Cinco de Mayo Voodoodle

Yes, even Voodoo dolls love to party!

Voodoo Power Talisman

After a serious bout with the flu that precluded me from doodling, I am back with a vengeance. Here is the latest voodoodle. It is a power talisman for Ogun.

Zombie Plant and Voodoo Doll, Baby

Well, it's not a George Bush zombie...but it is another voodoo doll, baby.

Three New Voodoo Squidoodles

This Voodoo Squiddoodle was created for my new lens Voodoo Squidoodles at Squidoo by Gretchen Little. I knew she would do a great job incorporating one of her fabulous hearts with the squid, and I can't wait to put him on the lens Thanks Gretchen!



Here is the same squiddoodle. This time the Oshun's ritual symbol is on the heart. Now it is officially a Voodoo Squiddoodle.



This guy is my new Voodoo Squiddoodle, swimming with La Baleine, who is the Mother of the Waters. My, he looks like a huge phallic symbol, doesn't he?

Voodoo Squidoodles

Voodoo Doll Baby

Here's the latest Voodoodle in the Voodoo-Doll-a-Day series. She's a Voodoo doll baby, one of several who will be part of my Voodoo doll tree I am working on.

Banish, Bind, and Enemy Be Gone

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep - Voodoodle #6

After drawing this little voodoo poppet guy in Photoshop, he looks so cuddly I think I have to make one. I took a photograph from an old cemetary that is near my home and decided to lay the doll on top of the grave. I added a mojo hand, aka mojo bag or gris gris bag. It contains items to bring the dead peace and happiness in the afterlife. This is officially Voodoodle #6.

I realized after placing the number 6 on the heart of this Voodoo poppet, that perhaps this was an subconscious tribute to the family of 6 who were recent murder suicide victims and lived in a nearby town.

May they rest in peace!

Voodoodling with Papa

I don't know what I have been waiting for, but I finally started using my Photoshop program just yesterday. I thought I would try using it to create my next Voodoo doll doodle, or "Voodoodle" as my friend Gretchen Little calls it. So far, I have used Paint Shop Pro for all of my digital art, and though I like it for some things, I was quickly becoming frustrated. I really am an old school artist at heart and all of this digital art stuff is something I am having to get used to.

The first technique I ever learned to do was pen and ink. My father, Don Alvarado, who illustrated several of the Gray's Anatomy textbooks, taught me pen and ink using a quill and ink well. This was many moons ago, before drawing pens and computers graphic illustration programs. I am grateful to have learned this technique, as well as learning it old school style. Taking that technique and attempting to translate it into a computerized digital art form is quite a different experience.

Today's Voodoo doll is Papa Guede, aka Baron Samedi, guardian of the cemetaries along with the barons. Papa Guede is a popular dude in New Orleans Voodoo and you will find his image at ceremonies. Sometimes he makes a grand appearance, dressed to the hilt in a tuxedo, tophat and cane, usually smoking a cigar and sporting quite the potty mouth.

This Voodoodle was inspired by the lifesize Papa Guede found at the New Orleans Voodoo museum. He stands beside the swamp zombie and bedazzles onlookers. I applied pen and ink technique to the doodle as an experiment to see if I could get the effect I wanted. It also gave me some good practice getting used to using the Wacom tablet. I am rather pleased with the result. What do you think?

See this image on a greeting card with a complete ritual inside at my gallery at Zazzle!

Bound Twin Mandrake Roots

The making of Voodoo dolls, poppets, fetishes, and ritual effigies has taken place since antiquity.Poppets can be used for healing purposes, promoting health, finding love, creating happiness and good luck, for protection, for binding, cursing, and to manipulate energy in numerous other ways.

Root poppets can be made out of naturally shaped roots that look like figures, or they can be carved out of root vegetables like potatoes. In the past, they have been made out of mandrake roots or ginseng which can look amazingly human in form.

Mandrake poppets are also called fetiches. Superstitious people were so afraid of its appearance that they would draw a circle around it or tie a dog to the plant to protect themselves when the root was pulled from the ground. It was believed that the mandrake could kill a person from the screams so powerful. The root was worn around the neck.

For more information about poppets, check out Planet Voodoo.

Another Doodle Poppet Voodoo Doll

I can see I am getting in a rut with these poppets. Time to branch out. My next one will be different, though I don't have as much time to do another George Bush Zombie doll. On the other hand, the world of poppets is limitless...and I am having fun mastering the Wacom tablet.:)