Never Ever

Lisbeth has bounced back once again, amazing woman/child.I took a video of Lisbeth dancing in my studio yesterday. After she left, I viewed it, and as I watched it this song happened to be playing on my CD player. It seemed to fit perfectly, so I went home and made it the soundtrack. I had no idea what the words meant, or at least I thought I didn't know. I did take a few years of French when I was in Jr. High and High School. Maybe it stayed with me more than I realize, because after I made this video I looked up the translation to the song...




Am I ever fragile? Do I really have a choice?
Do I ever gently grumble, maybe? Was I thinking of death?
To eventually stop... being so strong
Can I even cry?
No never, never ever
Look, am I trembling?
No never, I'd rather die
Than let life kill me
No never, ever, never ever...


Julien Bense

Working Spirit

Sunrise in my backyard in Woolwich, January 24th, 2011. My Mom died at 4am.

I packed my bags and headed to RI. It was bitter cold and the sky was very blue. I felt glad that my Mom had passed on such a day. It seemed the perfect sort of day for spirits. When I shared this thought with my daughter Kaitlyn on the phone earlier, she agreed, and remarked that on a such a day the veil between this world and the next is very thin...

Wisps of angels travelling alongside of me...

A woman papoose bird angel...

I saw my mother...

The next morning, this little bird showed up at my brother Ken and sister-in-law Bernice's house outside the kitchen window - they said that it was the first time they'd seen her at the feeder. It was a Caroline Wren, my sister Debby's favorite bird. I said, "I believe that's Mom..."

My sister Sue took pictures of her, too...

The night before, I'd pulled this book off the shelf in the guest room to read before sleep. It looked comforting, and I was glad that it was written by an Edna, my mother's name. I showed it to my sisters and brothers, and we decided to name our little visitor after the author.

Edna Brown.

Edna's Six. (photo by Bernice Simmons)

Black Magic

Aqua Siren

I drew with my students while Ahna Reichman posed for my Mixed Media Portraiture class this morning. She said that her red wig was part of a full mermaid costume, but she not have it with her, so decided in its place, to wear this dress. After yesterday's post, how could I resist drawing this aquabelle with her blue mussel shell bedecked wig??

(photo sent to me from Ahna's phone - a little blurry, but you get the gist...)

The colors in my drawing echo the colors in this fabric and these mandala magnets that are sitting on my sewing table right now... funny how colors can pop up and follow us around...

The painting behind Ahna was against the wall and we decided to put it on the stage as a backdrop becuase it echoed the colors in her wig and outfit. It belongs to a talented MECA student (I know not who...if any of my readers can solve this mystery, I'd be obliged!). Ahna remarked that she was in a friend's studio the night before admiring a painting of hers with the same color scheme...

Funny, too, how a mermaid can follow one around. There was one at the top of yesterday's post, and she swam into my class today....sans beard...

Cut the Deck

Last night I shuffled my Golden Tarot deck and pulled cards to see who I am in this new collaboration with my daughter, Lisbeth, and who she is. The tarot never ceases to amaze me with its story telling power. In my reading, Lisbeth turned out to be the card pictured here, the Two of Swords. I like to look at the tarot card and first interpret what I see, before shuffling through books of traditional meanings. And when I look at this card, the first thing I see is those crossed swords. SCISSORS! And the figure is a bit slumped, and sad. She has a halo, so she seems to be a sort of martyr figure. She is outdoors by the sea, alone, and it is night. But the ground beneath her feet is glowing gold, and there is a moon in the dark sky. There is light!

Off the top of my head I do know that the Two of Swords can be about working with intuition (in the Rider Waite deck, the figure in the Two of Swords is blindfolded, and I read it as giving a feel the Force, Luke! message...). This is befitting for Lisbeth, considering what she is able to do despite her "blindfold;" her disabilities. I did then take a peek at the little book that comes with the Golden Tarot, and one line that popped out at me in the description of the Two of Swords, was this: You have the ability to make the best of a bad situation.
As Lis would say, Mmmmmm Hmmmmm. Mmmmmm Hmmmmm. True...

And this is the card that came up to represent me in this endeavor with Lisbeth. The Queen of Wands. Again, I first interpreted the card by myself. A queen - a mother figure...and then the RED - heart, passion, fire, blood, hell. These all describe my love for my daughter, and yes, this includes the hell that she and I have been through together. (I have written here about the heartbreak and pain of having a child with chronic illness, and some of the art that I created to deal with this pain...). I also saw the crossed hands echoing the crossed hands and swords in Lisbeth's card. Like daughter, like mother. And the bits that stand out in the Golden Tarot description about this Queen: She is flanked by red angels glowing in the darkness. Passionate and creative. Mmmmmm Hmmmmm. True.

After the tarot reading I went on-line and googled paper cutting. WOW! What a world of gorgeous art is out there! This dress looks like it could be worn by the Queen of Wands...

And so does this skirt!!!

And then I found this artist. Wow, wow, wow. Her work is enchanting. Scroll down and see for yourself...

!!!!!!

AMAZING!!!

(One of Lisbeth's perseverative phrases is, Oooooooooh, little monkey, monkey! :*)
Have a great weekend, folks!