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Putting your BODY (and Life) on the Line Every Day


2010
01.14

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Posted in General, Photography | 3 Comments »

The above collage was done in tribute to what I’m about to write.  I took the photo of the woman on a bus in Mississippi.  The background is a jellyfish from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  I called it Breakthrough, part of my Muse series.   The rest of that series is posted on my art gallery.

Thanks to the blog Creative Every Day, hundreds of people around the world are focusing artistic efforts around the theme of BODY for the month of January.  We can count ourselves amongst the fortunate – people who have the time to ponder such things as our bodies.  Interpreting the theme broadly, I’ve read wonderful posts on the concept of sin relating to women, new life growing within us, and many profound postings.  Such deliberation is useful and good.  It contributes to new insights in understanding us, which lead to understanding the world and our fellow (wo)man, and then perhaps being able to share that understanding.  Paying it forward with deliberation, ideas, and energy that will make the whole a positive force.

But as I said, we are among the fortunate.  In this post I want to pay tribute to the idea of BODY in its most extreme.  I want to write about Fannie Lou Hamer, a black woman who put her BODY on the line, literally, almost every day of her life in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement.  She didn’t have the luxury we have as highly actualized human beings sitting on the top of Maslow’s Pyramid.  She was fighting for us, though – every one of us, every day.  Her BODY was on the line for all of us who believe in equal rights for all.

Born in 1917 on a plantation in Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer had 19 brothers and sisters.  In 1962, at the age of 44, Mrs. Hamer learned  from SNCC, the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, that she had the right to vote.  She immediately went to the Sunflower County courthouse to register, and upon returning to the plantation, learned she had lost her job and her home. And of course, she wasn’t allowed to register.

Sunflower County Courthouse today

Being black in Mississippi was about as bad as it got.  I learned a great deal about this woman in 2006-2007 when my granddaughter Ali did a History Day project at school.  She was in the 7th grade and along with a friend, another Allie, spent six months of dedication daily, researching and making a ten-minute video about this remarkable woman for the competition.  (History Day designates parameters for projects – videos can only be 10 minutes long, and every year has a theme.)  The theme for that year was Triumph and Tragedy.  And as their coach, I had to be present when they were working in the tech lab, so I spent just about as much time as they did.  The project, however, is theirs and theirs alone.  I advised.  They produced.

Ali and Allie and I were invited to go to Mississippi to present the video at the Annual Conference of Mississippi Civil Rights Veterans.  It was a life-changing moment.  So many people we’d read about and whom I’d been reading about for many years in studying the civil rights movement with students were in that room.  The foot-soldiers, the ones who had the absolute courage, both white and black, to put their bodies on the line while fighting for the right to vote – the most basic right in our society – were there, along with more well-known names.  Many of the Freedom Singers were there, and wow, could they sing.  And they all did quite literally put their bodies – their lives – on the line.  On one occasion, Fannie Lou Hamer was severely beaten, lost the sight in one eye, and walked with a limp thereafter. On another, she was released from jail because of the intercession of Andrew Young, Martin Luther King’s right-hand man at the time, just hours before she and others were to be released from prison at midnight.  In Mississippi, that meant certain death.  Ali and Allie interviewed Andrew Young on the phone and heard that story first-hand.

But she didn’t quit – her BODY took the beating, but her spirit carried on. Seeing so many of these folks made history real and immediate.  The next picture is one of Ali and Allie in Mississippi with Charles McLaurin and Lawrence Guyot – both on the front lines of the movement.  In fact, McLaurin co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party with Mrs. Hamer and later, when she ran for State Senator, was her campaign manager.

My Ali, Charles McLaurin, Lawrence Guyot, and Allie

A photographer from the Smithsonian, who had been part of the movement, was present and he took the next photo.  They asked Ali and Allie to be in this photo as the future of the movement.  Wow.  I can hardly describe how I felt. I won’t even try.

Mississippi Civil Rights Veterans with Ali and Allie

I mentioned Fannie Lou Hamer’s spirit.  She had a compelling singing voice and used it to keep her spirit and the spirits of those around her focused on the positive and the goal.  Eyes on the prize.

While we were in Mississippi, we went to Ruleville, her home town, and visited the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden and Gravesite.  She was known for a phrase that she uttered every day and asked be put on her tombstone: I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Allie, me and Ali at FLH gravesite

I think it’s important that people remember and understand Fannie Lou Hamer.  We need knowledge of the past to improve the present and plan for the future.  We need examples of the sacrifice and bravery with which people met life – things we haven’t been asked to do on that scale.  At least I don’t think most of us have been asked to risk our bodies every single day from birth.

