"yield" Illustration Friday March 9, 2012

Inspired by the illustration Friday challenge word: "yield"

This week's quote by Oscar Wilde: "Do you think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to" did not lead me directly to an image - rather, it got me wondering about structures in our lives, social mores, habits of person, of culture - and how they make dizzying patterns which shift and change slightly, creating a historical mandala that feels as though it has been caught mid-breath, mid-birth, on the brink of an explosion.

The courage of beginning, of continuing, responding afresh to each layer, each slight shift in proportion makes for a lively dance of shapes, ideas, yielding to the internal conviction that new connections and relationships between these lines exist - and need only to be set down on paper, making more resonances that call new shapes and lines in turn.

Drawn high above clouds, pulled by the desire to make some visible response to ideas dancing invisible.

"intention" Illustration Friday March 2/2012

"Intention"
- inspired by the Illustration Friday quote:

"Intention involves such a small fragment of our consciousness and of our mind and of our life".
- Jasper Johns

This quote and what it seemed to be saying sloshed around in my mind every which way I turned this past few days.

Really?? REALLY?!??

That seems a bit like saying gasoline is such a small fragment of a car. Hardy necessary for car-ishness, except, of course, for the 'transportation' part of a car. Negligible, really.

Can't really judge a quote this brief - perhaps Mr. Johns is saying that we need to exercise other aspects of our selves, our consciousness, mind and life, and not worry so much about intention. I'd like to ask if this was what he intended with his words. Perhaps it is, like art when it is finished and available for view, that the intention might be less important than the interpretation of those who see it. Perhaps. I wonder...

...as I wonder how far Itzhak Perlman would have come as a violinist without intention. His own, his parents', SOMEONE's intention was that the thing be taken out of its case, tuned, the bow rosined and then stuck under his chin - day after day and year after year until, I wonder now, is it part of him, and can he even imagine putting it aside?

The mind wanders without intention - and yet our intention shapes those thoughts as we become aware of them. Intention is the self directing aspects of the inner orchestra, to play louder, softer, longer... and the music we create, the lives we live, the imprint of our consciousness on our own lives and those around us, is a creation of our intention - what we allow to flourish in our selves, the words we speak, actions we take.

Intention is perhaps the opposable thumb of the mind. We're pretty nifty creatures, even without it. But calling it a small fragment of who we are?

Capable - Illustration Friday February 24/2012

Inspired by the Illustration Friday quote:

"If we all did the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves". - Thomas Edison

As one of four siblings, hurrying, squabbling and noise were the order of our mornings - until the wonderful day I hauled open a resisting drawer and decided for myself what I would wear. Sticking my head through the neckhole of a stiff polyester knit shirt always resulted in sore ears - doing it myself, I could ease the ears through one by one, and if I had to turn the shirt around because I'd put it on back-to-front, at least it was not inside-out. I chose pants in the shade of brown that matched the stitching around the neckline and found acceptable socks where I'd left them, crumpled behind my bed. My older sister was sure the matching shirt and pants were accidental, but I didn't care. I felt as though I were floating.

To this day, that sense of accomplishment at age three, of being capable of choosing for myself and taking those choices into the day is like a trophy I gave myself - and memory polishes it brighter than graduating from high school or even university.

"Popularity" Illustration Friday February 10, 2012

Inspired by the Illustration Friday word: "Popularity"

"Avoid popularity if you would have peace". - Abraham Lincoln.

So thrilled was he with the popularity of his performance that Ralph did not stop to consider on what this popularity was based...

I'm afraid he had never heard of Abraham Lincoln nor his thoughts on peace.

Suspense - Illustration Friday February 3, 2012

Inspired by the Illustration Friday word: Suspense.

Childhood imagination is wonderful - fills in blank spaces, the unknown beyond the horizon, answers the question: what will happen next? As a kid, what your imagination provides may not always be pleasant. And the suspense of waiting for the imagined to befall can be interminable.

I'm glad I still have that imagination - and even more pleased to have context for what it conjurs up. Still, I don't do suspense.

Petey's Mamma

Pulling out the tablet for some other work, it invites doodling. No crumpled up or wasted paper, just ideas and play. I should do this more often.

"Forward" Illustration Friday Jan. 27, 2012

Inspired by the Illustration Friday word: "forward"

Thoroughly energized by the SCBWI conference in NY this past weekend. Still catching up on sleep, digesting everything.

Now, forward!