Thursday, July 25, 2013

GET THE PICTURE?

We love photos of all kinds~digital has opened up many worlds for us and instantly!  We love instant!  We want it sooner than NOW and going world wide effortlessly....

Catch The Moment
Breezing through my kitchen I caught the light one morning.  Stopped. Stared.  Camera in hand, I preyed and captured the image of sunlight reflecting through half open window blinds.  The image appeared as mostly black and white and completely unplanned.  If I had been even a minute "later" the sun would have shifted to a different pattern or perhaps no pattern at all.  

I reflected back to Op Art Artists.  I saw dots on Cheetahs, stripes on Zebras, boa patterns on a clouded leopard: she is reptilian.  Animal parades, painted optical illusions, are here.  

I noted how the drinking glass, partly filled with water, fractured the light and bent it into monochrome prisms.  If I had planned this shot or tried to paint an image like this would it have happened?  

"I have 3,000 photos on my iPhone," someone told me.  We love this!  We love breezing through fields of images, like a walk through gardens of the imagination.  We love being armchair tourists and call up sacred sights on our computer/phone/tablet etc.  Instant search brings infinitee study of a building or a painting.

Photography 101
Just recently I saw an add for the 10 o'clock news.  A professional photographer was going to give hints about how to use digital photography.  I wrote a note remainder to watch the program.  (Yeah, I still write notes on paper.)  Never understanding my camera manual or even looking online, I watched the presentation.

The clip was fun and informative.  Using pocket digital cameras/phones the best hint I learned is to not use the zoom!  Get as close as possible to your subject!  Yes!  This way the focus, clarity, and composition are much better.  I am a zoom in and shoot photographer!  I prefer cropped images and close up details.  In the film SLR days, I used the zoom option and loved it.  Now I am getting the images I want with my pocket digital! 

I am grate-full that my photography question was answered and all by the intuition of seeing an add for the news, on a channel I have never watched!

I love digital, I love deleting instantly.  I love editing, yet the best photos, like the best paintings, are unretouched. 

Get the Picture!



Related Posts:
Angels in the Architecture 

Resources:
Op Art patterns: Ansel Adams Photographer, Andy Warhol Artist

Dahlis Roy:  Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor

Photo:
Through the Glass Looking, by Dahlis Roy

Friday, July 19, 2013

BEST OF BOTH WORDS





Skipping through poetry I came across:

*  Crystal Blue 
Iridescent Lake, Neon to Turquoise,
Sapphire Midnight, Jewel of the Ocean,
Hyacinth, Bluebird, Iris!  Color Me Blue!



Stringing together spontaneous words, colors, emotions, thoughts, feelings and what have you create string of pearl poems.... 

Meditation with a pen, pencil or brush is here Now!

I have a blank journal waiting for the Best of Both Worlds....

Write?  Write!




                                                                                             Artist/Writer at Play



* Writing with Color:
What is your favorite color or combination of colors?  Think creatively with writing and play color games.  Visualize then describe your favorite color.  Play with water color spontaneously with a brush or sponge free from preconceived results.  Have Fun!


Related Posts:
The Blank Page
Rainwalk
Flowers in the Rain 

Lavender Blue
The Edge of Time
Write? Right! 


Resources:
The Writing Life, The Artist's Way, Vein of Gold, Julia Cameron

August 5, new free online 21 Day Meditation Experience from Deepak Chopra, M.D., and Oprah Winfrey, Dynamic Relationships.  "Let's Meditate Together."

Paul Lam, M.D. a family practice physician from Sydney, Australia, works with medical doctors and Tai Chi experts to create Tai Chi for Health programs.  "Open Your Mind" to higher creative achievement and inner peace with Tai Chi.

 * Silver Butterfly Create A Vision by Dahlis Roy: Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor. 

Photos by Dahlis:
Crystal Blue
Artist/Writer at Play

Friday, July 12, 2013

SILVER LINING

                                                                                              Silver Lining




The Big Picture

*  "The sun rises...I breathe deeper than the ocean,
caught in the clouds chants vibrate my soul...and circle....

I am heady.

My soul wafts from left to right, in tradition....young monks chant with drums....

The room becomes a dance--

I am lost.  But found in that I am not alone.  

Suddenly I wish I were.

Loose, free, absorbed.  
For a moment, I am free and there is no hiding from 
                      God
       
In the chant
                 In the breath          
                                 In the smile
                                                  In the journey

This is the moment."
                    





