Nature Meditations

At last the grey melancholic days of winter are over. This morning on my way to the pond, I noticed the magnolia tree once again in bloom giving unconditionally and igniting an inner smile.  

Inspired by nature's beauty, I painted a scene using the chalk dust that I had collected when sharpening the pastel pencil, for the initial tonal values.  I used a soft watercolor brush to apply very small amounts and then used the pencil to add sharper lines for precision.  Lastly, I added a bit of white for the lightest values.

Happy Spring!

 

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

-Kierkegaard

Light and Shade

 

"We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us."

-Marcel Proust

Value Sketch

The Abduction of Psyche (1895)

The Monk

Prismacolor Pencil on Toned Paper

"I wait with silent passion

for one gesture

one glance

from you."

-Rumi

Another Day

"I need solitude for my writing; not 'like a hermit' - that wouldn't be enough - but like a dead man."

-Franz Kafka

Daydream

Tasked with dreaming a new day, I sit at my writing desk on this quiet summer morning.  Steam rising from the black tea dances across the surface before disappearing into the sweet morning air.  I hold the floral teacup between my hands enjoying its warmth and smoky fragrance.  The assortment of pencils with infinite potential huddled together in the jar, seem eager to tell enchanting stories of faraway worlds.  

So begin the summer days; following the golden threads of sunlight through the window, my gaze shifts towards a new sky, the gateway to a world beyond.

"I have found both freedom and safety in my madness; the freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us."

-Khalil Gibran