This link will take you to a page from which you can view the 10-minute video.  I promise it’s worth your time.  It’s my page on a national committee to raise money for a statue of Fannie Lou Hamer to be constructed and placed in the Memorial Garden and Gravesite, which is a stop on the Civil Rights Trail.  If you want to donate, there’s a link on the page to NBUF, The National Black United Fund, which is accepting the donations on our behalf.

But what I really want to do is pay tribute to the idea of BODY in it’s most extreme, and to a woman who was willing to risk her body to do what was right.  Fannie Lou Hamer is a real hero.

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You Got Something Against Pudgy? You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby…


2010
01.12

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Posted in Art, General | 2 Comments »

That little body is ME!  Sometime in 1946, the year I was born.  I was in the vanguard – the first baby boomer year.  And I was pudgy.  I think of Bobby Darin singing, “You must have been a beautiful baby, you must have been a wonderful child…’cause baby, look at you now!”

Why am I writing about pudginess – besides the fact that it’s Creative Every Day’s Body-themed month?  This’ll take a little backtracking, but I think I can do that.  After all, I’m reading Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust, which is widely held to be one of the classic books by one of the most brilliant authors, and if nothing else, Proust is a master at backtracking.  It seems no amount of explanation and diversion is too much as long as you return to the original point.

I awoke and checked messages this morning.  Leah had a tweet about her conversation with Goddess Leonie and she recommended her workbook and planner.  Since I do everything Leah says, I bought it and it’s going to be fun to fill out.  In fact, it’s going to be just what I need to focus my thinking for the year.

Next, I found I had three comments on yesterday’s blog – all from Julies!  Julie Jordan Scott said (and since the blog and comments are public I don’t think I’m breaking any confidentiality stuff by quoting Julie) (and anyway, I know Julie – we haven’t had long sit-downs or that much face-time, but I feel like I KNOW her, at least the surface.  There’s a lot of depth there.) so she said “It is like the shadow of my relatedness with my body is still there, but I know I am the one in control… not it. I am the one that makes the shadow move, it isn’t the shadow that makes ME move, unless I want to pretty it up or not have it appear quite so pudgy in my photos. LOL.”  You can look at the post for the whole thing, but the word PUDGY lept from the page and grabbed me around the neck.

But before I could think about pudgy or if three comments from three Julies signified something I ought to be paying attention to, I wanted to print out my Goddess Workbook and Planner.  My computer graciously allowed me to print 40 pages in color but refused to let me do any other work during that time except in slo-mo, so I decided to ride my bike around the lake and enjoy the beautiful 70 degree day.  Winter still lurks, but what a lovely respite from fog and gloom.

How am I doing with backtracking?  I’ve almost reached the point.  Pudgy, pudgy.  Chubby. Over-weight. Big. Fat. Obese. As I pedaled, noticed the cormorants, the coots, and a juvenile Canada goose amongst the coots, those words kept inserting themselves and I realized this is as good a time as any to discuss those words.  Those of us in the Creative Every Day challenge are obviously thinking about BODY this month.

I am all of those words – pudgy, chubby, over-weight, big, fat and obese.  I wasn’t always comfortable with this, but hey, it’s who I am.  There’s not much use in being who I am not.  But what made me this way?  From my baby picture you can see that I entered the world chubby.  And I stayed that way for a while.  But chubby was good then – I was healthy.  I “must have been a beautiful baby.”

My mom was NEVER pudgy or anywhere close to it, which is a good thing because my dad does not like fat.  To this day, the first thing he comments on is a person’s appearance, although he seems to have accepted the fact that I am fat.  Just the other day my sister said to him, “I know I’m gaining some weight, but you know what? I don’t care!” Or something to that effect.  Dad is 91 and he has held this power of  appearance over us for our entire lives.  I love that my sister was declaring her independence from weight-obsession even if she is 59.  It can take a long time to understand and come to terms with what our parents gave us – the good and the bad, and realize that they just did the best they could.

