¡Ay, Vanie!

the art, sketches & designs of Vanessa Flores

[ayvanie]

How to make one of the staples of Caribbean/Latin American comfort foods! There are variations on this (as I've come to learn not everyone uses adobo??) but the end result is delicious nonetheless.

[ayvanie]

Commission of a bomba batey in Piñones for my bomba teacher Barbara Liz Ortiz of the Escuela de Bomba y Plena Tata Cepeda in Kissimmee. Barbara dances bomba as her brother and husband play the barriles and her mother, Tata Cepeda, sings.

Tata Cepeda is the founder of la Escuela de Bomba y Plena Doña Caridad Brenes de Cepeda in San Juan, PR, and is the granddaughter of Don Rafael Cepeda, patriarch of the bomba and plena, and Doña Caridad Brenes de Cepeda, a great bomba dancer, choreographer and costume designer and pioneer for changing the way women engaged in bomba dances. The family continues to carry on his legacy as Afro-Puerto Rican folk music ambassadors.

[ayvanie]

Happy Birthday, Breonna Taylor. Your life was robbed from you. We continue to fight for justice for you.

How to demand justice for Breonna.

[ayvanie]

"LADY" the enamel pin is here! 💖 Only 30 pins available on my Etsy shop. Half of all proceeds will be donated to RAICES, which works hard to provide free and low-cost legal services to the underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees. Backstory: In December of 2018, I mailed my dear friend @patihyun a Christmas card and hand-wrote her a note that finished with a sketch of her pets, one of which was the glorious Lady, a senior beagle Pati adopted before she left Orlando. Pati loved it so much, she asked if she could make it into a pin and I obviously had no objections to it so here it is! 

[ayvanie]

Alice in Wonderland Commission

(not currently open for commissions)

[ayvanie]

coming soon to my Etsy shop 🐾

[ayvanie]

Totoro

[ayvanie]

Cloud Strife for the Six Fanarts Challenge

[ayvanie]

special shout-out to Latina moms— such as my own—whose enthusiasm for beisból was passed down to their children, making watching games that much more exciting and/or heartbreaking.

[ayvanie]

Poe Dameron 💓 for the Six Fanarts Challenge 

[ayvanie]

Garnet, the first for my Six Fanarts Challenge

[ayvanie]

lil’ cousins stay connected

[ayvanie]

"Will ye go, lassie, go? And we'll all go together To pull wild mountain thyme All around the bloomin' heather."

Some Irish love on St. Patrick's Day, based on an encounter with a boy playing the penny whistle on one of the Aran islands.

[ayvanie]

Owls enjoying the March winds in the midst of this March madness

Night scenes are still my Achilles heel. I've also been low-key anxious this past week. Stay sane and safe, mi gente. 

[ayvanie]

Say hello to my little friend, Vinny the Pooch

[ayvanie]

Eyes only for you 💐 Feliz día del amor y la amistad Inspired by my school memories in Puerto Rico and an ice cream shop in Yauco— King's Cream

[ayvanie]

jumping on the #toonme bandwagon before I get left behind