I AM MY OWN SHAMAN, I AM MY OWN HEALER: Are you? Transforming the self through making and sharing art

I AM MY OWN SHAMAN  (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for ARTISTS, for those who hold life precious enough to elevate it through image, dance, music, word, and song. The ART of others has a way of appearing in our lives when we most need its message, or perhaps when our hearts and minds have become receptive to welcoming what that ART has to teach us.

Recently, a friend of mine and participant on the Facebook group, The Daily Creative Practice, posted a link to Sainkho Namtchylak singing these lyrics: 

I am a shaman of my life.
I am a healer of myself.
Don't forget your life is in your hands.
You are the shaman of, the shaman of your lives
You are the healers of yourselves.

Sainkho Namtchylak

Thank you Sainkho Namtchylak! 

We have ALL we need right here, right now in ourselves, to heal, to grow, to enact MAGIC. I am a SHAMAN. You are a SHAMAN.

Even as I search to find the answers to the questions I'm asking about my life right now (see this blog entry), these words of Sainkho Namtchylak remind me that while I seek information in the exterior world, my own interior world holds powerful information for me too. And SOLACE.

I AM MY HEALER

Yet, we need one another to share the COSMOS of our SOULs and the wisdom of our experiences. And to help us to connect with other WISE WOMEN like Sainkho Namtchylak. 

This kind of shared navigation is why I blog here at Coffee with Hallelujah. I want my voice to be heard by you. And before your listening,  I give myself permission to listen more closely to my voice while drawing and writing. Finally in this blogging process, I want you to communicate with me about your LIFE's FINDINGS and your MAGIC.

Patty Griffin's song, "Top of the World" is about people's failure to share their interior scapes with others. Her lyrics say:

MY LIFE IS IN MY HANDS

"There's a whole lot of singing that's never gonna be heard
Disappearing every day without so much as a word..."

and...

"I wish I'd have known you
I wish I'd have shown you
All of the things I was on the inside..."

Let's all agree to make ART, whatever it is that we need to CREATE to SING OUR SONG, and to HEAL OURSELVES! 

I AM THE SHAMAN OF MY LIFE (art by Hallelujah Truth)

That's Coffee With Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and share your song!

THE ELEGANCE EQUATION OF OUR LIVES: What is it for you--addition, subtraction, division, etc...?

WHAT IS ELEGANCE? When I was playing tennis regularly with graduate students and faculty in the Auburn University Math Department back in the 80's, I learned about the word "elegance." An idea or concept becomes elegant when it is explained in such a concise way that it illustrates a beautiful sublimeness. I like to think that my images of THE GREAT MYSTERY are elegant, embodying my experience with real women in hijabs and burkas from the Middle East and demonstrating all that I don't know about their lives and LIFE at LARGE. (art by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter)

Hallelujah for the MYRIAD WAYS of viewing our lives! At the grand old age of 54, almost 55, I am just beginning to understand that there are multiple perspectives with which to view my life and to direct its course. 

Forget the limitations of that two-sided life equation that your perspective is either negatively DARK or optimistically BRIGHT! That equation is decidedly inelegant. Instead, I think we should all DO THE MATH and see what EQUATIONS we can formulate for our OWN LIVES....

THE PINK EQUATION. Why have I photoshopped all of these images into PINK? Because I can! And it was fun. I choose to be the ultimate controller of my work--even if you dear Pilgrim, tell me you don't like what I have done with my art. And...PINK...well it represents FREEDOM to me. Let me explain.

Coming of age in the 70's was challenging for those of us who were trying to comprehend what feminism was and how to live our lives accordingly. We had been raised by traditional parents who unknowingly perpetuated a stifling patriarchy for their daughters. We dated men who diminished "girlie" things--among them--the color pink. 

I had one friend, who when she divorced her macho, sexist, inconsiderate husband, painted the walls of her home pink and dressed in that same color until healing occurred at a later date. 

