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one of my paintings done with watercolor crayons
celebrating the art of paradox
Posts
delving into the wisdom of absurdity in whimsical way
this blog is about paradox.
through my questions, i hope to encounter the paradox within belief, that place where there is not one answer but many contradictory ones.
each question, each drawing is an invitation to join me in allowing what appears absurd to take us to a wisdom beyond linear thinking.
as long as we question, we are free. free to see, to feel and to express who we are. and to connect collaboratively with one another.
About Me
- anne artist
- i am a painter who began my career as a child coloring outside the lines of my coloring books. i am a writer who started out by composing adventure stories while riding my stick horse around the backyard. as a child, i got in trouble for asking too many questions...i question that.
you can find my cartoons in this online magazine!
http://thoughtsonsale.com/
here is the link to my photography blog about simplicity:
on a clear day she could see forever
one of my paintings done with watercolor crayons
"the emperor's new clothes" by hans christian andersen
this fairy tale has been a companion to me as i have traveled through my life.
briefly, it is about an emperor who was deceived by two tailors who said they were making a set of clothing out of a "dream" fabric. in reality, they used no fabric at all. to make their scam complete, they announced that only those who were wise enough would be able to see the beautiful clothing. and so, no one, not even the emperor, admitted to being unable to see it.
wearing his new "clothing", the emperor paraded through his kingdom. no one questioned his appearance; no one wished to appear less than wise.
until a small child asked, "why is the emperor not wearing any clothes?"
so it is that i ask, if i question rather than believe i am wise, what will i see?
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72 comments:
I really like this one :D
You mean like a snail?
only if a snail had a luminescent shell and did not emit slime.....
I guess certain aspects are more aesthetic than others. :-)
or as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
i admit i am just not slime oriented.....
If you went ahead you will always leave your tales behind.
Lazarus Lupin
http://strangespanner.blogspot.com/
art and review
funny......
yet, would the tales be about who i think i am....if i am moving toward the future, i won't know who i'll be so the only frame of reference might be who i was.
nice!!
There is no past save in narrative
there is only now
but now is gone
now is back
now is gone
how now?
yes, the narrative.......if i go ahead, will it follow me?
is it possible to be completely disengaged from the narrative?
if the narrative is part of me, can it follow me?
yet, can i go ahead of myself?
to play hide and go seek with what no longer exists and has not yet arrived without losing sight of the moment which is past before i recognize it.
how now......exactly.
I believe sometimes we wish to leave parts of us behind in the past and start afresh, or move on, however as i said there always weak connection between what we use to be and what we are now. Therefore aspect of you, or parts of you will follow where you will go, just like the shadow. and when you say aspects what do you mean?
I would be waiting for sunday, and I will have drum rolls indeed..even if you wish not to have them, my wise friend Anne..
Bleeding Healer
i used to do drumming at one point so, i do appreciate the drum...but quiet is a lovely sound, too.
just so you know, there will be two drawings posted on sunday. one in color and one in black and white. i am having fun thinking about it.
ok......bh......here is a question.....can the past be the past if, in the present, i am thinking about it?
if i "go ahead" into the future, can i really go ahead.......? or does my head go on its own? while my feet are tap dancing in the present. or jumping up and down. or simply wiggling their (and my) toes.
ooops.....more than one question is coming forth, i see.
as for "aspects", i was just looking for a neutral word. but i like it, actually. mainly because i don't know what i mean by it.
You use to drum that's so cool,creative with tunes..=]
i would love the color and black and white effect,such a beautiful contrast it would be..
ok......bh......here is a question.....can the past be the past if, in the present, i am thinking about it?
I think past will remain in the past,like memories that stay but are sometimes relived, or remembered in the present...therefore past present and future stays with you..=]
I believes today will become past,and tomorrow that you thought is your future becomes your present, sometimes we physcially walk into the future and sometimes our minds plans the future,dreams about it or creates a scene in the head...
this so beautiful..well i believe you are performing all the dance steps in every time span,thus tap dancing n past,jumping up and down in the present and wriggling your toes in future..do you see the symbolism?
I love the questions so no problems at all..
I find the word fascinating too..=]
Bleeding Healer
bh, "tap dancing n past,jumping up and down in the present and wriggling your toes in future.."
delightful....
since i am invariably going to project myself into the future, i now will consider it to be like wiggling my toes!
i think...after reading the comments, that I would hope nothing follows behind because that would insinuate that I am fragmented and not whole. :)
what would it be like to have no memory of the past?
