Blog Award
Karin at Beyond Words recently received an I Love Your Blog award, and, as with most awards of this type, passed it along to seven bloggers she wanted to 'tag.' I cracked up when I read her comment about the look of the graphic not quite blending with her style; it doesn't, to say the least. She also expressed gratitude because of the meaning behind it; there are rewards in looking a bit differently at something we might otherwise overlook.
I was one of the lucky recipients tagged by her and I say lucky especially because she is such an amazing artist. When I look at her journal pages I feel the tug of raw emotion that runs like a current beneath the part of me that is currently making art. That's not to say that my work isn't genuine, or a reflection of my style. Just that I'm only skimming the surface, a rock skipping across the river before slowly drifting toward the darker, bottom where the real stuff accumulates. But, that we don't see, unless we're wearing oxygen tanks and masks. There's another layer, maybe dozens more, waiting to be plumbed; give me time, I tell myself and I will go there, the rich silty years buried where time has been frozen like leaves pressed against rock with enough force to imprint a fossil, a permanent memory.
Speaking of the need to look back, I also love what Lucy is doing with her new series, on Sweet Repeats. Her fabulous paintings, which she refers to as whimsical villages, are lovely, inviting, curious remembrances of her early life, a time when life, she says was carefree. The memories she is conjuring by exploring the genesis of her life will likely fuel creative periods saturated with mystery and meaning.
My friend and pastor, Woody Berry, said during a sermon, that it's necessary to know where we came from before we can know who we are, where we are going. One of his truths, it also has stayed with me. I believe we all share the need to dig down, recover, unearth, remember, savor, hold out our hands and say, "See?" The stories we have to tell, whether in paintings, beautiful narrative, like those created by my best friend Karen at Biographia, or in scrap books, photo albums, collage, paintings and assemblage, are the kind of treasures that join us, as we journey forward, in search of deeper truths.
I would like to honor blogs that inspire and inform, make me laugh or cry or want to find the courage to keep digging. I'll post them as soon as the list is whittled appropriately.
Comments
As always, your words and images are inspiring and provocative. Yes, we are all seeking the deeper truths in this world, and it is so nice to have a touchstone such as Altered Attic.
Love,
Karen
thank you so much for your beautiful words. I feel blessed at least twice over!! And grateful I am for not overlooking the less than appealing aesthetic of the award, to what it could potentially create - a link to a thoughtful, creative, and generous woman like yourself.
gratefully,
Karin
Thank you for your kind words!
This post in particular and the words your pastor spoke are truly inspiring.
I'm now off to check out the links you provided!
Congratulations on the blog award!
Susan
So glad I visited today ~ your words have uplifted me again. I came by to thank you. Thank you for missing me and writing me to tell me so. It was just the wake up I needed so bless you friend and thanks for blessing me today. Much Love,
Katie
Susannah