Today, pink still represents a decidedly bold statement--I AM ALL GIRL! (art by Hallelujah Truth)

WHAT IS THE ELEGANCE EQUATION FOR YOUR LIFE?

Right now, for me, Hallelujah Truth, I am in my prime like The Prime of Miss Jean Brody! Did you ever see that movie with Maggie Smith? Her character, Miss Jean Brody, an aging school teacher, keeps repeating, "I'm in the prime of my life," at least that's what I remember (I just discovered that the movie was based on the novel of the same name by Scottish author Muriel Sparks. She makes some decisions that don't work in her favor, but she was BRAVE, living her LIFE EQUATION as elegantly as she knew how, nonetheless. 

Now, I am there, the PRIME of MY LIFE, and I, like you (and Jean Brody), can determine my LIFE'S EQUATION and how to live ELEGANTLY in the process of choosing, executing, and being in that EQUATION. I have the following questions:

Do I SUBTRACT? Leave my current job teaching English as a Second Language (ESL)at Georgia Tech?

Do I ADD? Take courses with The Coaches Training Institute and learn how to be a life/creativity coach? In addition to teaching ESL?

Do I DIVIDE? Reduce my teaching load at GT even more and slowly acquire the training I need to begin a profession in Life Coaching?

What EQUATION configures my LIFE AS AN ART MAKER? BLOGGER? WIFE OF A SCIENTIST AND COLLABORATOR? SCIENCE ADVOCATE? CHILDREN'S BOOK MAKER? EXPLORER OF THE SOUL?

THE ELEGANT PINK EQUATION.  I am happy to post these images of THE GREAT MYSTERY here today. It thrills me to see the images transported from their original colors to PINK. I shed judgment. I play in pink. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

I don't know the NEW EQUATION that I need to create to joyously BE in my life, right now. But I am asking the BIG QUESTIONS: 

What is meaningful to me? 
What makes me happy? 
What works well with the life I share with my Chiboogamoo? 
What stretches me and ensures I keep growing? 
And, yes, how can I make money to contribute to my loving household?

For now, I will bid you adieu. It is a Sunday morning here in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and time to venture out in the overcast day to see what ARTMAKING I can drum up. I ask this of you dear PILGRIMS, FELLOW SOJOURNERS--What is the equation of your life? 

THE NOW OF THE PINK ELEGANCE EQUATION. In each of these images, there is a star or object to the right of THE GREAT MYSTERY. That star symbolizes the NOW. NOW is the place I want to BE. There I am not GOOD, not BAD, just IS. IS-NESS! (art by Hallelujah Truth)

SOUL BLOG with me here at Coffee with Hallelujah! 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thanks to Lesly Fredman, my steadfast creativity coach, who asked me the question about the "elegance equation." 

#REVERB12 (DAY 9): What was the best book you read in 2012 and why?

JOURNEY OF THE ARTIST.
(art by Teju Behan, photos by Hallelujah Truth)

#REVERB12 (Day 9) PROMPT: 
What was the best book you read in 2012, and why? (And by "Why?" I mean: Why did you read it? And why was it your favourite? Although these answers could be one and the same...!)

For 2012, I have chosen Teju Behan’s book, Drawing from the City.  This mesmerizing silk-screen printed, hand bound book printed on handmade paper contains rich black-and-white drawings of Teju Behan’s JOURNEY from her impoverished childhood to her enriched life as an ARTIST.

DRAWING FROM THE CITY, by Teju Behan. 

FIFTEEN MINUTES OF CREATIVITY EVERY DAY: BEING PRESENT TO WHO WE ARE BRINGS MYSTERIOUS AND SURPRISING RESPONSES

MORE FLOWER POWER MOUTHS. Speaking from the mind, heart, and soul! Art by Hallelujah Truth

Hallelujah Pilgrims! Interesting things happen when we are open to our CREATIVITY each and every day! Our brain, heart, soul (whatever you call it)  has a way of communicating with us when we open up a consistent WELCOMING SPACE in our lives. Making the WELCOMING SPACE is what this blog, Coffee with Hallelujah, is all about! If you have time to sit down with a morning drink whether it be coffee, tea, or orange juice, you have time to BE with yourself and to CREATE! Get your pencils, pens, or paints! BEGIN something NOW!