We are always going ahead whether we like it or not. And, like the snail and it's shell, we cannot rid ourselves of the past. It will follow us wherever we go; it has made us who we are. The question is, are we going to let the weight of our shells hold us back, or will the weight make us stronger in order to forge ahead?
and mwb, does how we regard the shell make a difference?
what would the shell be made of...that question just occurred to me.
what would it be like to have no memory of the past?
If you have no memory of the past,how will you build your nature,learn from the mistakes made,treasure the good that you have learned,since the past has vanished,and thus the foundations of your life has become mere think air,so do you start again,or wait untill those foundations come to surface time and again,piecing your past together...
past is a part of you,you may choose to forget it or involuntarily forget it,but something will trigger that picture album,and the photos will come flowing down your mind..
The shell made up off..interesting..experiences,love,compassion,strength,mistakes,memories,ambition,dedication..isn't the shell your home,and home has all the elements needed to be "whole"..
Bleeding Healer
the shell as home......now that is an interesting direction.
is the past like our house, and each morning we walk outside to pick up the newspaper and then at night, we return home once again to fall asleep and dream....?
that is an interesting way of seeing the past as a home..however I don;t think we live in the past,it is more like the old vase you have on the dinning table, you glance at few times, may be once in a day, go and connect with it sometimes, but not carry it around with you, or return to it daily,it is there as a part of you, but it is mere in the shadows..
i still like to see the past as a picture album..
Bleeding Healer
the shell is evolving into a vase. with a flower in it perhaps that might be past its prime?
do we have photo albums for the future?
that would be lovely..=]
I believe there is a picture album for future too since don't we all "picture" how our future will be, we all have created sketches of the future which turn into photographs that can be collected in the picture album of our mind..
What do you picture your future as?
Bleeding Healer
i don't picture the future....life for me is a continuous stream of surprising events....
although i do have an album for sketches of a few moments that might take place here and there.....
I like attitude towards life.I have posted few of my sketches please check them out and comment.I am an amateur and not brilliant like you.Thanx...
http://bleedinghealer.blogspot.com/2010/09/splashing-paints.html
Bleeding Healer
The shell is made of us and we are made of shell.
If you were to look back to check, would it alter the future?
If you went ahead ....then there is no concern over the aspect ....and aspect of me following is because ..."it" wants to support and confirm of what makes you went ahead ....aspect...is the supporter behind you, even at times it questions you becos aspect wants to remind you of the "whys" and "what" makes you went ahead ...:)
What happens if the future is not all about surprising moments, then do you hang on to your past?
I just came across your blog, and I absolutely love it. So true, so beautiful. <3
I love the pictures too, may I ask where you get them?
But your blog is amazing.
(:
where do i get the images? i draw them.
and, bh, thanks for the kind words but i am not any more brilliant than anyone else. one of the things i enjoy about the blog is the brilliant comments from people around the world.
where do i get the images? i draw them.
and, bh, thanks for the kind words but i am not any more brilliant than anyone else. one of the things i enjoy about the blog is the brilliant comments from people around the world.
bh, i looked at your drawings and noticed that the last one was quite different. i liked that you were exploring various ways of drawing. the important thing to me is to draw and to allow oneself to go beyond labels such as "amateur" or whatever. when i paint, if i think about showing the images, then i go down another path.....and the image suffers. but that is me and not necessarily anyone else.
i am mostly self-taught. during my brief experience in art school, i was told i should not continue as a student since i did not have the same kind of interests as the other students and should paint on my own and show my work to someone who would give me feedback. and that is what i did.
i draw because i like to. it is not always easy. and it takes me in unexpected directions. in a painted piece, i invariably have to remove the very "aspect" of the piece i like the most. the process becomes about the life of the piece, not me, not what i think it should be, nor about anyone else....it is simply about the life of the painting. and that is about less is more as well as pushing the design to the edge without it falling off.
this might be a good moment to apologize to everyone whose blogs i don't read. i rarely read them. i realize i miss out on interesting thoughts and images but as i have said, i go to my "blog bubble" when these posts are created. it is a stream of consciousness process and in order for other people's blogs not to enter in, i just don't read them in the first place.
mwb, i like your comment about the shell. i had lost sight of that.
