There are certain subjects that climb into my mind in during times of inactivity. Like when I’m having my morning coffee, throwing pottery, waiting for and taking off in airplanes, driving to charleston, or in today’s case, doing simple math problems with Iva (she is home “sick” today).
One of the subjects that pop in and out is… how do you voice your opinion without offending someone? I find this predicament similar to the awkward procedure of getting woman’s bra off. You desperately want that bra off with a passion, but you can’t just yell “Take your bra off!” now can you? Add to the equation that some garmits are trickier than others, and if you fumble and get too frustrasted, you stand a chance of it not getting off at all or offending the object of your affection. Some smart men will tactifully position themselves behind the woman, this offers them higher ground in all sorts of strategic advances and positions - the back of a women’s neck is one, but not the least of which is getting a good view of the fastener at hand. Unfortunately some of us (me included) we get so excited about the current state of affairs, that we find ourselves facing our venus - mano a womano - and the solution is out of sight. We must resort to those infrequently used braille skills in order to succeed. Fortunately I am a disciple of the blind contour.
It’s a tricky situation and in order to deliver that visual expression, I first remove the language far enough from the subject matter at hand in order distract myself and the viewer - keeping the proverbial latch out of sight and out of mind - I get thinking about something else… Sorry to be jumping around, but I am talking about previous subject now - ie. “voicing your opinion without offending or outright attacking someone”. Although this distraction strategy could apply to either situation - see why that analogy is so good? And you thought I was just trying to suck you in by writing about braziers.
Developing a visual composition for me usually doesn’t happen with a pre-existing idea of what I want to communicate, if that were the case it would merely be communication design. I prefer to be inspired over getting paid. Nope, I don’t want to have any idea what the heck this thing is going to be about, I’m just going get the process started see where it takes me, develop the images, textures, patterns that will fill the page. Regardless of my dis-association, my current thinking will taint the image with a certain hue of Keith Phillips idealism.
Well, the current stimula of choice lately has been things around me. This morning’s stimulous was two things, one is “things left on the breakfast table” after everyone leaves for work and school. The other is a box of valentines Gina bought at Barnes and Noble. They have old valentine ephemera on them - flowers, hearts and cherubs. You can see some results in the previous post “Four Eyes Lucky”.
After the first sketch I wanted to see about incorporating the idea of mindfulness into the scene. The last chapter I read last night was in “Old Path White Clouds” a biography of Buddha. This chapter was describing how to eat a tangerine with mindfulness. Mindfullness is part of the Path to Enlightenment - or when I’m at church I call this “Loving Jesus”. Being aware and mindful of others, of what we eat, mindful of how we walk and what we do… revelling in the details of something… kind of like how I draw something. Did I mention I am a disciple of blind contour drawing? When I draw I am extremely mindful of what I am drawing, in fact I can’t draw something I can’t see, not only that but I am handicapped because I can’t draw from memory either. I am not like my little brother who can conjure up an image of what they want and draw on the spot. That takes a lot of hard work and talent. I’m sticking to the blind contour.
But, back to the drawing at hand and trying to communicate mindfulness. The valentines are pretty much perfect for this, those adoring looks into each other eyes, isn’t love synonymous with mindfulness? But wait, what’s that on the table but a cobra! Hiss evil! Greyson has aquired a plastic toy of a cobra snake about to strike, and left it on the table. And all of a sudden an idea started jelling! Conversations with dad about war and confilct, and my inability to grasp the concept of a just war came into view, yet also I couldn’t communicate to him how I felt, without feeling I was attacking his military career, or his protectionism ideals. But now we can have our little cherubs be mindful of that cobra! And not only that, the cherubs had maintained that “valentine” gaze, even while gazing at the cobra, what a wonderful image of how to confront th evils of the world. We should be mindful of our enemies, or as Jesus put it “love our enemies as we love ourselves”.
I couldn’t have unhooked that latch any better than that if I was looking at it straight in the face. Sure some people won’t grasp the language in the same way, some mothers may be scared because they see children so close to a deadly snake, but all in all, it’s a positive message that is in no way confrontational, but still shows a path I’d like to take.
Check that one off the ;list of opinions to be communicated, time to move on. Maybe one day it will work itself into a permanent piece of art.
On another note, I find the best way to start story is to write it first… then when I am done, re-start it where you want it to begin. Below is the stream in which I wrote this. Above is the way I arranged to after I wrote it.
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Sarah. I digitized and embroidered “Sarah” on our Bernina Aurora 430. Sarah was one of the sketches she did. She specified yellow hair and a pink dress. I used a small swatch of a new Hoffman batik for the applique dress. The shirt is from Target. Finished product is the first Sophie & Keith Collaboration.
This morning, sitting in the orange cutting chair, I was watching the dust fly in and out of a beam of winter sunshine like cream in coffee. It’s been an unusally warm winter, however, the last few mornings have been frosty, and Gina has been making the coffee a little stronger before she leaves for work, so I have hope for today.