Musings For The Day

It was a very hot and lazy summer day, and I spent most of it doing some research on Celtic Folklore, and lazing around in a comfy chair reading some great poetry.

Have a great 4th of July weekend!

Stone Of Destiny – Combined Media

CONVERSATION WITH A STONE

I knock at the stone’s front door.
“It’s only me, let me come in.
I want to enter your insides,
have a look round,
breathe my fill of you.”

“Go away,” says the stone.
“I’m shut tight.
Even if you break me to pieces,
we’ll all still be closed.
You can grind us to sand,
we still won’t let you in.”

I knock at the stone’s front door.
“It’s only me, let me come in.
I’ve come out of pure curiosity.
Only life can quench it.
I mean to stroll through your palace,
then go calling on a leaf, a drop of water.
I don’t have much time.
My mortality should touch you.”

“I’m made of stone,” says the stone,
“and must therefore keep a straight face.
Go away.
I don’t have the muscles to laugh.”

I knock at the stone’s front door.
“It’s only me, let me come in.
I hear you have great empty halls inside you,
unseen, their beauty in vain,
soundless, not echoing anyone’s steps.
Admit you don’t know them well yourself.”

“Great and empty, true enough,” says the stone,
“but there isn’t any room.
Beautiful, perhaps, but not to the taste
of your poor senses.
You may get to know me, but you’ll never know me through.
My whole surface is turned toward you,
all my insides turned away.”

I knock at the stone’s front door.
“It’s only me, let me come in.
I don’t seek refuge for eternity.
I’m not unhappy.
I’m not homeless.
My world is worth returning to.
I’ll enter and exit empty-handed.
And my proof I was there
will be only words,
which no one will believe.”

“You shall not enter,” says the stone.
“You lack the sense of taking part.
No other sense can make up for your missing sense of taking part.
Even sight heightened to become all-seeing
will do you no good without a sense of taking part.
You shall not enter, you have only a sense of what that sense should be,
only its seed, imagination.”

I knock at the stone’s front door.
“It’s only me, let me come in.
I haven’t got two thousand centuries,
so let me come under your roof.”

“If you don’t believe me,” says the stone,
“just ask the leaf, it will tell you the same.
Ask a drop of water, it will say what the leaf has said.
And , finally, ask a hair from your own head.
I am bursting with laughter, yes, laughter, vast laughter,
although I don’t know how to laugh.”

I knock at the stone’s front door.
“It’s only me, let me come in.”
“I don’t have a door,” says the stone.

-Wislawa Szymborska

Rabbits & Birds

Started the day with sketching a few rabbits, an owl and a bird. I always had an affinity with rabbits since my childhood. As a child growing up in Texas, we had cottontails and jackrabbits as pets.

Spring plowing always resulted in grandpa bringing baby rabbits home which mom fed and nurtured until they could be released back into the wild. However many of these furry friends decided to stay around for awhile, so our dad and grandfather built nice wood rabbit hutches with screened-in sides for all of them.

Sketches – Charcoal & 2B pencil – 8 X 10 inches

Back From Vacation

We had a wonderful vacation! On Monday, I spent some quiet time puttering around in the garden and recouping after a long week of being constantly on the go.

Today I worked on The Swan Maiden painting. The swans are now finished and I added a pearl necklace which still needs work. As I was finishing the bottom strand I noticed they were not draping the way they should. C’est la vie!

Tomorrow I will go in and correct the problem. Too tired to mess around with it this evening.

The Swan Maiden – Combined Media – 16 X 20

Work In Progress – Book Cover

Today I was able to work on the altered book cover from a previous post. I started by painting and collaging some art paper, tree bark, and attached a porcelain head to the book cover.

One thing led to another and the piece started taking on a life of it’s own. Although it is not as I first envisioned it, I sort of like the direction the work is taking. The woman’s dress color will likely be altered, and some mysterious creatures added to the mix.

My overactive imagination has swept me into the magical realms of the deep forest where all sorts of mythical creatures dwell. Where will it all lead?

Busy Day

Today we went to Sebastopol to walk around and visit The Sebastopol Gallery which features fine arts and crafts by local artists. Be sure to check it out, if your in the area!

Later in the afternoon we went to the Santa Rosa Downtown Market to purchase some fresh produce. We had a great time sampling some fabulous white peaches and nectarines. Yum!

Main Street

Yummy Bread