Spring Has Returned

The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also. ~ Harriet Ann Jacobs

Spring is here! The season of renewal & rebirth is upon us.

I love everything about spring, especially watching mother nature constantly rearranging and changing the landscape. Splashes of vibrant color here and there mixed in with shades of varying green.

Even though Spring has arrived it’s still very cold and blustery. I  found myself puttering around the studio, drinking hot chocolate and day dreaming about the warm days ahead.

What I have been working on Lately

The Lady of Spring ~ sketch #1

I scanned it and used Painter 9 to develop the painting.

A work in progress . . .

Still working . . . . and  working . . .

quote for the day;

Spring ~ the birthday of the world

‘Tis like the birthday of the world,
When earth was born in bloom;
The light is made of many dyes,
The air is all perfume:
There’s crimson buds, and white and blue,
The very rainbow showers
Have turned to blossoms where they fell,
And sown the earth with flowers.

~Thomas Hood

Nocturnal Journey

On these cold bleak days of January I find that my dreams intensify and are filled with colorful, surreal imagery. They are rich in detail, along with extended messages, visions and dream friends to help me traverse through this mysterious inner world.

I have recorded these dreams in journals along with sketches and key words so as to help me recapture the essence, feelings and characters who show up in my dreams. Dreams have always been a rich resource for my writing and paintings and the image below is representative of one such dream.

Here is a peek at what I’m currently working on.

Nocturnal Journey ~ Digital Painting ~ 5 x7 inches. Digital Painting ~ using Corel Painter 7 ~ soft charcoal variant of dry media.

Nocturnal Journey in progress #4

The inspiration for this painting came from several recurring dreams that I have been having over the past few weeks. Strange landscapes and a woman’s face which keeps hovering at the edges of my vision. She is always there as if waiting just beyond the bend of my awareness…waiting… waiting there just long enough  for me to capture a glimpse or a scent of her essence. I never see her whole face because half of her face is always hidden or lost in shadow. However, there is always an overwhelming sense of peace when she enters the dream.

“Dreams are illustrations… from the book your soul is writing about you.” ~ Marsha Norman

The Forest ~ Magic & Mystery

Lately,  I have been obsessed with all things related to Puzzlewood, in the Forest Dean. Forest Dean  is located in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. I watched a video awhile back and was inspired by it’s beauty, magic and mystery.

I would love to spend a few months living there, sketching, painting and mostly drinking in the sheer beauty of this forest, but for now I am satisfied with the inspiration and burst of creativity the video stirred up in me.

From a dream;  A young woman walking in the forest with a crescent moon suspended in the sky where trees dream and owls fly overhead. She loved the play of moonlight on the leaves ~ shadow and light. The wind playing with her hair ~ the sweet smell of the damp earth beneath her feet, Mother Earth whispered “Child of the forest reach out and touch your wild nature for therein lies your power.” To be continued….

Forest Spirit ~ Digital Painting ~ 11 x 15 inches

This is as far as I got on the painting today. I’m not sure about the background. The crescent moon will stay but the rest may change. The forest floor in my dream sparkled with shades of purple, muted greens and browns with silver moonbeams thrown in. The forest  bejeweled in moonlight.

I was able to capture the forest floor part of the dream in a necklace that I created last week. I have only three of these ceramic goddesses left ~ one of a kind ~ each one different from the other.

I chose this Goddess pendant because it reminds me of  an ancient goddess relic with the soft muted moss colored glaze and rich earth colors sprinkled about. The piece is signed and will soon be available at http://www.rosearizmendi.com/shop/

To learn more about Puzzlewood located  in the Forest Dean click here

If you love owls ~ You will love this beautiful Video!

Signs Of Autumn

The signs of Autumn have arrived. Brisk mornings, browning leaves rattling down the street carried by strong breezes and me with a cup of hot coffee in my hand watching the sun slowly rise over the mountain. What an incredibly beautiful day!

Quietly painting in the studio. Images & dreams I will always carry in my heart.

Sonoma Tree Line – Digital Painting – Watercolor & Impasto brushstrokes on layers – 8 x 10 inches

So many signs – Quiet Change

Ephemeral things – soft and fragile

Slower, Deeper – The Wheel of life Turns

To the Light of September

When you are already here
you appear to be only
a name that tells of you
whether you are present or not

and for now it seems as though
you are still summer
still the high familiar
endless summer
yet with a glint
of bronze in the chill mornings
and the late yellow petals
of the mullein fluttering
on the stalks that lean
over their broken
shadows across the cracked ground

but they all know
that you have come
the seed heads of the sage
the whispering birds
with nowhere to hide you
to keep you for later

you
who fly with them

you who are neither
before nor after
you who arrive
with blue plums

that have fallen through the night

perfect in the dew
– w.s. merwiin

And It’s August Again

A peak at a new digital painting I am working on.

