“En el Muelle de San Blas”

Artist Diaries

12/23/25

This piece is a combination of test color samples that I separated because they shared similar color or rhythm techniques. I trimmed most of them except the center piece that always called my attention. Reminded me of a wooden project I did in collage, and I still have, which is also in layers and placed to symbolize and honor the contour of the woman’s body. The un-cut sample also reminds me of a song by Mana “En el muelle de San Blas”. The song is about a devoted woman that every day waits in a pier for her loved one to come back surrounded by the sea. This center sample seemed like a lost soul waiting for something.

I decided to unite the samples by cutting them into 3”x3” squares. While cutting everything by hand, I started to imagine a wave of tiles and not in a coordinated pattern. Might be a simple solution to having a number of papers with not enough squares to do an intentional pattern. I played with the layout the rhythm and liked the idea that “the sea” from the song coordinates with the colors from the samples. On the left side of the piece, dark means sorrow, and on the right light means hope. Left on purpose the raw corners of the center piece to represent the “unfiltered” emotions of uncertainty.