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I can't believe I really did it!!! Also, if I can put a palm tree in it, I will. Thanks, Joanne for the lessons and somehow giving me confidence over the internet!
A religious lesson at the Mosque of Ibn Al-Arabi in Salhieh, Damascus.
Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) is one of the most famous Muslim philosophers. He was born in southern Spain and lived during the golden era of openness and tolerance in Arab-ruled Andalusia. He spent years traveling around the Arab world before finally settling in Damascus, where he completed his greatest book Al-Futuhat Al-Makkiyyah (Meccan Revelations), which is an encyclopedia of Sufism (Islamic mysticism) and Sufi teachings. He was buried in Damascus; and the Mosque, pictured above, was built in his honor by Ottoman Sultan Selim I in 1516.
Throughout his life, Ibn Arabi preached tolerance among all faiths. In one of his most famous poems, he considers his heart "a center of love":
O Marvel! a garden amidst the flames.
My heart has become capable of every form:
It is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
and a temple for idols and the pilgrim's Kaa'ba,
and the tables of the Torah and the book of the Quran.
I follow the religion of Love:
Whatever way Love's camels take,
that's my religion and my faith.
Swimming Lessons (July, 2001)
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Place:Woodinville
Date:2001/06/24 13:23:44
File:DSC00041.JPG
I've nothing left to say.
I've nothing left to think.
I've nothing left to do.
But move on.
(Last picture ever wasted on you.)
Swimming Lessons (July, 2001)
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Place:Woodinville
Date:2001/07/01 13:20:17
File:DSC00095.JPG
Another year older and what do I know.....
Some Lessons....
"Well I'm buckled up inside
It's a miracle that I'm alive
I do not think I can survive
On bread and wine alone
To think that I could have fallen
A centimeter to the left
Would not be here to see the sunset
Or have myself a time
(refrain)
Well why do the hands of time
So easily unwind
Some lessons we learn the hard way
Some lessons don't come easy
That's the price we have to pay
Some lessons we learn the hard way
They don't come right off and right easy
That's why they say some lessons learned we learn the hard way
Remember the sound of the pavement
World turned upside down
City streets unlined and empty
Not a soul around
Life goes away in a flash
Right before your eyes
If I think real hard well I reckon
I've had some real good times
(refrain)
Well why do the hands of time
So easily unwind
Some lessons we learn the hard way
Some lessons don't come easy
That's the price we have to pay
Some lessons we learn the hard way
They don't come right off and right easy
That's why they say some lessons learned we learn the hard way
Well I'm buckled up inside
It's a miracle that I'm alive
I do not think I can survive
On bread and wine alone
To think that I could have fallen
A centimeter to the left
Would not be here to see the sunset
Or have myself a time"
Melody Gardot - I 'found' this singer when watching Jools Holland a year ago - one of the best finds that Jools has ever promoted!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz_Yg8nIdVk
Down the road from me our local river has swollen and is flooding some of the adjoining fields. After a frosty night the rising sun sparkled on the water and ice. It was a feelgood Spring morning.
"The Lesson" is a physical performance based on "Circle Mirror Transformation" by Annie Baker. The event took place at blackbox theater (american college of Greece)
Another important lesson I learned while sketching around the house, that in every painting it has to be a main focal point to grab the eye interest. The bark is the main thing and the the rest is the background (banana leafs tree, foliage, etc you name it). Yay! Eureka...
I've been thinking about the process of learning art. So I thought I'd go back to the very beginning and as a self imposed assignment paint a picture using only horizontal brush strokes. Somewhere I read a theory that people progress through developmental stages. First you have fun making marks on paper. Then you try various types of marks - horizontal, vertical, circular, diagonal. Then comes differentiation of shape - square, circle, triangle. Next is recognition of edge and volume, then size, and finally space and depth. So, by limiting myself to using just horizontal marks I thought I might trigger an early experience.
Additionally, I placed my iPad in a wire book stand so that it stood up by itself almost vertically on the table as if it were a canvas on an easel and I held my homemade stylus straight up and down between thumb and fingers palm facing me with the tip pointing up. Normally I hold my iPad in my lap and I paint with my finger or hold my stylus like a writing instrument.
It worked. The situation was odd enough that I became aware of the process and realized the many choices and decisions that must make it confusing and overwhelming to someone just starting. What brush size do you use? Where do you start and how do you proceed? What colors do you use and how do you pick them? How much paint thinner do you use? What happens when you work one color into another? How do you blend to a different value or another color? When do you stop? There's really a lot going on.
Much of this is tacit knowledge as opposed to explicit knowledge. It's the stuff you don't know you know; likely the stuff you learned early on and is so engrained that it no longer raises to a level of consciousness. It's stuff that's hard wired and when pointed out to you, you say, "Oh yeah, you do THAT, but it's so obvious I didn't think it was worth mentioning".
This must be what makes learning art so challenging and why it can only be done by doing through observation, imitation, and practice. You can't really learn by reading about it or by following a prescribed step-by-step process.
iPad, ArtRage app, homemade stylus.
Today was Liam's last day of swim lessons (for this season, anyway). They put the kids in the canoe and rocked it back and forth, then eventually tipped it over! Liam was panicked at first, but he "swam" to the edge (they all had life jackets on).
This is a detail of my front porch, one of the posts. The porch ceiling color is a bit off and the shadow was supposed to be more blue, but when it went over the yellow ochre it got more chocolaty. I do love my post tho'!
Swimming lessons for the under-fives at an ungodly hour on a Saturday morning. These children do not stay still, but there is something about the identical swimming hats and armbands that makes me want to attempt the impossible and capture the scene. (Also, photographs are not allowed, so drawing is the only option).
Swimming Lessons (July, 2001)
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Place:Woodinville
Date:2001/06/24 13:32:24
File:DSC00046.JPG
Met up with Tim Wood this morning for a sunrise shoot prior to attending a flickrmeet at Margam Park. The sea was wild, but as I'm very familiar with this tiny little bit of coastline I was soon shooting happily away, frame after frame. Then I decided to go for a different spot and climbed down there on those rocks (to the left in this pic). I had the shot of the day lined up when a 10-footer broke about 30ft away from me and rushed over the top of the rocks; grabbing the camera I held it up high and waited for the wave to hit - it did, but thankfully only about 9 inches high by this time but with enough force to smash into the rocks behind me and give me a good soaking. I never did get the shot I was after, I was drenched and decided to call it a day, after all, I had loads of decent shots in my camera didn't I?
On loading onto my computer after the WFC Margam Park meet I was horrified to find all the beach shots were streaky, and then I remembered, I hadn't washed my graduated filter after getting salt splashes on it on Boxing Day! Ah well, never mind, some reasonable shots from Margam to follow!
PS, I've drastically cropped out the streaky parts of this one salvageable photo!
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