I created this encaustic and mixed media panel a few months ago, but only just bound it as a journal this past week. I had pondered leaving it as a painting to hang on the wall, but then went with my initial intentions to make it a cover to a blank journal. And I’m glad I did. I love the feel of a square journal in my hands.
I scratched some writing into the earth and it reads:
…if we recognize that we are spiritual beings, then all that we do is spiritual. Then we will be able to see the beauty in the mundane.
This journal is available for sale at amanobooks.
-sold-
The other night I watched the movie Never Cry Wolf and I had an a-ha moment. This movie is set in Alaska and the landscape of course is breathtaking. There were scenes where the trees and hills reminded me of our own trip to Alaska and the landscape of the pacific northwest. My eyes would clasp onto a tree silhouette and I would think that would make a great painting in the style of this painting that I made. Or this one. Or this one. And then my a-ha moment came~ the reason why I’ve been turning more inward with my intuitive paintings. I was so influenced by my surroundings when we lived in Washington. Even if you lived in the city like I did, you can’t help soak in the trees, the water, the mountains. Here, in Chicago, I don’t have that. Hence, the turning inward to my dreams, my interior landscape.
I have always known that I am very influenced by my immediate surroundings. Even when I am not aware of it.
hmmm. Today is my studio day, I’m going to go dig through my photos from Alaska and Washington and see what happens.
this piece really excites me – there is something very intimate about it and the words you carved into it – “the beauty in the mundane” – it’s my inner mantra – an ‘aha’ moment – it’s a blessing when the light come on….
Beautiful journal cover and a wonderful saying to remember. And it is great that you are beginning to better understand your need to turn inward as it relates to your surroundings.
Bridgette – this is beautiful.
K
thanks for such a mystical view. absolutely beautiful.
your alaska comments bring to mind my brother’s life of 27+ years there. he mushes his 18 dogs through the wilderness near his home and takes the most gosamer- like fantasy photos of the earth at rest….like you paint.
I, too, am exploring this idea of place, in my writing. You are so right…when in the presence of beauty, it’s as if my heart opens and my soul springs forward in flight.
What if we stopped seeking beauty? What would happen then?
Beautiful image. Like you, I find that images store themselves in the subconscious, emerging later. The interior landscape..I like that.
Mary Ann
wow, you’ve so eloquently commented the whole concept of the internal versus the external insparation for the artist.
Thanks Bridgette. Beautiful thought and I love the spiritual understanding.
Bridgette, I just left you a comment, but it seems that I lost it…or, you will get two. I love the feel of this landscape, the colors and the misty mood. I worked on one this weekend but it needs something else…your work has got me thinking… Roxanne
Very interesting ‘aha’ moment. Hearing the ‘why’ behind an artist’s work adds so much.
Love that piece- the ground glows like amber. No surprise that it was snatched up so quickly.
that painting is really beautiful!
I love your work. That encaustic piece is so beautiful. Very simple but I could stare at it for hours.
I agree with you about surroundings.I tell myself that surroundings don’t really matter but on a deeper level I know that the atmosphere of a place really affects me.
Hi Bridgette – I have something for you over at my place.
This is breathetaking!
The beauty in this piece moves my spirit deeply.
i am having a give-away contest for my book over at my blog if you want to come see.
Susan
xo