FROM MY HEART. Being present to what is within often brings surprises to me in the way an image is composed. What new element enters or what symbol re-emerges is also exciting! Here in this drawing, OWL returned! I love the way OWL arises out of me, Hallelujah Truth! My constant companion Wandjina is there at my heart center!

WELCOME OWL! (Blue Fire's owls will always speak to me!)

Each of us is UNIQUE and the expression of that UNIQUENESS is often startling and surprising. We have all heard these following phrases: Nothing we do is new. Anything we might create has been done before. We can only regurgitate what has come before! Ba-hum-bug, I declare! LIFE is a JOURNEY! We are PILGRIMS, and it is up to us to TRAVEL. In order to CREATE and summon what is YOURS UNIQUELY, you must depart from the KNOWN and go into the UNKNOWN. PERIOD. 

SNAKE, AN OLD FAMILIAR.  When I first started making art, I began with snakes that were occurring in my dreams. Snakes are wonderful symbols of renewal as they are constantly shedding their skin to make way for new growth. I also love the way snakes can be made into spirals, symbolizing for me an unfurling and unfolding infinity. We all can keep going deeper in our journeys of life!

KNOW THYSELF. Then get to KNOW THYSELF EVEN MORE! Go deeper and wider and farther! See what you can discover. This LIFE is YOURS! Claim it, own it, explore it, hold it, express it...and BE IT!


That's coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me about your JOURNEY and your 15 minutes of creativity every day!

WANDJINA SPEAKS TO ME. This aboriginal creation God speaks to me as I have embraced him to represent the masculine aspect of my psyche that Jung called the ANIMUS. Hallelujah for developing multi-perspectives of ourselves! Each of us is UNIQUE and can gather the known and unknown in the expression of our art!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:  Hallelujah Truth wishes to express sincere gratitude to her dear friend Edna Lorri Shipp, who took to heart our many discussions about daily creativity and began practicing it. Her clarity around this matter was expressed on Facebook, which then resulted in creating a Facebook group of 15 minutes of creativity every day! The number of participants who enrolled in it was and is inspiring! Clearly there is a need to express ourselves and to share in that process with others! Hallelujah! Thanks Edna Lorri Shipp!

#REVERB11: ANTICIPATION--LOOKING FORWARD TO REVOLUTION OF THE SOUL

ANTICIPATION FOR 2012: REBIRTH, RENEWAL, REVOLUTION OF THE SOUL. (Art by Hallelujah Truth) 

#REVERB11 PROMPT (December 11): What is the one thing you are most looking forward to in 2012? (Prompt from Carolyn Rubenstein on A Beautiful Ripple Effect)

PREGNANT

NO MORE 

NO LESS

HALLELUJAH TRUTH!

THANKSGIVING: GETTING CREATIVE IN THINKING ABOUT THE GREAT SPIRIT

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO THE GREAT SPIRIT IN ALL OF US.  These  outlines of turkeys were derived from my 2010 volunteer work with Bhutanese seniors at the Clarkston Community Center and then used with my creative writing class at the Georgia Tech Language Institute preceding the Thanksgiving holidays. (drawings by Hallelujah Truth)

Happy Thanksgiving Pilgrims! Hallelujah for the JOURNEY! I am so happy to be here with you all, seeing what we can declare about our OWN TRUTH! I believe in the power of each individual's creativity. I believe the ART each one of us  makes PULLS us FORWARD. Our own ART HEALS and CREATES MAGIC in our lives! Peter London, author of No More Secondhand Art: Awakening the Artist Within, declares, "The prime work of art is to join heaven and earth!"

