REMEMBER - A POEM

REMEMBER

 by Joy Harjo (1951)


Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star’s stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother’s, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.


Recipient of the 2015 Wallace Stevens Award, 
Joy Harjo is a professor of English and American Indian studies 
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

CALM WATER

Mostly Daniel Smith Lunar Black with touches of Perylene Green and some Goethite Brown Ochre.





A nice small (11 x 15 inches) painting on Fabriano Artistico 140# coldpress paper.





Wishing you safe travels, happy times with family, and help with the dishes this Thanksgiving (for those in the U.S.).  Wishing all those not in the U.S. the same, just without the turkey, cranberries and pumpkin pie!

SPOTLIGHT ON BEAUTY - STEP TWO

I did crop a bit more off the bottom.  Almost done.

All I need to finish is add the colors in the white oval.  

SPOTLIGHT ON BEAUTY - STEP ONE

Daniel Smith walnut ink on the figure outlined and then wet the edges to bleed it inward.  Watercolor on everything else.  Another flower in that right-hand oval to paint and then - what color to put into the ovals?


I think I'm feeling the need to take some time off.  I will probably still be painting but not feeling any need to show it online in the blog for a while.



I hope you all have a good holiday season.  Take care of yourselves and each other.  (I will show the next stage of this one and the finish and then time away for the holiday season.)

GLAD PAINTING AS IT STANDS

Pushed back the female figure, darkened background, hmmm...



Time to sit it on the pile and see what I think in a few days or weeks.

GLAD PAINTING - MORE, PLEASE

Worked on this more, making changes, moving things, keeping the original thought.  






And so it goes...

Don't think it will remain this way.


This is just experimenting, playing, moving things around, working with composition, value, color, to see where it goes.  You can do it - to some extent - with watercolor.



What's next?  Come back and see!

ELEVEN YEARS AGO

I put up my first post back in November 2006, eleven years ago!  Although late fall and early winter always puts me in a slight funk, I am going to continue with this blog, as it's the only way I get my work shown to anyone but me and the walls of my little art room.

So look for more stuff coming soon.  And happy anniversary to me!  Go back and take a look at what I was posting eleven years ago (if you have the time and interest).

GLAD PLANNING

A sketch of another painting to begin.  I intend to wait until I'm in the mood to paint without drawing and take it slow and carefully, trying to get things right on the watercolor paper.  

As usual, the sketch may not be completely reiterated into the painting, as I make changes while going along.  

And here is the first step.  I slowly painted the gadiolis (gladiolus?) and am pleased with that.  I taped the sketch of the woman on the right and she may stay...she may not.  

ROSE OF ULTRAMARINE - CLOSE

Almost there...


Rose of Ultramarine

Full Sheet (22 x 30 inches) 
Arches 300# coldpress paper
Daniel Smith watercolors + graphite pencil

FYI - ARTIST MAGAZINES ENDING?

If you subscribe to Acrylic Artist or Watercolor Artist, read on.  If not, just ignore this.


I just found out that the Acrylic Artist magazine is over.  The very last issue was Fall 2017, which should be in your homes if you subscribed.

This makes me sad, as I learned from the magazine and enjoyed the issues.  I have one more magazine in my subscription left and will get one issue of The Artists Magazine to finish out my subscription.  

When I contacted Acrylic Artist with questions about this and got their reply, I was told to call the magazine renewal center on the postcard I received because "you signed up through a third party source".  I did not sign up through a third party source but, I bet, they sold my subscription to a third party source.  Anyway, called and the very nice gentleman said, yes, it was finished, no more magazines or digital from Acrylic Artist.  
He also said Watercolor Artist magazine was ending, too!!!  What???  I have that subscription until December 2018 and I don't want The Artists Magazine to replace that - it's not even remotely the same thing.  

I guess people no longer want magazines.  But these magazines are not just going digital, they are going belly-up.  

I will miss them both.  

If you subscribe to either (or both), you may want to check your subscription information and find out if you are getting a refund or issues of The Artists Magazine to replace them.  I'm going to be asking for a refund for Watercolor Magazine.