A lot of this came washing over me as I drove to Los Angeles a few weeks ago with my brother to attend my uncle’s funeral.  My brother probably had it worse than us girls – Dad’s obsession for him was height.  There’s nothing wrong with his height, but Dad talks about it still.  Height and weight examples: I was telling Dad what a wonderful help Uncle Jean’s daughter-in-law was at the service and reception, and the first thing dad said was, “Has she kept the weight off?”  Last week I was over with three of my grandkids, and Cooper, who is two, was eating several small cookies.  Dad actually said to her, “You don’t want to eat too many cookies or you’ll gain weight.”  And Dad was talking about one of the grandsons, saying, “Don’t worry, he’ll grow.”

Guess what?  I wasn’t worried about any of those things!  And I can only feel sadness for the overwhelming insecurities Dad must have carried his entire life if physical appearance was so critical.

But back to me.  That pudgy little baby started thinning out as a toddler.

In this photo, I think I have what is termed baby fat.  But “I must have been a wonderful child.”

I became a quite normal size 10 or 12 as a teenager.  Looking back, I realized I was extremely attractive, but I didn’t know it then.  I was always hearing about weight.  When I look back at photos (and I couldn’t find any to show here!) I realize I was just fine, Dad notwithstanding.

Then I went to college.  I was also going into a depression but didn’t recognize it at the time.  So I doctored it at the vending machine with Paydays and Hostess Fruit Pies.  My parents were worried.  Mom took me to a weight doctor who put me on speed.  We didn’t know then that the various colored pills he gave me to take at different times of the day were actually speed, but now we know he was a drug-dealing doctor.  I wish they could have taken me to a counselor instead of a quack, but Dad had the typical “man” attitude about counseling.  It was bad.  It meant something might not be so simple to fix.  Ignore it and deny it.  And the fix was simple – lose the weight and I’d feel better.  Except it was how I felt that resulted in putting the weight on!  And dang it all, I really looked ok.  Why couldn’t I have realized and believed that?

Not long after,  I fulfilled my dream of being married and having children.  Mark and I were married in September 1968, I became pregnant in October 1968, and we had our first child in July 1969.  After I stopped nursing (and you can eat a whole heck of a lot while nursing and not gain weight), I forgot to stop eating. Oops!

And I began the see-saw years.  Gain weight, diet, gain weight, diet.

Jumping ahead, this is what I looked like when my first granddaughter was born.  I was fat.  Somehow, my children and husband still loved me.  My husband never ever made one single comment about my weight and he continued to love me.  I think my father found that hard to believe, but it is true.  I wasn’t happy with it – but it was what it was.  Going back to what Julie said, the shadow was in charge of how I related to my body, not me.  I wanted to relate to a different body.

By my 60th birthday, I looked a little better.  I had come to some major realizations about body, which is what this reflection is all about.  I was ok with my body.  I had stopped dieting.  Unknowingly, I began the most effective diet I ever had by telling myself I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, and the heck with it.  As soon as I gave myself that permission, I didn’t want so much.

Do I want my body to be pudgy?  Not really, but it is (ok, it’s officially obese and the wii fit does not like my body mass index one little bit), and I have to truthfully say I don’t think about it.  I do fervently wish I didn’t have the spare tire around my middle, but gravity prevails and it’s just there and it isn’t going anywhere and neither am I.  In other words, if it’s a major threat to my health I’ll have some sort of surgery to remove it, but it isn’t so it’s staying right where it is – although I hate it.  But I dress accordingly and it’s me.  My skin looks pretty darn good and I’m convinced that the fat has kept it plumped up and prevented severe wrinkling.  That or the fact that I didn’t smoke or sun.  But I’m going with the fat theory.

Wow – I’ll bet Julie didn’t know her comment would lead to all this reflection on body!

So I must have been a beautiful baby, must have been a wonderful child…’cause baby, look at me now.

My husband and I don’t look so bad for 63-year-olds who have been married forty-one years.  As Popeye said, “I yam what I yam.”  My focus is on overall health and fitness (a life-long struggle) so my inner being can flourish.  The body will come along for the ride.

So did we deal with body?  Now, about that aging part...

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Mashup: Let Me Hear Your Body Talk


2010
01.11

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Creative Every Day January theme: Body.  Let’s Get Physical popped right into my head.  Remember Olivia Newton John’s song? Let me hear your body talk, body talk.

Bodies talk in so many ways besides getting physical.  Leah’s post about shadows reminded me instantly of a photo I took a couple of weeks ago on the Kern River.

So I started wondering how I could make this shadow “talk.”  We also been snowboarding during this same visit so I thought I’d transform this photo into something I’m calling Shadow Boarding.  Putting the shadow to work.

