cheers

20''x30''

acrylic and tempera on foam board

a love like that

-Hafiz-

bikes and other bits

in Chicago we ride with puffed sleeves and straw hats

I love detailed requests.  In creating commissioned art, I find comfort knowing that my time is well spent trying to fulfill a specific command and pleasing someone in his or her particular request: in a certain style, with certain colors, based on a particular image.  However, I also appreciate how too many requests are constricting.  Rarely, someone places many demands on a piece of art, and I feel it necessary to let the person know that some creative expression will occur in the process.  I cannot predict exactly what will occur once the painting starts to manifest itself and I need to be responsive to the form it is taking.  And, I’d guess that the way this originality manifests has something to do with why the person is requesting a painting at all. 

That is, at some point, I realize that as a prerequisite I desire the one commissioning the piece to turn over the piece to me: “You’re the [insert flattering adjective, e.g., creative, artistic] one.  I trust you.”  I assume that this entrustment might be based upon their finding favor with my previous work. 

When we commission God to act in our lives, I wonder what sort of specificity He desires.  Surely God loves hearing the details.  But in asking for a job on A Street, from 9-5, at coordinates BxCxD, with more time spent with friends E and F, do our desires contradict each other in ways that make fulfilling our requests impossible?  Would asking for more abstract virtues—patience, selflessness—be more reasonable?  Does God wait for a pivotal moment when we turn things over to Him?

I wonder if God desires not just our communication, but our recognition of the intrinsic nature of who He is.  “God, You’re the [insert Flattering Adjective that is Eternally True] one.”  Perhaps in requesting specifics in our lives to manifest themselves, we are constricting His ability to work.  Perhaps we must allow for something unpredictable that will unfold in the moment.  Does His previous work give us reason to trust Him? 

Nip in the air

What more did I think I wanted?

Here is what has always been.

Here is what will always be.

Even in me, 

the Maker of all this returns in rest, 

even to the slightest of His works,

a yellow leaf slowly falling,

and is pleased.

Wendell Berry

acrylic, wedding present

Lake Michigan at sunset,

manipulated from a photograph

in the interest of hospitality

"I did not invent those pairs of differential equations.  I found them in the world, where God had hidden them." -19th century mathematician Bernhard Riemann

"When I stumble across metaphors in the course of writing, it feels much more like discovery than creating; the words and images seem to be choosing me, and not the other way around.  And when I manipulate them in the interest of hospitality, in order to make a comprehensible work of art, I have to give up any notion of control." -Kathleen Norris

The odds

"The odds of our anthropic universe [one in which a life form can be developed and maintained] arising amidst the total phase-space volume of possible universes for a creation event is so exceedingly, exceedingly, exceedingly remote that its notation in regular exponential form is one part in 10^10000…"

with this many zeros:

New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy, 

by Robert J. Spitzer

And given the enormous odds against our existence, consider the likelihood that within this universe such a thing might ever come to be:

Happy fall.  Your life is precious!

Tranquility and occupation

acrylic, 16''x20''

"It is neither wealth nor splendor, 

but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness." 

-T. Jefferson

Dedicated to the UIC MSOT Class of 2014, 

as we dig our roots into soils near and far

during our first fieldwork this summer.

Depth and breadth come with 

tending, nourishment, light, and time.

We entrust ourselves to this growth!   

Vic and Ali's Wedding

 Quaker Wedding Certificate 

watercolor and ink, 16"x20"

Victoria and Ali were married in a beautiful ceremony in Minnesota.  They chose an image of sunrise for their wedding certificate, and a merging of bands as fit the occasion.  The left side contains portions of the vows they had written for each other and not heard until the wedding day.  Guests signed the right side after the ceremony, identifying themselves as witnesses of the union.

May you take care of each other and love each other, passionately and always!

nice sweata

Appliqueing felt onto thrift store sweaters has been a fun way to channel my desire to purchase new clothes and reuse materials!  All you need is a simple inspiration and pattern, and some embroidery floss.

The original inspiration was a girl in my high school art class, whose sweaters included an apple tree and a wooden duck toy on a string.

Do you know what state produces the most blueberries?














Do you recognize what children's story this tree is from?










"Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." - Pablo Picasso

Breath of fresh air

This project recalls a thought that occupies my mind too often: with every branch representing a choice, I wonder whether the precise life path I’ve chosen is the right one, or if instead I missed my train and should have been headed elsewhere.  Are the right opportunities still ahead of me?

My concerns reveal selfishness and a lack of trust, and they prevent me from appreciating the myriad of opportunities that exist here and now.

With some watered-down acrylic paint in one end of the straw, I blew through the other end.  Sometimes the leftover paint would settle or run back down its rivulet.   

Studying occupational therapy, I wonder how I would continue to do art if I were to lose use of my arms—straw in mouth?

T

The Hebrew word for moving air, or breath, is "ruach."  Ruach is also the word for "spirit."  

Is it possible that there’s a Holy Breath who notices when we settle, moving us onward?

Who is less concerned  with the precise path we’re taking than the general direction we’re moving?

 

"Ruach" also means "life."

 

Pied beauty

Robins' eggs are a beautiful sign of spring.  I made this necklace a few weeks ago, as a Saturday morning project, in celebration of the eggs' gorgeous blues and dainty freckles.

The splattering technique took a bit of effort -- a few squeezes of brown paint, finding a good dry bristled brush, rotating the beads to ensure an even (yet random) covering.  My fingers were slick with paint and a bit raw from raking over the brush bristles by the end.  And, it was a little challenge to contain the splatters.



Once finished, I went to eat breakfast.

Let him easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us. - g.m.hopkins

***

P.S. Hope the E.B. remembers your favorite, Mom.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Somewhere whose zip code does not begin with 606--

Commission, 11''x14'', acrylic

Meanwhile, beneath blue-grey skies...

there are signs of hope

as Chicago begins to reveal her own verdant hues.

Cheers!

prayer for peace

16x20, acrylic

A placid pastel landscape I stole, pretty much stroke for stroke, from Wayne Thiebaud.

2012 North Korea Military Parade

Let's pray for peace in our world in 2013.

New Year's

donation to Inspiration Corporation's One Inspired Evening event

http://www.inspirationcorp.org/

Trio of Pears

Watercolor, 11 x 14

...and another cute pair.