Weekend Work 6/28/2021
I edited this on my iPhone and then put it back to the way it was. I think I’m going to stop messing with these paintings and just show them the way they are. This one is a bunch of faces that emerged out of the ether.
Not sure if this one is done. I usually don’t leave much black showing but I kind of like the black.
Hope everyone has a good week. Nina
inheritance
hands threading needles
accumulating stitches
delicate like wings
flexible strong like branches
like rivers singing
ancient ancestral patterns
releasing through re
peating remembering re
vealing what was always there
seeds growing
anonymous roots
flowering
For Colleen’s #TankaTuesday prompt, a Chōka. Jules provided the theme of discovery.
I come from a family where all the women were textile artists of some sort–sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, embroidery–my grandmother even worked as a hat maker before she was married. My mother started me embroidering at a young age, and we did the bird kits, above, together. She loved the color red and cardinals, so that was hers; I stitched the blue bird. And I discovered how much I loved embroidery.
My mother never had the confidence to do her own designs, but always encouraged me in my own explorations. I think of her, and all the women in my family, every time I pick up a needle.
green park red doors
There is nothing else than now. There is neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there any tomorrow. How old must you be before you know that?
— Ernest Hemingway (For Whom the Bell Tolls,1940)
cocooned in green light
I am nowhere but right here
dappled by these trees
Central Park right now is green, green, green.
Jade at dVerse asked us to choose one of the Hemingway quotes she provided and write a poem in response. I shortened the quote for my short response.
And because it’s Thursday, I’m including some firehouse doors from new and old neighborhoods. Firefighters are very much aware of the nowness of life.
Although I think you could make the case for doors in the Central Park photos as well…
Your can add your own doors and see many others at Thursday Doors.
The Kick-About #30 ‘Fundus Photography’
Exploring the inner eye…
The Kick-About No. 29 was inspired by Murakami’s description of the all-seeing moon, and this, our latest creative shindig together, has been prompted by an image of the human eye no less planetary…
Gary Thorne
“In eyeing things up, this KA drew my attention to the bees snuggling into, and reversing out of the foxgloves so, being nosey I had a peak, and discovered a tunnel of pure exotic joy with bright saturated light (optic disc) at the end of the tunnel. Taking a closer look meant later on recalling sensations, avoiding loyalty to the order of nature’s design, to arrive at – maybe the same for the bee (how presumptuous) – memory of that which came to me as a rush.” Oil on prepared paper 25cm x 25cm.
James Randall
“Dear Charly Skilling – thank you for your beautiful moon submission – enormous hugs to you and your beloved…
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Weekend Work 6/20/2021
I started a few paintings after a bit of a lack of inspiration/energy. This one started out a bit differently. Here was the original painting:
It seemed very flat although had some good painting in it. I cut it up and worked on it more. The final piece was a lot more interesting.
I do edit these and make the colors brighter. I’m not the best photographer and shoot them on my iPhone on the kitchen wall. They look different in person. I have a nice collection of these paintings on black paper.
Hope everyone has a good week! Nina
Another Visit (Thursday Doors)
I went back to the turret house I photographed a few weeks ago to try to get a better photo of both the building and the entrance door. Above is the door.
And here’s a view of the entire house, taken from the park across the street on Riverside Drive.
This was my original photo.
I’m also posting some (to me) magical flowers I keep seeing on my walks in Riverside Park. I tried to figure out what they were online with no luck. Does anyone know?
I know exactly where they are–at 106 Street–because there is the statue of Franz Sigel across the street at the top of the steps. My longest residence anywhere in my life was up those steps, down 106 Street one block, and in the middle of the block to the left on West End Avenue. But I’ve never seen these flowers before.
I hope they continue to plant them every year!
It’s Thursday, so I’m linking to Thursday Doors.
The Kick-About #29 ‘The Moon Did Not Answer’
Luminous visions of the moon.
Our last Kick-About together was inspired by the lunar-like landscape of Dungeness beach and Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage. This week’s creative run-around-between-friends is inspired by the actual moon, or rather by Haruki Murakami’s evocative description of its silent, watchful orbit…
Vanessa Clegg
“I won’t over explain this, so it is what it is: the human need to control the natural world, and the eye in the sky bearing witness. (Moths were already dead)”. Moon and pinned moths. 2’ X 2’. Graphite, oil paint and pinned Moths on Gesso.
Tom Beg
“It is usually thought of that our humble moon is essentially a big dead rock in floating in space, but I have always liked how Murakami imbues the objects and places in the lives of his characters with surrealistic life or uses them to communicate something from other strange and unseen worlds. Perhaps in our world, the moon might…
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Draw a Bird. 6/8/2021
Kerfe reminded me that it’s Draw a Bird Day. It’s always fun to draw a bird. I put this one on a background of something I’d started. Happy Draw a Bird Day! Nina
Atlantic Puffins (Draw a Bird Day)
Atlantic Puffins are seabirds that breed in large colonies on cliffs or offshore islands along the North Atlantic coast of both Europe and America. When not breeding, they spend most of their time on the ocean.
Each time I look for information about the birds I draw, I find declining numbers, even if they are not yet endangered. Habitat destruction. Declining food sources. Overhunting.
Puffins are no exception. How to reverse these trends?
Crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end. No magic formula to suddenly turn things around.
It’s a process. No moment exists when the fragility and interdependence of ecosystems reaches perfect balance, when humans can relax and ignore the repercussions of our behavior. We must remain always aware, always learning, always willing to make necessary changes to insure continuity. To keep the circle connected and alive.
I challenged myself to see if I could take Merril’s quote from Jo Harjo and do a prosery for dVerse. It actually fit the theme of Draw a Bird Day quite well.
“Crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end.”
Here’s some information about Atlantic Puffins:
–Their wings become flippers underwater. They are excellent divers and can reach depths of 200 feet.
–The hinges on their beak allow them to carry several fish at once.
–They have been observed using sticks as tools.
–Their nicknames are sea parrot or clown of the sea. Puffin chicks are called pufflings.
–Puffin colonies are referred to as a burrow, a circus, or an improbability.
–Puffins mate for life and often return to the same nest or burrow. They lay a single egg which both parents brood for several months.
–They spend the winter on the open ocean, rarely returning to land.
Some Bugs
I noticed some evil looking bugs this weekend outside. They looked like this:
We looked them up and it seemed they might be ladybugs. That would be good as I have a wooly aphid problem on my copper beech tree. Ladybugs eat aphids.
Today we saw some that had morphed into this:
That doesn’t look like a ladybug to me. My daughter said give it a chance. This is not a good looking big to my mind. Fascinating transformation, though.
I haven’t been painting for a few weeks.
I do hope my inspiration comes back soon.
method two madness 
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