Okay, I've stopped grumbling about my lack of artistic merit and will post a picture of an older painting I really do like. It was painted for my mother some years before she died and now it belongs to one of her closest friends. It's called 'Sun Dancer'.
Poetry is painting in words and Rumi said best what this picture means to me:
I died from minerality and became vegetable;
And from vegetativeness I died and became animal.
I died from animality and became man.
Then why fear disappearance through death?
Next time I shall die
Bringing forth wings and feathers like angels;
After that, soaring higher than angels -
What you cannot imagine,
I shall become that.
you and Rumi, an unbeatable combination! this is gorgeous, she is gorgeous, your colors are beautiful and that border is done in a way only you can...i am so glad you shared this, it's just beautiful and something your mother must have loved.
ReplyDeletexox
As Linda said! You are an artist with your own special sensibility, use of colour, materials and imagery! Believe it.
ReplyDeleteWhat incredible and golden and flowery exuberance! I can just feel her dancing and the sun navigating around her. This dancer( and the painter who painted her) is soaring higher than angels.
ReplyDeletexoxo
that's you at your best, face turned towards the sun and life.
ReplyDeletei love the yellow, warm color and i love the border (within a border); it reminds me of eyes.
and i love that it belonged to your mother, because there is dancing and flowers.
thank you for sharing it susan. this one feels as special as it is.
Beautiful - the picture and Rumi. I'll bet this painting brought much pleasure to your mother and now to her friend.
ReplyDeletelinda - I'm glad you like it too. The best ones take a lot of time and quiet. My mother did but it's hard to impress a mother - especially one who would have been better pleased to have her only daughter living next door.
ReplyDeletemarja-leena - How kind and gracious of you to say so. I wish I had a larger photograph of the original to share.
belette - I see the sun in you as you see the sun in me. Namaste. One day we'll all dance together.
sera - I knew it was something special when the idea first appeared and was glad the original inspiration stayed clear. The borders allow a safe haven - always do but I never design one until the main painting is done. Knowing you were happy seeing it makes me glad it's posted.
ReplyDeletenancy - Thank you. Rumi is indeed a timeless genius and my mother did love the painting.
Hi Susan
ReplyDeleteLovely ‘Sun Dancer' picture suitably joined in verse.
I’m sure painting something beautiful should look as if it is as easily done as water flowing off a ducks back but never is.
Enjoyed reading your last two posts with beautiful pictures
Best wishes
I think that painting is one of my favorites...hands down. And as linda pointed out, your boarder is amazing, one of your wonderful trademarks.
ReplyDeleteI tell ya, kiddo...you're going to be famous one day and we'll all be able to say that we knew you when.
you are a great artist, and that poem is beautiful and goes with the painting very well... too bad i didn't believe in reincarnation, coz it sounds kinda good lolol thanks for your nice comment, reminds me of a poem, every man is his own clock, tick tock, he may rise by the sun and set by the moon tick tock...hmmm can't remember, the last line is 'but for the shock of love to set his heart beating again'
ReplyDeletehttp://totallylike.me
At least when I croak, it'll be with the knowledge that we'll finally win a title in something. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI dig how the yellows have that misty of air of antiquity, not in a 'this is freaking old and crumbly' kind of way, but of permanence.
lindsay - Practice, practice, practice. It's true of any art that's worth seeing or hearing that it look effortless. That's what makes our hearts soar with delight.
ReplyDeleteVery best wishes to you too.
nunly - I'm happy you like it that much. The borders always relate to the essence of the paintings and I love painting them. I did a few mandalas several years ago that I may post again.
As for the fame - this is good enough for now :-)
elaine - Thanks :-) I think reincarnation is mostly about human tendencies taking a new birth and not individual personalities except perhaps for some very high level Buddhist masters. It's never a bad plan for all of us to act with compassion as a spur for heaven or a better life next time.
ReplyDeleteI really like your photographs - they speak volumes.
randal - You still planning on the title of Cthulu's Doorman? That would be cool.
How beautiful. When I was a little girl, I used to 'dance' in the sunshine, leaping into the air. I don't remember what I thought I was at the time, but your painting brings back those sunny, happy memories. Good art does that for us, you know.
ReplyDeleteI had to show this to Sophia. She's been drawing and painting flowers lately. Yours in the foreground of this painting are magnificent. I love how they look like they're sharing the dance, as well as the sunlight.
ReplyDeletethe crow - Me too. As children we're so much more open to pure magic because we have no preconceptions. Then life's hard lessons come along and bring some wisdom. A balance is good.
ReplyDeletelisa - Sophia's a very talented girl and I hope she keeps practicing her art. What I've seen of her work is very promising.
Thank you for the lovely compliment.
you make the borders lastly?
ReplyDeletei always start with borders. i suppose that's true for just about everything with me, not just drawing.
i remember coloring books, and how earnestly i tried to color within the lines. coloring outside the lines meant you weren't very 'good' at coloring.
i didn't learn to color out of the lines until i was in college.
for a while, coloring outside the lines was the most important thing to me.
but even then, i liked to feel in control of what i was doing. i still do. i never broke free of that.
i wish i could paint borders last, after everything else.
The dancer is the sun herself. Beautiful, Susan. Thank you. I keep going back to it to bask.
ReplyDeleteall the love,
Gina
It is beautiful Susan
ReplyDeletesera - I liked my coloring books too but I always added my own lines and things outside the borders. They were boring as they were so eventually I made my own coloring books and stayed within the borders I set myself. Those are the only ones worth the effort.
ReplyDeletepagan sphinx - I posted it once before more than a year ago but I was pretty sure a number of people who visit now missed it. I'm very happy it's brightened your day :-)
jams - Thank you. I can't go back but hope to get somewhere just as nice.
ahh that's where i mess up.
ReplyDeletei take lines literally.
making your own lines sounds awesome.
i'm learning. from you.
sera - Lines are made to be stepped over and learning from each other is good.
ReplyDeleteI missed this one because I was out of town. I scrolled down and found it. The painting is beautiful, really and honestly. And the poem is great!
ReplyDeletePeace.