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| "The Moment" click to view |
A month ago I shared about my live painting experience at the Lighting in a Bottle Festival (see June 10 post) and about how the process helped me wake up to where I am growing as an artist. Also I shared how the painting, for me, was not complete... I had not treated the edges, signed and dated it, or even titled it. Most importantly, it was missing the final touch, an element that would bring it closure so that it could truly commence. As I mentioned in that prior post, it is the element of STORY that most excites me right now, which I feel deepens a piece/painting from symbolic to experiential. Fortunately I was able to get in touch with the top bidders of the painting and ask them if they'd be open to my bringing closure to the piece. Nicole and Chad graciously welcomed me to their home in San Luis Obispo to do what I needed to do. I treated the edges, fine tuned the tundra, and then gave this "place" a reason for being...
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click these to view |
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click these to view
below, Nicole & Chad & Guinness |
enter two little figures who are traveling this terrain. A pilgrimage? A walkabout? Is this the place they are in, or is this place in them, in their minds, projected into their world. Who's dreaming who? The dialogue between the duo on the land, the interplay between them and and the large peaceful figure in the distance, their relationships with each other and with the other elements in the atmosphere... untold stories are to be conceived of and mused over by you, the viewer, and ultimately by the owners who have this piece hanging in their living room. Thank you Nicole and Chad for your warm welcome and open hearts. It was such a pleasure to have the opportunity to bring this piece "home" right with you in your home. I am grateful and honored.
The title is The Moment.
Everyone, please share any impressions and stories you feel through this piece, in comments below. I'd love to hear your feedback. This piece marks yet another new beginning for me and my art. My experience of its process and myself, from the live painting at LIB to the finishing touches at its home, is even more significant to me than how the piece resulted. A shift occurred in me, a vital one. Not only in my creative process, also in my human process.
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| "love bomb" click to view |
I am tickled that this week's page from ZBOOK reflects a similar elemental sythesis as in The Moment. "Love Bomb" consists of mostly abstract imagery, starting with the middle black ink drawing, then radiating pastel aura layers, onto the what started as a flower and mutated over time into an eruption of color, and then the cell like growths that nestled in beneath. A pretty picture indeed. And then BAM! I opened up ZBOOK one day to find our hero taking his place in the sky and revealing the reason for the color-shed. It was his doing, all along! Thanks to Jennifer, he finally revealed himself! One of the bold moves, out of many, that she has made with collage in ZBOOK, each time surprising and delighting me, inspiring what is possible. These bold moves are simple, for even just one personal element, such as the hero in "Love Bomb" and the duo in The Moment, can activate a scene into a scenario, into a STORY. Or many, as may be the case, the wonderful head case that is, that IS your imagination. A case packed with mystery and curiosity and risk taking and story breaking, live and uninterrupted, full coverage, behind the scenes, and all the in-betweens, nothing is what is seems and it's the nothing that means everything! Or at least what you deem, this time around. Let's now take another look for a moment.... :)
∞ ceci
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For me, this piece, "the moment", speaks of a story of a guardian. The two figures look to be in a desolate land, perhaps lost, perhaps on a vision quest. Whatever their state, the surroundings have a never-endingness to me, perhaps because they are small in the vastness of the earth and sky. And so, the emergent figure, the goddess, is overseeing their float through the land - a protector of the land possibly and therefor a witness to them in it. It reminds me of a recent kayak adventure T. and i took on our last day in Maui. The perspective was so new in so many ways, though we were in an area quite familiar, the vantage was expansive. At one point, I jumped in the ocean, and we were deeper than we would be just swimming. I had my goggles on and the view into the depths was stunning, kind of a shock too - the green-blue color and the light rays bouncing off the visible but distant sands - it was disarming. Through that morning trip, I had moments of fear, however, there was also a strong sense of presence of protection - serenity and guidance of where to go and what choices to make - we just had to tune into the instincts.
ReplyDeleteit's satisfying in me to know you're journey with this work progressed through your struggle and intentions to further your expressions through it. - excellent. beautiful story -J.
Thank you Hemphill, for your feedback and the reflective narrative from your very life in recent days. I just got your postcard from Maui and the image is such a visual compliment to your story here. Its image is also SO very timely for it correlates so wonderfully with the expanse and figures therein of The Moment! I just posted about all this and quoted your kayaking story, see: "In a Sea of Tears"
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to hear more stories from your travels, from out in Maui, and from your inner discovering too.
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