Tanya Torres  
Art for Love, Peace and Joy

Painting in progress I wish I had one more weekend day! But it’s back to work tomorrow. I do in a weekend as much as possible, which is never enough, but is more than I was doing before. One brushstroke at a time, I have 3 watercolors and one painting in progress. And 2 drawings. My list was much longer, but I do what I can. The most important action of the day(s) was starting the right way, with meditation and joy to live one more day. When you have been close to death, appr

Today’s drawing of Mary Magdalene My studio smells of the past, of early days in my college’s painting studio, and of old days before fully launching myself as an artist. I closed the door of my studio so the smells will remain a little longer. I don’t think of the past too much, this is just a coincidence, part of 2 works in progress that contain the same materials as those past times. But it’s comforting to find that the memories remind me of the essence of who I am. That

Today’s drawing of Mary Magdalene If this were a drawing for a painting, I would work it and rework it until the eyes lined up, and the outline was clear, and the proportions were better. But it’s just a drawing I made to keep my promise as much as possible of drawing Mary Magdalene every day. It’s also a moment to be in my studio, connect the mind, and remember myself after a long day of work. For that, it’s perfect, even if it is imperfect. There are moments for perfectioni

Today’s drawing of Mary Magadalene Lately, I find myself without words, or at least, only with words that don’t quite fit here. My studio is filled with images of Mary Magdalene, items that remind me of this journey, and examples of routes to explore as I go. I struggle to stay on task because there is so much I want to do and write about, and think about. And then the day is over, I do the best I can, and get ready for another round. It’s not a bad life, but it’s not exactly

Many years ago, I wrote about the tears of Mary Magdalene . It was the last post about the last painting of Mary Magdalene in the first series I painted. The series culminated in her tears, tears of much more than pain. Tears are the main attribute of the Magdalene in art. Her tears tell us about the pain and about the liberation to be experienced when we face love and death. Her tears are transformative. Mary Magdalene’s Tears , oil painting in progress. And it is transform

Today’s drawing of Mary Magdalene [Letting loose.] All day, I have been feeling like something beyond reality has been calling to me, calling me to paint ethereal and surreal images. It’s been a long day, and I have little (time, energy, hunger, desire) left for art. All I have, I gave to Mary Magdalene in this drawing, which is more of a sketch, an incomplete piece that craves color and promises magic. It is in the imagination where Mary Magdalene lives, and from there she c

Today’s drawing of Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene , watercolor on Arches paper, 9” wide by 12” height, 2025. I started this watercolor this week, but was only able to finish it today. It starts with a simple drawing I use sometimes when I want to get some proportions I find pleasing. I remember drawing this “seed” drawing, one of those line drawings that just come out harmonious in a few lines. The image is always a little different even if I use the original drawing as a guide. Watercolor is a medium I use wh

Today’s drawing of Mary Magdalene I’ve been struggling a lot with exhaustion these past weeks, and so I have not been posting daily as I would have wanted. But today I decided it’s been too long and too much exhaustion in the evenings, so I decided to drink some coffee at 3pm. I know that, for me, that might mean a sleepless night, especially since I haven’t been drinking much coffee beyond the morning for the last 8 years, unless it’s the weekend. It’s part of my sleep disci

Mary Magdalene: Meditation with the Earth, Tanya Torres, Oil on Canvas, 18”W x24”H, 2025. I have been working on this painting for several weeks. Each time adding color or detail until it seems finished. It never really seems finished! But it’s got to be all done at some point. It’s time to stop. We tend to look at our completed work as somewhat lacking. It always needs more. But years later, when we come back to it, and reencounter it, we inevitably realize that it was done