Blanca Santander's Illustrations

About Blanca Santander in Washington DC by Keri Douglas

2012-02-28T14:08:00.000-08:00

A gentle spirit triumphing over an act of terror, Blanca Santander, a Peruvian children’s book author and illustrator, paints magical scenes from her dreams, her visions sharing a message of “hope, peace and happiness”.

With brilliant colors, whimsical faces and scenes of nature fused with the female body, Santander brings to life the timeless legend of Pachamama, Mother Earth. Santander

draws the viewer into this world filled with loving kindness and warmth. Old and new coexist. Indigenous and contemporary blend into one. Forms of Mother Earth evolve into voluptuous shapes with forests, waterfalls or mountain vistas or one canvas of red flashes of anger at careless human pollution of land and water. Santander’s paintings remind the viewer that Mother Earth is as sensual as she is powerful.

Symbols of ancient civilizations and contemporary faith appear throughout her collection. Santander incorporates the Peruvian Nazca Desert geoglyphs of a monkey, spider, hummingbird, tree and labyrinth together with symbols of the moon and sun. Another canvas, Santander paints Mother Earth with a Virgin Mary medallion resting over her heart. Faith, tradition, ancient legacies and spiritual practices find a way to be present.

Finding comfort and happiness in her art, Santander advises artists, “continue to do your art. Follow what you love, you need to do what you love. Time passes fast when you are doing what you love. When you are exhausted at the end of the day, it creates more energy for the next day. The Universe will help you. You will be happy.”

Santander quietly explains how her life changed after a terrifying experience in the hands of the Shining Path or Sendero Luminso, a terrorist organization known for its violence against citizens in the attempt to establish a communist state in Peru. With a bag of art supplies, a trip into the jungle on a motorcycle, Santander and a friend set up for the afternoon to paint wildlife for a children’s illustration book for a Swiss non-profit literacy project. Unknown to them, they had entered the heart of an area controlled by terrorists and were being observed. The carefree afternoon painting changed instantly when three men approached with weapons and held them hostage for three hours. Arguing among themselves, the men debated whether they were truly artists or working for a foreign organization. With a gun held at her stomach and threatened with immediate death, Santander calmly was able to convince them she was an artist. An artist with a passion to paint the wildlife for children. As darkness squeezed out the remaining light, Santander says “miraculously’ she and her friend were released. Minus their motorcycle though, with their bag of art supplies, camera and documents linking her with the Swiss organization, Santander and her friend began the silent, slow walk home through the jungle. Their walk became a journey through the blackness and certain death to freedom, life.

Seeking to escape the suffering, the sadness and the terror for just a short while, Santander decided to visit her mother. She said she was searching for a “break, to relax, feel free and feel peace”. However, what was supposed to be a brief visit turned permanent.

Now, Santander is proud to be an American citizen and grateful for all that is available and offered to her. Though the immigrant life was challenging, not speaking the language and starting new, Santander overcame these obstacles. Not loosing sight of her own passion for art, Santander waitressed for a couple of years and saved enough money for art supplies to continue with her art.

With resilience, Santander resumed her career in children’s illustrations and painting by holding workshops and organizing local exhibits. Slowly, as more people were exposed to her art, she built a following and is being recognized by Barnes and Noble with a licensing agreement for a tote bag for Hispanic Heritage and most recently received an award from the National Hispana Leadership Institute, Executive Leadership Training and Mujer Award, Washington, DC.

“Balance, think positive and do what you love.” Santander reminds. “Work with

passion, discipline and focus on what you want. Even in these difficult days and economy, there is always a way.”

Now a wife and mother of a ten year old son, Santander is currently working on her first children’s book in the U.S. with the hopes of entering into the U.S. and international book market. Her first book “Sorrentina and the Magic Closet” will be released in 2012.

Santander reflects and says, “For me, my art is from my soul, my heart, my feelings, my dreams and my meditations.” Nothing makes her happier than seeing a child looking at one of her paintings with a smile.

Knowing the amount of human suffering around the world, Santander says her message through her art is for all people to have “hope and happiness”.

Happy Valentines Day!

2012-01-09T21:06:00.000-08:00

The Illustrator

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Since ancient times, illustrations have accompanied, in their singular way, the diverse forms of transmitting ideas and knowledge. Thanks to their use, histories, stories, myths, legends, and traditions have been "narrated" graphically in such a way that we learn from our daily lives.

But (it must be remembered that) the passing written words into graphic form implies an intellectual preparation that occupies the totality of narration by the artist, who blessed with tools and maturity, achieves artistic synthesis in the best way possible through a series of concepts containing literal language, and transforming it into suitable graphics.

In this way illustrations embody not only (un)real events and facts, but also those which are creatively and imaginatively interpreted by the illustrator. In one way or another, the illustrator intellectually prepares for the work that is about to be created. (The illustrator takes upon herself), themes and concepts that provide the language, oral or written, and converts them into a graphic language that is understandable to a broad audience. They may be children, or adults who remember their childhood (as a substantial part of their lives); those who through appreciation of the illustrations discover the dialectical elements that establish sincere communication where narration turns into material fact.

El Ilustrador

Desde muy antiguo, la ilustracion ha acompañado, con sus singularidades, diversas formas de transmision de ideas y conocimiento. Gracias a su ejercicio se ha podido "narrar", gráficamente, historias, cuentos, mitos, leyendas y tradiciones, de los que de alguna manera aprendemos en nuestra vida cotidiana.

Justamente el paso de la palabra escrita al hecho graficado implica una preparacion intelectual que ocupa la totalidad de lo narrado con lo que artista, dotado de estas herramientas y de su madurez artistica logra sintetizar, de la mejor manera posible, la serie de conceptos que contiene el lenguaje literal, transformandolo en graficos adecuados.

Asi, en la ilustracion se plasman no sólo acontecimientos y hechos no reales sino aquellos que son interpretados con creatividad e imaginacion por el ilustrador. De una u otra maneera, el ilustrador prepara intelectualmente la obra que esta por crear, asumiendo temas y conceptos abstractos que provienen del lenguaje oral o escrito y los convierte en lenguaje grafico y comprensible para un amplio auditorio. Pueden ser niños, o adultos que aún recuerdan su niñez (como parte sustantiva de su vida), los que, al apreciar las ilustraciones, logran descubrir los elementos dialectales que establecen una sincera comunicación donde la narración se vuelve un hecho material.

-Writen for me by a friend many years ago.
Blanca Santander

Sorrentina's kitty

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Christmas cards!

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Trim the Tree

Bea & Bernardo

Snowmen

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Blanca Santander's Illustrations:

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Blanca Santander's Illustrations:

Beyond One Language

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United States Census 2010

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