Vision Quest

here it is...

my vision quest...my blog...my journey...alive and kicking...awake...celebrating all the things to celebrate...  <3

on the road...of life...taking in the scenery....enjoying the drive...turning the radio up.

the reason I started this whole thing was to communicate...me...and work my way through my search for what things are...what can be...what inspires me...

here

I inspire...smile...reflect...share...love...spread sunshine and hope and peace and happiness...
find balance...expression...make sense of life...and what not...celebrate the wonders of life...and along the way...I've met some artists who have inspired me...and I've shared my art with communities...and hopefully inspired others....as they have done for me...

someone told me yesterday, "don't hide your flame" ... (thanks Nate).

and I don't intend to... I'm feeling all....flame...and maybe my flame will ignite someone else's flame...

It's been said...I'm a bit of a dreamer (and not always used in a good way)....and this is my space..and my place to dream...and soar...and I wholeheartedly believe that dreams come true...dreamers make this place magical.


find

in this blog...life and potential....and love...art...linguistics...

but above all

love  

because....that's what matters the most...

don't be afraid to shine...and reach for something good...because there is so much good to have...hit the gas and go get it and have fun getting it...and don't let it go when you grab it.



as always...

peace...love...and....love.

splashes of yellow

of color....

I wanted to do this one for a long time...but didn't think I had the patience for the hands...and wanted to wait for the right time....sometimes....

timing is everything...


I'm not sure why I've used yellow so much lately...it's my go-to- high light color...and today, I used green as my low-light, shading color...I think it really complements the brown..and the yellow in this...

the one thing that really struck me about this...is my bracelets.  I really wanted to make them almost...the focus on this piece....splashes of color... as a portal...


and....I usually paint to music...today, Madonna....but- old...1983 Madonna...
The last painting I did, I was actually watching a movie...Silver Linings Playbook (love that movie)... which I think, helped me to paint a little...take breaks...evaluate...paint.  Without several breaks...to let water absorb....and sees what happens...it is easy to overpaint...get things too muddy...

so, today.....Madonna.


First....the sketch with yellow...

and....


starting to paint...

and the studio today....

and now for some close ups...

and the whole thing..... a step back....

The paper is still drying...and the wrinkles will go away...and I'm sure I will do some tweaking and correcting....but for now...it rests.



peace....love...and yellow

radiate...

radiating rays of sunshine....of love...of peace...of creative energy...



I was going to write a post about being feisty....I felt kinda feisty the other day...

but today....


peace and sunshine...  the kind of sunshine that radiates from you...wave after glowing wave...

and when I drove by my trees today, I noticed the two of them....the green one converting to golden sunshiny yellow.  :)  and now they are both all glistening and sunshiny.


I painted last night and it made me glow...and feel all mellow....and sunshiny.


this...from a picture I took earlier....just relaxed...laying in the glow of sun... I thought it an interesting pose...and perspective...

perspective.... it can change....and with it...a whole different outlook...

and lately...I've been painting the last few paintings from this kind of perspective....instead of looking at myself from a pic as if, someone taking a pic of me...these last few are more...from my own perspective...looking at myself.



sun-dripping colors....

Zoey saw this painting and said, 'wow, looks like a sand castle....Mommy Beach.'  



and sometimes, I like to play with the color in an app....to really kick up the colors...just for fun....brilliant colors...colors of autumn.....and sun-soaked leaves.

so...here's to love and peace...and radiating sunshine...

<3  

La Bella Luna

One night...just a couple days before the last super crazy full moon...La Bella Luna.

I was lying in bed...having a hard time sleeping...my gaze rested on....curves....resting in moonlight...and syncopated by the shadows of blinds... with the contrast of white and black...my landscape looked like a zebra....

and as I followed the curves...bright with moonlight....and dark in valleys...

I was inspired....and wanted to paint...and wished that I could, in the dark....and capture that landscape...I would have made the shadows all...watercolor-y bleeding with blues...and purples...


but it was late.... and I had to get to bed...but I kept thinking of it and how I would paint it.

and I began to think of the body as a landscape...in more abstract terms... with mountains....peaks...and valleys.


looking down at myself...I took a pic....and did a quick small watercolor while on vacation....(see, Private Idaho)

but today...and last night... I wanted to do something more...fertile and ripe...celebrating the round...beautiful and round....shape of life.  the perfect place to grow life...the perfect milk to feed perfect life.   La Bella Luna....

I like how...the perspective is...first person...the view of- and interpretation, from the holder of the brush...and the colors...of twilight...

and details..


the right side....

and the left side...I have become quite fond of painting peaks.

beauty...and celebrating life...no wonder why fertility goddesses look all round and full... full of life...swollen with potential....

I hope I can capture the moon landscape again.  With the new moon coming up, it will be a while until I see the full moon again, pouring into the room...  ;) giving birth to new creative adventures...birth...and beginnings...life affirming forces...and all that jazz.

(from the Met Mueseum, Lajja Guari, Fertility Goddess ca. 6th century)  

here's to

Love...and peace....and life.

and banana popsicles....(also banana slurpees will do)....I love me some artificial banana flavoring.

two trees

there is a tree...

