sparking imagination
We’ve been reminded of our relational nature by the pandemic dragging on, restricting interaction with one another. Some of us have been quicker than others to develop new ways of connecting with each other. While in-person gathering cannot be replicated … Continued
This is an oil painting with soundscape by Mark R. Turner. The painting, 35″x35″, was done in Brussels, Belgium, in 1979 and inspired Mark to write a poem 28 years later, 2007, in the mountain community of Julian, California. As … Continued
I am thankful for the season of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany bringing the profound largess of Love close to my whole being. Gradually I am awakening to the reality that God is not a separate being aloof and impersonal, but, … Continued
If you do not understand a work of art, just sit with it like you would sit in Nature. Just allow it to trickle through your thoughts and consider that you are growing in something new, and that is good. The artist followed an impulse in an intentional way which has become the discipline of their life. For centuries this has been called a Rule of Life and usually is associated with the way a monastery conducts lif
The starting point of making something is not with the materials, although I do find that playing with materials and tools generates inspiration. It is the non-material inspiration which empowers the process of making. Contemplation of the immaterial, the idea, … Continued
In the labors and burdens of life we at one moment or another sigh, “God.” If we let that sigh extend beyond the moment, we can discover new expanse in our universe, new capacity to rest and be renewed. Focusing … Continued
I created an abstract painting entitled “Diversity Joined” and saw it as good. (See it HERE.) Then I divided it apart like puzzle pieces as I thought about how we are so immersed in studying and using the whole Creation, … Continued
Usually, after completing an arduous work of art, I experience an emptiness. This is often a period of wandering grappling with questions like “What else can I say? What else can I try? Why write and make art? Who cares?” — remnant thoughts from humanity’s long history of self-focus. Lately I’ve been asking, “Why am I watching tutorials and learning new technology?”
When we look at a painting on the wall, or a sculpture in a park, we are looking at a physical manifestation of the artist. In a sense the artist is present because they deposited some of themselves into the … Continued
As a young person I was oblivious of death, and this was represented by my favorite poem in college, Dylan Thomas’ “Fern Hill,” (first stanza) “Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs About the lilting house … Continued
