JUST ME :: and a stack of blank pages

:: Living creatively ::

About me

This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realise it is play. The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That’s all there ever is. I’m here to tell you that the path to peace is right there, when you want to get away. When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it. If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. That is very serious!

Monday, November 8, 2010

The Simple Beauty

Unfurl your cloak of silken white
Reveal your secret wand upraised at length
And not unlike a star you shine serene
To exalt the autumn-tide with silver cups.
Shall we drink sweet nectar as we praise
The simple beauty revealed now in truth?
Or shall we simply sit and idly gaze
Into the eyes of love I have for you?
Calla lily soft and silken white
With open heart I pledge my love this night.
- Author unknown

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!



Arum lilies done one the back of a sheet of Photo printing paper, using coffee (Nescafé Instant, very strong, very black!) - for the back-ground. This paper is actually very thin, and ever so slightly glossy, so it was a completely different feel painting on this in stead of my normal heavy-weight watercolour paper I'm used to. It's also not conducive to allowing the paint, or coffee, to freely flow and mix. I also gave the back-ground a slight salt treatment, which then promptly refused to budge once the painting was dry! I had to scrub it off with a nail brush! I used fine table salt, maybe that could be the reason... But it has somehow imparted a raw quality to the painting.

Zantedeschia is native to southern Africa from South Africa north to Malawi. The Zantedeschia species are poisonous due to the presence of calcium oxalate. *All parts of the plant are toxic,* and produce irritation and swelling of the mouth and throat, acute vomiting and diarrhoea.

Did you know that the striking arum lily "flower" is actually many tiny flowers arranged in a complex spiral pattern on the central column (spadix)? The tiny flowers are arranged in male and female zones on the spadix. The top 7 cm are male flowers and the lower 1.8 cm are female. If you look through a hand-lens you may see the stringy pollen emerging from the male flowers which consist largely of anthers. The female flowers have an ovary with a short stalk above it, which is the style (where the pollen is received). The spadix is surrounded by the white or coloured spathe. According to Marloth, the whiteness of the spathe is not caused by pigmentation, but is an optical effect produced by numerous airspaces beneath the epidermis.


To buy a Greeting card or other fine art print of this image, go to My Redbubble

4 comments:

  1. Had a great time catching up here Maree! Wonderful coffee work - I never drink the stuff and now you've given a reason for keeping it in the house!

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  2. Ah, great that you like it Liz! And hubby's been wondering where all the coffee is disappearing to! Thanks for popping in!

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  3. Lovely! Now I have to try my instant espresso in the cupboard!

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  4. You'll enjoy that Kris! and it imparts a different look to using brown in a painting, which can very easily turn muddy. Pleased you like it and thanks for popping in!

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