Art Retreat 2013
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| silvery morning concert |
My Annual Art Retreat
for 2013 is complete. It’s sad and yet
exciting for now I move forward with everything I discovered. I’m never disappointed by what shows up in
God’s creation and it is always something different.
I try to get out of
my routine while here. . . .stay up a little later, sleep a little later,
mix-up my meal times, give myself permission to be. I read scripture, art
books and magazines, research books and previous notes from past retreats and
make new notes in my journal of discoveries.
I sketch and take notes in my sketch book and make painting sketches for
future works.
I’m grateful I have a
good imagination for that also plays into my time. I walk the beach in the morning and evening
without my camera until the last day. On
that day I record those inspirations I discovered the previous days. This year I discovered the Songs of the Sea.
In high school I
learned to love music partly because of my concert band instructor and his
passion for excellence in music. I
played the clarinet and competed with my best friend for first chair, a
position I managed to sustain for awhile.
I learned discipline in practicing and study of scores of music and the
language of sheet music. Those memories
came back to me this week.
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| bright afternoon concert |
I imagined the ocean in
concert with all its parts complementing one another: the roaring forte of the ocean as a whole;
the crescendo undulating rhythm of the splish-splashing white caps, the
leisurely adagio water coming forward to the shore with the final pianissimo cadence
of the foam swishing onto my toes. I don’t know that I ever played
Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words but
that’s what I imagined the ocean to be playing; a song without words.
I've posted just a few
photos for your enjoyment of some of my discoveries. Stay tuned as I try to put on canvas a series
that may be titled: Songs of the Sea; an anthem. (listen to Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words Op 19 No 1 (Gortier) on www.youtube.com
Then there were the other whimsical discoveries I always find. It was a delightful three days of refreshment and inspiration. I'm so grateful
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| bubble-bath |
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| Henry Moore sculpture |