Here’s another work-in-progress that I just finished.  When we cleaned out our bookcase not long ago, we decided to put a book of Japanese prints in the discard stack.  The book was old, the pages brittle, and we can purchase much better now if we want.  But then – wait! I can use these in collages.  And I have.  Here’s the first one.

This began as the backdrop for a still life on which I’d painted pears.

I forgot that I was going to dedicate this canvas to still life backgrounds and repaint as needed.  So I painted over it in shades of purple.  Then I started cutting and pasting images from the Japanese print book.  It needed contrast, so I took the old-fashioned pitcher from another still life (I actually cut it out of the print) – you can see that still life here.

It still needed some contrast so I took the old brown paper that said This Side Up and put it along the left side.  This is what I got:

What an incredible mess!  I let it sit for a month or so and then had the aha! moment.  Change the background.  So I painted the background as you saw it above.  What a difference.  Just in case you forgot

I finished it off by outlining the figures either in black or white paint sharpies.  The mashup worked.  It’s a mashup of bodies but it works.  What it says, you decide.

And as long as we’re talking about mashups, I did a journal entry yesterday that I piled everything into.  Background: I’ve been photographing seriously since 1992, but I didn’t start doing anything but photography until June 2008.  So everything you see in my art gallery has been done since then.  But I have no training.  I don’t know anything about nothing.  Or nothing about anything.  BUT I have been reading your blogs through Creative Every Day and trying things out.  Lots of my posts from Creative Every Day Month were journal pages – last November was when I started an art journal.

Ok, it’s been said before, by me and by others – I’m a creature of excess.  Nothing in moderation.  So in yesterday’s journal page I used many – too many – of the techniques I’d been reading about.

Namely, trying gel transfers, pastels, torn paper from art papers, watercolor washes for background, acrylics to highlight, doodling and putting on words, etc. etc.   My journal page is 6.5×10 inches.  Small.  But I went nuts and persevered and found out that with enough stuff I could make it work.  I hope I’m right in assuming journal means it doesn’t have to be perfect.

How does it tie  into Body? I thought of Emily Dickensen’s poem and famous line – Hope is the thing with feathers.  And it is – that’s what powers our bodies – hope, ever ready to fly again, refresh, renew, and move forward.  Hope powers the body and the soul.

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Driving Along the Killer Kern (North Fork of the Kern River)


2010
01.09

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This is the promised post with photos of two of the grandkids and me exploring the Kern River last week.  I live in Kern County, CA.  The Kern River, which runs through Bakersfield (not quite – we like to say Bakersfield: A riverbed runs through it), or would if it weren’t for the dams, etc. is known as the Killer Kern.  Merle Haggard sang, “I’ll never swim Kern River again.  It was there that I met her, it was there that I lost my best friend.” Yes, Merle is from Bakersfield. And the river runs still and deep, deceptively dangerous when it looks calm.  People drown every summer despite the “Stay Out Stay Alive” signs.

Up above Kernville, a town not far from our cabin in Alta Sierra, people raft and kayak, either on their own or with whitewater companies, every summer.  The rapids are Class Four – it was the venue for Olympic Kayaking during the L.A. Olympic games.

So after six days of being cabin-bound because of snow, I took whoever wanted to go (Ali and Xavier) and we went exploring.  I said we were going for a drive – Xavier kept wanting to know where, and I said I don’t know, we’re on an adventure and we’ll see where it takes us.  I’m not sure he was entirely ok with that, but I had the wheel.  I actually didn’t know where we were going until I took the turn – we could have gone to Red Rock Canyon, driven around Isabella Lake (not very pretty), heading to Havilah, but we turned left.

It took us past Kernville towards Johnsondale, an old sawmill and logging town.  We stopped several times to explore the river and climb rocks.   The water is low now as far as river water goes – it’s in the spring after snow melt that the river runs fast and deep.

Here’s an overview.  There was quite a bit of fall still.  From foggy Bako up to the cabin in the snow and down on the other side to Fall.  Reminds me of one of my absolute favorite songs as a kid:  “The bear went over the mountain to see what he could see.”  I am forever trying to see what I can see – and more.

We saw still water, moving water, marshy and boggy places, it was great.

This could just as easily be ocean, couldn’t it?  In this section, the water was rushing around rocks and you could see how, when they are covered up, the rafting can be thrilling.

The colors in the water change so quickly.  So beautiful.  And great rocks for climbing.  I was glad to find out that Xavier is inherently cautious.

