Drawing Three:
My Notes - Leap and a Net Will Appear is the one I did last night. and I don't quite know what I think of it yet. I would have done a few more things, but you can't color too many times on top of crayon, it just doesn't show. It came out very close to what I had in my mind, so ... well... I don't know if that's good or not.
And, again, the picture has so much more texture than it shows as a digital image. Some of the colors are metallics, and it really does look so much better "in person."
About this blog
Several years ago I did a series of 99 drawings that I called Middle of the Night Art. That series, and the dialoge between my sister and myself brought me to a place where I finally began to really understand my art, my spirituality, and a sense of who I am in the world. I'm sharing the art and that dialogue here.
My sister's responses, as well as my own, are posted as comments. And I'd love to hear what anyone else has to say.
My sister's responses, as well as my own, are posted as comments. And I'd love to hear what anyone else has to say.
Check This Out!
Categories
- About Us (1)
- apple (1)
- Blue Plate Special (1)
- brick wall (2)
- broken open (2)
- car (1)
- coming out (2)
- Do we really have to come out (1)
- driving (1)
- Driving My Car Off The Road Into Nowhere (1)
- eating (2)
- fence (1)
- fish (3)
- food (2)
- gate (1)
- Gateway (1)
- growing (1)
- Inside My Heart (1)
- Leap and a Net Will Appear (1)
- net (1)
- night (1)
- Ooohh Nooo (1)
- plate (1)
- stake (2)
- swallowed (1)
- The Art Itself (2)
- Title Page (1)
- tree (2)
- Whoa Nelly That might hurt (1)
- worms (1)
Posts
6 comments
Comment by Grace on September 6, 2010 at 5:05 PM
On Leap, there is that wall again - not so angry this time, not seeming so confining - perhaps even a little containing, as in behind this wall is a secret... I immediately saw you as fish, not wanting to get caught and afraid of the net - and there is the hand of He who will catch you, illuminated and ghostly, sure and certain with the net. I love this fisherman - He is the absolute master... Again that really bleak dark blue and the even darker choppy ocean - this mortal life - and those fish eyes, looking so incredibly caught - oh oh! all the while, like it cannot help itself, still reaching for the worm so artfully, lovingly tied... I loved the coloring of that beautiful, vibrant, warm fish in the midst of such dire tones - against that red, still strong with foreboding - but in the shape of a sun on horizon... This was my favorite picture...
As to your work - I love the blunt force of some of your lines - you are not particularly circumspect - more forceful than you may be aware - you are capable of living large, yet you are shown in the tiny holes we must peek through... What is this you are hiding behind? You care much less for aesthetics than you do for raw emotion - this gives your work more passion. By comparison, I have noticed a stiffer formality in my work and the exaggerated lengths I go to for the effect of one tiny curve. Interesting...
You really should spend all your time and energy on these drawing Shirley - this work you are doing is so incredibly important and it is inspiring to me as I hope to be inspiring to you. This is exactly right - doing this work is conversing DIRECTLY with God and it is illuminating me as it is illuminating you - it is a DIRECT witnessing consciousness and in this light, we will find an unparalleled form of freedom. I am absolutely evangelical about art because it has transfigured my suffering. I could sit with you and look at your drawings all day every day. I could sit with you when you draw - I could talk about this in every conversation. I would like to see more and more and more of this.
Comment by Shirley Twofeathers on September 6, 2010 at 5:06 PM
i am glad you like the fish one the best
because i dont
and i was starting to doubt it
and lose confidence
so now i dont have to doubt it at all
i see this series of mandalas as a work in progress
a body of work that defines who i am in my heart
drawing with crayons on black paper is exactly right for this
and i also want to do the same subjects in acrylics
big sloppy paintings wet on wet
with color bluring into color
and then maybe some even bigger pieces
done in glazes
with detail and drawings
so i went off to work tonight all inspired that i was going to draw some more
and no sooner had i got 5 miles down the road
when i realized that i had forgotten to bring my drawing book
Comment by Shirley Twofeathers on September 6, 2010 at 5:11 PM
i have been thinking alot about that story you wrote
the Legend of Sholane
i have been thinking how depressed i felt after i read it
now dont get me wrong
the story is not what depressed me
rather it was that i "got" the story
understood the message
and i could see that i would never be that heroic figure
that i was not the heroine of that story in any way shape or form
and i was disappointed in myself
very much so
because i knew in my heart that i had found that shawl
and i had not made the same journey
nor had i attained the prize
and i have also been reading alot of books at work
and it really bugs me that the books are always about
women that are young, beautiful, intelligent, gifted in some way
and someone always falls in love with them
who wouldn't?
and i will not be young and beautiful and intelligent and gifted and a heroine
in this life
nor do i believe that anyone will ever fall in love with me again
i think that time has passed for me
maybe it really hasnt
but i think that it has
that i have missed that larger life
that ship set sail on a day when i was sleeping in
maybe with a hangover
anyway
those thoughts depressed me quite a bit
Comment by Grace on September 6, 2010 at 5:12 PM
I always need encouragement and I get it from both the compliments you are so generous to give to me, AND from your inspiration and the drawings that you are courageous enough to do. Now, about this heroine thing. Drawing these honest real compelling pictures is unbelievably heroic. You MUST feel some level of authenticity when you are doing them - I do. I may as well have a sword in my hand instead of a pencil. This takes real bravery, this takes a kind of willingness to die - a grace per se - and you have to admit that you feel stirred to admiration for yourself by the sheer courage it takes to start, the will it takes to do the work, the surrender required to declare it finished but not perfect. This IS alchemy and WE are the alchemists. All totaled, we have shared eight pictures and look what has happened between us. I know you more profoundly and you know me, more profoundly. This has just begun - whatever happens, we can't stop now - this is too powerful, too important to waste energy on non-essentials. I have a knowing that whatever this is, where we go when we do this, there is the wellspring of transformation and the source of miracles.
Comment by Shirley Twofeathers on September 6, 2010 at 5:13 PM
Well, hmmm...
ok it is kind of brave to stick myself out there with a bunch of crayons, a pencil, and a nice eraser....
i love all the nice things you say about me, one day maybe i will be able to say them to myself.
Comment by Shirley Twofeathers on September 10, 2010 at 6:35 AM