Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Inspire Me Mondays 7





Drawing.
I love drawings. I used to fill a sketch book in 2 weeks. But now.. 10 years if I'm lucky.
I've been going to figure drawing on Wednesday evenings to get my whatever back in shape. It's maddening because I used to be able to do this with no effort at all. I've let it rust. I've had to rediscover how to look & how to get that down on paper. The longest poses have been only 20 minutes. These are decent but, not where I want to take them.


Monday, July 20, 2009

Other Views of Vulcan





Inspire Me Mondays 6 -Sort of..

I took a trip to the home planet, Vulcan, this weekend. This is where I grew up. It's kind of like alcohol- warm yet burns as you swallow it, changes your perceptions and very bad for me. In my family, we are all smarty pants, judgy and obviously right about everything. That's on a good day. And we're not really all that f-ed up on the scale and yet we are in our own special ways. As the kids we get the double dose - Mom's insecurities,martyrdom and stubborness and Poopdeck's know-it-all stubbornness. Ah yes, Dad's nickname is Poopdeck from Poopdeck Pappy, Popeye's father. Happened after I left the nest.
I really got alot of great things from both of them. This weekend however, magnified the bad parts of my Poopdeckishness and my Momishness & I really didn't like it. So the inspire me is the left handed sort, to try and actively change more of the actions & attitudes that I've grown up with and change my ways of thinking. I did move 5 1/2 hours away for a reason. I know they can't/won't change, I need to better learn how not to get caught up in their struggles when I'm there. After all Vulcan is a nice place to visit, I just don't live there anymore.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Inspire Me Mondays 5

This red snail was going to be my original subject when I saw it. Wowzer! If you're not going to look like any one else do it in a big way. Then I realized the poor guy had been in the line of a spray can that some one had used to put marks on the ground. Rampaging vandals. I hope he survives his marking.
Then I decided nothing makes me feel better than the woods and even better if there is water. Water lilies are just gravy. They freeze their little bulbs off in the winter sending down their roots deep into the nice slimy mud and send up rafts to casually bob on the surface. If that isn't enough, the little explosions of color unfold to become fireworks in the reflected skies.






Sunday, July 12, 2009

Reflections Weekend.


Unlike my friend Graciel, of Evenstar Art I find myself less interested in the clouds- not that I don't enjoy them, but more intrigued by their reflections. I guess how they look earth bound. Yin & Yang. I haven't reached up that high yet. I took photos on a recent trip to New Orleans- they were about barriers. I love having the thermometer of photos to see what and how I'm feeling and evolving. When I realized about reflections, I looked for even more on our little trips. Love those Monet paintings.



The top images are from Beaver Island State Park, the bottom images are from Reinstein Woods. Both little jaunts with my sister, Elise of Lucky Danger.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Inspire Me Mondays 4


I was wandering around the yard for something that inspires me. I wanted great thunderclouds with a nice thunder bolt or even just nice soothing rain but I was too late, it had just quit. As I was coming in the door there was a tiny feather. Ah ha. Flight, I dream of flying. Rather just long gliding hops and swooping in arcs. I wish I had that power. As you see I collect feathers when I find them. Sometimes they are messages, particularly when left right outside your door. You just have to remember your thoughts of the recent past and see how this fits in. A confirmation, an I was thinking of you..ect. You'll know. Maybe you don't have to be struck by lightning to get a message just the tickle of a feather.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

I should pay attention to myself more often.



Last weekend I was making these.





I know, what are they?


Supports of a kind. I have a thing for ancient heads, torsos, whatever. You have to carve out the wooden base to cradle the object and make it more stable. I don't like to glue the pieces onto the base, then you can't pick them up and hold them and turn them around. It transforms a broken remnant back into a work of art. The supports were the important part of the weekend. I was feeling very pissy, pooky and out of sorts and in many ways unsupported. I was building for some fragments of clay the very thing I'm looking for. I took a few more days to even out but it helped to realize what I was doing and know I'm looking for more. I am on the right path, I do have friends that will help me. I need to set up more supports and goals for myself and turn myself back into a work of art.