Music & Waves

Lior and the Sea, Blessings of the Grandmothers

This week I pulled out several songs I wrote for the folk harp, & reworked them a bit. I studied piano with a lovely teacher, who taught me to write out music, & we studied a good bit of theory.
Today another harper visited. He is interested in ordering a harp like of mine from a luthier across the country, so he stopped by to play for awhile, which was fun for my harps & me!

When my middle granddaugher drops by to paint, I wanted some simple surfaces for her.

Lady of Wind & Waves

I put gesso on on several 5 x 8" pieces of matt board I'd picked up for Collage.

They are perfect for small pics, so I did one as well. I began with acrylics, & finished with oil pastel, using copper paint for the necklace & earrings.

I'm linking to Paint Party Friday! Enjoy!

Daffy-down-Ddilly

Daffy-downdilly detail

Here's my little Daffy-down-Dilly flower fairy

I started this one for a local Daffodil Festival, which includes an art show .... but didn't deliver it by the deadline ...

blocks of colour

Daffy-downdilly sketch & finished piece

The idea came after seeing my teacher/friend Elisabeth's work in progress for the same show. I love drawing/painting flower fairies, it was fun bringing this one to canvas.

I'd forgotten (till a friend on FB reminded me) there's a poem about her! 

Daffy-down-Dilly

 




Daffy-down-Dilly
Has come to town
With a yellow petticoat
And a pretty green gown
Daffy-down-Dilly.
Nathaniel Hawthorne

I'm linking to Paint Party Friday 

Dancers

A couple of weeks ago, Shiloh Sophia McCloud invited artists interested in her Colour of Woman workshops to celebrate International Women's day by painting two women.

Though I wasn't able to participate in painting along with her livestream at my friend Elisabeth's studio, I set my easel (OK, music stand!!) up out in my yard, & painted away! 

Paint table

I began by painting an undercoat, & then began sketching in the dancers. I love all forms of dance, from Classical Kirov style Russian ballet to free form improvisation, and wanted my dancers to reflect that range.

Outdoor 'studio'

I've sketched the dancers at our ballet studio for years, & pulled up a few images from the last Nutcracker performance as inspiration. 

Undercoat

Outline

I was able to paint for several hours, & was grateful for the lovely sunny day!  

The next day was our Artspiration show, which was a lot of fun, but whew!! I have a new appreciation for artists who participate in weekly art/craft markets! It takes a lot of energy to set up even a tiny exhibit like ours, & interact with the guests ....

roughing in Flesh tones

 So I had a break of several days, before getting back to the studio (inside this time) & playing more with my dancers. 

*  Dancers *

There are bits of silver paint in the crown & earrings, a floaty scarf .... and two sweet dancers, caught in a moment between movements

I just discovered a lovely group: 
Paint Party Friday this is my first submission!

Presence - part 2

I think she's finished!

She Who Watches

Over the last couple of days I did more of the details, raised the hairline a bit, then shifted that a bit more, added Prayer Flags & Tsagigala/ Tsagagal - the Columbia River painted petroglyph we know as 'She Who Watches.'

My grandmother Mary grew up not far from this place on the Washington side of the Columbia, & spoke Chinook Jargon (the trade language, with its mix of Columbia dialects, French, English) ... so I was thinking of waiting and using Tsagigala in a future picture of Mary (whom I never knew!)

But after chalking her in, she seemed to want to stay!

Here's the Wishram version, as told by Ed Edmo & artist Lillian Pitt:

"There was this village on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge. And this was long ago when people were not yet real people, and that is when we could talk to the animals.

"And so Coyote — the Trickster — came down the river to the village and asked the people if they were living well. And they said "Yes, we are, but you need to talk to our chief, Tsagaglal. She lives up in the hill."

*Presence* in morning light

"So Coyote pranced up the hill and asked Tsagaglal if she was a good chief or one of those evildoers. She said, "No, my people live well. I watch to see my people have good salmon, venison, berries, roots. I watch to see they have good shelter. I watch that we live in peace. I watch so good things will happen. 
Why do you ask?" 

And Coyote said, "Changes are going to happen. How will you watch over your people?"  And so she didn't know. 