I drive by it every single day....sometimes up to four times a day...

it is my tree....that is how I refer to it... like, "Oh, there was a hawk in my tree today."


it stands in a few acres of land....new houses going up around it.... but it sits in the middle of this field....a tree.... alone.  I don't know...I guess I just identify with it....

it stands there....changing with the seasons...and I always want to take picture of it...tracking it through the seasons....

and there it stands... alone...but not lonely.   it stands there, strong...and beautiful...

my tree....


and today...I finally got out of the car....walked up to it...and took its picture....

because, for the last few days, I've noticed that one half of it is all bright and sunshiny yellow....and the other half is green.


and discovered....

my tree isn't just one tree...split in half...



my tree...is two trees....standing together....(my daughter always thought it was two).  not alone...not lonely....

but, with strength and comfort...




and it made me smile...

love...and peace....and two trees.

XX

Fall....harvest time...

today (or rather, yesterday when I actually started writing this) was hot...like summer hot...like almost 80 degrees and all the trees set ablaze in bright yellow...and everything just felt warm...and lovely.... just on fire....and 

I feel so....grounded at this time...connected to nature....feeling all mother earth-y....harvesting the creativity that has been planted as ideas....potential paintings resting just under the surface...ready to burst...into flames...of colors.  

When I was researching ideas for a tattoo...I found this symbol...called inguz...a viking rune.  XX.

it has all kinds of meanings...but...basically...it says, where there's a will, there's a way.  all about determination....planting seeds that will burst out all kinds of crazy, amazing energy and creativity...it is also associated with male fertility...and the sun...... and



and also this, from a site, "Only when we know our solitude to be different from our loneliness can we be whole enough to honor another's place."

and then also- on the same site was:

Rune of isolation or separation in order to create a space or place where the process of transformation into higher states of being can occur.  Rune of gestation and internal growth.

XX...inguz.  

pretty amazing messages with this ancient symbol...and also- what we see as gerunds today in English...the inguz...is the -ing ending ....do-ing,  be-ing....and so on.  

and just as with a tenacious seed.....where there's a will...there's a way.... seeds find some crazy places to grow.  

create a space for some creativity to be born....and harvest....time to harvest that energy...and create.    

<3 

peace...love....and planting...and harvesting... and of course...inguz XX. 

because we need to get in touch with what makes us....our crazy selves.    so...respond to your inspiration.  :)  

language

today.... 

Sometimes you're better off dead
There's gun in your hand and it's pointing at your head
You think you're mad, too unstable
Kicking in chairs and knocking down tables

In a restaurant in a West End town
Call the police, there's a madman around
Running down underground to a dive bar
In a West End town...

lyrics to a Pet Shop Boys song...has nothing to do with today's post...but...I was totally immersed in linguistic thoughts when it came on the radio...

and I thought...I really wish I could just send my thoughts to this blog when I'm out driving...because- driving around is when I do my best linguistic thinking.  :)  

and now...I have to write them down....after the burst of thinking....when I was still buzzing around on caffeine...

now... I'm not so much buzzing 'round.   

But...it went something like this....probably a lot of rambling...but- a stream headed somewhere...

I think I was just marveling at the way in which we...find ways to communicate...

if you think about what little is needed to convey a message...we pretty much go through our day seeing signs and symbols- not needing to think twice about them...we get the message.

messages in colors (red,green,yellow)...communication in shapes on the road...silhouettes of objects we identify with and provide information...for instance...a bike....a person...a leaping deer with wings....

hilarious....

and it is amazing...that.....

When very far apart....humans find ways to communicate...shared knowledge and cooperative understanding....

like the whistled speech... communication carried over miles...by people...whistling.  

and people find a way...they just do.   

like...deaf children in Nicaragua in the 1980s, who spontaneously created their own language...where they were not connecting with teachers- or what the teachers were trying to teach- 

the kids...just....created language- that started as a pidgin- and later evolved into a more complex system. 

and the way that....

we can gesture with language....using intonation...emphasizing a direction...showing distinction in the deictic system between this thing here...there...or WAAAAAY over there....spacial gesturing using intonation....and I- of course- love all things intonation-y. 

it is amazing....

that with the communication tools and prescriptivism we are forced into, with shared understanding and knowledge....there can be such...misunderstandings...miscommunication....violation of Grice's maxims... I guess, even with the best systems....there can be people who just can't....really...communicate....

misplaced modifiers....and....all the things that happen....false starts...pragmatics...parsing issues....a number of things can go wrong...and the message is missed....

it happens...some people...just...aren't on the same channel...either... they just can't connect.  

but...yet....

for others...so much....so many words....not needed....and the message is beautifully clear...there is no distortion. When two people can sit in the same space....not needing words....yet...all that needs to be communicated....just is.  that is truly amazing...that the leap from thought to thought occurs without the confines of standard language...

language....whatever the modality...communication happens...

which makes me think of another post I want to write..about symbols...because I am thinking about getting a tattoo...and a whole lotta thought is going into that.  

peace...and love....<3  and linguistics....