I have a sweet daughter who when we meet asks if she could take pictures of me, her eldering mama. I say, Okay, and smile inside my heart. Then I smile for her.
I am so excited about this new theme. Space is limited. Link in bio. orlyavineri.com Transferring Word + Image Introducing poetry to mixed-media April 16-19, 2026  Salem, Oregon Images and words meet in this 4-day workshop. I’ve always
You leave me breathless. Pale, soft, and muted. “…Whatever useless things these hands have done, let me see your beauty broken down…” -Leonard Cohen
My heart was wrung many times. Squeezed out of its generous juices. But still, love remains in tact. There is nothing else left in my bones. I have no ideas how to end madness, maddening grief, fear, or relentless sorrow. I have no money. Only love
February is almost upon us and my workshop here in my space in the Willamette Valley in Oregon is full, good and ready. And then right after, in March, these two are coming, also in Oregon. In Art & Soul Retreat, Portland. Still spaces there&hell
Today on Substack: Only Way Home A poem by friend Corinna Inmann @wyrd_corinnsz I came back from Oaxaca last weekend to our troubled place. With a full heart but also a tiredness, profound and nuanced. I thought: It would be so good to practice
“By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it.” I didn’t say that. Franz Kafka did.
Every day I desire to make things out of nothing. So I can feel myself live. Touch breath.
Kissing the ground walked on.. Little knees quivering right under a hem of a dress. A woman’s hand holding A flower, perhaps a Rose Letting the rest, fall. Going all in, then, all out. Out. Releasing. Clutching. Arriving here again and a
An old picture now reads: I offered the vast sky Not just any Mine But only a star was wanted A little twinkle.
I got back late last night. It was a very long traveling day, and my luggage didn’t arrive with me 🙃🙂 It went somewhere else instead ☺️ But this is about something else entirely, a reminiscence of years ago when I was enamored with Relief Pr
Remnants of presence here in Oaxaca, offerings of fullness, and voids, upon endings, and a beginning of a way back to a place where I normally lay my head on a pillow, to sleep. And realizing… “My life didn’t unfold the way I pl
From A City Like Oaxaca, new on Substack this morning. “…Cities across continents. They confuse in their paradoxical nature, perhaps because they remind me of myself. Or any woman. Anchored in life-giving, yet easily quaked, shattered,
It’s just a surface with some pieces of papers pasted on, some paint smudges, drippings, scribbles, and some gloriously childish marks, of all kinds, arranged on this surface, and rearranged, again and again until satisfying. It’s not t
In constant migration and pretending to blend in. Like anyone else, to belong in this troubled world and its troubled humans. Caption inspired by my new shirt asking: ¿Sabes por qué migran los pájaros? Do you know why the bird
@leighannalight She is my partner in this offering in Oaxaca and I adore her. We are teaming up twice this year. In June, in Taos, NM, again. Here, in a moment of vacancy and a moment of fullness 🤗 She got kindness, sweetness, and generosity. D
Image Transfers and Transformation, Oaxaca, Mexico, with @leighannalight and #orlyavineri Metal sheets, wood panels, plastered papers, elegant silks & plainly woven cottons. All are skins. All absorbent. All waiting to receive traveling and t
Casi luz de luna. Almost moonlight, in Oaxaca, this evening.