JOINING HEAVEN AND EARTH IN CREATIVE WRITING CLASS.  This photo captures the magic moment as students move from the teacher given assignment into the "mystery" of themselves. (photos by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter, Instructor of English as a Second Language at GT)

Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, I decided to jump into artmaking with my creative writing class. I wanted BIG THINGS to happen. Using construction and origami paper, pens, scissors, and glue, each student was asked to construct their own artistically rendered Thanksgiving turkey. To prevent complete and utter shutdowns (which occur when people who don't draw are asked to produce something from nothing), I provided some simple and fun drawings (above) as possible starting places.

After receiving the assignment and art making materials, the students paused. There were moments of inaction resulting in my worry that they might not move forward. Creative acts have their own timing and energy. Patience must be practiced to give each ARTIST the opportunity to determine his or her own direction.


After the moments of uncertainty passed, there was a flurry of activity. Pens and pencils were moving and paper began flying. I watched in awe as the students ascended into a whir of creativity!


After fifteen minutes had passed and the students were fully engaged in their creation of a Thanksgiving turkey, I talked to them about the writing part of this holiday assignment. I wanted them to practice writing from a different perspective and gave them three writing options:


OPTION 1: You are the GREAT TURKEY SPIRIT of THANKSGIVING. You are filled with beneficence and a sense of well-being! You want to express gratitude to all of humanity for the GOOD that people bring to this EARTH and one another.


OPTION 2: You are the TURKEY to be slaughtered for everyone's Thanksgiving dinner.  You want to express your feelings about being the food that feeds everyone on this day in the United States that we give THANKS. What are your last words before you die and your body nourishes the people who are giving THANKS?


OPTION 3: Your own idea written from the perspective of a TURKEY.


I have not seen the final results of this assignment yet. I asked students to post their artfully crafted turkey images and writing on the unique blog each one has developed for this creative writing class. I invite you to visit their blogs and see for yourself where this Thanksgiving holiday assignment has taken them on their creative journey!

EMBRACING MY INNER JACKSON POLLOCK

FULL EMPTY HAPPINESS

DREAMING WITH FREEDOM

HOPE IN THE DARK DESERT

SNAKE SLEEPING WITH LAVENDER

THE CHOCOLATE OF HAPPINESS

CREATORS OF THE GREAT TURKEY SPIRIT! In this photo, two other blog writers are represented: A SMILE AFTER THE RAIN and MY MOTHER'S LAP.

THE REWARDS OF TEACHING CREATIVITY ARE MANY! Here I am in the middle of happy students! Thanks to Vanessa for taking this photo!

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS (excerpted from Peter London's book, No More Secondhand Art: Awakening the Artist Within. 

Suppose life is a journey, an endless, surprising odyssey in which we may move from naivete to wisdom, from self-consciousness and awkwardness to grace, and from superficial knowledge to profound wonder. The infinite menu of possibilities that life continuously displays before us may be viewed as an invitation to embark on this adventure through varied and unpredictable terrain. The artistic process is more than a collection of crafted things; it is more than the process of creating those things. It is the chance to encounter dimensions of our inner being and to discover deep, rewarding patterns of meaning.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:  Many thanks to my creative writing students for their willingness to embark on a creative adventure with me into the unknown terrains of their own creativity! Your gift of attention, action, and individual journey inspire me! Gracious thanks to fellow SPIRITUAL ART PILGRIM, Karen Phillips, who in recent weeks has reminded me of Peter London's book, No More Secondhand Art!

A BLOGGING WORKSHOP FOR WOMEN: GETTING IN TOUCH WITH THE STRANGE LIGHT

WRITING TO THE SOURCE. Exploring our inner lives through writing (including blogging) was the theme for the UUCA 2-day writing experience for women here in Georgia at the end of October 2011. Inner Lives, the purple anthology with the butterfly life-cycle pictured above, contains sections on identity, expression, and transformation. The first blog of Coffee with Hallelujah appears in the transformation section!

