Spiegel-Beeld Drawing Challenge: The Unexpected

High at Home

This little collage was unexpected, even to me. It was put together pretty randomly, and when I saw the words that peeked out from the little ad there, I had to laugh. I thought it would be perfect for this drawing challenge, hosted by Spiegel-Beeld: The Unexpected.  Hop on over there to check out the other artists' links!

Transformation 46

Transformation 46

The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only paradise we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need, if only we had the eyes to see ...  No, wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, as vital to our lives as water and good bread.   - Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

It is only when we are aware of the earth and of the earth as poetry that we truly live.  -  Henry Beston, 1935, Herbs and the Earth

Weekly Quick Collage: The Beginnings

The Beginnings

“In every end, there is also a beginning.”
                                                                                              ~ Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty




“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”
                                                                                                             ~ Meister Eckhart



“But there's a beginning in an end, you know? It's true that you can't reclaim what you had, but you can lock it up behind you. Start fresh.
                                                                                               ~ Alexandra Brackens, The Darkest Mind 

Searching For Roy G Biv Again

Last year's search for Roy G Biv was so much fun, I've decided to play again!  Jennifer Coyne Qudeen and Julie Booth are once again hosting this year-long, color-drenched blog hop. As you may know, the R in the mnemonic ROY G BIV stands for Red, the first color in the spectrum of visible light, better known as the rainbow.

It was easy to find lots of reds in the bright store displays during the holidays...

The eye is so easily drawn to all this sparkly stuff...

... the shiny silvers and golds and of course REDs...




The cold weather at this time of year has me missing one of my favorite warm-weather activities...

... Kayaking!

It just so happens my kayak is red...

... as is this small mixed-media piece called Strange Weather...

... and one called Glimpses, which showcases a completely different shade of red.




Make sure you hop over to Jennifer's or Julie's blogs to check out all the other reds!

Transformation 45

I haven't done any pieces for my long-ongoing "Transformations" series in quite a long while, but was recently inspired to add to it.

Transformation 45

My "Transformations" series is strongly rooted in my deep feelings about the magic of nature, and when I look for words about nature, I often look to one of my heroes and favorite writers, Wendell Berry. I leave you here with some of his wisdom.



“The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.”



“It may be that when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work
and when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.”



“So, friends, every day do something that won't compute...Give your approval to all you cannot understand...Ask the questions that have no answers. Put your faith in two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years...Laugh. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts....Practice resurrection.”

Winter Companions

I have been on medical leave from my job for some time now, and so spend most of my days alone.  I do have some company, though. Some are intermittent visitors...

...while others are my constant companions -

 Sebastian,

 Sophie,

Scout,

Arlo,

(I worry about them being comfortable enough, don't you?),

and Sunny (who is sticking his black tongue out at me for some reason!).



Happy days to you and your companions, whoever they may be!

Weekly Quick Collage: Patterns

Patterns

“Perceiving the world as well designed and thus the product of a designer, and even seeing divine providence in the daily affairs of life, may be the product of a brain adapted to finding patterns in nature. (38)”

~ Michael Shermer, Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design





“What we call chaos is just patterns we haven’t recognized. What we call random is just patterns we can't decipher.”
~ Chuck Palahniuk





"Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way."
~ Edward do Bono

New Work: The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper

9.5  x 15  inches

ingredients:  vintage book cover, found objects, cut-outs, lace, vintage ephemera, decorative papers, vintage photograph, feather, pen nib

This piece is based on an 1892 short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an important piece of early feminist literature. In the story, the protagonist is confined to an upstairs bedroom for a "rest cure" for what would now probably be diagnosed as post-partum depression.  She is forbidden to work (she's a writer), and begins to obsess about the yellow wallpaper and what might be lurking behind it, eventually tearing it off the walls. According to Wikipedia, "The story depicts the effect of confinement on the narrator's mental health and her descent into psychosis."

 I've always been fascinated by the story, and in fact, wrote a paper on it in college, wherein I compared the theme of madness in The Yellow Wallpaper to it's use in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.  Gilman's story is a bit creepy, yes, but so well-written, and really gives us a shocking and sad view of how such illnesses were treated back then.

 Some details:

 

 Hope you like it!