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Thinking…
“What no wife of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he’s staring out the window…” Burton Rascoe, Journalist That applies to the life partner of every Creative. Good thing my good man, gets me, because my favorite exercise is to stare out the window and think. Life manifests, in my mind, like a word cloud – sometimes heavy with rain, about to deluge me. Sometimes dry, airy and elusive, baffling me. Every now and then, I just have to sort it all out.
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Isabella, Restored.
Her life ended in tragedy …. strangled by her husband for the shame she had brought upon the family. An affair. Though she repented she never was able to win back the favor of her husband, who ultimately slayed her. The portrait was a signal of her repentance… and new status in the eyes of God. The original was over-painted during the 19th century. The distinctive, but not classically beautiful, queen was forged into an image more in keeping with the ersatz puritanism of the day…. Her long nose reconstructed into a pert little thing… Her hooded eyes rounded, doe-like… her beefy hand trimmed and more delicate. In the original…
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Art Unmasks Us
Why is it subjects of art often express pain and loss? While social media hypes our happy, flawless, filtered lives; art looks behind the curtain at our pain and loss. Art that expresses inner pain drops our mask, for a moment. It gives us a safe place to be comforted and understood without being exposed. It reflects how a divorce, a miscarriage and misfortune of every sort feels. It is our inner sobbing, wordlessly written. This beautiful sculpture by Allison Streett is of a woman who has suffered the loss of a baby. It expresses poignantly what loss of every stripe feels like. https://www.allisonstreettstudios.com/#/loss/
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No Regret
“No Regret” is among my first attempts to create meaningful art. I was 55 years old when I began to draw and paint. It was my means of processing the grief and regret I felt at losing my brother, Charles Haines. He was in his prime… a beloved father of 5; an artist, classically trained. When we were but kids, he told me that I had an artist’s eye. I decided to finally believe him. I saw a photograph of an old woman looking out a window. Her spirit reminded me of the scripture-loving women in my life – my mom, Alice, my husband’s grandma, Martha and my own, Alice…
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Worthy watch: Harriet
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Still, Still with Thee
I was inspired by a hauntingly beautiful poem, penned by Abolitionist, Harriet Beecher Stowe – but the painting is a tribute to Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery, but chose to go back and lead others out. Still, Still with theeWhen purple morning breaketh;When the bird waketh;and the darkness flee. Fairer than morning.Lovelier than the daylight,Dawns the sweet consciousness.I am with thee. The painting evolved… Below is one of the earlier stages of the painting still on the easel… It didn’t reflect the austerity of the travelers, or at least as I imagined it. If you have a chance, watch the movie Harriet, about Ms. Tubman. So very moving.
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Vincent. I get it.
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Beautiful Minds
A surgeon struggling with aphasia, discovers art. This a beautiful story.
