Birds and Flight

 Featured image: Evening Grosbeak

Birds perch on the feeders edge. Their wings are flapping trying to settle.

I have always loved my imaginings of flying, not only in my dreams, but in reality and in the things I create. It is no wonder that I would gravitate to painting birds, both realistically and imagined. I imagine their feathers being cooled by the wind as they fly. I imagine the wind drift lifting them higher and higher like a soaring eagle. I can see them settle on a branch and the sun drying their feathers after a rain. Such a natural thing for them. Yes, it is so unnatural for humans as they proclaim, “But it’s raining outside. Let’s not go” or “It’s too cold.” I frequently wonder at the little finches, sparrows, chickadee, and blue jays and how they stay warm in the winter with just those feathers. Feathers, like flying, have always been magical for me. It is no wonder I would gravitate to painting birds, realistically and imagined.

I painted three little imaginary birds recently and named them fun imaginary names. They all have spirit, are unique, one-of-a-kind, and authentic, the possibility that I imagine for all folks.

Just Shine

 Featured image: All Rise

Have you ever noticed, perhaps when you meet a person for the very first time that they just shine?  There seems to be a light that is within them that is absolutely beautiful.  They radiate a light that has a very distinctive dignity.  Their light shines beyond their reality.  It is a brilliant light.  

This is not a light that one can control.  You can’t turn this light on and off like a light switch on the wall. I personally think of this light as a hug from God.  The person may or may not believe in God, but for sure, He believes in them and hugs them often.  God’s grace, His light is in all of us.  Let us all let our lights shine.

The Way We See it

 Featured image: First Ice

You are what you see. How you see is part of your spirit. Is the way you see creative? 

How I see is not a static, flat view like a photo gives us,  But,  rather, I see as a dynamic ever changing, ever creative view of life happening. It is the dynamic dance of life and sight.

I was standing under a canopy of entwined branches covered with snow.  The sun was shining through the light snow giving the canopy a stained glass feel – a very magical moment of light, life and sight.

Digital Age

 

Featured image: Rainbow Windows

Have we in the digital age forfeited patience and attention to beauty, creative emergence and delight of discovery?

I know that when I paint and something emerges from the color, there is a sense of wonder and delight that I experience that is glorious.  I am not sure this can happen with digital art. I'm just not sure.  Why,? There is the tactical sense of creating that is lost. There is the space of the image maker or craftsman/artist and the space of the app writer.  I'm just not sure it can happen.

Unfolding Life

 

Featured image: Birthday Cake 2023

Life is the unfolding of identity and creativity.  Our life’s journey is growth and discovery of who we are and just how creative we can become.  There needs to be a grace-such-ness in this journey, a simple elegance of movement, and the ability to do honor to ourselves and our lives.  

My wish for you all in 2023 is for you to find this grace-such-ness and the unfolding and creativity in your life.

Visions and Self

 Featured image: Visions Are Like Maps

If you can identify your visions, then you can identify yourself.  How you visualize yourself is correlated with how you  think. Thinking for yourself’ is the key here. This includes your morals, your knowledge, what kind of power you think you have and that others have, your freedom and whether you think you have it and how you work for it.

There are excellent examples of those who know themselves that you may have heard of.  I have talked about them many times in my musings. Mother Teresa, Elvis, Elan Musk, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, to list a few.  They all are as different as can be – but they followed their spirit and lived accordingly.

Visions and Visions for Freedom

 Featured image: At Peace

The vision of freedom is complicated. There is a freedom that is a tad constrained in order to allow for the freedom of everyone. They are accomplished without force.

Unconstrained freedom is not unlimited freedom. Unconstrained freedom can cause chaos. I have found in my working towards freedom that the arts allow me the unconstrained freedom and chaos that some would find annoying. This makes them attempt to make me follow the rules of art. I hear comments like, “But that isn’t the way it is done. That doesn’t really look like a tree. That is a mess.”

What happens when they try and constrain my freedom in art is that they shut down my voice. They don’t let me speak, and they don’t allow themselves to possibly think differently without force.

I have had those statements spoken to me many times since I have become a bonafide artist. But, let me relate to you an example that might be easier to understand about thinking differently. In 3rd or 4th grade one of the requirements to move forward was to memorize your multiplication tables. Well, I memorized 2's, 3’s, 4’s, 5’s and 10’s. I told the teacher that the rest could be done with addition and subtraction. My dad taught me that. He was an engineer. He said that this system would at least allow me to go to the next grade. Yes, the teacher even threatened me that she would not pass me on to the next grade. It was slower but it worked. (On a side note, this system is a problem solving system, and is how math is taught today – it encourages – thinking). This is thinking differently without hurting another. While the teacher tried force and fear, I was determined that my system of multiplying worked. The teacher reluctantly passed me to the next grade.

I also in the word game won first place that year. It was also the year that sputnik was launched. We all think differently. We just need to learn to respect how others learn and live.