More kitties drawn in my tent at Jazz Camp West last week, inspired by @carlasonheim’s Cats! class. #originalart #cats #drawing #doodles #dailycreating #dailycreator #creativesandbox
Ascension
Click Here or on Image to Bid or Buy Now (6x6in.)
When I sit down to meditate, if you could take a snapshot of my mind, this isn’t far from what it might look like.
There’s an intention to focus on my breath, and even some success in doing so. Then there are flitting thoughts, dangling thoughts, and thoughts that quite simply run away with me.
When I notice them, I let them go and return to my breath. Over and over and over.
Dreaming Angel Dog
Click Here or on Image to Bid or Buy Now (6x6in.)
When I was 7 or 8, and my brother was about 9, we got a dog. Scott had been lobbying hard for one, and our new furry family member was definitely his dog, but Hausen loved indiscriminately.
He was one of those sweetheart dogs who was kind to everyone… unless you were threatening one of his pack. Mom said he would never hurt a fly, and that’s probably true.
He had a lot of nicknames: Bear, Roo, Rooer Bear. And if enough time had passed since he’d last done something destructive (there were a number of those), Saint Hausen.
If there is an afterlife, meeting up with Hausen is one of the things I’m looking forward to most.
Alligator Balloon Party
Click Here or on Image to Bid or Buy Now (6x6in.)
The alligator was not planned — she just appeared. So did the balloons. Put them together, and naturally, it’s a party.
NOTE: My daily paintings, and ArtSpark Newsletter, are taking a week’s vacation while I’m away at Jazz Camp West. Have a great week and I’ll see you again on June 29th! 🙂
PS – If you’re an ArtSpark subscriber and you already got this in your inbox, my apologies. There were some monkey wrenches in my system and this post accidentally got published early…
Snapshot from My Studio: June 18, 2015 at 02:30PM
Playful kitties from @carlasonheim’s Cats! class. #originalart #watercolor #pencil #doodles #paintingfun #cats #dailypainter #dailypainting
Snapshot from My Studio: June 18, 2015 at 09:32AM
Another page o’ cats, from Cats! with @carlasonheim #originalart #drawing #doodles #cats
Snapshot from My Studio: June 18, 2015 at 09:11AM
More cats-in-progress from @carlasonheim’s Cats! class. #workinprogress #wip #originalart #watercolor #whimsy #abstract #fun #dailypainter
Snapshot from My Studio: June 18, 2015 at 08:58AM
And now for something completely different. A page of cats, from @carlasonheim’s class, Cats! Such fun! #drawing #dailypainter #cats #originalart
Goddess
Click Here or on Image to Bid or Buy Now (6x6in.)
After I graduated from college, I was at a loss for what to do with myself. I missed the regular philosophical discussions (still do), and dove into some fairly academic tomes, namely When God Was a Woman, by Merlin Stone, and The Chalice and the Blade, by Riane Eisler.
Having recently gone through what I now refer to as my Radical Feminist Awakening, I loved the idea that there was once a time when women were respected and the deity was female. I even made a pilgrimage of sorts, visiting sites that some researchers belief were while in England to look at graduate schools.
Not surprisingly, Stone and Eisler’s work is the subject of much controversy. Some people are quite threatened by the notion that patriarchy didn’t always rule.
Not me. It gives me hope.
NOTE: My daily paintings, and ArtSpark Newsletter, are taking a vacation next week while I’m away at Jazz Camp West. Have a great week and I’ll see you again on June 29th! 🙂
Sisters
Click Here or on Image to Bid or Buy Now (6x6in.)
Growing up with an older brother, I always wondered what it would have been like to have sisters. I secretly fantasized about being Cindy from the Brady Bunch (it was probably her ringlets that made me want to be her, instead of Marsha or Jan).
Welcome
Click Here or on Image to Bid or Buy Now (6x6in.)
In 1996 I went to my first calligraphy conference, outside of Seattle, Washington. It’s impossible to put into words the thrill I felt to be surrounded by 500 fellow letter-lovers, in a temporary village devoted to all things calligraphy.
There was something magical about that week (the first time of anything is always memorable, isn’t it?), and not all of it had to to expressly with calligraphy.
One such magical element was Ima Gnome.
I heard people asking whether Ima had arrived, and where she might be found. Who, I wondered, was Ima?
Eventually I found her. Or, well, not Ima herself, but her place of residence.
At the base of one of the trees on campus was a tiny door, with a tiny mailbox planted just outside, labeled “Ima Gnome.” A few inches away was a clothes line. And peeking out of the mailbox was a tiny note from a gentleman caller.
Ima, it turns out, moves a lot. She makes residence wherever calligraphers converge for an international conference. Nobody has spotted her yet, to the best of my knowledge, but she brings new accouterments to her accommodations each year.
Perhaps it was Ima who inspired me to turn a bumpy cone into a house. Whatever the inspiration, I imagine a cozy fire inside, a wooden sidebar with port and sherry, and many tiny books lining the walls.
Dreaming Dragon
Click Here or on Image to Bid or Buy Now (6x6in.)
When I was a kid, one of my favorite songs was Puff The Magic Dragon. Except that it always made me cry.
Still, I sang it over and over and over. I guess I was drawn to it the way humans have been drawn to sad stories over the eons. A way to process sadnesses in our own lives that are too tender to touch, perhaps.