Thursday, February 25, 2016

BEYOND BELIEF

February Moonset Lakeview



All the Light We Cannot See

"I want to see that!"

Settling into my comfy chair for a Saturday morning of TV and relaxation...I enjoyed some dark chocolate with * Dinner and A Book, my final scheduled program of the morning.


** First I watched Knitting Daily with Vickie Howell and a variety of teachers, Don't Sweater the Small Stuff, about shaping, design, lace, Aran motifs, and keeping in pattern while forming harmonious finished sweaters. 

"Visualize"

"Read Your Stitches"

"Trust!" 

"Stay Focused! "

I laughed out loud, but knitting, my first meditation, does help with focus and pride of accomplishment.  Knitting is even easier and more fun now with self striping yarns and a wide variety of novelty knit fabrics, yarn blends including organics made with natural plant dyes, and naturals spun from Musk Ox, Alpaca, and more.


"Eyelash" Yarn



*** Then I switched to Sara Graham's Food Safari filmed in South Africa, Antelope Park, a lion conservation area.  I watched half grown lions play wrestling, just like our domestic cats.  There was a newcomer young lion, in a small tree, looking around to become oriented.  Sara prepared an outdoor dinner for a new group of volunteers.  Young lions and playful cubs bring smiles


* Now for Dinner and A Book!  Comments spoken by the cooks preparing a meal mentioned that the book skips all around, not in chronological order at all.  Scenes might slide from 1941 then to 1944 and back again.  Short chapters are a style of writing, only 1-3 pages per chapter.  You have time to read a small bit at one sitting if you choose.  I sat bolt upright! 

"I write like that!"  


"It's like you wrote thoughts on note cards, shuffled the cards, and wrote from that," Tuck Langland mentioned.  "It's all over the map!"  Yet there is a central theme so you are not lost.  Descriptive and detailed, character and personality development and scenic word pictures draw in the reader to bring you right "there" in person.

"Yes, shuffling it is!"

One young girl in the book became blind at age six, "Yet she understands.  You can see even if you cannot...." Tuck Langland.

 "The whole book is a sequence of continuous wonderful surprises.





Invisible Light 

"What colors are beyond Earth?" 

"Colors I Haven't Yet Seen."


Crystal Blue


Blogger Search Key Words: writing, knitting, cooking, chocolate, vision, creativity

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Resources:
PBS.org
* Dinner and A Book:  Tuck Langland, guest host, and Gail Martin, hostess, discuss this week's selection, Feb 20, 2016, All the Light We Cannot see by Anthony Doerr while preparing dinner with recipes based on the book's journey and setting, French food for returning World War ll Veterans.  Local PBS Programming is from South Bend, Indiana USA, from WNIT 

** Knitting Daily with Vickie Howell, "how to" plus inspirations for the beginner to advanced knitter. PBS.org

*** Sara Graham's Food Safari new to the Cooking Channel.  Antelope Park, Lion Conservation.


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

Photos
February Moonset Lakeview, by Rob
Eyelash Novelty Yarn by Dahlis
Crystal Blue, by Bill Homann

Thursday, February 11, 2016

WINTER SHADOWS




*  "Long ago, I held a photograph...."

I copied a memory into my imagination.  The scene shifted from lush full summer into early autumn then arrived, in painted form, in snow bright December.

I first experienced the "real" view up close and personal standing still in the summer of 1969 in Upstate New York.  The "path," visible above but snow covered, was an unpaved road flanked by pines and leafed trees in fullest green.  The mountains called me.  I deeply love mountains and feel their power of energy and stillness.

Later I visited New York State again to experience the same path in early autumn, as the leaves were beginning to shift and blow over the narrow road.

In summer and autumn, I can still re-live the feelings and colors in vivid detail, the weather conditions of hot humid summer then a bit of chill in the air as an autumn preview appears. THEN~

Memory Makers

Much later, the time came to paint the path!  It was December 1981. 
Living in the mountains of Tennessee at that time, I grabbed my colors, brushes, and blank canvas to paint the December view, the snow scene developed quickly and effortlessly.   