Hallelujah for the GREAT MYSTERY, the SOURCE of all BEINGNESS! Hallelujah for Kim Green, leader of this past weekend’s two-day writing experience for women at the home of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta! Hallelujah for women who write to get to what matters—IDENTITY, EXPRESSION, AND TRANSFORMATION!

As Hallelujah Truth, I was both surprised and pleased when almost a year ago, I was asked to lead the workshop for “Blogging to the Source.” Other workshop leaders were luminaries in their areas of writing. Maggie Edson, who received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1999 for “Wit,” lead the playwriting workshop. The memoir-writing workshop was taught by Jessica Handler, recipient of Atlanta Magazine’s “Best Memoir of 2009.” Two well-known Atlanta poets, Alice Teeter and Alice Lovelace, co-taught the poetry workshop. Well, you get the gist of this amazing day of workshops and women stars! Other star workshop leaders included fiction (Laurel Snyder), non-ficition (Valerie Boyd) spiritual writing (Marti Keller and Meg Barnhouse). Hallelujah’s only regret is that she couldn’t attend all of these workshops (as well as attending the Friday night keynote speaker, Pearl Cleage)!

The Saturday writing experience began at 6:30 with a continental breakfast before two hours of writing experience using the “free-writing” technique of Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones, and Julia Cameron’s The Artist's Way morning pages. I will remind my FELLOW PILGRIM that this kind of nonjudgmental writing (NOT GOOD, NOT BAD, JUST IS) is a stimulating rewarding experience when practiced daily! Being present to yourself and the blank page is YOUR INVITATION to BEING (I conduct the same daily practice with my drawing.)!

KEYNOTE SPEAKER. Amy Benson Brown 's talk about the writer's habitat and habit inspired us all! A great way to begin the all-day Saturday women's writing conference.

The day brightened even more when Amy Benson Brown delivered the keynote speech with passion and humor! Speaking about both the writer’s habitat and habit, Amy shared her considerable knowledge about the writing process acquired from the experience of writing two books, Rewriting the Word: American Writers and the Bible and The Book of Sarah, as well as developing and working at Emory University’s Author Development Program for the past ten years. PILGRIMS, if you want to be a writer, you must WRITE! That is the message! To BE we must BE. As an I artist, I draw every day! NO MATTER WHAT! Remember we ARE what we DO!

Amy encouraged us all to design the habitat we need to create, to do our work. Think about what your body and spirit needs. She showed us her “standing” writing desk that her father helped her build so that she can prevent backaches when she writes by standing and sitting alternatively. What do you need PILGRIM in your work environment to foster and support your creativity? Remember to take care of body and soul!

INNER LIVES. Kim Green (left) and Amy Benson Brown look at the anthology, Inner Lives, compiled and published to commemorate this 2-day women's writing conference. By Kim's right hand is a post card announcing her upcoming novel, Hallucination.

A phrase that Amy used in her presentation was “strange light.” How intriguing! What is UNIQUE or STRANGE to us is our SOURCE of inspiration. Write about what captures your imagination, what pulls you to your insides, heart, body, mind, and soul and share your “strange light” with others! Hallelujah!

After Amy’s keynote speech, the day propelled us all into our workshops, lunch with the panel discussion about self-publishing, more workshops, yoga and meditation, appointments with editors, and concluded with coffee house readings in the evening.

WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE? This is the question I asked everybody to answer at the beginning of "Blogging to the Source." Establishing a vision statement for everyone's blog required writers to consider their reason for being here on this earth! We were writing for breakthroughs!

LUNCH TIME WITH WOMEN WRITERS. Eating was accompanied with a panel discussion about self-publishing. Attendees came from all over the United States. I met women from California, New York, South Carolina, and Tennessee. All were writers at various stages of making their work public.

WOMEN WHO HAVE SELF-PUBLISHED. What a privilege it was to listen to these very successful, articulate women who have accomplished many things in their lives, including maneuvering themselves and their books in the maze of publishing options in today's market. From left to right: Carol Fulwiler Jones, Hopeful Heart, Peaceful Mind: Managing Infertility. Laurie Hyatt, Silent Decision: Awareness Out of Tragedy. Eileen Jedlicka, Blink of an Eye--A Mannequin's Tale. Anita Paul, Write Your Life.