There were so many great rocks to climb, but we refrained from venturing out into the moving water.

Here we did venture over the side channels.  It was marshy but oh so beautiful.  I was glad it wasn’t mosquito season.

Our third stop was a much calmer, smoother place.  And remember this photo because I’m going to use it for Monday check-in on Creative Every Day.  Leah got me thinking about shadows.

I love detail and close-ups and especially patterns and I’m working on a collage already using this next photo.  Leaves in the muddy water.

So that was the drive up the North Fork of the Kern River.  Kern County really is an amazing place.  It’s huge in area and encompasses so many kinds of terrain.  If you are curious, you can look at my web page in the flower gallery, and you’ll see so many of the truly outstanding wild flowers that bloom here almost every spring.

Also, in some previous posts – I’ll only link to a few – you can see Red Rock Canyon Also Art in my Own Backyard, which shows you it can be pretty around here.  I’m looking out at that very lake as I write.  A little blue is showing in the sky, but the fog will be back tonight, I’m sure.

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#CED2010 Jan. Theme – Body. Canvas Collage – Stages


2010
01.07

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Posted in Art | 2 Comments »

I’ve been working periodically on a collage that I never quite finished up, although I have posted it on the blog as a work in progress.  But the Creative Every Day theme of Body prompted me to get the final coat on and post this.  It embodies (not a pun) the theme.

My husband actually cleaned out some things several months ago and unearthed a box of sheet music that had been his grandmothers.  I had the idea of depicting the stages of life because this music has great words for the different little exercises and such.  I also had a bunch of vintage fruit crate labels.  I’ll tell you what the words for each stage say since it’s impossible to see in this little photo.

The babe on the bearskin rug has the words slumber, awakening, melody begin, and speak right underneath, all from the sheet music, and symbolizing of course the awakening of life.  Such a funny image, but growers seemed to choose their favorite things, or family members, pets, hobbies, and so on for the crate labels. They didn’t bother matching the name, image, and produce to make sense.   Some of these labels are from the 40s and later.

From there, our infant progresses to toddlerhood, represented by friendship, whims, and mother.

The circle continues with elementary and middle school phases, depicted with dreaming of love, youthful, and romance.  Not a coincidence, the image shows someone somewhat carefree.

But from there, the youth becomes a strong young man, in a hurry to experience life, with over the top, ecstasy, legend, ambition, hope, dance and en masque.  Those words, while perhaps not representative of everyone’s journey, were chosen with a particular young man in mind.

Finally, of course, we get old age, which I chose to depict in a tattered manner.  Song of the angels and peaceful accompany age.  At least in idealized life.

Creation is a strange process.  I looked and looked at this collage and couldn’t satisfy myself, until finally I put the red streaks of paint on.  Then, it seemed right.  The more I look at it, the more I like it.  And it is a different way to look at Body.

Interesting theme.  For more about this challenge, go to Creative Every Day.

As an aside, I have finally managed to get things on flickr.  Just a few, but is one of my resolutions this year to build it up.  Plus, posting on flickr for this challenge gives me that slight push I seem to need on so many things.

So that’s all folks.  For today.

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Creative Every Day: Little Bodies


2010
01.06

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Posted in Art, Photography | 3 Comments »

The promised post is here – or part of it anyway. I’ll save the Kern River for tomorrow and do the rest of our week at the cabin here. Since the CED January theme is BODY – how about some real life little bodies?

Taking it from the top:

When we got there, the driveway hadn’t been plowed so we just parked in the street overnight.  The next day the plow guy came and cleared out part of the driveway.

Here is the cutest little body present.  The innocence and joy of little children can move me to tears.  Two of my grandsons were running back and forth – Xavier would be in the lead and at the other end of the room, Jackson took the lead.  Cooper watched for a while and then joined in.  But she was always late so when the boys were running one way, she was running the other.  This doesn’t sound like a tear-producing moment, does it?  But watching Cooper’s sheer joy at joining in this fun game does tear me up.  So sweet.

Later that day, after the plowing, we moved our cars out of the street onto the driveway.  But the next morning it was snowing!

At least we were out of the street.  And the snow led to the production of a very strange body – a disembodied head.

It was a strange and unhappy snowman.  Made me think of Calvin and Hobbes.  And he was sporting one of my locally produced, organic carrots.  Anything for the cause.

So back to the little bodies.  I brought canvases up (special treat – 2 for 1 at Aaron Bros.) so the kids could each paint.