** What Makes a Memory?  Where is the  memory?  Can I anticipate, experience, recall, then store and retrieve memories?  Everyone memories take unique paths.  Can memories be embedded, shifted, and erased?  What is the power of music and how does it help memory, recollection, and creativity?

I visualize images then paint, usually, although not always, after some contemplation.  I store and retrieve memories though painting and recalling scenes and events.

 *** Alan Gilbert, New York Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor, mentioned music's effect on your life as "artistic magic....So many ways to be a musician."  I always write and paint with music.  Music also helps stimulate and store memories.

 **** Recently I saw an interview with Conrad Shawcross, an "Out of Box" sculptor who combines science, art, and music in vast array.   Outdoors we view "musical forms," and "tetrahedrons" suggesting growing trees. An indoor display shows geometric moving shadow patterns cast on gallery walls.  Some sculptures move like clock work, others stay stark still.  Each one is different.

 Recall and Retrieve Memories
As I watched the interview, I thought of Alexander Calder!  I instantly recalled seeing a Calder show in Chicago and watching the hypnotic gently moving mobiles dance up and down, too and fro brushed into action by onlookers as they walked by, stirring up currents of air.  I enjoyed again the stark white walls and simple solid blond wood benches in the gallery.  I was "there" again.  

I got a second memory! In Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Carnegie Museum, I walked near a Calder, the air swished, and the sculpture came to moving life~ "just for me."

Now
Winter Shadows snow painting, painted with light and life, has a new home in New York State!  The new owner is a musicianI always knew and felt that this special gift would find just the perfect home~
Home Again 


The painted path is an invisible one," God put it there." 



Blogger Search Key Word:  Mountain    
 
 Resources:
** Total Memory Makeover, book by Marilu Henner, actress, author.  Store and retrieve your memories.

** NOVA Memory Hackers, PBS.org, Feb 10, 2016, "Researchers study how memories can be implanted, changed, and erased."

**60 Minutes, CBS, "A Story You Will Never Forget"  HSAM memory, April 16, 2015

***Alan Gilbert, Music and its Effect on Your Life, interview with Charlie Rose, Feb 11, 2016.  PBS.org or Bloomberg TV.  

**** Bright Idea, Conrad Shawcross, U.K. sculptor and scientist, creates musical forms, life forms, geometry in motion and stillness.

Music:
* Simon and Garfunkel, Old Friends/Bookends

Gymnopedia by Erik Satie 

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

Oil painting by Dahlis
Winter Shadows 

Saturday, February 6, 2016

HEART OF LOVE

*  "Love Begins With Me...."



Recently I took some candid shots, point and shoot of a design, just for fun.  I was amazed at the results.  Based on perception and depth of field, the panorama became a life of its own.

How like love!  A many faceted prism, that nurtures and grows and takes unexplored paths of wonder and light.


"Quiet Moments of Clarity...."



 Paw prints appear!  They dance and twirl is a cosmic translucent cloud.  I chuckle to feel close to furry friends far and near. 


"Gentle Acceptance...."



This one looks like a blue butterfly unfolding its wings in the middle right view.  Outreach, compassion, empathy, enjoyment.  Golden flowers await.


"Today I Choose Love...."



Expansive, Expressive, Spontaneous, Purity and Truth~

* Words and pictures tumble and fall gently as I write.  Like a puzzle, I don't know how or where the pieces are going to fit.


"Take A Moment to Rest...."



Key Words: Valentine's Day, Love

Resources:
* Listening to Guided Meditations while I write:
Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey, quotes from 21 Day Meditation Experiences, Miraculous Relationships:  Miraculous Nature and Miraculous Living.  Chopra Center Online.


Dahlis Roy:  Visionary Artist Author and Tai Chi Instructor


Photos by Dahlis, 
Paw Print Design Explorations 
Swirls
Paw Print Clouds
Blue Butterfly
Cosmic Light and Color