Light Show!
Recently our frozen winter dawn sported coats of many colors: oranges, ice blues, pinks, purples and lavenders similar to a parade of images from many years ago. Claude Monet came into view, a Monet Moment! I viewed in my imagination scenes from the Art Institute of Chicago's traveling display of Monet's paintings. I pictured light dancing over thickly painted pure colors, blended by the eye and imagination in flickers of ever changing vibrations. I saw!
Haystacks!
I thought about my story Champaign Dawn, where was it? I knew it was buried in huge notebooks of long ago hard copies way before computers or devices came to our home. How will I find it? Will I find it?
Several days later, I joyfully excavated this page while looking for something else! I also found the "something else" I was searching for. I had written this piece long before my "organized" writing. Tai Chi and Qigong practice were far way into the future.
Writing and typing (yes typing) at random, then and now, in short disconnected entries I read and relive again:
Jan 5:
Riding up to Champaign Illinois in the winter dawn is a breathtaking experience! The fields of gold and blue, snow bumps, spikes, angular as it were, stood up and appeared as chunks of bright cerulean blue spattered over frozen turf. The ground itself was the color and texture of chocolate brownies frosted lightly with a dust of snow, giving the effect of sprinkles of powdered sugar. The overall view was like a feast of glittering multicolored gems, like thin slides of rocks and minerals I'd seen long ago under microscopes. I thought about my painting called Feldspar.
I absorbed the colors and light soul deep.
Steam billowed from chimneys and smokestacks, backlit with a golden frozen sunrise. I saw Monet's colors jump alive again in the smoke plumes. Hues and words melted together: purple orange gold pink blue Payne's gray titanium white silver and sunny yellow. I thought about Monet's La Garre Saint Lazarre series of the French train station. Shifting colors of the station, trains, and smoke were so alive you could hear the lonesome whistle blow. Monet did not imagine "Monet Blue," he lived it! My eyes enjoy the feast as we drive. Smile.
Dear God what am I supposed to be doing? [I actually wrote that interjection.]
Art, words, and music are prayers in color, line, and sound Take a li-on (line) for a walk. I drew some mom lions and cubs yesterday with pencil. Explore the line and let it teach you, going where it will, down a path of heightened awareness. * A good exercise, draw five quick small spontaneous drawings or paintings per week, one each day from Monday through Friday, a creative stimulus. I found this simple relaxation not only brought great joy and discovery, but I was exploring new techniques with paint and pencil. Of course subjects were mostly animals, no surprise!
"Science and Art Are One," Henry Adams, Mont-Saint-Michele and Chartres (1906)
"The Only Gift is a Gift of Thyself," Henry David Thoreau, Song of Myself
This morning, as late winter light melts into early spring, I saw again Champaign Dawn out my window accompanied by zero temperatures outside. I felt blue purples brushing into pale pinks and lavenders, I saw orange sunlight shifting up in the Ease, igniting the sky with a bright promise of the day to come. Early birds were already singing....
Awaken!
Then I reflected back to this
past autumn as watched a small pear tree, backlit by the shifting sun,
change color and light throughout the days and twilights. I saw leaves shot with silver, greens, and purples shifting from dawn to dusk. I thought of
Claude Monet then too, lining up his canvases and switching from painting to
painting, following the vision of ever changing light and
vibrations of color.
Related Posts:
Zero, poem
Ghosts of Myself, poem
Resources:
Claude Monet, French Impressionist Painter, series of paintings include Haystacks, Rouen Cathedral, The Garre Saint Lazarre, Poplars, and more
Monet's Palette on Facebook
* The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, a Course for Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self.
The Art Institute of Chicago, USA, school of art and public exhibits
Dahlis Roy: Visionary Artist, Author and Tai Chi Instructor
Images:
Haystacks Claude Monet, from a Monet Calender years ago
Golden Beach, oil painting by Dahlis Roy, illustration for the poem, Ghosts of Myself
Medieval Tower, fun with crayons and ink by Dahlis Roy
* "....manifestation of desires...grace or loving support that is freely given to us" is a profound destiny.
For many years I
painted portraits of animals. Pets and show champions paraded across endless and joyful illustration boards and blank canvases with pen and inks, pastels, and oil paint. Prints and book Illustrations graced my life. I feel deeply connected to them all. My most unusual portrait requests included a pet raccoon and a ferret!
