VanGoghChica Studio

Hola, friends. It is I — Bimini. Black cat. Muse. Visionary. Creative Director of BiminisBoutique (my mama assists).  My mama, VanGoghChica, has once again handed me the keyboard. She says I have “things to say.” She is correct. First, yes — we are collaborating on my eBay boutique. But let us be clear: I am the Creative Director. Mama handles opposable thumbs and shipping labels.  You may have seen the caricature our dear friend Gracie created of us. We are shown in full art mode. Mama in her collar. Me in my sleek authority. Now, between us, Mama is having another neck surgery this month. Soon she will shed that collar. But honestly? She rocks it. Collar, walker, fierce brown girl spirit — all of it. I approve. Now. The first pieces I have placed in my boutique are very dear to my velvet heart. As Mama’s daughter (yes, species is irrelevant), her concerns are mine. She is the daughter of Peruvian immigrants. A brown baby boomer growing up Spanish-speaking in the U.S. ...

  September 19th is the one year anniversary of my emergency hospitalization for cervical myelopathy that resulted in cervical surgery (corpectomy and fusions). Three months after that on December 27th, I again had an emergency hospitalization and that resulted in thoracic spinal sugery (T9-12) You see, my entire spine has sustained a lot of damage over time; to the point that the spinal compression was severe enough for paralysis and fatality. I ended up having two complicated neurosugeries  (cervical and thoracic) over three months.  I am coming up on my one year anniversary of my first emergency hospitalization/surgery. I want to share with you two different art journal entries I created this year about my recoveries. To hear a much more detailed story with visuals, check out my  You Tube video here.  This first page was made five months post op from my cervical surgery. As you can see, I felt stuck, angry and sad. This was most optimistic...