this morning, i am wondering about the word "follow". the question does not ask what would i bring with me. rather what follows.....yesterday, i believe i went on ahead of my own blog and neglected to realize that the word "follow" was following me.....
s.a., very interesting that the aspect following me could be a source of support as well as a questioner when i lose sight of who i am as a traveler.
freed, if i "were to look back to check, would it alter the future?"
there is the story/myth of the one who looked back, even though told not to, and was turned to stone......that certainly altered his future.
if i am standing in the present and i look back to see if i am free of the past, what impact does that have on the future? what impact does not being present in the present have on the future? if i check, and it is there, then does the future forget its direction?
and wanderer...your question about what if the future is "not all about surprising moments".....
on the occasions when the moments are not surprising, i feel a rhythm emerging, a connection with continuity.
Perhaps this is another example of eternal concentric circles. Like a circle, we move forward, never able to look back, but we know there is always something behind us because we are following ourselves.
Being in the present without a thought of the future would be ideal, but if where you are in the present is because of your past,then what happens to FUTURE?
I just loved how you expressed what art was to you,well I like scribbling because I love sketching.Thank you for the lovely comments.
If you got to see it's because you are unique you have so many followers and that you are special,and it is best to be different and creative.I simply like drawing seeings things,or pictures and recreating it.
Bleeding Healer
Guess....just like mention ....past is the "tail"....If a cat will to chase after it's tail....it will forever travels in circles and circles trying to go after it ....but when it focus on going forward....it's tail will follow it ....same thing as happiness ....when we keep chasing after happiness ...we will only keep going in cycles and cycles ,but if we concentrate on the front ...it follows you(i used happiness is becos i remembered this "tail" example from the aspect of happiness....Wanderer....good question....not all future is the conquences of actions of present and past, so guess we reap what we sow ....and with the reap of the present we sow again for the future .....Can i ask ....if someone who is unable to sow, will he/she reap ??then what will happen to him??What aspects of him/her should be expected ??
mwb,
"we know there is always something behind us because we are following ourselves."
i love this image!
and if it is about the eternal concentric circles, then no wonder i am surprised by whatever happens next.....surprised by the connections, the synchronicty.
wanderer,
does the future ever happen? or is it a myth we invent so that we feel a connection before we walk into it?
bh, before this blog i thought i might be the only one who questioned as i did, considered the world as i did....one of the gifts of this blog is realizing i am not alone....in fact, i am in very good company!
s.a.,
interesting questions.
i wonder if sowing is not inherent, like breathing. we do it even when we are not aware.
and your insight into the tail naturally following.....then i don't have to wonder if i must pull anything with me in order to go forward.......
The past is not just a memory, it is made of things we do and how we relate to others; we may move ahead but the repercussions are bound to follow
so, raji, skills are learned and become a part of our present. although we learned them in the past. an interesting thought on how our past integrates with the present.
sometimes the past gets a bad rap!
"i"?
Are you referring to that little homonculus sitting at the control panel in our brains? Where is the "i" in us? Who we imagine we are is only a narrative we are constantly telling ourselves.
(There are supposedly billions more bacterial cells in our bodies than those with our own genetic makeup. Are they part of "i"? Can we leave them in the past?)
Your shadow is always somewhere, not always behind though.
I don't know if this biblical story is the same fable as the one you mentioned, but it is an interesting one.
Two "good" people are told by god to leave the debauched city (Sodom or Gommorah i think) before it is destroyed. But they must not look back. One does, and is turned into a pillar of salt. Salt was the main preservative once, and looking back signified an unwillingness to change.
ron, thanks for clarifying......who is the "i" and the "me" in the question? the same or not the same?
or, i suppose a bacterial visitor could have taken over my control center and typed in a question none of us will ever understand..........
who am i after all? am i me?
in the beginning of this post, i stated that i would prefer not to be considered to be a snail but now that seems preferable to bacteria. but then maybe i should take a closer look at the situation.....does anyone have a microscope?
ramps, thanks for being more specific about the story. i was attempting not to limit the reference to the story in the bible and yet that just created air of vagueness.
it seems that there are also greek myths that include instances of looking back when one is not supposed to. but then, maybe i am making that up or at least my memory is.
if i left my memory behind, i would go ahead into a brand new world.....one in which i might not recognize my shadow, even if it were right in front of me!
no in greek myth never look back when leaving the underworld. Bad juju bees.