Taking a break on the patio. It’s been a rather stressful week and I just needed to relax for awhile, so as I sat down, I noticed the antique bottle I had left out on the table yesterday.

I love these old bottles, the way the light reflects off of them, the soft muted colors and the way they make me feel nostalgic. Like dear old friends!

This bottle belonged to Aunt Margie and I know she would love the fact that I found such an unusual use for it.

Cleaned up my messy studio. Whew! Organized my acrylics, brushes and art journals.

Organic lettuce, homemade balsamic honey dressing, add some wine and good company and you have the makings for a perfect meal.

At the end of the day …

Nothing left to say …

Watching the sun go down over the hill … xo

Morning Digital Art Warm up

Cityscape – Digital Painting – Soft Charcoal, Soft Pastel, Dirty Marker Pen & Gritty Charcoal Variant of Charcoal -5 x 5 inches

This morning I grabbed a cup of tea and sat down at my computer and began painting. I used  Painter 7 along with my walcom tablet and pen.

The inspiration for this painting was a cityscape. I started with the dirty pen variant of felt pens, then I applied rich layers of color using the soft charcoal variant of charcoal and the gritty charcoal variant, lastly I added more texture with the dirty pen variant.

My daily morning warm ups  gives me the opportunity to play, explore and try new techniques, mediums and ideas with wild abandon. No worries about wasted paint or canvasses. If I decide I don’t like what I’ve done,  I just hit the delete button. No fuss, no mess!

The abstract painting above is my interpretation of  what a city looks and feels like.

“All that a city will ever allow you is an angle on it — an oblique, indirect sample of what it contains, or what passes through it; a point of view.”
– Peter Conrad

The Heart of Gaia

The Heart of Gaia – Digital Painting – Soft pastel variant of pastels & Soft charcoal variant of charcoal – 8 x 8.5 inches

I started this painting a couple of weeks ago and finally finished it yesterday.

The painting is about touching the earth, listening to her heartbeat and being filled by the mysteriousness of all life. Gaia whispers, Heaven is right here. Can’t you see it?”

During my walks down by the creek near our home I am always filled with wonder and love for all the beautiful flowers and creatures which inhabit the area.  There are oak trees, willow trees, alder trees, blackberry bushes and wild flowers along the dirt trail near the creek. Everywhere you look Mother Nature has touched the Earth with her paint brush.

Last week I watched a Snowy Egret bathing in the creek. It was so beautiful with it’s  fine delicate feathers glowing and shimmering in the reflected sunlight. It was such a magical moment I added an Egret to the painting as a symbol of resurrection, regeneration and renewal.

Within the heart area of the painting, the Goddess Gaia watches over a Snowy Egret. She is the primal Mother Goddess of the Earth, complete in herself.

The Snowy Egret which is a small white Heron is said to be a Spirit Guide. The Heron was considered to be sacred by the Greeks and was believed to be one of Athena’s divine messengers. In China, the Heron stands for strength, purity, patience and longevity. In Egypt the Heron is a symbol of creation.

Dream Heart

Dream Heart – Digital Painting – Soft pastel variant of pastels & Soft charcoal variant of charcoal – 6 x 7 inches

I had no other desire or plan for this painting except for creating a heart with a spiral inside it. All the rest came from somewhere within my subconscious mind, where half glimpsed worlds of strange beings flitted past the corner of my eye and brilliant bold colors begged to be splashed onto the canvas.

I worked for two straight days on this piece and all I want to do right now is sleep.

For the past couple of nights I’ve had strange dreams, the one dream image which stands out from the others, is where I find myself standing on a hillside overlooking a valley where hundreds of women and children are gathered together, carrying buckets and rags.

Everywhere I looked,  I saw oil seeping up out of the earth.

I used Painter 7 and Painter IX to paint Dream Heart.

Lughnasa

I started out my morning with my usual daily warm up exercises. Instead of working with traditional mediums today, I did my morning warm ups using Corel Painter IX. 5.

My inspiration for the day came from the word “Lughnasa,” which is one of the four main festivals of the Medieval Irish Calendar, celebrating the beginning of the Harvest season.

It’s that time of the year when blackberry bushes are heavy with ripened fruit, and there are subtle changes in the light, a golden haze that seems to wrap itself around everything.

I love this time of the year even though there is a lingering sadness as summer comes to an end.

Lughnasa – Digital Painting – Oils – 4 x 5 – on heavy hand made paper

quote for the day;

“Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,
Ripening fields lush- bright with promise;
Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing
Her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn.”
–  Michelle L. Thieme, August’s Crown

Digital Painting

Here is a video that shows how a digital painting is created. The artist uses Corel Painter X  which is what I use and the process is almost the same. The only difference between digital and traditional painting is that we push pixels around on a canvas instead of paint. I love this painting!

Digital Painting: Gypsy