Art and Illumination

Through the Wave That Unfolds You

Tonight may you
rest deeply enfolded
in a blanket of waking stars
softly kissed by the
silver light of ageless moons
blessed and caressed serenly
by the wind that moves over you
by the wind that moves over you
by the wind that moves over you.

Tonight may you
take endless comfort
in the bossom of ancient forests
gently warmed by the
sacred fire deep in the breast
of the earth that rises to you
of the earth that rises to you
of the earth that rises to you.

Tonight may you
glide peaceful and effortless
in an ocean of loving abyss
rocking and ever knowing
the power and infinity of your being
through the wave that unfolds you
through the wave that unfolds you
through the wave that unfolds you.

This lovely little twig dropped out of the tree after a stormy night. It was perfect and I decided to paint it- when I had the time. I set it on the microwave to be painted where it sat a couple of days. Then it got thrown away, and I rescued it from the trash, it lost a leaf and only had three left. But no, I spent a tad bit of time trying to glue the leaf back on- while ignoring the minor damage to the coloring from the coffee grounds. Then the acorn fell out it’s hat. Sigh

So I glued it back in. Being such a busy week I wanted to photograph it and work from the photograph. But no, the camera battery was dead. Got a new battery to find out the camera is dead. So I used my cell phone- does not work well for close ups.

Gods, what choice did I have but to sketch it out right away by hand. I painted it yesterday, and polished it out with details today. The specimen is now about fully dry and brown, so I may paint it again all shriveled and darkened.

The moral of the story- Don’t procrastinate! LOL Ultimately though, it was demonstration of will.

As always I feel partially like it is still not finished. However, I know not to risk venturing over into overdone. The final painting is about 6 X 7 ” .

The first painting I did of this celtic knotwork was damaged right before we moved. Client work and moving sure kept me busy, but here we are all done and refined for their use on the web. A little bit more tweeking to do for the patterns on the website but almost done otherwise.

I surprised myself with how easy it was for me to reproduce and render the same result if need be. One thing about paintng knotwork is it makes me eager for my goals after October. I am so eager to order the pigments and play.

The next set of knotwork I will be working on will be of the elemental triskals, but I am still doing the research needed for them. I am doing a lot of painting behind the scenes but have been asked not to share them “publish them” on the net. Concept sketches are ok, and I may sneak in a few of the wash studies from my outings.

Balancing solitude and socialization has been challenging, summer is so much fun- but I get less done in the summer.

A week or so ago I went through a kind of cleansing phase. One of those times we have to walk through the shadow and darkness of our inner demons. Wading through doubt, fear, and insecurities seeking the clarity, direction, and meaning of our goals and purpose. It is horrid in transition but the benefits in the end are so empowering.

I have been giving a lot of time to other goals, while they are my goals too- they left me feeling like I abandoned my self. I was not doing enough for my art goals. Then the unrest of that spilled into other things. In the end a feeling of being overwhelmed and defeated was there, leaving me to sit and go through some hard introspection.

I had to find a balancing point to keep me inspired and moving on all the things I want to do. I had to just plunge into my art a bit and rediscover why I love creating so much.

Ultimately I gave myself permission to reset goals to be more realistic and in harmony with each other. I had to choose where I needed to lower some ideals in order to push up the achieving of other standards.

It is essential we learn a solid compromise with ourselves. Neither giving into and spoiling the child that will find a hundred reasons not to work, nor squashing the vital flexibility that allows the flow and inspiration which comes from play.

So here I was feeling all romantic and young with creativity and art and looking for something very different and new.

The drawing above is a study for a painting. I used to explore shape in the drawings before painting and found it a good practice- so I went back to it. I really wanted a centaur with a unicorn horn- and have not been able to find a name for such a creature in myth. So if anyone out there has ever heard of one let me know – PLEASE!

This one is of an adolescent Centaur / Unicorn coming of age. I wanted a mood of wonder and fascination with the world along with a sense of innocence and youth. The contrapposto and foreshortening were really challenging with the figure but it turned out really well.

In mythical or fantasy art there is this idea that it is easier because you don’t have to depict reality. It is the opposite though that is true. To do it well you have to really know and study real life forms. If you do this your creation can be real to the viewer and will allow them to relate better. What makes it harder naturally is- there are no real centaurs / unicorns so you have to study and merge forms in a believable way.