Sunday, June 4, 2023

Resting Sunday

Today I'm trying not to spin, weave, knit, because my neck and shoulder are asking to rest. 

I'll walk and think.

Yesterday I made this, no idea what to call it, some sort of fryup. Spiced tuna, steamed broccoli, red lentil crumbs, bound with an egg, fried. Served with the rest of the apricot sauce 

You need plenty of spice here, and I added baharat to the already spicy ingredients. With the sweeter apricot sauce, good.

And since the very hot day Friday brought on the lavender scent, 


I cut a bunch for my neighbor. 


I do this each year, except last year there were no flowers at all, and I wondered if it had died. But this year it's back looking as fine as ever.

I was thinking recently about poet Padraig O'Tuama and his thoughtful newsletter, about our perception of time and other things. 

Here's a great new thought from him, which I'll pass on in his own words



And I have an example of art making something happen, not to me, but to an observer of my work, which then affected me.

This was years ago, when I had a local solo show titled Four Sisters, made in copper wire, black gesso and  metal upcycled items.

Most of the pieces suggested three sisters and an observer. None of my sisters made any comments on it though I had sent pictures of the pieces in the show.

Here's one, most of the show sold to collectors, so only a couple are here 



Then, years later, sister Dogonart said they'd all gone out for coffee and to look at the pictures. She said they kept wondering why it was called four sisters when they could only detect three people in the various works.

Then she said it suddenly dawned on her that the fourth was relegated to being an outsider, observing the group. The artist was the fourth, outside looking in. She was dismayed and said you must have felt you never had sisters. 

I suspect that's why I never heard from them about it, didn't even know they'd looked at the pictures. They got it.  They just didn't know what to say to acknowledge it. But one sister reached out, much later, as a result. 

That was the power of art, which words and my personal reaching out for many years,  had never achieved. It wasn't my intent at all. I was just creating a concept based on my experience, as artists do. So that came as a bonus.

In another context, here's an ink and wash if Four Sisters. 


It takes a bit of looking to find them all, a metaphor for the life of a large family, of which this was only half.  And any of these sisters could be any other, depending on circumstances. Identities and relationships are fluid. 

Do you have any experience where any art form, music, theatre, dance, painting, created an epiphany for you? Maybe you'd like to share? 

Happy day everyone, I'm off to walk in the sunshine. Trala!




30 comments:

  1. That was a very interesting story. Your painting of the four sisters is very good. I imagine that I can see each one's personality come through in those few lines and color.
    I suppose the first real, true epiphany involving art I ever had was walking into the Accademia Gallery in Florence and seeing Michelangelo's David in all of its size and glory. I burst into tears which I know is not an uncommon reaction. There was something inside of me that responded so deeply to that amazing piece of art.
    Phew. I still get shivers, thinking of it.

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    1. The David is a life changing artwork. What I love about it is the body of a youth, and the throwing hand of a full grown man.

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  2. We haven't got the best environment for lavender, but I wonder if there is any blooming in some gardens. Maybe not yet.

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    1. It needs a few hot days to bring out the scent. Mine had been blooming for a few days before Friday's heat brought it out.

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  3. What a powerful story about "Four Sisters." Sad that they couldn't discuss it with you, even once they'd realized its significance.

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    1. I think guilt entered into it, and the terrifying prospect of having to admit wrongdoing. Also I wonder if they were a bit afraid of me at that point.

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  4. I cannot grow lavender here, I've tried many varieties, it just gets too cold. Here it is an annual. Art has played a role throughout my life. I'm sure there were many defining moments but what stood out in my mind when I read your question is the theatre. Going to a play with Mark I realized I wasn't going back to the narrow world I had found myself stuck in. Funny that should be what I thought.

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  5. far from resting today, I'm doing a bit of house cleaning which I hate to do. half the house so far but it's the easy half.

    interesting about your show and your sisters and their reaction to it. I'm glad at least one of them acknowledged it/you. I have no such experience. my art is not personal which I suppose doesn't really qualify as 'art', something I've cogitated about over the years. at best some of the work is statement on the destruction of our planet.

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    1. The resting is enforced -- shoulder and neck overwork and pain. I don't want everything to flare up like last year.

      Your thoughts about your own work are interesting to hear, thank you.

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  6. I love your story of the Four Sisters. In some ways, all four were observers in that they couldn’t discuss it with you.

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    1. Now that's a thought I should dwell on a bit. Yes.

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  7. Marie has touched on my thought….maybe each of your sisters (separately) thought you were excluding ‘her’ …..

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    1. Interesting, but a bit difficult to see, given that they moved through life in a bloc, all born within two years, I a decade later. The name calling and ridicule a one way street -- i was not allowed to answer back. But I'll give it some thought in case there's something I'm missing.

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  8. I see the four sisters in your water color. Family relationships are fraught.

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  9. I have sisters discovered in my 30's and with whom I have little in common. That I think makes me a bit of an outsider but there is too much to bridge...I remember standing in the Louvre, 14, and thinking that not everyone gets to see what I see here...

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    1. Interesting family situation, such a late discovery. I can see how the divide is too great to really fix.

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  10. That was a very powerful moment. Families are so complicated

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    1. That's so true! And it's hard to detect our own role in things that happen.

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  11. So interesting about the Four Sisters -- I'd never heard of that (them) before. I'm sure I've had that epiphany.... but I can't remember what it was!

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    1. I showed that painting years ago, before you were reading in here probably.

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  12. Whatever you want to call that dish you made, it looks delicious.
    Interesting story about your artwork. I'm sometimes a bit dense so don't know if I would have caught on like your sister did.

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    1. The dish was pretty good. Fast food. She did see it. In fact before I did, though what she said was quite true. It wasn't what I thought I was saying in that show though.

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  13. That is sad about you and your sisters. How strange that you didn't realise it until after. Art is amazing.

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    1. When you're making art, you don't always see what's there till later. It's about discovery.

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  14. I enjoyed reading what you said about your sisters and their reaction (or non-reaction) to your art and interested to note that Dogonart brought up the subject years later. Obviously she'd been dwelling on it and realized she needed to acknowledge it.
    As for art epiphany in my life, I can't say that I've really had any beyond when I did the first landscape and realized that I COULD do this and subsequently discovered a passion for them.

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    1. Of everyone reading here, you're the only one who actually knew one of my sisters well, and I was looking forward to your reaction.
      I think your epiphany counts! It's a huge moment when you find that art pathway for yourself.

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  15. I read a couple of times your telling about your Four Sisters artwork and your sisters' response (or non response). It made me reflect on my relationship with my two older sisters. One of them knows me better than the other one does, but even so I do not feel nearly as known to them as I think they are to each other. Sometimes it annoys me, but mostly I've made peace with it. We get along and that we love each other seems to be enough. It's a very good thing, in fact. It wasn't until I read your thoughts, though, did I consider that I, too, feel a bit like an outsider with them. One on one I don't, but when we're all together, or having a group phone call it almost always happens.

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    1. Three is often an awkward number to navigate. I hope my words haven't unsettled you.

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