"And it was at that time that Coyote changed her into a rock to watch her people forever."

Presence

This week I discovered a new FB group - Magical Mixed Art Community - & have been enjoying the BEAUTIFUL pieces members have been submitting! One pair of paintings struck a chord, and resonate with one of my stories, so I've begun a new piece: Presence.

Background & outline

In 1992, several days after my dear dad died, I was sitting in one of the Meadow pools at Breitenbush retreat center where I worked. I happened to glance up at the sky, & saw my father's profile in the clouds! I casually asked the friend with me to look up, & tell me what HE saw ... "Um, your father's face?!" ...
When my dad was in High School in the 20s, he learned to type. One of their projects was to do images with type: a US flag & their own profile! My dad, dutifully did both, & proudly saved them. He had a distinctive nose & wavy hair .... one cloud above us - that profile!

filling in the face

So when my mom died 12 years later, & my oldest granddaughter was sad, I told her we should look for my mom's face in the clouds, & we'd always find fuzzy little cloud faces that we identified as Lois.  Nothing as distinct as my dad's profile (which stayed for several hours, before gradually fading) but quite comforting.

My women's spiritual book group is currently reading Jessica Maxwell's "Roll Around Heaven," a delightful spiritual memoir, which begins with a chapter about her dad's death, and .... seeing HIS face (holographic) FILLING the sky three days later!! She wasn't going to tell anyone, till her sister called, and said "You'll never guess what I saw!!" ... um, dad's face? ....

Mary          Lois          Nadya

Face & hair

So when I saw the paintings with a woman's face in the sky, I thought of  painting of my mom, smiling in the sky! She cherished a set of photos she framed of herself, her mom & me between 18 & 20 years old (she's in the middle), so I used my mom young woman as my starting point! She was born in 1912, & her mom in the 1880s)


I had a 'Flying Dutchman' painting on canvas that I picked up somewhere, & have thought of painting over, so that seemed perfect. (you can see a vague outline of the ship, with the darker ocean on the right in the first picture)

I've used the colour of woman model of painting the background, then the outline of young Lois (I didn't do a distinct portal this time), then filling in face & neck, hair, & background.
Next comes the glaze, then more details! I like the hint of a heart surrounding the face!

On Saturday our Church is having an art show, Artspiration, and we can display up to three pieces per person. I've been working on 'Ariadne's Red Thread' (I'll post pics soon), and "Presence," with my third piece a sumi picture for the Year of the Dragon.

My Colour of Woman teacher Elisabeth plans to show a piece as well.
I've been haunting the art store, picking up new paints, brushes, supplies, & found that my music stand works well for an easel, at least for these smaller pictures! (this one's 12 x 16")

Ariadne's Red Thread

Our local co-op art Gallery has periodic juried shows, where non-members may also exhibit. February is one of those times, with a Red Show, & in 2013, I created a couple of pieces for the show. 

The phrase 'Ariadne's Red Thread' immediately came to mind, & I envisioned a labyrinth, with the red thread leading into the center. I began researching both the story of Ariadne, Theseus & the Minitaur, Cretan labyrinths, and other aspects of the story. 

The Cretan labyrinth is simpler than that in the one in the Chartes cathedral, & I enjoyed learning the pattern. A Labyrinth differs from a Maze, in having one path in & out, rather than different options that take you to a dead end. So Theseus wouldn't need the cypher of a thread to guide him to the center and the bull. Greek myths, as other early stories, were passed on by oral tradition, so several variants have come down to us.

Sired by a god, (Poseidon, god of the seas & oceans) Theseus was half human, and lived in Athens.  Previously, Daedalus and Icarus had resided in the kingdom of Minos, known today as Crete. Daedalus, an architect, designed the labyrinth to contain the Minotaur, half-human and half bull, with a taste for human flesh.  Due to his violent disposition, he was  imprisoned in the labyrinth beneath the palace of Minos.  In order to appease the monster, the King demanded that other nations, including Athens, provide annual human sacrifices for the creature to devour. 

in process

Theseus joined the other youth from Athens, & fell in love with the Princess Ariadne, who vowed to help him challenge the Minotaur, and escape from the dungeon.  She gave him a spool of red yarn, to unwind as he travelled, & a sword.  After killing the Beast, he followed the thread back to the entrance and escaped with the other sacrificial youth & Ariadne.  

