The world
“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”
– Ernest Hemingway
I cannot see that I am any of those good things especially, but often the world seems like it’s in a big bloody hurry nonetheless.
Beauties which pierce
“Here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron.”
– C.S. Lewis
This quote came to mind tonight. A group I am a part of, called “The Ride”, was listening to a speaker, Ralph Harris, telling us to ask God what He thinks of when He thinks of you. The quote was written by Tolkien’s friend about his book The Lord of the Rings, and I now steal it to describe people.
quoted on goodreads. good stuff.
Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.
- Edgar Degas
A little Whitman…goes a long way.
“You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.”
–from Song of Myself, 1855
Rilke for the day.
“Yet no matter how deeply I go down into myself
my God is dark, and like a webbing made
of a hundred roots, that drink in silence.”
–Rainer Maria Rilke
Someone told me recently that this quote sounds a bit depressing. I thought that odd, but then the word “dark” can mean a lot of things. Who knows what Rilke meant, but I took the word to mean something more along the lines of mysterious or secret, as Isaiah:
“I will go before you and make the rough places smooth;
I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars.
I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden wealth of secret places.”
In Process Painting…
called “Trinity.” Has a ways to go.
Trinity
Two geese and a wounded person lying in a road. I heard someone speak before saying that if a goose is flying with its friends (its gaggle), and is shot or wounded, two other geese will leave the group to stay with the fallen bird. They will care for the wounded animal until it either dies or heals. In this case, the wounded girl (symbolizes the Christ) is cared for by two geese – Father and Spirit.
Kafka for the day…
“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”
–Franz Kafka
A quote.
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”
–Albert Camus
New Pieces
Here are photos of new pieces (click on thumbnail to see whole picture):
Shalott
The story of the Lady of Shalott as a metaphor for a pilgrim journeying to heaven (Camelot = the Holy City.)
Madonna of the Asteroids
Was on a retreat at a monastery when the priest said to us something to the effect of “You Protestants have such a patriarchal faith…not sure what you can do about that…” (vs. Catholicism, which reveres Mary as the Mother of God.) I started thinking about God as Spirit, neither male nor female, and painted a Madonna as a metaphor for He who is without gender.
Ophelia
I stole from poor Shakespeare to show Ophelia’s death, but this painting isn’t really about her. It’s a jumping off point to talk about a good kind of dying (Galatians 2:20) or even more specifically, about a good kind of drowning, in a God-River (see Ezekiel 47, or Flannery O’Connor’s short story The River).
City of Gold
This is old – was begun in 2004 or so, but was just finished. I may add more to it, or just do a different piece more like the original idea I had, and leave this alone. The woman is Jerusalem, which I’m told literally means “Possession of Peace,” and I’m using the actual city as more of a loose picture for a child or children of God.
A quote.
Esse quam videri.