Danger, Danger

Does she look dangerous ?

OK, maybe just scary. she is in a sketchbook that is part of a project designed to create a national sketchbook resource that would tour the country. Every participant receives a moleskine journal and a theme. Mine was "Danger, Danger". So I just jumped on the concept of dangerous women...but not like gun molls and motorcycle mamas, though they may be included. I think women are considered dangerous when they are willing to step outside the cultural norms, whatever they may be. Women in my culture are supposed to be "beautiful", "thin", "young" and probably fair skinned and fair haired. ARGH!!!! so these ladies that are stepping into the moleskine are none of the above. Well, actually the first one was fair haired and I am not really sure I like her. I was getting used to the paper and struggling just a bit on how to handle it. She got appreciably sloppy, which I considered to be an asset. The paper began to wear thin so I glued two pages together and that seemed to help. I think she will get more help before I send this off to its next life.

But I liked this one. I recently discovered I have some close Maori blood flowing within my little heart. It had been kept somewhat of a family secret as the Maori people weren't considered the very best kind of folk in England, from whence this part of the family originated and it certainly wasn't deeply appreciated by certain Scottish-American parts of the family so it was agreed that we were of Philippine origin to account for some rampant dark skin, bulky builds and strange dietary preferences ( I eat lots of very spicy foods along with anything that comes out of the sea..preferably raw) . So I have been researching the Maori people and one of the things they are somewhat known for is some wild tattoo art. so this dangerous lady has some definite ink. I am feeling even more to come as my pen doodles are getting pretty wild even by modern ink lovers standards.

I worked on my golden canvases this week-end, but I am saving those for a before and after kind of blog. I had decided late summer that I needed to expand my range of experience a bit on a weekly basis and signed up for some yoga classes..which I adore....and a series of talks and meditations on "The Sacred Universe". Both of these are sponsored by a place called the Mercy Center. Mercy a spiritual adventure supported by Catholic nuns and has wonderful grounds that include a large labyrinth with a magic tree at its center, chocolates flowing forth at the front desk and some of those most wonderful people you could imagine. One special woman in the community is an artist with a sense of wonder she can transfer to just about anyone through her art and presentations and I love just being around her. She, of "The Sacred Universe" program has created a wonderful series of paintings designed to be laid out in "walk" through the story of the universe. The presentations have included film documentaries of amazing people and concepts that just turn a walk out to get the mail into an adventure involving stars and seas and looking down at the sun! Did you know there are stars in apples. Remind me to show you sometime. anyway, all of this is feeding the canvases. The imagery sneaks in on kitten feet, as the poet said, and jumps onto the canvas. I find myself stepping back to look at what I have done and laughing at what I thought was looking glass turn into the Great Blue marble we live on.

Amazing.

Then seeds and plants creep in and creation is honored and remembered. I stop and think of how the caves at Lascaux took my breath away the first time I saw photos of the walls covered in paintings. Creation honored and remembered. Our stories told.

With all the politically correct rhetoric that seems to be running about , we need to remember our story and how we fit into all of this.

I paint.