Showing posts with label owl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label owl. Show all posts

"Arabella's Inner Life"

Dear Visitors,

This will be a very different post. I have gotten myself into something I have never done before: a poster competition :) This is part of the Marbletown, NY, Founder's Day celebration. The assignment is to fill with images, colors or shapes the blank white space inside the founder’s body on one of the posters pictured below. The posters are printed on canvas and stretched over 26” x 68” frame. The figure itself is about 4 feet high. The deadline is July 11th. The posters will be put on public display in and around Marbletown to promote the Founders’ Day festivities to be held on July 26th. The posters will then exhibited and auctioned off at the end of the event to benefit Stone Ridge Public Library.


I got the notice about this event last Friday, the 11th, was humming and hawing about participating but the deadline seemed too short. Saturday, however, I was still thinking about it. Then my boyfriend convinced me to dare and so we picked up "The Lady" :)


I gave her the name "Arabella" and called the theme "Arabella's Inner Life". Now what? I was completely clueless how to fill in the white space, but was and am still counting on the Inner Voice Drawing process to guide me.  I have decided to document each step and let you in on the development of the piece. The surprise of each step will be yours as much as mine :)

STEP ONE:

close up
























I am getting a first feel of Arabella's personality: reflective
with an inner fire ....
5 more days until completion.


STEP TWO:











Arabella's personality is coming out more: playfulness with a bent for gentle pranks. I am curious where this will go. Are you too? Stay tuned. 4 more days until completion.

STEP THREE:


close up
This is the last sketch. The next step is adding color.  3 more days to go.  Stay tuned :)

STEP FOUR:


This is still a very rough color draft. I am working with acrylic on vinyl. It's a slippery surface and makes it more difficult to have a smooth and even paint. Layers are the solution. 2 more days to go. Stay tuned :)

STEP FIVE:



Arabella is shaping up :)  I hadn't thought of outlining all the forms with a black marker, but when I did one I liked the look: the forms pop out more and remind me of stained glass patterns.
One more day to go. Have a good evening and let's meet here again tomorrow for the final :)

THE FINAL:




This was a fun project. I had some trouble though with the writing part. I had bought several light colored markers (sharpies) to write on the black background, but none of them worked on the vinyl material. Challenges can make you creative, so the solution was painting an acrylic base and using the black marker on top of it. Voila :)
I hope this post gives you some ideas and the courage to stretch yourself - at least a bit. You can do it!
And don't forget to make someone smile :)

The Universe Is Smiling: "Day & Night"

Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: Keep smiling - day and night :)
"Our emotions are only incidents in the effort to keep day and night together."
 - T.S. Eliot
We invoke the Sun God who incessantly works day and night and rises daily without showing any kind of lethargy."
 - Rig Veda
"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and nicht to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting."
- E.E. Cummings

The Universe Is Smiling: "Spirit Animals"

Welcome to the Chinese New Year of the Wood Horse. In the spirit of the changing years and the changing animals, may I ask, what is your spirit animal, your power animal? Here are some power animals to get you into the right spirit with some quotes about "power" and "spirit" :)
"I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be."
- Thomas Jefferson
"Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens."
- Epictetus
"Humans are amphibians - half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time."
- C.S. Lewis

The Universe Is Smiling: "Companions"

Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: Pick a good companion and enjoy the time together.
"Patience is the companion of wisdom."
 - Saint Augustine
"If you have enthusiasm, you have a very dynamic, effective companion to travel with you on the road to Somewhere."
- Loretta Young

The Universe Is Smiling: "Floating"

Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: Taking a break by floating above the clouds of concern.
"Seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around us, but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive them." 
 - Joseph Henry
"At night, when the sky is full of stars and the sea is still you the the wonderful sensation that you are floating in space."
- Natalie Wood

The Universe Is Smiling: "Attention"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:
Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: "Pay attention - and enjoy the day :)"
"It's beauty that captures your attention; personality which captures your heart."
 - Oscar Wilde
"The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention."
- Richard Moss
.... and a funny quote :)
"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."
- Albert Einstein

The Universe Is Smiling: "Reminiscing"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:
Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: "Cherish your memories but stay in the moment :)"
"Pleasure is the flower that passes, remembrance the lasting perfume."
 - Jean de Boufflers
"A smile happens in a flash, but its memory can last a lifetime."
- Anonymous
"Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quickly you hardly catch it going."
- Tennessee Williams  

The Universe Is Smiling: "Learning"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:
Q: What is today's wisdom?
 A: "Learning happens: earth & star nations communicate"
"Let us not look back in a anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness."
 - James Thurber
"One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching."
- Gerard Way 

The Universe Is Smiling: "ILLUSION"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:
Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: "Things are not what they appear to be..."
"Things are not what they appear to be: nor are they otherwise."
- Surangama Sutra
"When one does not understand death, life can be very confusing."
- Ajan Chah
"Time is our present breath."
- Ajan Chah     

The Universe Is Smiling: "Listening"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:
Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: "The beauty of showing up."
"The first duty of love is to listen."
 - Paul Tillich
"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."
- Leo Buscaglia

The Universe Is Smiling: "Spring Spirits"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:
Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: Nature spirits are weaving the fabric of spring: Enjoy!
"My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory. the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipation and joy.
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
"It is written on the arched sky; it looks out from every star; it is the poetry of Nature; it is that which uplifts the spirit within us."
- John Ruskin  

The Universe Is Smiling: "Appreciation"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: "Appreciation is a wonderful thing: it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well."
- Voltaire
"The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness."
- Dalai Lama    

The Universe Is Smiling: Age Lessons

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: "Age considers; youth ventures."
 -Rabindranath Tagore
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
 - Friedrich Nietzsche
"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence."
- Robert Frost

The Universe Is Smiling: Conscience is the inner voice

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: "Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking."
- Henry Louis Mencken  

The Universe Is Smiling: Wings of Trust

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: "As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live."
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Be like the bird that, passing on her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings."
- Victor Hugo    

The Universe Is Smiling: Window to the Soul

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: "People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."
- Elisabeth KĂĽbler-Ross  

The Universe Is Smiling: "I am Awake"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's message on this auspicious day of Chokhor Duchen, the first time the Buddha taught after attaining enlightenment?
A: One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the messiah?"
"No", answered the Buddha.
"Then are you a healer?"
"No", Buddha replied.
"Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted.
"No, I am not a teacher."
"Then what are you?" asked the student, exasperated.
"I am awake", Buddha replied.
 

The Universe is Smiling: Reinvent Yourself

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?
 A: Reinvent yourself! Take heart and be creative!