Hallelujah was thrilled to lead two workshops on BLOGGING to the SOURCE! The primary focus of our 90 minutes together was to establish a mission/vision statement and a guiding metaphor for our blogs (inspired by Gwen Bell and her course in Re-Align Your Website). A blogger needs to know what brings her to blog. Without a defined “mission,” each blog entry has a beginning and ending without being connected to the heart and soul of the blogger. This lack of heart connection makes it difficult to blog regularly and consistently! During my workshops, there were “aha” moments, when one of the writers experienced a breakthrough in knowing what her purpose for blogging was! How rewarding for Hallelujah! Hallelujah for “ahas”! (I think blogging mission statements will be a future blog entry, so stay-tuned!)

FELLOW SOJOURNERS, being in the company of intelligent women writers was inspirational and meaningful. Women freely shared their life experiences—everything from joy, illness, healing, love, woes, and visions. Thank you so much Kim Green for leading this magnificent endeavor of your women’s writing group of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta.

HALLEUJAH TRUTH and the TRUTH TELLER. Kim and I laughed as she told me that her friends call her the TRUTH TELLER and I acknowledge that my friends tell me the same thing! I'm holding the post card announcing Kim's upcoming novel, Hallucination.

PATTY GRIFFIN’S IMPOSSIBLE DREAM and the JOURNEY OF ONE SPIRITUAL ART PILGRIM

Great Feminine Mystery (All Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for the JOURNEY! Hallelujah for being a PILGRIM. Today, I wept as I listened to Patty Griffin’s 2004 album, Impossible Dream, for the tenth time in three days as I’ve been making the images you see here with this blog. I’ve had this Patty Griffin album for years and loved Griffin’s wailing plaintive voice but never really listened to the lyrics. Yesterday, my PILGRIM ears perked up every time the “Rowing Song” came on:

As I row, row, row

Going slow, slow, slow

Just down below me is the old sea…

Nobody knows, knows, knows

So many things things so

So out of range…

Sometimes so strange

Sometimes so sweet

Sometimes so lonely…

I have been blogging as Hallelujah Truth, SPIRITUAL ART PILGRIM, for more than two years now. Sometimes, I write about art, death, science, teaching, or just daily struggles and how ART heals, but ALWAYS, I am writing about JOURNEY.

Recently, there have been events in my life that are so HUGE and PAINFUL, that I have been unable to find an appropriate way to blog about them. In August, my young nephew Thomas committed suicide two weeks before he turned sixteen. This event deepened my commitment to JOURNEY of AUTHENTICITY, yet left me even farther from the HOME of the familiar that I left once I decided I had to be ME and I had to HEAL and GROW.

My family members, who are experiencing collective pain, are slowly finding individual ways to lessen the intensity of their grief surrounding Thomas’ death. I, too, find that to keep moving on my SOJOURN, I must go to the SOURCE of the anguish and allow my feelings to BE. Perhaps, I will write more about Thomas at another time when I KNOW more about the BIRTH and DEATH cycle.

At this moment, my Chiboogamoo is at the University of Georgia in Athens to give a talk about his Australian research. I could not go with him because my feline companion of 17 years is dying, and I can’t bear to part with him. My ATTACHMENTS—large and small—don’t matter, for I am alone—we are all alone on our JOURNEYS. I must eventually release my dear kitty Misha and in doing so might find some resolve to accept Thomas’ premature departure from this EARTH.

The rest of Griffin’s “Rowing Song” expresses my sentiments:

The further I go

More letters from home never arrive

And I’m alone

All of the way

All of the way

Alone and Alive

You just have to go, go, go

Where I don’t know, know, know….

