Wisdom Art: Inspirational Images
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2nd Place Winner: 2004 VMI
Awards
Birthing
My Power
Mary
Gravelle
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Title: Birthing
My Power
Artist: Mary
Gravelle
Media: Oil on Canvas, 16" x
20"
2004 VMI Award Winner, 2nd Place
Created in January, 2004
About this painting:
I painted this still life in preparation for Painting II class. I wanted to see if I remembered how to use my oil paints. I also wanted to see if I remembered how to paint a still life and render the objects realistically.
Writing about this painting:
April 26, 2004: Prelude
I hung this painting at the foot of my bed. I didn't quite understand my choices of objects. How do they fit together? They seem so disparate. I really felt quite ambivalent about this painting and I wanted to know more about it. So, every morning and night, I would stare at it.
My husband, Doug, had bought the lemons and placed them on the countertop before putting them away in the refrigerator. "Oh, those lemons!", I thought. They were so beautiful, their colors, their shapes. I had to paint them.
I couldn't get the two lemons to look good as a still life on their own so I grabbed what was handy and put together a quick still life. The "handy" objects are some of my favorites -- a beautifully shaped round shell and a "goddess" wood root. The pink fabric is a favorite color and texture. The green fabric is a tablecloth that seems to work well for my still lives (not that I have done that many of them).
But why did those particular objects get placed together? This baffled me as I painted. The shell was too white, the lemons too bright, the wood woman was too naturally brown. So, I took creative license in matching and balancing the shell and wood in my painting color choices.
February 14, 2004: The Aha! Moment
Putting the call out to be supported to birth my will/power.
This lemon still life haunts me. Looking at it across the room without my glasses, the previous statement came to me. The items and colors have deeper symbolic meaning for me. If I look at the chakra colors, etc. this is what they mean for me:
The yellow color: Will center, Solar Plexus, bright and cheery color, fresh, warmth.
Lemons: Fresh fruit, cleansing when eaten, tart tasting, not eaten in quantity.
Shell: I think of it as a megaphone, putting the call out to the invisible realm, also listening, putting it to my ear to hear nature, natural, sea, water
Root Woman: Rooted, grounded, sexy, expressive, reaching, antennae, revealing, holding it all together, the center of all, the center of her universe, earthy, natural, no head.
Pink: Female, woman, love, heart chakra for universal love put forth ( & receiving?), sensuous
Curtain/Cloth: sensuous, revealing, ethereal, pink curtain/cloth almost looks like a woman's legs open wide with vagina showing, revealing, inviting, giving, birthing the lemons. Then the Root Woman could be a midwife, midwife to my dreams. I am supported by God and the universe to birth my dreams.
April 26, 2004: Conclusion
A couple of viewers comments referred to making lemonade out the of the lemons. That brings it all together for me -- I can make lemonade out of seemingly sour situations. Adding sweetness makes anything palatable. So, I am birthing my ability to make a lemonade life! Sweet, tart and tasty. Also, sometimes you just need to add other ingredients to what you already have. Thank you, viewers, for your insightful comments.
Viewer: what do you see in the painting? How has the writing inspired you? Can you relate to anything here?
Please post your comments and share a little of yourself with us today. Thanks.
THE END.
Posted: 12/23/2007
© 2004 Mary Gravelle
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Future issues -- every other Friday:
Sept 19, Oct 3, Oct 17
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