Yemeya rules over everything that is connected to the sea. She is the sea. She is the ocean - she doesn't just live there, that's her. And when I go there, it is always difficult to comprehend how beautiful and enormous she is. Yemaya is the patron of sailors and fishermen and protects those against drownings. Yemeya also rules over all women and all their affairs. Her colors are blue and white. Children of Yemeya are very strong, severe and willful. They are serious and maternal (even in the men). Family minded and protective over the young. Her children may be very forgiving but never forget the offense. They are also very fond of luxuries and the finer things in life.

So the way I visualize these collages I'm doing... they are going to be in a long horizontal frame of photographs and painting. I like combining those two. I want to mix different images of Yemaya and Aphrodite with the ocean and crazy waves. I don't want it to look surfer though, it's tough because I do go a bit crazy for the huge waves. They make good backgrounds to paint on...

I want to build a ledge along the frame and have candles lined up below it...I got the idea to do this kind of altar painting in Montreal except I wanted to make a lightbox and have a huge photograph of the ocean inside of it with the words "breathe" faded into the ocean. This collage is going to have big globs of blue paint and not be electronic, but the next one might.

I met a woman on the bus this week who went to the ocean to play in the waves like she did when she was a litle girl. She was telling the story about her ocean day to a little girl sitting beside me..... I listened to her talk about playing tag with the waves and getting sand and salt all over herself and how it feels so good after a day of that.

Yemaya is the great mother goddess of Santeria; the maternal force of life and creation. She is said to be the mother of many other Orishas, and is believed to live in the ocean. In Brazil her devotees set up elaborate beach front altars each New Year's Eve, setting out food and candles to be washed away by Yemaya with the morning tides. I love this image of offerings getting washed away .. on my first trip back to ocean beach (after being away from the ocean for over two long years) you know what I brought? Krispy Kreme donuts with pink icing and sprinkles.