Mixed Media: Estella on the Steps

Mixed Media: Estella on the Steps. 8" x 10" acrylics, marker, tinfoil, and decorative tape on canvas board. I met Estella on a trip to Chiapas. She was sitting on a long rise of outdoor steps dressed in a white jacket and pink dress that were a little too large for her. I understood she had come from dwellings nearby where presumably her family lived. She asked me for change. I asked her for a photo, which I promised I would not sell. Sacred, you know. In this mixed media piece I made when I restarted painting during winter, I surrounded Estella with the cacaphony of devotional milagros (miracles). At left is the Virgin of Guadalupe; at right is Santa Muerte, Saint Death, the ultimate arbiter.