“Art arises when the secret vision of the artist and the manifestation of nature agree to find new shapes.”
– Kahlil Gibran
Earlier this week, when I began posting more than merely poetry, I received a wonderful comment from an artist who found me completely by accident. Her name is Whitney Peckman and she stumbled upon my blog as both of our blog titles include “pondering”… talk about happy accidents – Ms. Peckman is an amazing artist. She is inspired by nature, which is immensely clear through her work. I rarely enjoy a traditional landscape, seascape, gardenscape, etc… however, Ms. Peckman is not traditional in the sense of utter realism. Her perception of nature is wondrous, imagined and beautiful. My favorite piece from her website, which was extremely difficult to decide, is Grasses – III seen on her website here: Whitney Peckman – Painter. I tend to gravitate to the abstract, and she delivers eloquently. This is not to say that I do not adore many of her paintings… as I stated previously, it was a difficult choice to pick merely one favorite. Peruse her website and check out her blog Art Ponderings Today, well worth the read.
“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be.” – Abraham Maslow
With all this artsy chatter of late, I have realized that I have yet to post any of my own paintings. Granted, art takes many forms indeed, and my poetry is certainly on display. But, I realize that not everyone appreciates or enjoys every art form. Therefore, I would like to share more of my arty endeavors with you. However, tis a bit of a quandary as many of my paintings lie in wait for me in jolly ol’ England and are not available for me to snap a photo or three… alas, it will have to wait until I am with them again. As new creations arise, I will post my own works for your viewing pleasure (or not). I do have a couple to share, the first being the image header to my blog which is an excerpt of a fancy doodle of charcoal and willow I created last month. Here is the full drawing:
And this is a photo of the very first painting I created after I began wielding a brush and palette knives:
Art in its’ varied forms will be a constant within my blog as it is a constant within myself. It is as necessary for me to create with words, ink, charcoal, yarn, and anything I can get my hands on, as it is to breathe. Art is my therapy, my church and my lover and without it, I would simply cease existing. It is true, we artists are known for being a bit dramatic… but what is perceived as drama to one, is merely truth to an artist. I do not believe I could convey this point better than Pablo Picasso when he said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” – Now, I feel cleansed.
Pondering Upwards from Weirdness & Other Places 
I am fascinated to learn that you are an artist. Art is very big in my life as well–but I am merely a museum junkie and a collector.
I look forward to seeing your work here!
Thanks Kay! I look forward to sharing more. My artistic musings ebb and flow, usually with what I can afford to create something from : )
Thx, Samantha, for the complements on my work. That road from representational to the essence or abstraction of the representational is a struggle for me. There comes that delicate point at which I can see to stop, but can’t stop my hand. I see this as not so much the struggle to reach the essence of the painting of course, but rather to reach into the essence of my being – peeling away the onion. So much of my life past, such a big onion! I look forward to seeing more of your work of all kinds.
You’re most welcome, Whitney, I was quite pleased to share your work in my blog. I know this onion of which you speak and share the often daunting and emotionally challenging need to dig through the layers as well… so hard some times not to cry from that onion, eh? : )