Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Visual Writing


collage, pressed flowers, book spine, book pages, old map, 10"x10"

I have been reading the book, WILD COMFORT: The Solace of Nature, by Kathleen Dean Moore. The book is filled with descriptive passages that are lyrical, poetic and beautiful- breathtaking. The words conjure up visual and sensual imagery in my mind. There is also a profound meditation on the healing power of nature, and how nature impacts writings such as poetry as well as visual artists, no matter what their medium is. Here is a sample:
"At first, the morning is flat as a sketch--sleeping bag laid out on a stone slab, narrow creek flowing from right to left, hillside filling most of the page. What texture there is seems to be drawn in lead pencil. Sound is flat and monochrome, too, the creek seeping steadily, rock to rock. People call it white noise, but today it is pale gray."

Lisa Sarsfield is a collage artist who often has bird nests as her theme.
You can find more of her work at her blog here.

Neva Gagliano is a poet and artist who has a wonderful blog here. Here is one of her poems:
If there's to be anything incessant,
let it be birds' calling
breezes on bare arms
chirping in the ears
and rain sparking
it all to life.

Novie Trump. Nest. You can find more of her ceramic sculptures here.

I was looking for images and writings on and by William Segal, painter and spiritual teacher.
This search led me to the blog of Luke Storms. You can find his thought provoking writings here. This is what I found:
Come to the edge.
We can't, we're afraid.
Come to the edge.
We can't, we'll fall.
Come to the edge.
And they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew. --Guillaume Apollinaire


I live on a cliff overlooking the Puget Sound in the Pacific NW. This is a view of the beach below me.

Ben Judson, San Antonio Texas, is a freelance writer, web designer and artist. You can find more of his writings and poetry here. Here is one of his wonderful poems:
BACK TO ITS EXPOSED ROOTS
The arc of the visible river is long
but it bends toward moments
in which a song reaches out
with its silent hands
to grasp the darkness to lead it
back to its exposed root
its first whisper
its fading darkness.


Eva Francova. You can find more of her work here.
"We need stones around us to echo the substance of our own lives---hard, heavy, timeless, and subtly hued." Thomas Moore


acrylic, collage 8"x10"

Annie, from the United Kingdom, posts her beautiful prose and poetry at her blog Inkhaven which you can find here. Here is one of her poems:
BLACKBIRD
All these springs
we didn't know
what the tree-lined street
was missing.
Silver thread,
liquid song,
calligraphy on the run
outside the window.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Poetics of Subtle

There are artists who love color. By color I mean bright, strong, vibrant, luscious color.
They will put a color next to a color to create dynamic, active, energizing art works. I am not in that category. I am not into bright, vibrant, juicy colors. All I have to do is take a look in my closet, my home and my zen gardens to see that I like things around me that are more subdued and subtle and minimal in color. I prefer textures and nature-based objects. I love weathered, rusty, worn, wabi- sabi stuff. I have found other artists who are also into subdued, subtle colors.
Under all these quiet, subdued, subtle surfaces there is a pulsing beat of old blood, old memories, with waves of human feeling that are universal and call to me every time.

Thomas Meyers uses a combination of collage and drawing. He is exploring visual communication, from ancient writings to modern times. You can find more of his subtle, layered collages at his website here.
subtle: adj. a distinction so delicate or precise as to be difficult to analyze or describe. Subtle can create mystery.

Eric Adama works with mixed media on paper. He has a blog called CERULEAN which you can find here, where you will find more of his beautifully textured, subdued color paintings.
subdued: adj. (color) that is soft and restrained.
Subdued, subtle colors can be intimate.

Novie Trump works with ceramic sculpture and draws her inspiration from relics and ancient stories. Her work has a certain understated elegance as she uses subdued colors and subtle textures. You can find more of her beautiful work at her website here and her blog here.

Brent Harvey uses a variety of mixed media for his paintings. His limited palette gives his work a heightened perception of whatever he is trying to convey. You can find more of his fabulous paintings at his blog here and his website here.

Eva Francova works in a variety of mediums, from altered digital imagery to printmaking to ink drawings. But the overall connection in all her work is her subdued color, and limited palette.
Above is one of her digital images.

Above is one of Eva's ink drawings. You can find more of her delicate, poetic works at her blog I LOVE BLACK AND WHITE here, and also at her website here.


Roberta Marks works with collage, painting and assemblage. She explores the traces and vestiges of her journey from the past to the present. Her work appears simple with limited palettes, but they are actually delicately complex revealing subtle explorations of her/our world. Her website has more work here.

Come to my quietness
I shall cover you with it, like
a white sheet that has blown all day in
the sun, like a mountain lake
filled with spring, it shall slip over you.
--- Diane de Prima