The Whistler

By Mary Oliver

All of a sudden she began to whistle By all of a sudden I mean that for more than thirty years she had not whistled. It was thrilling. At first I wondered, who was in the house, what stranger? I was upstairs reading, and she was downstairs. As from the throat of a wild and cheerful bird, not caught but visiting, the sounds warbled and slid and doubled back and larked and soared.

Finally I said, Is that you whistling? Yes, she said, I used to whistle, a long time ago. Now I see I can still whistle. And cadence after cadence she strolled through the house, whistling.

I know her so well, I think, I thought. Elbow and ankle. Mood and desire. Anguish and frolic. Anger too. And the devotions. And for all that, do we even begin to know each other? Who is this I’ve been living with for thirty years?

This clear, dark, lovely whistler?
  And a few  recent lil’faces;) mixed media for most
 

   
 
I felt bored and uninspired with my creativity lately so I decided to paint faces intuitively and quickly. Good exercise to stimulate my practice!

faces

Remember..I’m painting or drawing 100 faces…
I am slowly slowly getting there;)

Here are a few pieces I’ve recently done. I’ve used charcoal and gesso on paper which is a lot of fun for me, a no-fuss way of creating, where things flow easily…









For art entwined workshop, Misty Mawn made us studying several artists by observing, connecting, analysing and then re-creating our own interpretation of their art. This is such an interesting process, so rich but also challenging and profound.

This is about finding deep within myself what is my emotional response in relation to a piece and then trying to translate it with my own interpretation. The following piece was inspired by Oswaldo Guyasamin and by my friends Anne & Jeanne Marie 😉



By the way, a year ago I painted my first face in my first art journal!! Things are evolving;)

have a great week end dear ones💚

Observe

There is no art without observing. No learning either. Observing is an essential key for understanding and improving a skill. I am like a child…I look around (mainly on the net or in books) and find interesting subjects to observe. Then I model, I try, experiment…and go further…as the toddler does, when feeling more secure…

I picked a model from flowrsinherhair’s blog http://www.flowrsinherhair.co.za/ and decided to give it a go. This lovely girl looks nothing like hers, however I’m very happy with the end result!

What I learned through this exercise: Looking behind what I see, further than the lines or the character, to see all the colors that make such perfect blend… but not only! painting the soul is another pair of brush!!!
Beautiful learning!!

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