Art Challenge: Ritual/ Routine

When lovely Nadine of tinywoolf declared the theme for this art challenge "ritual/ routine", I knew I wanted to participate. It's such an interesting subject, I thought it would be easy to come up with something good. While I find the concept of ritual to be quite fascinating, I found that when I actually sat down to think about what I would do, I had difficulty narrowing it down to a workable size. I mean, it's a BIG concept; it covers a lot of ground. So I thought looking up the definition might help, give me some clues or spark an idea.

Here is Merriam Webster's definition:

1. :  the established form for a ceremony; specifically :  the order of words prescribed for a religious ceremony
2. 2a :  ritual observance; specifically :  a system of rites
    b :  a ceremonial act or action
    c :  an act or series of acts regularly repeated in a set precise manner

Humans are creatures of habit, as are all creatures, it seems. My dogs will wake me up at the same time every morning, and expect to be fed at 5:00. We naturally fall into forming patterns, of doing things at the same time in the same way over and over again. I would suggest that this saves some part of our brain to think about working out more complex problems, because we don't have to re-think when we're going to brush our teeth every day. Or maybe not.

Rituals are also important to the formation and continuance of societies; we agree to elect our leaders the same way at repeated intervals, we decide on the guilt or innocence of people who break our laws by using a set, prescribed, series of rituals. If we didn't have rituals in place for these things, no society could survive, but would quickly descend into chaos.

 Weighing of the Heart Ceremony, Book of the Dead, 1285 bCE

Based on the definition above, the word "ritual" covers everything from the sacred burial rites of the ancient Egyptians to the "March Madness" college basketball tournament to brushing our teeth at the same time each day. (Just to amuse myself, I thought about making a shrine with a toothbrush inside of it; I know - weird sense of humor!)  So I'm probably thinking about this way too much, but my ideas for this piece just kept bigger and bigger, and I realized there was no way I could do it justice in the short time I had left. In fact, it's really still in the planning stages; I'll share it here as I work on it.

Invocation of Tara

ingredients: map fragment, magazine cut-outs, image transfers, artist pens, watercolor pencils

So I decided to use a piece I had already been working on, which does relate to the concept of ritual in an obvious way. Tara is the Tibetan Buddhist Goddess of Compassion, and rituals to honor her have been performed since the 6th century and possibly longer. According to Wikipedia, "Tārā became a very popular Vayrayana deity with the rise of Tantra in 8th-century Pala and, with the movement of Indian Buddhism into Tibet through Padmasambhava, the worship and practices of Tārā became incorporated into Tibetan Buddhism as well. She eventually came to be considered the "Mother of all Buddhas," which usually refers to the enlightened wisdom of the Buddhas, while simultaneously echoing the ancient concept of the Mother Goddess in India.... Tārā is also known as a saviouress, as a heavenly deity who hears the cries of beings experiencing misery in samsara."

The image of Tara I used for this piece is based on a centuries-old painting somewhere; I have unfortunately lost track of the source. By the way, she is not always green; different aspects of Tara are different colors. Green Tara is one of the most popular.


Be sure to visit Nadine at tinywoolf to find out what the other participants came up with for the challenge. Happy weekend, everyone!

Art Challenge: Room With a View

Lovely Nadine of tinyWOOLF is hosting an art challenge this week; the theme is Room (with a view). An excellent theme, I think, because there are so many possibilities for interpretation.

I found this picture of a door in a magazine, and at first thought I would portray the view I see when looking out my back door. But honestly, it's not a very interesting view since all the trees had to be cut down, and thinking about it makes me sad.  Looking out my back door seemed a bit obvious, and I really wanted to do something more imaginative - give my brain a good workout. Also, I'm trying to develop the habit of never settling on my first idea, trying to push myself further on into new artistic territory.

Inside Out

collage with mixed media, 9 x 6.5 inches

At the time I was thinking about all this, I was listening to this podcast of NPR's Invisibilia, called Frame of Reference.  This is the teaser: "What shapes the way we perceive the world around us? A lot of it has to do with invisible frames of reference that filter our experiences and determine how we feel. Alix Spiegel and Hanna Rosin interview a woman who gets a glimpse of what she's been missing all her life – and then loses it. And they talk to Daily Show correspondent Hasan Minhaj about which frame of reference is better – his or his dad's." It was very interesting, to me, at least, and being an artist, looking at how we frame things seems pretty relevant.

Anyway, getting back to the topic at hand, I was still thinking about the door, and about rooms and views, which led me to thinking about how a room is defined, which led me to the concept of inside/outside. I hope you're not too bored with my rambling little trip through my thought process. (You're probably thinking, Blah, blah, blah, get to the point!) ha!

So I decided to focus on the frame of reference idea, but to flip the inside and the outside; in other words, the inside would be out, and the outside, in. To confuse things even further, there are objects that are inside that belong outside, and vice versa; but then again, which is inside, and which is out? I had a lot of fun playing around with the idea, and I hope you enjoy what I came up with.

For more interpretations of the theme, please visit tinyWOOLF for the links! And thanks for inviting me to share in the fun, Nadine!

Drawing Challenge: Sixes and Sevens

"Sixes and sevens" is a phrase I've heard, but never really gave much thought to.  When I found out it was this week's drawing challenge, I just had to look it up; inquiring minds like mine want to know. According to Wikipedia, "To be "at sixes and sevens" is a British English idiom used to describe a state of confusion or disarray."

The origin of the phrase seems uncertain, but here are a couple of theories:
"The phrase probably derives from a complicated dice game called 'hazard' ....These [originally five and six] were considered to be the riskiest numbers to shoot for ...., and those who tried for them were considered careless or confused."  Wikipedia goes on to say that, "A similar phrase, "to set the world on six and seven", is used by Geoffrey Chaucer in his 'Troilus and Criseyde". It dates from the mid-1380s and seems from its context to mean "to hazard the world" or "to risk one's life". William Shakespeare uses a similar phrase in 'Richard II': "But time will not permit: all is uneven, And every thing is left at six and seven"."

It's Not That Easy

mixed media, 6.25 x 5 inches

I think I understand what it means to be "at sixes and sevens".  About a year ago, I was forced to take disability early retirement, due to stress-related health problems that wouldn't resolve. I don't want to get too serious here, but my whole life suddenly seemed upside-down and backwards. Everything was  uneven and out of balance. I struggled to find some meaningful shape or form to fit my life into, some way to rise above the 'confusion and disarray', and still do at times. I spent a long time 'at sixes and sevens', but am finally starting to make some sense of it. Making art continues to be one of my saving graces.

" All great changes are preceded by chaos."                                ~ anonymous


To see more interpretations of the "Sixes and Sevens" theme, visit our hostess Nadine's blog, tinyWOOLF.