In several accounts, Theseus abandoned Ariadne sleeping on the island of Naxos, and Dionysus rescued and wed her. With her association with thread spinning & winding, she is seen by many to be a weaving goddess, like Arachne. Her wedding diadem became the constellation Corona, & there the Minotaur has association with the constellation Taurus.

Ariadne's Red Thread

Researching the legend, I found an article whose author observed a connection between Sarah Winchester, with her labyrinth of a house & fascination with spider webs and this myth of Ariadne, Theseus and the Minotaur. As I worked on this piece, I incorporated a buffalo nickel button, the blues of the ocean, a piece of red yarn tracing a path through the labyrinth, and surrounded it with a spider web.  

Though my pieces weren't accepted for the show, it was fun researching & creating them. Ariadne herself is nudging me do her portrait, in the Colour of Woman style. 

In our workshop with Elisabeth last weekend, we did a Red Thread Ceremony, based on Shiloh McCloud's teaching. An ancient Chinese legend bespeaks that those who are destined to meet are connected by an invisible red thread from before our birth.Shiloh was given instruction to use 'the Red Thread ceremony ' as she journeyed to join a circle of Native American women. After the ceremony, they told her they sew with red thread to show solidarity among Native Americans.
In the same article, she shares the tradition from the Orthodox Church that (mother) "Mary was weaving with a red thread, which was to become the veil of the temple to the holy of holies."

We each looped red thread around our wrists, then cut the thread and made a bracelet. When painting, we can don the bracelet, & use it to symbolically connect with others in the red thread circle of artists and women, & harken back to Ariadne ...

Magic Wand Paintbrush

Elisabeth's Magic Wand Brush

At our playshop with Elisabeth, we brought a few things to place on the altar (hmm, I 'forgot' mine there; will just have to return!!) and one of the items Elisabeth had already placed is her Magic Wand Paintbrush!

It is covered in Polymer clay with glitter, & a crystal at the end, which may also be used to scratch or incise paint! When she posted this picture, I wanted one of my own!!

Covered with clay

My first thought was to ask my dear Daughter-in law Angie, who loves creating things with Polymer clay, to make me one ... so she & grandson Gregory began playing with their supplies ....

Of course I quickly realized I wanted to make one as well! Especially after Elisabeth called my attention to the crystal tip.

So I shopped for some crystals, along with a few more art supplies. I had taken a bag of Fimo to my daughter's, so found some appealing colours in that stash this AM, & this tutorial for covering Crochet hook handles with polymer clay! I noticed similar clay coated crocket hooks made by a local gal at our Crafter's co-op yesterday!

I also stopped by a local thrift store, & picked up an old baking pan, as it's not recommended to use your cookware for baking craft clay items. If you do much craft baking, it's good to dedicate a toaster or craft oven for those projects, & use it outside.

After getting home I began, first kneading and rolling the clay, as suggested in the tutorial. Turquoise, Lapis, dark purple, a bit of 'stone' look (grey) & a bit of fuscia. I soon had nice swirls, & wrapped the paintbrush, then secured a bit of Oregon Sunstone for the tip.

Burnished Brush

I used the lid of the art supply box as my rolling surface, then Perfect Pearls powders in 'Blue Smoke' & 'Forever Violet,' burnishing them into the surface with the back of a spoon. This article gives suggestions for working with powders and the polymer clay! It gives a different, more metalic, look, & the swirls aren't as prevalent, though they are still there!

Just out of the oven, cooling

 As suggested in the Tutorial and comments, I used an old sock to rest the brush on while it baked, & covered with an aluminum foil 'tent.' 15 minutes at 275*, & it was ready to take outside & leave awhile to cool down.

Since I'd used the pearl powder, I gave it a clear coat of craft sealer, & let THAT dry before bringing it back inside.

  When it seemed sufficiently dry, I brought the Magic Wand Brush inside, & placed it on the little altar by Gabriella and the Red Thread from the class. Now I have a Magic Wand brush of my own!!

Magic Wand brush on altar with Red Thread from our class