Drawing Challenge: TIME

Again

collage on board, 7 x 5.5 inches

I made this little collage for Eric Adama's drawing challenge; the theme was "time".  So much fun to play along - I'm really enjoying this! Please visit Eric's wonderful blog to see how other artists interpreted the theme.


 

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.
                                                                                                                      ~ Albert Einstein

You can't change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future.

                                                                                                                                  ~ Anonymous

Weekly Quick Collage: Touch

Touch

collage on board, 5 x 5 inches

Art is giving yourself permission to translate life. Exactly the way you feel. See. And hear it. Be the artist you are. Give yourself permission to speak your own language.    ~  Nayyirah Waheed

It takes courage to follow your fascinations, wherever they may lead. Yet, creativity demands that you trust and stay on the path despite obstacles.

~ Gail McMeeken

Life has an inside as well as an outside. Consumer culture directs all resources and attention to life on the outside. What happens to the inner life? Art is never a luxury because it stimulates and responds to the inner life. We are badly out of balance.

I don't think of art / creativity as a substitute for anything else. I see it as a powerful expression of our humanity - and on the side of humanity under threat.

If we say art is a luxury, we might as well say that being human is a luxury.

~ Jeanette Winterson

Weekly Quick Collage: Red-shafted Flicker

Red-shafted Flicker

Made from bits and pieces that were lying about on my drafting table and studio floor.  Hope you enjoy, and on this Solstice day, I wish you all a very blessed and happy holiday season!

December Searching for RoyGBiv: Blogger's Choice

We've gone through all the colors of the rainbow and then some, and are now at the last month of the Searching For Roy G Biv blog hop, hosted by Jennifer Coyne Qudeeen and Julie Booth.  For this last post, I've chosen to focus on Gray. A blend of black and white, it seems to be a color that many things turn as they weather and age. Here are a few of the beautiful gray things I've noticed:

I hope you've enjoyed my grays. To see what other bloggers have chosen as their last color, go to Jennifer Coyne Quseen's or Julie Booth's blogs to check out the links!

Seed Story VIII

Seed Story VIII

monotype with mixed media, 3.5 x 2.5 inches

There is no better teacher than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.

                                                                                                                              ~ Malcolm X

Change is a continuous process. You cannot assess it with the static yardstick of a limited time frame. When a seed is sown into the ground, you cannot immediately see the plant. You have to be patient. With time, it grows into a large tree. And then the flowers bloom, and only then can the fruits be plucked.

                                                                                                                       ~ Mamata Banerjee

Weekly Quick Collage: The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye

This little collage was inspired by Toni Morrison's book, The Bluest Eye. Toni Morrison writes, in the most heart-achingly beautiful prose possible, the most heart-breaking stories. Rather than tell you what it's about, I'll let the author do that.



"Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window sign - all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured. 'Here,' they said, 'this is beautiful, and if you are on this day "worthy" you may have it.'" (pp. 20-21, Morrison)




"Dandelions. A dart of affection leaps out from her to them. But they do not look at her and do not send love back. She thinks, 'They are ugly. They are weeds.' Preoccupied with that revelation, she trips on the sidewalk crack. Anger stirs and wakes in her; it opens its mouth, and like a hot-mouthed puppy, laps up the dredges of her shame. Anger is better. There is a sense of being in anger. A reality and presence. An awareness of worth." (pg. 50, Morrison)



"I thought about the baby that everyone wanted dead, and saw it very clearly. It was in a dark, wet place, its head covered with O's of wool, the black face holding, like nickels, two clean black eyes, the flared nose, kissing-thick lips, and the living, breathing silk of black skin. No synthetic yellow bangs suspended over marble-blue eyes, no pinched nose and bowline mouth. More strongly than my fondness for Pecola, I felt a need for someone to want the black baby to live - just to counteract the universal love of white baby dolls, Shirley Temples, and Maureen Peals." (pg. 190, Morrison)



If you like great writing, read it. But I'm warning you, it may break your heart.

Prayer Flagg VII

Prayer Flag VII

2.5 x 3.5 inches, monotype with mixed media

Another little piece in the Prayer Flag series. Hope you enjoy it!

Weekly Quick Collage: Presence

Presence

collage, 9.5 x 6 inches

Inspiring words about being present:

Seed Stories V and VI

I mentioned before in a couple of posts that my three miniature pieces from a traveling exhibit called Tripletta were sold, and that I was working on pieces to replace them. You would think that making something 2.5 by 3.5 inches would be easy, but apparently it is not, at least for me. I'm having a hard time getting inspired to make more pieces on the Seed Story theme, which my original pieces were based on. I suppose it's not strictly necessary that I continue that theme, so I made some pieces that I call Prayer Flags (here, here, and here), which I may send to the show. But I'm also trying out some Seed Story pieces, just to see which I like best.



So here are a couple of new Seed Story pieces. See what you think:

Seed Story V

Seed Story VI

All of these pieces are monotypes with mixed media, by the way. So, what do you think? Do you like these better than the Prayer Flags? Thanks in advance for your opinion/help!

Come Walk With Me

Come walk with me along the path above the Kinniconick Creek on a magical wintery morning...

Looking through the trees, down at the swirl hole from behind the cedar cabin....

... though it's late fall, the moss is still green...

We can look down at the swirl hole, the point, and the island...

We begin to walk downstream from the swirl...

  

Gazing out across the creek, we see the tip of the island, with mountains behind...

On the island, you can see the sunlight gleaming on white sycamores...

...which echo the shape of the mountain beyond...

Hemlocks and mountain laurel stay green all winter...

The water level is low at this time of year; there hasn't been much rain.

This view is from down behind the "back yard", in back of the log cabin...

... heading a bit further downstream, with the creek always to our right...

I love the huge beeches and hemlocks that seem to guard the path as it overlooks the Kinniconick...

Looking across again, at the island...

We continue to head downstream...

 We've now climbed down the embankment to the creek level, and stand looking upstream...

... and downstream one last time as we climb back up to the path above the creek...



Thanks for joining me; I hope you enjoyed the views. This post is dedicated to my dear friend Ken Lobitz, who owned this land at one time, and built the cedar cabin; I was inspired his recent blog post about pathways at Shabowmekaw.  To find out more about this magical place, I strongly encourage you to read the other posts at Ken's beautiful blog, Kinniconick Reverie.  Ken has some wonderful stories to tell.