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A Certain Interior Expansion
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"A Certain Interior Expansion" - oil on paper, 14 x 21 inches. This item is unmounted and unframed. (click on the image to purchase)
The venture into space is meaningless unless it coincides with a certain interior expansion, an ever growing universe within, to correspond with the far flight of the galaxies our telescopes follow from without… That inward world… can be more volatile and mobile, more terrible and impoverished, yet withal more ennobling in its self-consciousness, than the universe that gave it birth. - LOREN EISELEY
Eiseley's words grabbed me by both shoulders, shook me, looked me in the eye and said SEE? YOUR INWARD WORLD IS JUST LIKE A SCI-FI ADVENTURE! Whoa! Where's my spacesuit? Let's gear up and GO!
I don't know about you, dear reader, but as an anxious and introverted creative being I spend a lot of time looking inward. It's not like I choose that particular adventure, it is just where my moon boots go. They have a mind of their own. And that inner world can, indeed, be volatile, mobile, terrible and impoverished. But it can also be beautiful, vast, surprising and adventure-filled.
Maybe that's what we're doing here, sharing paintings and words and things that inspire interior expansion. Because it is quite challenging to share an interior view with those on the outside. Yet art and words (and music and dance and photos and theater and and and!) allow us to get a glimpse of that galaxy of wonder in another that we may never otherwise see. And once in a while, that glimpse informs and expands our own inner landscape and propels us to venture further. Oh!!!
About the art: another inspiration image from the AI bot that launched me into another world of paint exploration. I asked for one thing, received another and then created something further afield than that. Beginning with a very old acrylic painting on arches watercolor paper, I sketched the figure and began laying in the background colors loosely, allowing one color to blend into the next for an ombre effect. Using light washes thinned with walnut oil, it takes a LOT of layers. I embraced some hard shadows on the figure - skeletal? Cyborg? Alien? Who knows? But she likes her fancy clothes and isn't afraid to wear them with a helmet. Using a small rubber wedge, I carved back into the wet paint layers in the dress to expose a bit of the underpainting. I cannot help but wonder what she's thinking...
The October Reader Giveaway begins today! Leave a comment on any of this month's blog posts to be automatically entered. One (or more) lucky commenters will win a piece of original artwork - FREE! Now that's a treat for your Halloween bag. :)
4 Comments
Lola, your substrate contributes dramatically and effectively to "Certain"—it caught my eye immediately! And THE SHADOWS are striking and captivating. This whole piece jumps right off the page (that exquisite arches watercolor paper with a very old acrylic painting as a starting place) and makes me laugh with giddy great delight, saying, OMG, lucky me to be witness to this certain interior expansion!!!
Dotty!!! Hooray! Thank you for noticing the substrate and for sharing your giddy, great delight! Huzzah! Now I am grinning ear to ear! xo
A helmet? When I saw it I interpreted it as a cyborg beehive! Maybe that provides a level of protection too.
Gretchen!!!! ha ha! A cyborg beehive is much, much better than a helmet! She's delighted, of course, being quite fond of insects of all kinds. xoxo
