sketch

more about Art Days



photos by Elaine A. Russell

So -- more about "Art Days." Sometimes writer, artists, etc get a block... and need to work it out.
For the artist, it can be extremely stifling, and makes you feel like everything you've done.. you should burn... and such. Time to be an accountant... or whatever.
Then, common sense chimes in.. and you know that if you don't do art, you'll shrivel up and die.
So ... you try to fix things.
One way to do that is to make a pact with a fellow artist/ artists.. to do art days. This is where you go out and just sketch or photograph or whatever.. anything that interests you. No pressure. No... it has to be perfect. No.... can I use this to sell eventually. Just for you. Just for fun.
These photos were taken at a strip plaza on Menaul that has tons of really really cool metal sculptures. They are fantastic.

Sketching

-------------------------------photo and art page by Elaine Russell

I have always loved to sketch. As a kid, it wasn't that I was discouraged from doing art things... but it was rather well known that my brother was the artist in the family.. so it was implied that if I did anything art related, I was copying or sponging off of his "glory."
weird I know. Personally, I am of the opinion that you could give the same 10 people the same materials and inspiration object, and you would still get 10 completely different results. No copying involved... no stealing anyone else's thunder. whatever.

So -- today's photo is of a page I embellished for a friend. It was just a quick sketch, but I really like it. I need to do more art.......

Bamboo and Zen

------------------------------------------------photo by Elaine Russell

"The name "Zen" is Japanese. It derives from the Chinese Chan'an-na, which is a corruption from the Buddhist Dhyana, meaning Meditation. Zen means waking up to the present moment. That is, perceiving this moment exactly as it is, rather than through the filter of our ideas, opinions, etc.
You can learn from an ordinary bamboo leaf what ought to happen. It bends lower and lower under the weight of snow. Suddenly the snow slips to the ground without the leaf having stirred. Stay like that at the highest point of tension until the shot falls from you. So, indeed, it is: when the tension is fulfilled, the shot must fall, it must fall from the archer like snow from a bamboo leaf, before he even thinks it. "

I've been thinking a lot about peace, zen...openness of being. Not being trampled on by other people and their ideas, and yet being open to possibilities. Which brought me to thinking about the bamboo plant I have in my meditation area.... which led me to the passage I quoted above.



restless

------------------------------------------------photo by Elaine Russell

My neighbor's little dog keeps getting out of his yard. He's a very cute little guy.. but restless. Today he was trying to chase after the garbage truck, and most certainly would have gotten lost or hurt. I grabbed him, he urinated on me. I took him home and patched the fence where he got out.
Sometimes I wonder how God/ the Almighty/whatever name you choose....feels when He tries to save us from a more dangerous fate, and we pee on him. We are restless beings.. too focused on what we want; and not necessarly what is in our best interests.
So -- today -- I am trying to listen more closely to what would be in my best interests...what is the best course of action from this point on ? What would the Almighty choose to direct me towards if I just listened more carefully ?
Time for some reflection.....