Jackson is still in the mode of putting one color on top of the other until the whole thing is brown.

Movies are a good thing, and I had Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  The three littles bodies’ Uncle Dave worked on this movie, so when you watch it look for David Davies in the credits.  I believe he spent over a year on the jello.

The next day the littlest bodies left and I had a day alone with the medium to large bodies (the “large” body is my oldest grandchild – 15 1/2 with a learner’s permit).

Sledding occurred behind the cabin.

It was really quite beautiful from the new snow.

Snow forts with ammunition were constructed.

It was obviously too cold for any little or big bodies to sit on the porch, which is my favorite spring, summer, and fall activity up here.  But the porch did have one taker – a body of a different sort.

Snow activity is tiring for all sorts of bodies, so we had snow cones.  Having only chocolate syrup and butterscotch sauce, we invented chocscotches.

All seven days all the available bodies worked on a jigsaw puzzle from our summer Disneyland visit.  We mount each completed puzzle on foam core, write on the puzzle the date completed and who did it, and put it on the wall just below ceiling level.  We have quite a collection.

Next day, while awaiting my husband and the mother of the three remaining young bodies, we painted ceramic tea sets.  And the little bodies played American Idol on the wii whenever possible.  As did some of the large bodies.


At midnight we said Happy New Year and went to bed.  The oldest body was already asleep and the second-oldest body tried to go to sleep early without success.  That’s me, of course.  Sleep can be elusive.

But when I got back to my room, the feline bodies were well settled.

We have a little snow/ski place around the corner named Shirley Meadows.  On New Year’s Day the crew went tubing and snowboarding.

The littlest body present snowboarded.

The oldest body present went tubing.  It’s pretty cool because after you come down the hill, they hook you up to the tow line, so you never have to walk up the hill!

The visit was drawing to an end so there was a mad dash to finish the puzzle, which was said to be the hardest ever done (by my daughters – I hate puzzles).

So this post was about 12 bodies in all, including Lily and Tiger, the felines.  And I think that fits the theme well enough.  These were the most precious bodies of all – different sizes, shapes, ages, personalities – but they are what life is made of.  I’m so glad my husband and I created three little bodies who grew up, married, and created three more apiece.

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Art Journal Collage – Body Theme, Creative Every Day


2010
01.04

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Posted in Art, General | 2 Comments »

The new year.  Just got back from our cabin in Alta Sierra – seven days with from three to six grandkids at all times.  Here are four of them:

I’ll have a post coming about that soon.  We had a great time in the snow (snowmen, snowboards and tubing at Shirley Meadows).

and some wonderful walks by the North Fork of the Kern River.

Now I’m trying to get my brain back in focus!  Because I have to sit at an actual desk on an actual straight-up chair to do this (until the Macbook is repaired or replaced) I’m slightly discombobulated.  It doesn’t feel creative here; it feels workmanlike.  Which, come to think of it, creativity could benefit from.  It evokes that dreaded word discipline.

I’m going to do the Creative Every Day challenge that Leah Kolidas offers on her blog.  Now, I’m not going to do an entry every day.  For a year? I’d wear myself out as well as my readers.  But I’ll dip into the challenge at least twice a month.

What’s good about this is the nudge – Leah has a theme for each month, and a nudge here and there to get moving and producing is helpful and fun.  So here is what I did in my journal the other day.  Actually, I did it at the cabin.  I had no notion of meeting the January theme of Body but looking at it, I see it does.

The images are from a National Geographic story on Stonehenge.  Most of the time when I work, I don’t really know what I’m doing.  For art journal entries, I do a watercolor background of some sort, and then images just arrange themselves on the page.  For this one, I knew I wanted to start with geometric images. Unnoticed by me at the time, the predominant stone, rock, whatever it’s called in the foreground, looks like a person with his/her back turned.  This gives a whole other dimension to the collage.  My mind flies to all the things this could represent about women (I think of it as a woman), strength, resignation, resilience,  power, and more.

The only geometrics that remained exposed after I collaged are the lines that form a V, or a triangle at the top.  They are cradling Stonehenge, which releases another stream of thought now that I’m thinking of the stone as a body.   I like what resulted so much that I may do a large version.

As to explaining how the art happens, I came across a wonderful quote that whollyjeanne posted a link to on twitter. Here’s the quote and it explains the artistic process as well as anything does.  I suppose this is how the collage happened.

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time; this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” ~ Martha Graham

If you want to see other photos or photo collages for that matter, take a look at my web page.

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