You know I like symbols! This one felt like a big gift when it appeared on the shower wall. And I’m delighted to share it with you… just in case you could use a bit of hope, too!
When we bought our early 1960’s house it was really dark inside, which does not work for me. Tube skylights to the rescue! Easy to install. (Well, have installed!) Lots of light, and faceted prism-like panels that contribute to the rainbows. Twenty-five years later… one of my favorite handy-homeowner adventures yet!
That gift was also a gift for a series of paintings I’m working on! Creation needs a rainbow!
Turns out, though, that I put it in the wrong painting! (Feel free to laugh!)
I’ve only made one children’s picture book before. That one involved paste and a small mixed media journal and pictures of really big dogs. Its intention was introducing my then 2 year old granddaughter to the notion of Newfoundland dogs. Especially the one we’d just rescued!
My Little was good with their cat. A dog, conservatively eight times her size, was a whole different matter. So I pasted and printed and explained some of that big guy’s backstory so they could get to know each other. And they did!
I’m making another picture book now! The kind that gets published. The words were easy. (Details to follow…)
And, a lot of the art already exists. Finished paintings. Photos of drippy under-layers, which disappeared along the way. Then there’s the stuff that is only beginning to appear!
First, a confession. Figuring out the layout of this book is a whole lot more challenging than with the kind that are almost all words. Black on white. The occasional chapter title. Let’s just say it’s a learning experience! And, I created myself an opportunity to learn even more!
I was having whole lot of fun and things were really working out well, except for the bit where part of a painting was supposed to be on another page!
Enter the Scan Camp wizard… Barry’s going to take the part inside the very handy painters’ tape, in the upper left, and turn it into a whole separate image. Then, I’ll go back to the original canvas and paint some stuff out and add some new stuff in. (There’s an owl begging for a job!)
And, yes… it’s a very good bet that more dots will be involved!
Here’s the big news, though… this art – this book – is flowing straight from my inspired heart and my hope for our world. It’s part of the reason I’m here.
It feels a whole lot like planting seeds. And tending them. And it’s all happening in the context of the journey known as #animystica. A journey which has a lot to do with our place in Creation’s miraculous web, instead of over it.
And, yes… I’m channeling my summer camp days. I could – but won’t – bust into several verses of Kumbaya!
Somehow, I’m more in the mood for, If I Had a Hammer. Just in case it’s slipped your mind, that old favorite ends this way…
Well, I got a hammer
And I got a bell
And I got a song to sing
All over this land.
It’s the hammer of justice.
It’s the bell of freedom.
It’s the song about love between
My brothers and my sisters,
All over this land…
– Trini Lopez
Maybe I do have a hammer and it just looks like a paintbrush!
For now, a peek at the beginning of the next right thing! Mountains are fun… and hard on my shoulder!
ps… where might rainbows be waiting for you??? Really!!! Leave a comment below, or email me!
pps… I’m waving my magic brush-hammer and declaring that all original art and archival prints at FierceArtWithHeart – including those in the guest artist collection – are 20% off the current listed price, through July 22nd, at 11:59pm EDT. Just enter the code The Tower when you check out… (And, if you have your heart set on something major, there’s an option to spread out the payments!)
ppps… questions about the art? email me! suesvoice@gmail.com