Saturday, August 07, 2010

G ULF series VI - Minnows



No words tonight - just a small painting that arrived in the midst of a storm; minnows bewildered by the oil in the Gulf.



G ULF series VI - Minnows (detail) Oil on paper CB August 2010





10 comments:

  1. Heart breaking. Your art amazes me with its tenderness and sharpness all at once.

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  2. Thank you, Rebecca - it (my art-making) feels like a fierce wrestling match at the moment. Like my head, my heart and my hands are in a kind of tug-of-war, each one pulling me in a different direction. I don't want to be fighting with it all right now; I just want to find a way to say a few things. Life is all tenderness and sharpness at the moment... perhaps that's what this wee painting has captured? Once again, you've turned a light on. Thank you... L, C x

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  3. I agree with Rebecca.
    I think wherever you are going - no matter the tug you feel in two directions - it is leading you in an amazing direction.
    You are working in a very natural place - the water, the environment, the creatures in that environment. I wonder if you feel them wrestling each other. And wrestling "us" the "keepers" of their world. How continually we let them down.

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  4. Hi Rachel - I've just returned to this post to find a new comment from you here. Thank you for your encouragements...

    Water is an amazing medium, yes - the wellspring of life and of the unconscious. It feels like the right place to be at the moment. I am a Leo and have a lot of fiery energy in me to express; I tend to put a fair bit out which means I sometimes feel scorched, or parched. Water is balm. And it is thirst-quenching.

    Have you seen this Arthur C. Clarke quote? (I might have sent it to you?) "How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when clearly it is Ocean."

    I feel our waters' tension, yes - the currents' conversation. How continually we let our creatures down... how do we counter this, but by drawing the eye, the heart and the ear to the wonder and beauty of our natural world? Who would want to hurt something so beautiful? And yet we do. We have so much to learn...

    I really appreciate your insights, Rachel. Thank you so much.

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  5. It's beautiful. So much movement captured.

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  6. You have a generous eye and heart, dear Kass. Thank you.

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  7. Yes, you did send that quote. And what an opposite way to view the world we were brought up in. It's all earth.
    I too feel I put too much out and get scorched and parched. but I'm a cancer. I don't know very much about that stuff - only that I can be a crab and am very loyal to those that I love. both are true.
    I think you need to feel your tension. Despite the discomfort it may cause you. I think you may need to feel it to create what you need to create. I think it will pass when you have captured what you need to capture.
    But that's just what I think. In the world of art who really knows?! - except to do.

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  8. Wise words, Rachel - I agree with you. I - we - need to feel the tension when it's there for it allows for whatever's wanting attention to be expressed/captured/harnessed, and in a way that's different from looking at it from a distance?

    I'm realizing, too, how tension can be a dynamic and productive energy if we choose... it's not at all the same as fear. Fear is paralyzing, debilitating, anti-forward movement and growth... One of our tasks is to banish fear, I think - which is why it feels important to find ways to say what we're wanting to say that are pro-wonder. There are countless ways to say things... (pro-peace, instead of anti-war, for instance...). How important it is to keep clear-hearted love at the centre of it all.

    re; the crab... I have what's called a Cancer 'ascendant' in my natal chart, which means I express many Cancerian traits... One of things we do well to appreciate is the value of having a carapace! And, too, the importance of spending time near the sea... I'm glad we met, Cancer woman. Thank you again for your insights.

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  9. I used my carapace the other day. Am so grateful for it and for the sea. I hope your toes enjoy the water!

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  10. Dear Rachel - ah, hooray for your carapace... I'm glad you called on yours and that it provided you with shelter and protection when you needed it.

    The cure for everything is salt; sweat, tears and the sea. (Isak Dinesen)

    L, C

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