Emerging, Strange and Lovely

"While I'm writing, I'm far away; and when I come back, I've gone." -Pablo Neruda


>
Emerging, Strange and Lovely
encaustic mixed media
16x12 inches

While I was working on the last painting, I started this one and I knew I wanted it to be white on white-lighter in feeling. It was interesting working on both at the same time. I was thinking of this part of The Ship of Death poem by DH Lawrence:

X

The flood subsides, and the body, like a worn sea-shell
emerges strange and lovely.
And the little ship wings home, faltering and lapsing
on the pink flood,
and the frail soul steps out, into the house again
filling the heart with peace.

Swings the heart renewed with peace
even of oblivion.

I have always loved reading, but with two young children now and an endless to-do list, reading always seems to get put on the backburner. If a book doesn't grab me, even if it's a good book, I will end up falling asleep after reading 2 pages. Seriously. It's so pathetic! But I feel like I need to make time for it- it feeds me. And I am finding that when I do make time to read, I bring it with me to my studio.

As a kid, the youngest of four, in an often loud and chaotic household, reading was my escape. I fall in love with places and characters. My 6 year old son recently asked me why I love books so much, as evidenced by all the books all over our house. And it was hard for me to answer. Just like why do I love to paint? Why do I like to feel clay in my hands? Push cloth through the feeder on the sewing machine? Chop onions and stir the pot? It's hard to answer without simply saying that it feeds my spirit as well as feeds my imagination. While the writer is the original creator of what I'm reading, as the reader I am also co-creator...Just as the people who stand in front of my paintings, or hold my artist books in their hands, become my co-creators as well. It's a beautiful partnership.