I eventually "retired" to paint what "I" want, wide eyed and restless in total abandonment free of schedules, styles, agendas, colors, lines, and designs.
Paintings evolved. Colors brightened, new subjects appeared as if by magic including dreams of angels and visions from Louise, my friend. She dreamed or saw images of me on my spiritual journey path. We talked in person or by phone as Louise communicated her experiences. I took notes and made sketches to paint later. Animals, wild and tame, continued to present themselves including big cats, wolves, and many horses. I painted with "wild" abandon!
And I continue to write spontaneously storing memories along my journey, a miracle timeline.
Recently I began to feel lonely for a dog, cat or horse portrait? Why? I longed to feel connected again to painting a specific animal or group of animals. The painting will reach forward in spirit, going beyond paint, and radiate energy outwards to viewers. A painting opportunity was calling to me. I felt it! When will it appear?
Every Painting Tells A Story
Over a span of months, I connected with a new friend. We felt we knew each other, and talked about many subjects but never painting. One day "Out of the Blue" we both discovered we are both artists! We love oil paint and the process of painting! We love brushes and canvas!
"Imagine."
Joy and Wonder
"What do you paint?"
"I paint landscapes and flowers."
How about You?"
Without hesitation, "Animals."
I pulled out a photo of Lovely Rita, my Cheetah painting. I carry her with me.
Judy J. exclaimed, "I am looking for someone to paint my two black Cocker Spaniels! Can you paint my dogs?"
"YES!"
Judy J. sent me some E-mail photos. Those photos never appeared in my inbox? The one that came later was the exact photo for the portrait! Judy had taken the picture herself. "This is the One," we both knew.
The awakening painted journey began. I studied the photo and lightly free handed a pencil possibility onto a primed canvas that I had already painted with a very thin wash of light ochre. This "grounding" color would add inner light for the future painting. Oil paint dries thoroughly between layers to insure permanence of texture and color. Fat (thinker paint) over Lean (thin paint) is a basic rule. I followed simple guidelines used by Claude Monet, "pure paint on pure canvas," no additives, quick drying techniques, or top coatings.
Excitedly I began painting at the top left hand corner with a large soft chisel brush, stroking in a grey tan background. With a smaller chisel brush, I added the tapestry pillow. Moving to the top right, I loved painting the patchwork quilted fabric! I remember quilts my Mom and Grandma made by hand. I felt the stitches. I love chisel brushes, bold strokes or sharp lines as needed in one tool. Next with broad slashing strokes I blocked in the dogs, leaving plenty of options for corrections as needed. I felt like I was working in stone feeling "the bricks and mortar stone cutter's art." I felt energy surging into the painting and into me. Inner joy is here.
As I am painting the Spaniels, I am feeling a sure sense of very fine detail. Something new is happening! I am the right brained spontaneous impressionist painter with quick brushstrokes shrouded in mist and light. With the spaniels, I also felt my logical left brain working in integration with intuitive right brain abandon, a harmonic blend.
I worked in the dogs slowly and carefully over many sessions, always working left to right as my Dad had taught me so as not to get wet paint on my hands. The light was just right in my kitchen for painting. I breathed in love and light. I feel deep peace.
Several times I felt like a surgeon/ architect juggling three pairs of glasses, a magnifying glass, and one brush with only a few thin hairs in it. This technique completed tiny hairs on the dogs, one by one "brushing out the coats". Several times I had paint brushes in both hands and a compass to check proportions. Next I put the shine onto the ebony coats with the same tiny brush, a mix of Payne's grey (a blue grey) and titanium white. Livy's eyes shown brightly with added highlights!
"The dogs are coming alive!"
I feel gratitude in the presence of the dogs. I feel love and wonder in the fact that I was pain free in painting them. In earlier years my joints, muscles, and tendons had ached or felt sharp pain after exertion. I can bend! I have energy! Tai Chi and Yoga help me to gain strength, flexibility, focus, and joy in life. Friends are Here~
The Big Day was painting Carbon's name on his blue collar. I had been putting this off! How am I going to paint letters? I had heard a comment by Dr. Oz, ** "You have one chance to get it right...." I understood what he meant, he about doing successful heart surgery and me, getting the name on the collar "one time thorough." In paint, if a letter smudged or wasn't centered, a re-paint would not be as lively in color and energy. I poised, like a diver on a diving board. Success! I feel relaxed freedom and inner happiness.
