Sunday, March 29, 2009
"Quiet Beginning"
6:11am
Sunday, March 29, 2009
"Quiet Beginning"
6:11am
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I wake early, some modicum of success in sleep. I remember vivid dreams, travelling dreams. Perhaps they are impelled by possible plans now only sketchy.
I am getting well slowly. I had some coughing, but not enough to rob sleep too badly. Bird chorus, one calls, the other answers. This dawn feels full of possibility. The quietness continued throughout the day. After watching CBS Sunday morning show, we got the water bottles filled and made a brief grocery run. The rest of the day, we've been in. A nap and a soaky bath, I'm further on the mend, and Julia's progressing in that direction, too. Seeking a simple sketch project, I found an interesting face on the web, and got sketching: |
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
"Portrait of Cris Williamson"
9:01pm
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Today's the last day of March, and the last day of Women's History Month. I decided to finish up the month by drawing Cris Williamson, a favorite folk singer I've enjoyed through out the years. Her "Changer and the Changed" and other albums gave me much inspiration in my early twenties. I found two different photos found at her website, took the direct gaze of the head on one, and changed it out with the head on the other. Also, although her blouse was gold in that photo, RED seemed the right color:
 Red, for she, like the subject of her 'Texas Ruby Red', leaves her listeners 'well fed'. 1 : an object held to act as a charm to avert evil and bring good fortune 2 : something producing apparently magical or miraculous effects But what I found interesting was the Etymology: French talisman or Spanish talismán or Italian talismano; all from Arabic ṭilsam, from Middle Greek telesma, from Greek, consecration, from telein to initiate into the mysteries, complete, from telos end "To initiate into the mysteries", and so I chose an amethyst stone with 'Runa' which means 'mystery'.  I 'inverted' it, then did hue shift to get the stone back to amethyst
"A distillation of the above threefold system could be contained in the Egyptian sentence Ir shti shta-tu! which could be translated variously as "Inquire of the books of magic!" or "Seek the Mysteries!" or "Travel through difficult territory!" The Egyptian word shta-ti may have been etymologically connected with certain forms of the name of Set. By the time of the magical papyri the words meaning "belonging to Set" or "of the secret place" had coalesced in the common tongue. The Egyptians associated certain night sky features with Set, particularly the constellation Ursa Major and the planet Mercury. They called Mercury Sbq which simply means "the Unknown.""
Saturday, April 4, 2009 A
"Feeling Possessive" After I drew the octopus, all those tentacles seemed like they ought to be greedily grasping something, so I put a treasure box underneath him: |
© Joan Lansberry