Journey to Forever
Seems as if there are more "ah ha" moments lately:  increased intensity, heightened enthusiasm, "chance" happenings, shared information yet only what is needed in moments free of excess.  Gentleness Abounds and Love of Nature, our silver linings of the soul, create spontaneous evolving life tapestries full of color and life:  Every One Unique. 



Resources:
*  Tina Sipula, Journey to the Top of the World, poem From Katmandu to Tibet

Debra Basham, CHTP, NLP, HTt, RMT, Moth!  Latest post on Yellow Brick Road Blog (July 10, 2013)


Dahlis Roy:  Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor

Photos:
Volunteer Maple Tree Showing Its Silver LIning by Paul, published with permission
Grand Tetons (USA) photo by Susanne, published with permission 

Friday, July 5, 2013

SINCE YESTERDAY





July 4 dawned full of anticipation!  I had "planned" to write, but "Oh well, later."  I gave way to carry water chop wood "chorz," grounding exercises in patience...."All in good time" I mused.  "Enjoy the moment."

* Watching Giada de Laurentis cook was a great needed break, virtual cooking and eating in a pleasant home setting, relaxing.

Later, I my son Rob and I had planned to watch Yankee Doodle Dandy, a black and white movie (1942).  The first time I saw the film I was in first grade and home from school.  I didn't go to school very often if I could help it!  I'd watch Kay's Kitchen cooking show and Afternoon Movie Classics.  The TV was a huge banquet of black and white programs occupying a prime place in a mahogany cabinet in our living room.  I remembered the walls were painted a soft blue with white trim.  You could close the TV from view when you weren't watching!  Out of Box experience has arrived!

Watching Yankee Doodle Dandy for the first time, I focused on the whole movie without moving.  My parents liked it when I sat still even for a little while.  Setting the stage, my mother explained to me that James Cagney was an actor playing out the life story of George M. Cohan.  She told me I wasn't born until three years after the movie's release, and mentioned I was born just two weeks before the Armistice of World War II.

I absorbed the black and white chess board harmonies of set design and character placement.  I noticed the lead character playing George M. Cohan (Jimmy Cagney) was stunning with his cunning looks and scene stealing gestures.  The actor rode a horse on set for the horse race!  I noticed horses rather than people.  I liked how the man who played Jerry Cohan (George M.'s father) looked, talked, and smiled like my Dad's Dad.  I noticed costume designs, transitions in plot, and skillful lead-ins for songs and dances.  

Classic melodies merged themselves into my heart-mind!  I breathed in the energy of the American Tribute Medley peppered with bugles, drums, fanfare, and dancing including You're A Grand Old Flag, The Battle Hymn of the Republic and more.  Later Over There appeared, my favorite song.  George M. sat at the piano composing.  I learned a bit about how a musician creates.  I was already drawing with line and color, while musical composition plays with sounds, beats, and sometimes lyrics.

As I watched "yesterday" I dissolved in emotion, recalling houses with high up ceilings, thick oriental rugs and gently carved wood.  A new learning experience happens each time I watch Yankee Doodle Dandy.  Like a treasured book, each re-view or scan brings up new dimensions of memories, thoughts, energy, and power.

For Rob and me, our favorite part is the finale where George M. Cohan receives the Congressional Medal of Honor.  We see the song and dance man dancing down the long staircase without looking down!  Focus!  Concentration!  Emotion!

Earlier we all contributed to making a great simmered dinner of Northern Italian Minestrone Soup containing a mix of beef, cannelloni beans, onion, garlic, tomato bites, carrots, kale, and a Rosemary sprig based on a recipe by *Giada.  We ate while we watched our favorite scenes and songs from the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy....





After the movie, right away next on deck was a concert with fireworks (NBC TV).  Among other performers,Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran sang together Everything has Changed.  Again I stopped stock still and watched, listened, sang along...absorbing the haunting harmonies into my soul....And to think I almost turned off the TV!  

Later I discovered I own this song on Cd, but had by-passed listening to it until last night!  The live performance sparked new interest in music and lyrics Zen and Now:


**...."and all my walls stood tall, painted blue....

All I Know Since Yesterday Is Everything Has Changed."


 
Related Posts:
Carry Water Chop Wood (June 2011)
Manifest (June 2013)

Resources:
Yankee Doodle Dandy biographical musical movie stars James Cagney as George M. Cohan.

*  Giada de Laurentis presents Everyday Italian, Giada in Italy and more on the Food Network and the Cooking Channel  Award winning cook book:  Giada At Home

**  Song of the Day  Everything Has Changed written and performed by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran from Taylor's Red album. 



Dahlis Roy: Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor


Photos by Dahlis:
Butterflies through Stained Glass
Holiday Supper