Womandala Journey to the Centre: March 2012

Thursday, 1 March 2012

Unravelling

Wow it's been a huge week for me. Haven't had much time for posting. Painting Yes, and I have been trying to figure out how to find a sustainable way to do that. I seem to go into an absolute zone when I paint and am up till the wee hours of the morn, then I crash and need to recover. I was having a chat with my husband about it and we both agreed that during the day I feel I need to attend to my 'responsibilities' and so night time feels like the only time I can paint without distractions around my other roles. He suggested I address that by putting a message on my phone saying I'm painting ( and that I equate that with working) and take my painting more seriously ( mindset rather than attitude). Then I could sleep when I need it . I like this idea and have decided to try it and see how I go. I just posted a new canvas that I finished titled Reaching for the Light. It has been through many phases and layers, bit like me, and then morphed into it's present composition. I kinda love that her bottom looks like another fruit. She was a leaf a few days ago. Change is inevitable and keeps life interesting and juicey - I was suprised and then I thought 'oh well why not!'

I wrote this after being in hospital in Chicago. Keith took me to Fox River and then to an orchard

You come a long way on an aeroplane
You see alot o' things in the slip stream
And when you get to the place your goin'
It's like a dream more than a knowin'

But when you lay back among the flowers on the grass
You see the frogs hoppin' and
the water dancin' past
A little ladybird jitter buggin' to the
rhythm of the crickets tune

Oh, the Fox River is the place to be
After all that concrete in the city
Birds flyin' overhead
Sun shining down on me

All the medicine I need
To bring my spirit back to sanity
A ukulele strummin' a sweet melody
River boats thrummin' in their bellies

It's a good life here for me
Pickin' fresh apples and rasberries
Watchin' the bees swing lazily
Under the leaves of the fruit trees

Oh the Woodstock Orchard is the place to be
After all that concrete in the city
Birds flyin' overhead
Sun shinin' down on me

Oh the sun shinin' down on me
Yeh the sun shinin down on me
The sun shinin' down on me

A song I wrote in Nov 2008

That pinging splash
That tinkling laugh
That shower bath
They're all the same

That rushing creek
That book crit-ic
That hydrant leak
They're all the same

And I can hear it running through
I feel the thread
just weaving through
Can you all hear it running through
The whole of life?

Hear that hammer smash
hear that drummers crash
Hear that rustling cash
They're all the same

Hear that thud of hooves
Hear those party grooves
Hear that singers' blues
They're all the same

Theres just one Universal sound
Expressed and heard so differently
Just like a tapestry in time
I hear it all through everything
Can you just hear it running through
The whole of Life
The whole of Life
Can you just feel it weaving through
the whole of Life

Three sisters Mandala

Last week, I went to sit under a huge Mulberry tree in Subiaco. To my suprise and delight there was a kookaburra sitting on a branch just a little more than an arms length away from me. We sat together for maybe 10 minutes and were then joined by two more kookaburra's. It was one of those special moments in time. Inspired, I painted this mandala originally with a gradation of white through to black, experimenting with light and then decided in the end to add the green leaves of the tree. It is framed in an old plastic clock face which I got at an op shop.