Weekly Quick Collage: Kwan Yin

Kwan Yin

collage, 6 x 5 inches

The goddess Kwan Yin, also known as Guanyin, Kwannon, and many other similar names, is ubiquitous among Asian religions. According to Wikipedia:

"Guanyin is an East Asian deity of mercy, and a Bodhisattva (an elightened being who vows to reincarnate until all beings are enlightened) associated with compassion as venerated by Mahayana Buddhists. The name Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means "Perceiving the Sounds (or Cries) of the World". She is also sometimes referred to as Guanyin Bodhisattva^. ....

...It is generally accepted among East Asian adherents that Guanyin originated as the Sanskrit Avolokitesvara. Commonly known in English as the Mercy Goddess or Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin is also revered by Taoists as an immortal. In Chinese folk religion there are mythical accounts about Guanyin's origins that are not associated with the Avalokiteśvara described in Buddhist sutras."



As an aside, I'm honored to say that my artwork has been published in Alisa Golden's lovely literary magazine, *82 review, issue 3.2. Check it out here. Many thanks to Alisa for the honor.

Weekly Quick Collage: Definite Integral

Definite Integral

collage, 5 x 4 inches

“She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful and life was so short.”
~author unknown

“Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it.”

~William C. Durant

The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.

~ Charles DuBois

Weekly Quick Collage: Dream

Dream

collage on board, 7 x 6 inches

“And I learned what is obvious to a child. That life is simply a collection of little lives, each lived one day at a time. That each day should be spent finding beauty in flowers and poetry and talking to animals. That a day spent with dreaming and sunsets and refreshing breezes cannot be bettered.”

~ Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

For me, time is the greatest mystery of all. The fact is that we're dreaming all the time. That's what really gets me. We have a fathomless lake of unconsciousness just beneath our skulls.

~ Anthony Hopkins

Another Little Book

I have made another little mixed media book about my emotions and thoughts as I go through this time.  This one has fewer words, only the embroidered words "endure", "hope", "gratitude" and "peace". I'm not sure what this book format is called, but it's basically an accordion book in which you glue every two pages together, thereby making more traditional "book" format; this one has only 8 pages total.  I then made a cover and glued that on, making each page 2 papers thick. It is constructed of Rives BFK.

 front cover (page 1)

 pages 2 and 3

pages 4 and 5

pages 6 and 7

back cover (page 8)

Indigo

Once again we are searching for Roy G Biv (the colors of the rainbow) with our hostesses Julie B. Booth and Jennifer Coyne Qudeen.  The color for June is indigo, which is described as, "One of the colors of the rainbow, indigo — a dark purplish blue — gets it name from the indigo plant used to create the indigo dye."

I found this chart of shades of indigo on this site.  It goes on to say:
"Indigo appears between blue and violet in a rainbow. Purple grapes and blueberries are indigo. The deep blue of dark denim blue jeans is indigo.
Indigo is a deep, purply blue with some indigos having more blue or more violet."



I had trouble finding real-life examples of indigo, so I therefore turned to some of my artwork for help!

Dimensional Shift

 Balance

Crow Creates the Night

Ancestral Ground

Chrysalis II

Please go to Julie B Booth's and Jennifer Coyne Qudeen's blogs for links to see more indigo.

Weekly Quick Collage: Uncertainty

Uncertainty

collage, 6 x 6 inches

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
Delicious Ambiguity.”
― Gilda Radner

“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart.
...live in the question.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke

 “I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here. I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell.”
― Richard P. Feynman

SOS ART 2015

SOS ART 2015

a community art show and event of creative expressions for

Peace and Justice

May 29 – June 7

@The Art Academy of Cincinnati,

                                  1212 Jackson St, downtown OTR Cincinnati



A piece of my art is included in this exhibit  at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Here is part of the article about the exhibit from River City News:


"More than 200 regional visual artists, literary artists, musicians, and performers will participate in the 13th annual SOS ART, both exhibition and a series of events that provide a forum for sociopolitical expressions of peace and justice through art. It features paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos, installations, poetry readings, movies, music, performances, and discussions on current issues of peace and justice.

Look for powerful and diverse statements in support of justice and peace locally, nationally, and globally – and a serious artistic conversation from Northern Kentucky artists.  

Sharmon Davidson’s mixed media calls attention to the inadequacy of out mental health care system. The Taylor Mill artist’s starkly titled “Mental Illness in America” addresses, she says, those suffering silently and others who are now homeless."



Unfortunately, I did not have time or the opportunity to take a photo of the piece, but will post it as soon as I get one.  This exhibit is well worth attending if you have a chance.