Lazarus Lupin
Arts and review
http://strangespanner.blogspot.com/
If there's a name "Lopez" shouldn't there be a "Hipez?"
Would "boobies" be more festive if renamed "Hooraybies"
If you can be "ruthless" why not "ruthful?" How much ruth do you need?
Does it matter what type of shark you jump? Whale sharks don't bite.
Is it racist to label animals by skin colour? On that subject "White Rhinos" aren't. Why the lie?
definitely did not work out well for orpheus....he lost eurydice by looking back and there is that whole pomegranate seed eating thing involving persephone.
but if i look back, i could be remembering something joyful.....
what then?
Only if that particular aspect wanted to follow :)
In the same way, I can think about the future, and bam! an aspect of Me has just gone into the future, and the other aspects of Me can choose to come along, or they go somewhere else altogether.
brooke,
mobile me's.....
when i have looked for apt's, i look around to "see" or sense (that sounds saner) if the future me in living there and if so, i move in just so i can meet her.
my psych. background shudders at the prior sentence....but for now, i am leaving that aspect behind to figure herself out.......
brooke,
mobile me's.....
when i have looked for apt's, i look around to "see" or sense (that sounds saner) if the future me in living there and if so, i move in just so i can meet her.
my psych. background shudders at the prior sentence....but for now, i am leaving that aspect behind to figure herself out.......(in what way does this ink blot resemble......)
anne you are so great
wise and witty
and all that
Love your stuff
and for some reason you let me dance around like the tarot fool
I am
ANYHOOOO... I'd give a shiny award but I don't have one of those yet, the only award I'm licensed to give at the moment is for odd folks like me. I just awarded it to http://asplotchmonsteraday.blogspot.com/
and you might want to give a look, they guy is a real artist unlike me.
When I do find an award worthy of you, what shall I name it?
Lazarus Lupin
a very cool website.
yes, ll, you do dance around and i am intrigued since i never know what dance step you will create next. every now and then i wonder if perhaps i have even heard a note or two of the music.
i am unused to awards. bleeding heart's award warmed my heart, though, and i have treasured it.
i do believe that if you create an award for me, you will intuitively know what to name it....or else the tarot will tell you.........although i would rather not receive the tower award.
I promise your award will probably not include the major arcana including the devil or the tower or anything from swords.
what a relief! i do like the color red but that pitch fork....it seems way too cumbersome to carry around.....
two halloween's ago, i dressed as the fairy princess at her day job.....in case that helps at all.......
well, ll, i await the award....if and when it appears.......
anne you made a teeny tiny mistake I am Bleeding Healer not Bleeding Heart,nevertheless I appreciate that you appreciated my award and still remember it..
waiting for sunday post..=]
Bleeding Healer
bh, i do apologize. i type as if english is my second language.....or maybe third.
i grew up in a family in which if a person looked at you and said a name, you answered to it regardless of what it was. which was rarely your own name.......
ah, life......
bh, i do apologize. i type as if english is my second language.....or maybe third. there is a huge difference between the name i typed and yours.
i grew up in a family in which if a person looked at you and said a name, you answered to it regardless of what it was. which was rarely your own name.......
ah, life......
no bigge, not a big deal,i mess up names all the time..=]
Bleeding Healer
i really admire anyone who comments whose primary language is not english. i can understand a little spanish but to type it......and create a meaningful sentence.......
i have been thinking about this question in the light of a new day.
i am wondering if at least some of the past comes along with me...that when i go ahead, i am accompanied by future images and past experiences.
but is there an aspect of me that does not accompany me...yet it follows? it is not part of, yet it does not go away; it follows in my footsteps. would i know what it was? would i feel it?
Would an aspect mean your shadow?
Or would it mean that sometimes your body is pacing through but Your soul is slugging behind? I'm still thinking about it.
I like your blog a lot because it has a lot of unique appeal. Sometimes I believe we have maybe many things to say, but the things that make us all different are the ways how we convey our own message. Your drawings are very special though while your question REALLY draw a question mark.
Feel free to check out my blog also! http://www.adelene-chiam.blogspot.com
ac, let us know what you come up with......
Lovely blog!!
Ah... it is possible to comment publicly - priceless creative artistry/questioning thruout your blog. A real pleasure to peruse, Ms. Anne Artist.
thank you, jack. part of the wonder of posting a question is discovering how much i have yet to learn......
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