painting by Velazquez.

Then, while I was in Seattle I got inspired by the works of Dali (my sisters have a bunch of books of his work) and when I returned home I watched a documentary on him in which he referred to Velazquez as one of the only “intelligent” painters.  He said painters are usually a little stupid (he excluded himself from that, as well lol.)

This painting tripped me out, cuz the copy that I saw was a little darker and he looked like a American dude with an afro.  Dressed up as a conquistador.  It’s beautiful, though.  *Synchronicity.*

Por mi Essencia… y Geminis todos…

June 7, 1809

Dear Addy,

Greetings in the name of JAH! Rastafari…

I came to your house on the night of the sixth, just as I said I would.  I knocked on the door and rang your phone, but you did not answer.  I had a small gift for you, and this poem that I wrote in celebration of the day of your birth.  You are my warrior, my Sista Queens, and you’ve taught me what it means to be a strong woman.  When I said to shut your mouth because somebody might come along and give you the business, I had momentarily forgotten with whom I was speaking.  Because you are a soldier, and even a 7ft, 300lb man would become fearful if you were to unleash the dragon in their presence.

So, this was written for you.  I hope you grow to be the person you’ve always wanted to be, and I believe in you and everything you do.  (Except for that mean s** – you gotta stop that.)

Yours and only Yours,

Tulip Chappell-Brando

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

if i ever got an oscar

you’re one of the first that i’d thank

’cause you were the first one to get there

the last time my ship sank
++++++++++
can’t forget what you taught

or who you almost fought

vigilantly watching over me

devoted as one could be
++++++++++
i swear, i almost died

laughed so hard that i cried

when you said what you said

can i get in your head?
++++++++++
and see what goes on inside there

free of every restraint

explore light years of deep thought

venture to outer-space
+++++++++
find the place

stars are born

and where ideas are formed

no man has ever been this way

anything but cliche
+++++++++
never met someone like you

anomalous, yes, it’s true

and no one else can make me

do the things that you do
+++++++++++
you are out of this world

not your ordinary girl

rough and rugged, like a mountain

lustrous as a black pearl