The Valley of the Shadow of Death

Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy Rod and thy Staff shall comfort me.  Give me the grace to go gracefully toward the unknown.

Scribble Domain - something old, something new

I think it started with this  or maybe even this . . . . long afternoons in bed with a fine liner and pad of paper,  scribbling and doodling away. Kind of frees the mind. I've been wanting to get back to something cleaner, less fussy, more abstract. Like  sorbet after a lot of rich food.

So scribbling on paper led me to start scribbling in Photoshop with the mouse. I love that slightly wobbly line and it's a fascinating and truly rewarding experience, trying to get exactly the right arrangement of lines and space. That is what all art is of course but this seems to resonate more deeply with me than anything more representional. 

I wonder what happens when you take that scribble and do this . . . . .

Aha, you get one of those . . . . how interesting . . . ..

Hmmm, and now lets try this . . . . .  I was very pleased with the results. In fact I was so pleased with the results that I put them altogether in an Etsy shop and called it Scribble Domain. I have already sold a print to a lady called Lisa who lives in the States and who very kindly sent me a photo of it in her living room. Tres chic, don't you think?

That was a few weeks ago but I've been playing around with some new shapes and ideas and I seemed to be getting a kind of a Mid Century / Modernist vibe coming through. Oh deep joy!!!

For these two I used  oil pastel to do a shape which I then turned into a Photoshop stamp. Much cleaning of the scanner plate needed after that! I know, I know, I should have used a fixative and waited, blah, blah, blah, but I don't really do waiting. Maybe next time eh? So there we are, Scribble Domain, a new playground for me to try stuff out in. I will be trying out card and notebook designs at some point . . . .  I do, in fact,  have one notebook already listed and tons of ideas buzzing round my head. 

The Goneness of Gone

My father died a few weeks ago and I have been thinking ever since about the nature of goneness.  Death is at once both very real and totally unreal. Even if you have faith, even if you believe they go to a better place it's still a pretty difficult thing to get your head around.
Somebody is there and then they're not, it's a simple as that. But it's not. Because they go on living inside you.  The impact somebody has on your life becomes part of the very fabric of your being so they go on living despite not physically being there. 

Great thinkers and poets and writers down through the centuries have pondered the strangeness of this . . . .  I doubt if I'll come up with anything new, it's just my turn to think about, is all.

Strange Characters Indeed

Hmmm . . . strange things happen when you leave them to gestate on their own . . . . .

A couple of very odd characters . . . . not sure what I'll do with them . . .  I could list them as prints but would you want one of these on your wall? I wouldn't! Maybe small prints then.

This one is less disturbing than the others two . . . . more peaceful, more ethereal.

I'm out of just one or two inks again and must wait on the postman. At least with e-bay you know they will arrive pretty quickly. Still, just a teensy, weensy bit impatient . . .