Skip to main content

Fast Forward


I have been in fast forward.  I thought when I wrote the previous post about preparing for Imbolc that Imbolc was today, instead of next week.  I had projected forward in time and actually believed the beginning of this week was January 30th.  Then, I woke up this morning sure it was Friday.  What on earth is going on?  My internal clock is usually so accurate that I don’t need to set an alarm.  I guess I just got really excited that a new Sabbat was coming up. Yesterday was a day of positive messages.  I received a great deal of positive feedback about my teaching and my classes from a variety of sources. When something like that happens, not only do I feel great but I take it is a spiritual message. I know messages are sent to us all the time from the realm of the spirit.  It is up to us to interpret them but first we have to slow down long enough to receive these messages. I have been moving fast and in fact I have been projecting myself into the future.  Yesterday was a reminder to slow down, be highly observant and to listen to all that the spirit realm puts in front of me. One of the messages about this that I heard yesterday came through the radio.  An economist was talking about how we need to live in tuned with today.  He said economically we’ve been borrowing from yesterday and tomorrow rather than living within the circumstances of today.  As I listened I was painting.  In the studio I am working the mandala again.  I started two new ones.  They are not ready for showing thus I am not posting an image just yet.  One was created with gouache and it is a disaster.  I will draw over it and re-paint it.  The other is being done in acrylics and I am pleased with it so far.  I drew it primarily using the compass, ruler and the French curve.  I love my French curves. I am using a small and large one.  I am experimenting with all the possibilities they have to offer and there are many. The ruler and compass serve as positioning tools, to center the images derived from the French curve.  Not surprisingly, the image I am working is a continuation of themes I have been working for years.  The mandala is about the magickal energy emanating from plants.  For soul food and inspiration as I work, I have revisited by heart series.  Not quite Valentine’s in spirit, I wanted to see if I could make landscapes out of the single repeated motif of the stylized heart shape. These took many hours to create from colored pencils.  With Valentine’s Day coming up soon it is fun to look at the playful shapes and forms that can be suggested by hearts. 
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 26, 2012 at 7:30 AM

    Thanks for stopping by my blog! I love this stylized hearts piece. It reminded me that I used to do a similar practice with repeated and overlapping circles (there I go with the circles again). Mine was never this pretty though--I can see the hours of colored pencil work in yours. Very nice :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stephanie BirdJanuary 26, 2012 at 8:41 AM

    Yes, I had fun with the hearts and I can imagine the circles you used would lead to a lot of inspiration. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Go ahead. Make my day by leaving a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Gran Bwa

Gran Bwa is a lwa that helps you connect to ancestral roots or the spiritual home of Vodou. A friend of mine, who is an expert on Haitian Vodou, who has spent a lot of time in Haiti with the artists there, told me I had painted Gran Bwa when I made this spontaneous work out of walnut ink and sumi-ink on handmade paper. I had considered this painting a self-portrait. She now holds this piece in her private collection: Quite a few people are afraid of Vodou but it is an awe-inspiring tradition of bringing together plant energy with divinity, spiritual and personal energy. My friend who is very involved with Vodou, especially the art that surrounds it, is from European ancestry. She is light in spirit and bubbly, with a close relationship to nature and her garden.  Vodou affirms the relationships between cycles of life, trees of knowledge and spirit.  The Vodou vision of lwa , understands them as the intelligence of energy present in humans, nature and thoughts.  Mysteries ca
5 comments
Read more

Xochitl--Flower

                                     (Winter Poinsettia by Stephanie Rose Bird, oil on wood) One of my Facebook friends does daily posts and shares called "I love Flowers." I love flowers too, in real life, in my garden, in paintings and as they are related to the gods and goddesses, in healing, as well as their use in folklore like Hoodoo. Not long ago I posted about Xochipelli (Sho-CHEE-pee-lee) prince of flowers and Xochiquetzal (Sho-CHEE-ket-zul) goddess of flowers in anticipation of April's blooming season.  The Goddess and Prince of Flowers post  is here. Today, I want to focus in on the root word of their names and it's symbolism. This word is Xochitl (Show-CHEE-tul) in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs. This word means flower.                                            ( Frida Kahlo "Self Portrait Dedicated to Dr. Eloesser) In many different belief systems there are nature gods and goddesses connected with flowers. Flowers possess symbolism,
20 comments
Read more

Follow Fest Interview and Sharing

When I first became a blogger it was difficult to know if I had readers and visitors coming to my blog. I’d post and be met by the sounds of crickets. Then, I branched out into the world of the blogosphere, a world I  didn't  know really existed. From my ventures, I met a lot of interesting bloggers.  I've  started following and commenting on numerous blogs, for you see, prior to my outings, I too was out among the crickets. Lurking about but seldom saying anything. A fellow blogger  I've  met through my journeys around the blogosphere is Melissa Maygrove . She had the brilliant idea to have a Follow Fest , where we share about who we are, what we do and most importantly, how you can connect with us further. It is my intention through joining Follow Fest, that I’ll connect with many more readers and people interested enough in what I do to want to learn more by following. So, here goes my entry for the fest. Name:   Stephanie Rose Bird Fiction or
40 comments
Read more