As I placed the dog painting on the mantel to check the likeness my husband exclaimed, "They are alive!"
Next he said, "Don't touch them! They're finished."
I listened.
Remembering Judy J's words,
"There is Nothing like Painting~Nothing!"
I Feel the Power of Once and Forever Again~
Unconditional Love
Key Words: cat, dog, horse, cheetah, crane
Related Posts:
Angels 101
The Human Angel
Healing Hearts
Tonal Vision, the power of music
Painted Ponies
Running with Horses
Out of Box Experience
Call to Colors
Stars and Snow Spirit of Phoebe, Phoebe is a Spirit Cat
Winter Wolf
Thin Ice and Homecoming, the Courage of Black Wolf
Double Vision, two cranes are better than one
Resources:
Art Work by Dahlis
Collie Club of America, 20 limited edition lithograph prints of Famous Collie Champions of the Past, commissioned in 1982.
Collie Concept, book written by Mrs. George H. ("Bobbee") Roos, and illustrated by me and other artists, won 2nd place in the Best Breed Book Category, Dog Writer's Assoc. Awards 1982.
Collie Review Magazine covers, Murry Drucker, ed. and publisher, four covers of Top Show Winners of the Year.
* Deepak Chopra, M.D. meditation
Dahlis Roy: Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor
Images:
photos
Dahlis and Laddie, photo by my Dad. Lad, my first collie, was 6 months old here. I was 13. At age 15, I would paint and sell my first commissioned portrait of a champion Collie, Ch. Linbarin's Future Model, "Bobby."
painting
Unconditional Love, oil on canvas by Dahlis Roy based on photo by Judy J. of Livi (left). Carbon rests his head on Livi's back. "They are bonded."
Wearily I slumped into a chair to check upcoming TV programs.
I came to life!
I actually stayed and watched * Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood with Daniel and Grandpa Tiger wishing everyone a Happy Love Day! What a great idea!
Share your love in your own special way~How about an original drawing, note, poem, special food or treasure hunt?
I got up after the watching the show and felt brightened and refreshed with just a few minutes of rest, color cartoons and laughter. I was pleased to see scenes of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA near where I was raised. I relived the Pittsburgh city skyline. In my imagination, I crossed the 42nd street bridge "again...."
HAPPY LOVE DAY IS EVERYDAY~
Related Posts:
Creative Love
Resources:
PBS Kids.org
Daniel Tiger's Nneighborhood
Dinosaur Train, animation, comedy, educational, "Time Tunnel Approaching Folks"
Wild Kratts, The Kratt brothers, Chris and Martin, explore nature and wildlife, cartoon
Image
Valentine Heart hand made by my Mom, photo by Dahlis
* A full hour before the sun appears
dawn begins
eastern sky barely lightens
amber follows, creeping along the horizon
Cloud shapes are grey, then rose
(large fish headed east)
light increases
from frosted fields mist rises
The road, indeed the day
unfurls ahead of us
this year yet to be trod
stretches into the mist
Time, space, enigma
wide, flat terrain of prairie
days and months marching
toward an unseen horizon
At length the bright orb
appears, lighting the landscape
there is no escape from its light
encompassing all the world I see
Light, even though shielded by cloud
leads around the winter sky
to west and dying day
I enter the challenge
of this day, this month, this year
engage the road ahead
Peace, Love, Joy to you in this New Year,
Isabel Louise Jackson
Poem and design printed with permission of author
Related Posts:
Sacred Spaces, a contributed poem by Isabel Louise Jackson, Jan 2014
Resources:
Join a Writing Group, writing and sharing
Box Factory St. Joseph, Michigan USA, facilitator Isabel Louise Jackson
Sunset Coast Writers, SW Michigan, N. Indiana USA, "A different kind of writing group."
Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way, Vein of Gold, and The Writing Life
Deepak Chopra, M.D., Meditation, Yoga and more at Chopra Center Meditation online
Paul Lam, M.D., Tai Chi for Health, boost inspiration and creativity, improve balance, strength, range of motion, and flexibility. Tai Chi Helps!
Dahlis Roy: Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor
Image
Design contributed by Isabel Jackson
