Spring

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I bet the people in Boston are ready for spring!

I live in the south so spring arrives right around this time every year. Sometimes it arrives even earlier. We had a downpour of rain yesterday and today the air is muggy but my seedlings are sprouting and it's impossible for me to not think about new growth, new opportunities and simple abundance. Each season has a gift for us and spring brings us a welcoming warmth with the promise that the cold is over...at least for now.

Gratitude to Theo

If it wasn't for the brother of Vincent van Gogh, we would not have this lovely and extremely famous image called "The Starry Night." We don't always realize what the art patron does for the artist. I know in my own work, I still need encouragement even after all the years I've been painting. Every so often, someone says something so ignorant or insensitive and I just want to throw down my paintbrush and say, "what's the use?"
I'm sure Vincent felt that way many times. We have all heard of the many struggles this poor man suffered all his life and yet painting was the one thing that calmed his tortured soul. This is why the brother of this great artist means so much to our world. We forget how much he did for his Vincent. We forget that Theo was a great art dealer and had a great eye for fine art. Without these great patrons, there would be no great artists. Even the Italian Renaissance would not have existed without its patrons. I would love to see a day when the patrons towards the arts are abundant like it was in the time of the Renaissance masters.
Vincent van Gogh did not have the Renaissance environment in his time. It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a country to raise a great artist. Without the great patrons to the arts, the artist suffers. Vincent had his brother's best wishes and somehow this one person was enough to keep him going. That's amazing if we think about it. How many times have you become discouraged with your own work? We all need a Theo.

Zentangle Art

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I love it when an artist starts an new movement based on an old concept. Really, the idea of a mental meditation dates way back in ancient Chinese history. Taoism influenced the landscape hand scrolls. Zen Buddhism influenced the Japanese brushwork and the beautiful 'void' or negative space that is seen in many of the early asian works.

So this new concept of mental-meditative drawing has been around as long as humans have been but I'm not being sarcastic when I say I love an artist stepping forward and bringing this to the public's attention again because we forget. We forget too easily how important this mental process is to the artist's creation and to the artist's mental health.

After all, the journey truly is more important than the destination so I applaud the artists who created the new/old concept of Zentangle.

Medieval Castles

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Medieval castles were not the pretty, fairy tale castles we see at amusement parks. These incredible structures were strong, functional and a very practical way of surviving the middle ages. Outside the crenelated walls was dangers of all sorts. Only the peasant farmers ventured out every day. The rest of the people stayed inside the bolted gates laboring over supplies and ammunition.

Many of these castles were so large and heavily populated, they evolved into the first European cities. These early medieval castles were very crowded. When the plague hit, it usually killed everyone behind the walls so sometimes these castles fell from the inside out.

The Mongolians were the first (that we know of) to use germ warfare. The double walls at the city of  Constantinople were impenetrable due to the towers that were strategically located every fifteen feet. If you managed to dodge the arrows while scaling the first wall, you had another thick stone wall to conquer. There was no way out from in between these two layered walls that wrapped around the city. Even the ferocious Mongolian warriors could not get past such as set up so they decided to catapult the dead victims from a plague over the walls. After doing this, all they had to do was sit back and wait.

Crystallization

 

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Could there be a greater artist than nature itself?

Through heat and liquid, a beautiful matrix of geometric shapes are patterned in such an intricate way that the most disciplined artist would be challenged to compete.

This piece was designed to be seen from both sides so that the natural beauty could be admired throughout the entire slab. I cut the copper wire and sheet that wraps around it along with the actual geode slice itself.

I love being able to slice these rocks that are not very attractive from the outside, yet when I slice them open, an entire shimmering world appears. Each tiny crystal glistens when it catches the light. Sometimes I just stare at these stones for hours wondering what kind of materials will show it off and serve nature, the ultimate artist, the best.

Prehistoric Architecture

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Thousands of structures survive all over the world with no indication of why they were built. Prehistory not only means before history, it also means before writing. Ancient cultures that did not develop writing systems remain a mystery. All that is left is their art and architecture and yet the rules of aesthetics seem to be the same all over the ancient world. Colossal was always impressive. Stone, when readily available lasted the longest. Through trial and error, balance between bolders and gravity allowed eerie structures to remain permanent. Their purpose and/or intention are lost with time. Perhaps the mystery behind them makes the structures even more beautiful and appealing.