6 comments

1. 

   Comment by Grace on September 10, 2010 at 5:55 PM

   Wow. Loved this one. I loved the hair, the hands, the leaves, the lightening, the dash board guages looking back at the watcher like eyes. I loved the way the leaves changed when the background changed from black to blue... Interesting how the arms and steering wheel combine to make a halo over this wonderful person's head. Now the feeling - it felt headlong somehow - more like taking off in an airplane than careening out of control. Is this piece portentious of what is going to happen to you with your art? There is a directness about the head, as if she is sitting foreward, impatient to get out there, somewhat electrified and daring all the fates. She could be saying - damn it all, I'm doing this!!! Even the light from the headlights seems to be grabbing at what is in front, what is to come...can't seem to get there fast enough... And, interesting too how the road just abruptly ends. It doesn't fall off a cliff at all - there is little sense that something bad is about to happen. It is almost a benign unknown, even with dark and lightening - there is just no road 'out there'. Perhaps that silver lining on the horizon is what makes this a bit exciting, even the tiniest bit optimistic in the face of what seems to be obvious oblivion. So, yes this picture is braver and more assured in tone than the observer expects - making it more curious and causing you to look longer and more than once. And of note, one of the thousand names of god is Rathangapanih - One in whose hand is a wheel - there are several other names that reference the wheel.

2. 

   Comment by Shirley Twofeathers on September 10, 2010 at 5:57 PM

   yes.
   it does sort of grow on a person.
   i like it more each time i look at it.
   i noticed today that the sleeves look almost like
   similar to
   reminiscent of
   the fish in the previous picture swallowing the bait
   did you notice that?
   
   i was not able to do any art tonight
   as it was way too busy
   back to back calls
   but i have the idea in my head of what i am going to do
   and it isn't another driving off the road one like i thought it would be
   i am not sure if i will work on it tonight or not
   depends on if i can sleep
   if i can go to sleep now and i hope i can
   it will be tomorrow before i can get started on it
   i cant wait to do it
   i am beginning to feel really good about these little pictures
   like i finally am an artist
   whatever that means
   i think i finally understand something about being an artist
   something that i had not understood before
   i have these really neat pictures i stole off the internet from an artist name of Novoa
   one in particular is of 3 or 4 black leopards walking through a field of daisies
   and when i first saw it i wondered how on earth a person got an idea like that
   it was cool and interesting and i had this passing thought that i would never be an "artist"
   not really
   not a real one like that
   because i never had cool ideas like that
   or if i did have a cool idea like that i would never be able to get it onto a canvas like that
   and now
   suddenly
   i understand how it came to be on the canvas
   and i know that i could have a cool and interesting idea
   and that if i wanted to paint it i could
   and it would come out just fine because i no longer care if it comes out "pretty"
   and i could be content if it came out sloppy
   and i wouldn't try to fix it and force it to be something all neat and tidy if it indeed turned out
   to be more of a soupy mess
   and conversely if i wanted a soupy mess and it came out all neat and tidy
   well that would be ok too
   and somehow this has all come about because i decided not to be afraid to draw an actual face into my mandala and low and behold the face came out really cool because it was so imperfect and suddenly i realize that i can draw
   i can draw
   wow
   i didn't think i could
   and when i started to work on that last little piece about driving off the edge of the road into nowhere i almost told myself that it would be impossible for me to draw myself driving
   but then i decided that i would just sketch it out and if it looked stupid
   well then maybe that would be fine
   i probably do look stupid when i am driving my car off the road into nowhere
   so i took all the pressure off
   and voila
   it came out kinda cool
   not stupid at all
   and so.....
   
   interestingly enough
   doing all that work on my sims recolors was hugely helpful
   as i was immersed in art the whole time i was doing them
   all kinds of different paintings and pictures went into my sims game
   and that had some sort of subliminal effect that i cant quite explain and yet
   i know that it had an impact

3. 

   Comment by Grace on September 10, 2010 at 6:00 PM

   All that is happening to you is happening to me. I feel like I discovered a real and mystical tool when I began to draw. I once read that some art school in Vienna begins with a class in which students must pick a subject and paint that one subject 100 times. I always wanted someone to asign such a thing to me, but absent the requirement and the person to please, I would never begin such an undertaking. I often thought about what subject I would choose and I never came up with any object that I thought I would never tire of rendering. Food for thought, and now I am open to the idea.
   
   Yes, your sleeves and your fish - the lines you use the actual lines themselves are the language, or the vernacular. When you draw more and more, you suddenly recognize your vernacular, and then you begin to use it, exaggerate it, modify it, and expand it. I don't think it is possible to look at a drawing and not know some fundamental truth about the artist, and part of that truth is plainly evident in the style of our basic lines.

4. 

   Comment by Grace on September 10, 2010 at 6:02 PM

   Well, yes, your lines are like a signature - the sleeves and the fish - there it is - something so tangible about who you really are is wordlessly told in the lines. How can we look at a picture and not be moved to know each other - the artist - and god - the witness - so intimately? This is a remarkable medium - it creeps past the walls and words and the intellect and trickles into our very own consciousness. You are an artist now and finally, at long last, so am I and I am fundamentally changed for it. I have this core belief that when we are doing what we are supposed to do, we are finally past being rebellious against god and in that obedience we are healed from certain failings.

5. 

   Comment by Grace on September 10, 2010 at 6:04 PM

   I showed all four of your drawings to Siba. She is the supreme appreciator of art because she actually sees what she is looking at - rare indeed. Siba loved all of your work, but was especially drawn to driving my car and leap and a net will appear. On Leap, she said she loved the title, she loved the hand, she thought it was compelling to look at and she thoroughly examined and appreciated the fish's expression. In driving my car, she was struck as much by what you put in as by the things you left out - like the car - just the dash board and the lights and the steering wheel were perfect in communicating the entire experience - she was surprised you have not done more representational art before now, saying you are certainly capable of expressing yourself very truthfully. And these drawings must have stuck with her, because they have come up more than once in conversation. She called me yesterday to say she was reminded by your drawings of a researcher and writer whose entire body of work supports the notion that humans have a soul because we do art and art exists for no reason except to demonstrate the existence of soul. I am very hopeful you will stay encouraged - if anyone looks and doesn't see, or looks and sees just a picture, you have to remember that there are those of us who really see something, something important in what you are doing. People who can't see it for what it is are just an annoyance...

6. 

   Comment by Shirley Twofeathers on September 10, 2010 at 6:05 PM

   THANK YOU!
   
   i am off to get hypnotized. will write more if i have time later, or in the morning.
   i think i have sky excited about an art project of her own!
   she saw only pictures in 3 of my little pieces, but was also very drawn to driving off the road, and almost couldnt stop looking at it and talking about it
   i cant wait to do the next one
   saskia is enthused about recoloring objects for the sims game which is a creative act and who knows what it might lead to
   a web site maybe, which if popular and well traveled, could bring self esteem and a desire to venture further into the world at large
   
   well gotta go right now
   love shirley