My PILGRIMAGE to be my AUTHENTIC SELF has taken me deeply into the UNKNOWN. This is what JOURNEY is about fellow SOUL BLOGGERS. I write to you as a changed PILGRIM unknown to MYSELF. Hallelujah Truth!

ABOUT THE MYSTERY OF THE HIJAB: Several years ago when increasing numbers of women from the Middle East started attending the Language Institute at Georgia Tech, where I teach ESL, I grew fascinated with the image of the hijab, the scarf the women use to conceal their hair, ears, and neck.

The women lingering in the hallways and leaning earnestly into their English language textbooks became a symbol of the UNKNOWN for me. At first, I knew very little about their countries of Libya, Jordan, Yemen, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, and who they were in their roles as wives, mothers, daughters, students and professionals. Now, more informed about the “real” physical women, I still have allowed their beautifully covered heads and cloaked bodies to represent the MYSTERY of LIFE for me. For me, each woman in a hijab has become the symbol of the GREAT FEMININE MOTHER.

I allow GREAT FEMININE MOTHER to be present in my drawings and paintings, patient to learn from her. Where is SHE from? Where is SHE going? Where might I go with HER?

PAINTING FROM MEMORY of THE MYSTERY

FROM MEMORY. On one sunny Friday in October, a volunteer organization, The One Project, held an event to raise money to support breast cancer research. Created by international students at the Georgia Tech Language Institute, The One Project sold pink t-shirts, the breast cancer foundation’s color, painted faces, and threw pies at instructors who had collected more than fifty dollars each.

Many photos were being taken on that lovely fall day. I watched as a group of women in hijabs gathered on a picnic table, fascinated by the array of colors and fabric. Then to my great delight, one woman opened a white umbrella! The diffused light floated like gauze over the pink adorned women. I was entranced and had to “copy” the image by drawing and painting it that weekend!

GEORGIA TECH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE STUDENTS, OCTOBER 2011

THE PHOTO: On Monday at the GT Language Institute, I implored the student who had taken the photos on her cell phone to email me one of the photos—which she did. I have altered the image in photoshop to obscure the women’s identity in order to give them privacy. A side effect of asking this young hijabbed woman to send me the photo was that we had an electric discussion about making art! She draws! She was hungry to talk about her love of using graphite to depict everything around her. The next day, seeking me out, she flipped open her cell phone to show me an image of her room that she had drawn since our discussion! Hallelujah for ART, the universal language!

THE IMAGE FROM THE PHOTO. Oh GREAT FEMININE MYSTERY—where is your ESSENCE when seen directly, as I witness you in the photo?

PAINTING THE MYSTERY FROM A PHOTO

As I worked on creating a second image while looking at the photo of these women in hijabs, I allowed myself to experience their “hands”—something that was not in my first image. I decided to omit the sunglass and jeans and open smiled mouths.

After this painting was completed, I surmised that I like better painting from my memory….after all the ESSENCE of the GREAT MYSTERY is not physical…SHE is a feeling, a thought, a moment in time. Both EPHEMERAL and INFINITE.

Read my other blogs related to Women in Hijabs:

• Gasper of the Great Mystery
• I Never Thought the Burka Would Seduce Me
• This I Believe: Creativity Transforms
• That Something Other: The Mystery of the Hijab

The Impossible Dream Lyrics

To dream ... the impossible dream ...
To fight ... the unbeatable foe ...
To bear ... with unbearable sorrow ...
To run ... where the brave dare not go ...
To right ... the unrightable wrong ...
To love ... pure and chaste from afar ...
To try ... when your arms are too weary ...
To reach ... the unreachable star ...

This is my quest, to follow that star ...
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far ...
To fight for the right, without question or pause ...
To be willing to march into Hell, for a Heavenly cause ...

And I know if I'll only be true, to this glorious quest,
That my heart will lie will lie peaceful and calm,
when I'm laid to my rest ...
And the world will be better for this:
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,
To reach ... the unreachable star ...

--Lyrics by Joe Darion

IS THE MYSTERY UNREACHABLE?