Thursday, February 10, 2011

Art Therapy

I have files on my computer, heavy with pigment. Folders full of photographs, paintings, illustrations and digital renderings. I seek them out, almost compulsively and then I collect them, hoard them, stash them away. I use them as my desktop wallpaper and sigh each time I close a window. When I feel low, or when I just want to see something nice I pore over the images and find a balm for the ugliness that can, at times, threaten to overwhelm.



The above two photos are by Tim of that's just it photo
Concept artwork for the film Coraline, by Chris Turnham

Flight 3 Cover, by Kazu Kibuishi
 
Santa Monica Pier by Alice Stevenson

Portrait with Black Bunny, Leaving the Orphanage and Three Springtime Gals by Emily Martin (aka The Black Apple)
Full Body Tattoo, In the Gallery and Birthday by Jen Wang


Oyster Catcher, Bear Mountain (detail) and Anarctic Waters by Diana Sudyka


Tangled, Knee Deep, Shark Bite and (I think this is the name) Molt by Stasia Burrington
I'm so taken with Stasia's work that I actually own all of these images in some form or another in real life, not just in files on my computer (her shop is full of beautiful things). I am checking my mailbox this week, for Molt as a pendant. That's actually not the finished piece; the completed version can be seen here, and it is breath-taking, but I really love this stage of the drawing for some reason. I even kind of like the fact that it's not finished. 

4 comments:

  1. I am always so impressed with graphic arts of any form. It's a side of myself I've not much looked into but the more I think about it, the more I think I should.

    Yikes. I think you just sparked something!

    Pearl

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  2. Hi Pearl - if I did spark something I'm so glad! We all need a little spark now and then. I've always thought of visual arts as one of my Paths Not Taken, sometimes with regret. I have a few of those though... like Zoology and Midwifery (although that was more a path taken and then left behind).

    I hope you do pick up a pencil or brush soon! : )

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  3. Wow..those are so amazing especially the top few:) Thank you so much for your amazing comment about meditation:) Great tips that I will try for sure:) Kisses and wish you a great Sunday

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  4. Hi Diana, thanks : ) Maybe we should try meditating on an image we like. I think that could be a good way to quiet the old monkey brain.

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