The Body Beautiful

Are you perplexed as to why I would include figurative drawings in a blog that is supposed to be focused upon artful healing? I have always felt that the human body was beautiful. It is a study in perfection. Every part of it has a purpose that works together, when cared for, in harmony with the rest of it. When you view the body as you would a landscape, recreating the map of its curves and slopes, you are viewing its true essence. Creating this series of drawings of nude models was a personal healing experience.

When I began going to the classes, which are held at the Hot Shops in Omaha, NE, I cancelled my enrollment in a meditation class that I loved and had been going to for many years but met on the same night. The weekly Life Drawing classes became a series of mindful meditations for me that was a profound and transforming experience for me. You can check out the Hot Shops, its galleries and artists, the Life Drawing class, and all of its other classes here: http://www.hotshopsartcenter.com/classes/index.html

I became so engrossed in the work I was creating that sometimes, after the model had finished the timed pose, and I had stepped back from whatever I was drawing, I would wonder how I had created it. While drawing, I observed the model with an intuitive vision and saw their bodies in the format of colors and shapes and negative space. When the session stopped I dissolved my connection to the work I was creating and was able to objectively see how the design components had come together. It was exciting to me to view what had been created by me in a short period of time and to consider how rapidly I could do something when I focused my attention upon it so completely. I was not trying to create something of beauty, but was allowing beauty to create itself. Odd as it may sound, it was actually humbling to feel and see this occurring during each session.

Observing the models I was drawing, many of whom did not have perfect bodies by fashion magazine standards, pose with ease and pride in front of a room full of artists, allowed me to re-consider my inhibitions about my own body. Regardless of whatever changes I wanted to make for my body, I could love it and appreciate it in the process. Beauty is what we project outwardly from within us. We are able to view beauty when we make it our intent to see it...and that becomes an artful expression that is healing, both for ourselves, and for those with whom we interact.

Beyond Her Blue Horizon

This is one of my favorite figurative drawings and it was one of the most challenging. When the model changed poses I was presented with some odd angles and difficult foreshortening of the body that definitely made the model's backside stand out more than anything else! I contemplated moving to another location in the room but opted to work with it and exaggerated parts of the body that would emphasize the pose even more. Everything from the waist on down became more rounded and sturdy in appearance. Her facial features are vague, allowing the viewer to focus more upon the representation of the body. The hair flows outward from her...brilliant blue strands that glow ethereally against the black background.

"Beyond her blue horizon"...how does this phrase speak to you? One definition of the word, horizon, found here http://onlinedictionary.datasegment.com/word/celestial+horizon is the limit of a person's range of perception, capabilities, or experience. Blue, which is related to the area of the throat, can represent creativity, walking your walk and talking your talk. It is also the color associated with the conception of new life. Blue, when partnered with the word, horizon, speaks to me of the time period when we are gestating new ideas and preparing to expand our horizons. I also see this work as a representation of the spirit of Mother Earth, the landscape of her body bathed in the light of peaceful serenity; her hair forming a blue horizon that flows into a waterfall tumbling onto the lush green land that surrounds her.

The Brilliance of Change

Both Horse & Whales, the subject matter in my previous post, have been going through evolutions for millions of years. The earliest species of horse, "eohippus", lived about 52 million years ago in the Eocene period. Ancestral species of Equus, our present day horses, are thought to have appeared 630,000 to 320,000 years ago. Eohippus went through many changes in appearance and body structure to become Equus. Prehistoric whale species are believed to have had the capability of walking on land. You can read an in-depth history of the evolution of horse and whale at these links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_horse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_Cetaceans

Above is one of my adaptations of a painted pony that I created as part of a figurative drawing series. In the beginning of the creation of this series, I was using white paper and I was focusing upon a more realistic representation of the model. During the process, I ran out of sheets of white paper and only had colored ones with me. When I put the vividly colored paper on my drawing board, I had the desire to go all out with color and create the drawing in a manner that was somewhat similar to the way that I had painted fabric. When I stepped back from the finished product, I loved the way the colors contrasted and vibrated with each other. Previous figurative drawings, executed many years before this series, had been more precise and traditional: charcoal, conte crayon and pencils on paper. Through the years, my training and experience doing soul healing work, had adapted my vision to allow me to open up to another level of seeing a way to create.

Change is necessary and can be exciting. The art you create... and the life you create... will change as you evolve spiritually, emotionally and mentally. Just as Eohippus adapted to the environment of its ancestral time frame and evolved to its present day characteristics of Equus, creative inspiration and the techniques you use to create them will evolve and become more refined over the years. Being rigid in your perception of the way you should do things may inhibit an incredible work of art from being birthed from your consciousness. Be true to who you are in your expressiveness but stay open to allowing your intuition to guide you to adapt when you are feeling the urge to do so.

You can always revert to your tried and true way of doing things, but you may discover that the insistent whisper suggesting that you change or a series of "mistakes" that happen that force you to change, may be an executions of brilliance that will give more meaning to your life or bring more depth and excitement to your work.