Stormy Day
“And here the sunflower of the spring
Burns bright in morning’s beam.”
– Ebenezer Elliott (“The Corn Law Rhymer”)
Sunflower – Mixed Media – 8 x 10 inches
It rained all day and very hard at times. At one point the rain came down so hard our dog started barking.
I managed to get some painting done in the afternoon and made some significant progress on a painting I have been working on for awhile. I will try to post it later.
Afterwards I cleaned up and I had some free time to relax and enjoy a good strong cup of hot tea.
“The best kind of rain, of course, is a cozy rain. This is the kind the anonymous medieval poet makes me remember, the rain that falls on a day when you’d just as soon stay in bed a little longer, write letters or read a good book by the fire, take early tea with hot scones and jam and look out the streaked window with complacency.” – Susan Allen Toth, England For All Seasons
Swan Maiden
The Swan Maiden painting is almost finished, but I have a few more details I want to add to it. I have been working on this painting off and on since February of this year and promised myself it would be finished by January 2009.
This painting was loosely inspired by the Irish legend of the beautiful Swan Maiden “Caer Ibormeith”. She was the daughter Of Prince Ethal Anbuail of Sid Uamuin in Connacht.
Legend has it that every other Samhain she would change into a swan and would remain in this form for a year before becoming human again the following Samhain. Visit the post on June 17th for more info.
The Swan Maiden – Mixed Media – 16 x 20
Caer Ibormeith
I wandered down to the waters
And walked by the riverside,
I wandered down to the waters
Some solace there to find.
I sat with a heart of sorrow
Beside a silent pool
I sat with a heart of sorrow
And wept for the lonely world.
When over the silent waters
A creature to me came
When over the silent waters
A swan with a golden chain.
She sang out her song so sweetly
Her wavering melody
She sang out her song so sweetly
That it put my heart at peace.
Sing on, fair swan, I cried to her,
Sing on, to bring the day
Sing on, fair swan, I cried to her,
But she had swum away.
– Jamie Alexandre.
Storm in a Teacup
I am sitting here at my computer looking out the window watching the wind scatter dead leaves across our yard as I wrap my cold hands around my tea cup. Brr!
The dark gloominess of the day has really affected my work output. I started the morning out with sketching a few designs for a new project and found myself staring off into space. Needless to say I was getting nowhere fast.
October is drawing to a close and it seems the earth is exhaling it’s last breath before winter. Maybe I am also releasing, exhaling, turning inward in preparation for winter as my thoughts stray towards warm fuzzy slippers, hot apple cider, flannel sheets and all those books I’ve collected and set aside for the cold wintry nights ahead.
I’ve decided the only thing that can set things right is to take a walk and let the wind sweep the cobwebs from my brain.
Harvest Moon – Combined Media – 8 X8 inches
Jack – o – Lantern
Friday
I spent this evening working on this digital collage. For the background I used an image that I created a while back and added some detail with ink and pastels.
Next I digitally enhanced the image of an angel statue and layered pastel and ink details over three separate images and then merged them together. This collage was created with Painter IX and Photoshop.
Later on I may add some distressed text and numbers, but first I will need to create them. I guess there is no rest for the weary!…
Passage to Heaven – Digital Collage – 8 X 10 inches
“Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.” – Eskimo Proverb
Autumn Offerings
I found this old digital collage I did in the fall of 2005 when I was in the process of learning how to make my own digital backgrounds etc…
I had forgotten how much fun these were to make. I created the background by layering rice paper, golden acrylics with mica chips and then scanned the end product into Photoshop.
Next, I used Painter 7 to create the Goddess image and the background spirals. I finished by adding text around the border.
The text reads: “Earthly Offerings: a stone, a feather, a flower, a sea shell, a rainbow, a butterfly’s kiss. Sisters of my heart, I weave a cloak for you, for we are on a journey to remember that we are spirit in body.
Autumn Offerings – Digital Collage – 9 X 10 inches
Crows & Baubles
While I was in the garden this morning I noticed that some of the shiny baubles I had placed in a container were missing. It’s not the first time this has happened and the culprit is usually a crow.
Later when I went to take the garbage out, there was a crow with his “beak in the cookie jar” so to speak. I laughed as he hastily made off with his stolen prize.
Rune Master – Combined Media – 11 X 14 inches
It’s October
Welcome October!
Mountain Home – Combined Media – 10 X 14 inches
“I know the year is dying,
Soon the summer will be dead.
I can trace it in the flying
Of the black crows overhead;
I can hear it in the rustle
Of the dead leaves as I pass,
And the south wind’s plaintive sighing
Through the dry and withered grass.
Ah, ’tis then I love to wander,
Wander idly and alone,
Listening to the solemn music
Of sweet nature’s undertone;
Wrapt in thoughts I cannot utter,
Dreams my tongue cannot express,
Dreams that match the autumn’s sadness
In their longing tenderness.”
– Mortimer Crane Brown, Autumn Dreams
Busy Monday
It’s been one of those days where there’s so many ideas buzzing around in my head and just too many other distractions going on to really focus on them.
Hopefully I will have a chance to work on some of these tomorrow.
Sonoma – Combined Media – 8 X 10
“Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or the another, to cause vibrations in the soul.” – Kandinsky
Edge Dwellers
A couple of years ago while we were flying back from visiting my dad in the Midwest, we were enjoying our flight and took some wonderful aerial shots with our camera.
While sitting in my window seat watching the landscape below change and shift, cities became tiny islands of humanity in the midst of large expanses of land. The roads appeared as a multitude of tiny web like strands crisscrossing across the land like a giant spider web.
It reminds us that no matter how evolved and technological we become, each of us are only ever a few paces away from the edges of the wild forest and the living storied land.
I wondered what stories would this land be telling about humanity if the earth could speak, and what would our ancient ancestors make of our world. What kind of stories, art, songs and myths would they create about us.
Edge Dwellers – Combined Media – 5 X 7 inches
Computer Glitch
It has been an interesting weekend. I’ve been without a computer since Thursday, so I haven’t posted for awhile.
My hubby was able to repair it over the weekend and I am one happy camper to have my computer up and running again. The down time gave me a chance to clean my computer desk which really needed it, and I found a couple of watercolor tubes that have been missing for awhile.
This weekend I found two Mayan masks at a local thrift shop while we were thrifting on Saturday. I was hoping to find a jaguar statue, but there were none to be found. For the Maya the jaguar was a powerful symbol of authority, as well as an integral part of their religion and mythology.
The Maya revered jaguars and often gave their Gods jaguar attributes. They believed the jaguar had the ability to cross between worlds and for them daytime and nighttime represented two worlds. The daytime was associated with the living and the mother earth, and the nighttime was associated with the spirit world and the ancestors.
It has also been said that shamans regard the jaguar as a spirit companion or guardian which protects the shaman from evil spirits while they move between the earth and spirit realm.
As with so many other cultures, the Maya have a vast and rich history of folklore and mythology.
The Guardian – Combined Medium – 8 X 10 inches
“Into the House of the Tapir no one goes. Woven into its walls,
nightblack and amber motifs become anaconda gliding along a
branch of water, jaguar loping across the savannah. The shaman
waits at the entrance, in a dream or trance.” – The House of the Tapir – Jan Conn