Dreaming the Polar Bear

Last night I had a dream of a polar bear looking deeply into my eyes. There was no aggression or fear attached to the dream.

The polar bear gave me the impression it was trying to communicate something very important, but all I could focus on was the fact that I was looking at a polar bear.

I’ve had previous dreams of black bears mainly because of an encounter with one as a young adult, and as a child I had several dreams of a brown bear chasing me. On the advice of my mother, I made friends with it and the dreams stopped. Otherwise my bear dreams have been mostly positive.

I was told that dreams of bears may represent our need to attune ourselves with the energies of the earth, helping us heal the imbalances within our bodies and spirit. To look within ourselves for the answers we seek and embrace the cycle of life, death and renewal, which is easier said than done.

Here is a sketch of the polar bear from my dream.

Bear, Owl & Wolf Sketches

The Legend of the Scarecrow

The Legend of the Scarecrow by Carlos Lascano is an incredibly beautiful short film. It is a poignant film of how the life of a scarecrow changes when he decides to become friends with the birds. You can see more of his short films on Vimeo.

The Legend of the Scarecrow from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

Another Hot Day

We are having another hot day, along with a lot of smoke from the fires burning here in Northern California. My heart and prayers go out to all those people affected by these fires.

Whispering Wings – Combined Media – 6 X 10 inches

Sorry the image doesn’t show the detail of the hummingbird very well.

“Long ago the trees thought they were people. Long ago the mountains thought they were people. Long ago the animals thought they were people. Someday they will say… long ago the humans thought they were people.”

– Native story teller.

The Dog Days Of Summer

We’ve had some really hot weather so I’ve been staying indoors trying to keep cool. Working steadily on some sketches and ideas for new projects.

The other night I dreamed of a beautiful blue butterfly which flew over my head and landed on my outstretched hand. So beautiful! I’ve done a few butterfly sketches but nothing that really captures the essence of the dream.

Sunflower #2

Pomegranate Creatures

Over the weekend I came up with this idea of painting pomegranate creatures. Sound weird? It all started as I was washing dishes. On the kitchen windowsill were these dried pomegranates I had picked from our tree last year.

The more I observed them the more they looked like the wizened faces of some magical tree creatures.The tree is around 75 years old, and in the summertime I spend a great deal of time daydreaming beneath it’s branches.

So I thought what a wonderful idea, pomegranate creatures which live in the trees and once a year they leave their home to walk among humans.

I ended up writing two fantasy short stories about pomegranate trees. They came to me completely fleshed out as if I were watching a movie. It was a very strange and wonderfully unexpected experience!

Pomegranate Creature # 1 – Combined Media – 12 X 12 inches

Musings For The Day

It was a very hot and lazy summer day, and I spent most of it doing some research on Celtic Folklore, and lazing around in a comfy chair reading some great poetry.

Have a great 4th of July weekend!

Stone Of Destiny – Combined Media

CONVERSATION WITH A STONE

I knock at the stone’s front door.
“It’s only me, let me come in.
I want to enter your insides,
have a look round,
breathe my fill of you.”

“Go away,” says the stone.
“I’m shut tight.
Even if you break me to pieces,
we’ll all still be closed.
You can grind us to sand,
we still won’t let you in.”

I knock at the stone’s front door.
“It’s only me, let me come in.
I’ve come out of pure curiosity.
Only life can quench it.
I mean to stroll through your palace,
then go calling on a leaf, a drop of water.
I don’t have much time.
My mortality should touch you.”

“I’m made of stone,” says the stone,
“and must therefore keep a straight face.
Go away.
I don’t have the muscles to laugh.”

I knock at the stone’s front door.
“It’s only me, let me come in.
I hear you have great empty halls inside you,
unseen, their beauty in vain,
soundless, not echoing anyone’s steps.
Admit you don’t know them well yourself.”

“Great and empty, true enough,” says the stone,
“but there isn’t any room.
Beautiful, perhaps, but not to the taste
of your poor senses.
You may get to know me, but you’ll never know me through.
My whole surface is turned toward you,
all my insides turned away.”

I knock at the stone’s front door.
“It’s only me, let me come in.
I don’t seek refuge for eternity.
I’m not unhappy.
I’m not homeless.
My world is worth returning to.
I’ll enter and exit empty-handed.
And my proof I was there
will be only words,
which no one will believe.”

“You shall not enter,” says the stone.
“You lack the sense of taking part.
No other sense can make up for your missing sense of taking part.
Even sight heightened to become all-seeing
will do you no good without a sense of taking part.
You shall not enter, you have only a sense of what that sense should be,
only its seed, imagination.”

I knock at the stone’s front door.
“It’s only me, let me come in.
I haven’t got two thousand centuries,
so let me come under your roof.”

“If you don’t believe me,” says the stone,
“just ask the leaf, it will tell you the same.
Ask a drop of water, it will say what the leaf has said.
And , finally, ask a hair from your own head.
I am bursting with laughter, yes, laughter, vast laughter,
although I don’t know how to laugh.”

I knock at the stone’s front door.
“It’s only me, let me come in.”
“I don’t have a door,” says the stone.

-Wislawa Szymborska

Rabbits & Birds

Started the day with sketching a few rabbits, an owl and a bird. I always had an affinity with rabbits since my childhood. As a child growing up in Texas, we had cottontails and jackrabbits as pets.

Spring plowing always resulted in grandpa bringing baby rabbits home which mom fed and nurtured until they could be released back into the wild. However many of these furry friends decided to stay around for awhile, so our dad and grandfather built nice wood rabbit hutches with screened-in sides for all of them.

Sketches – Charcoal & 2B pencil – 8 X 10 inches

Back From Vacation

We had a wonderful vacation! On Monday, I spent some quiet time puttering around in the garden and recouping after a long week of being constantly on the go.

Today I worked on The Swan Maiden painting. The swans are now finished and I added a pearl necklace which still needs work. As I was finishing the bottom strand I noticed they were not draping the way they should. C’est la vie!

Tomorrow I will go in and correct the problem. Too tired to mess around with it this evening.

The Swan Maiden – Combined Media – 16 X 20

Work In Progress – Book Cover

Today I was able to work on the altered book cover from a previous post. I started by painting and collaging some art paper, tree bark, and attached a porcelain head to the book cover.

One thing led to another and the piece started taking on a life of it’s own. Although it is not as I first envisioned it, I sort of like the direction the work is taking. The woman’s dress color will likely be altered, and some mysterious creatures added to the mix.

My overactive imagination has swept me into the magical realms of the deep forest where all sorts of mythical creatures dwell. Where will it all lead?

Busy Day

Today we went to Sebastopol to walk around and visit The Sebastopol Gallery which features fine arts and crafts by local artists. Be sure to check it out, if your in the area!

Later in the afternoon we went to the Santa Rosa Downtown Market to purchase some fresh produce. We had a great time sampling some fabulous white peaches and nectarines. Yum!

Main Street

Yummy Bread