Trees and Squash
In my watercolour class, we worked for several weeks on this subject, very carefully. We used four colours. Mine were cobalt, Winsor lemon yellow, burnt sienna and Payne’s grey.
Then, like in doing a counter pose in yoga, we did a very quick study of these winter squash.
Twenty minutes, a pencil sketch, three colours, one yellow, one red, and a third whatever we wanted to use. I chose cadmium yellow, Winsor red and viridian.
It was like riding a roller coaster, chug, chug, chug, up the hill, observing, sketching, then preparing for the plunge with wetting the subjects (leave whites) then the rush, splashing on colour, more red, more yellow, that bit’s drying out, don’t touch there, oh, look what that viridian did—time’s up, noon has rung, lay down your brushes. How did it turn out? That was fun!
Picture Perfect : Tempting
Homemade bread fresh from the oven—is it tempting ?
(I hope you don’t mind I yielded to the temptation to scribble on my photo.)
Today I was tempted to make a little change from the usual, so I made rye bread with cardamom, caraway, and a spoonful of molasses. The French don’t do rye bread that way; they might put some raisins in it but not spice. This was not an impulsive temptation as I had purchased the rye flour earlier this week but I didn’t know I was going to use it today.
As one who aims to pronounce the phrase “that we may resist temptation” several times a day and once at night*, I sometimes question what is temptation. Perhaps language plays tricks on us as surely not everything that is appealing must be resisted! So what can be a guide? Maybe asking whether or not someone will be harmed? I might be that someone, if I eat a whole loaf of warm bread with butter melting on it, but just one piece should be OK. So we find the necessity for moderation as an element.
How do you decide what should be resisted?
*The Revelation of Arès 12/4
For more entries on the theme of tempting, go to Picture Perfect.
Blog Action Day 2009 – Climate Change
There is climate change I would like to see.
No, I don’t mean lakes disappearing from over-irrigation, nor clouds of pollution, nor polar bears with no place to go, nor palm trees in Scotland.
The climate change I would like to see is in human relations—peacemaking, forgiveness, sharing, encouraging each and every person to be the best person they can, freely. We can change the climate to Garden of Eden instead of the dog-eat-dog world we have created.
All it takes is a little work on oneself, continuous, ongoing, but not over-taxing, the effort to be and do good.
Helicoidal Ladder to Heaven on Earth
watercolour representing the possibilities being discovered in the field of epigenetics,
the path shown by our Creator, most recently in The Revelation of Arès
A Few Minutes Here, a Few Minutes There
Some friends of ours have some of the small Ouessant sheep. They don’t shear them; bits of wool drop off by themselves as the animals brush up against plants, shrubs, trees, fences. One of the sheep managed to shed his entire fleece so my friend gave it to me along with other bits she gathered. These bits have quite an amount of grass, moss, and—what is that? Could it be a bug? !!! DJ, wake up to reality, this is an animal’s hair, it has been out in the field, rolling around.
I borrowed the tools for carding from another friend. My plan is to make felt and then a hat. I got advice from friends and googled making felt and carding wool. Vive youtube!
What you see in the bag is the untouched wool as it was gathered, the bit lying on the carder has been picked over to get rid of anything that doesn’t look like wool, and in the box is the nice fluffy carded fiber. Little puffs of dust rise as I card; I am doing this outside so I will only work on it when the weather permits.
Several feelings motivate me for this project. One is probably the feeling of getting something for nothing although it will actually take a lot of time and patience on my part. Another is the pleasure of making something by hand and giving it to someone else (the hat will be for my husband). Another is a desire to keep alive techniques painstakingly discovered through the ages. I remember our guide at the chateau de Versailles lamenting that they couldn’t find anyone to repair some of the furniture there as the techniques used have been lost. Also it seems like a gift from the Creator to be able to make something with stuff picked up off the ground.
“Have I ever set a price for My Salvation? Have I not given it to all men in return for efforts of penitence which is joy to pious men, which is not heavier than the usurer’s worries, which is lighter than the wealthy one’s and the mighty one’s yoke?
Along My Paths toward My Heights bees work hard for all men.
Why senselessly manufacture honey and wax in workshops?
At their foot My Almond trees spread their fruit; the partridge does not require payment for its meat, neither does the goat for its milk.
I make oil gush for (making) fire, I spread the earth’s surface with lead and copper for all men in return for efforts to collect and dress them.
Do I not give the tile from clay in return for efforts to bake it?”
Picture Perfect : Comfortable Comfort
Comfortable …
… but nevertheless made for walking.
Neither couch potatoes nor renunciates, a continuous effort walking the gently sloping upward path is the way we can most efficiently change ourselves and thus the world. Comfortable, but not too comfy. Who will join us for a spiritual exodus, the long walk towards a better world?
“You shall lead My People by the middle of the Heights that I have intended for them, by their still passable paths, but not by toilsome rock climbing (routes) and not by the roads below lined with inns.
Take the middle paths; they slope upwards, but the slope is endurable,
it goes by springs and through fruit groves ;
along the slope children can walk,
wives can follow their husbands
(and) lie down right next to them at halting places
in order to warm up their bodies, fill them with joy,
so that they together overnight
forget about the strain of the ascent.”
The Revelation of Arès 7/1-3
Got Yarn?
I have been knitting, crocheting, etc. since early childhood. This has resulted in quite a few bits of leftover yarn. It has gotten to the point where I feel I cannot buy any more until I use some of it up. I’m not keen on stripes and have already done some Fair Isle. So I was very happy to find a site that organizes knitting (and crocheting) for charity. It is a simple project, one sends an 8 inch (20cm) square(s) and they are made into blankets and wraps and maybe other things, for orphans living in poverty. Any colours, any weight, any stitch, just so it makes up warm. It only took a few minutes to get the 20cm wide part and not that much longer to get the 20cm long.
Here is a link to the site:
This is the square I started last night. It’s finished now.
djdblogginghere 