OUR MINDS GENERATE IMAGES AND THESE BECOME OUR OWN UNIQUE FORMS: Honor your vision by drawing it!

SEEING IN DARK PLACES. Welcome to one of my personal metaphors representing SEEING IN DARK PLACES!  (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for THE DAILY CREATIVE PRACTICE! For drawing daily and working with imagination--even when it is repetitive! It is by this ongoing behavior that I honor my vision resulting in a large body of work with personal symbols or metaphors.

One of my favorite writers on creativity is Peter London. It is from his book, NO MORE SECOND HAND ART: AWAKENING THE ARTIST WITHIN (1989), that I felt for the first time I had permission to create art from my heart. If you haven't read this book and want support around making art that expresses your unique vision, get yourself a copy as soon as possible! You won't be disappointed.

Here is what Peter London has to say about the value of creating your own metaphors:

“Having created a metaphor within which your meaning resides, you have made that thing called art. In your uniqueness, you have also extended the vocabulary of art by representing for the first time another view of the world. Not gratuitously, not an egotistic display of talents do you seek to be original or creative. You did what you had to do to bear witness to the things you know. That’s all. That’s ALL”

WHIMSEY IN MY MIND OR ANCIENT SEA CREATURE? My dear Chiboogamoo, aka Anthony Martin, gives me the vocabulary and explanation for this creature. "It is reminiscent of the ichthyosaurs, which were marine reptiles that lived from the Triassic through the Cretaceous Periods (about 245-65 million years ago). They had the largest eyes of any known vertebrates. These big eyes were thought to be adaptations for seeing prey in low-light conditions in deep water." (Thanks honey!) After becoming familiarized with these ichthyosaurs both in Australia and in England, I began to allow its shape into my consciousness and to draw it repeatedly. I do not concern myself with accurate depictions but rather what I remember and feel. The drawing then reflects me, some inner state. The reshaped ichthyosaur becomes a personal metaphor! FOR SEEING  and SWIMMING IN DARK PLACES! Notice the multiple fierce teeth! Hallelujah! (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Upon reading and rereading Peter London's words:
In your uniqueness, you have also extended the vocabulary of art by representing for the first time another view of the world.

I burst into a happy dance!

That’s ALL

Peter London's ALL is pretty significant! Your ALL too! No matter how we present ourselves in the world, I believe the most important aspect about doing it, is making it OUR OWN presentation. BE YOURSELF. Let your work be YOURS!

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me! Let me know what YOUR VOICE IS. Join my Facebook group, THE DAILY PRACTICE, here, and share your ALL!

IN AN ANCIENT SEA. In an ancient sea, I saw myself looking back at me! I love taking one image an altering it on photoshop in order to express different feelings. In this image, you see the ichythosaur, me Hallelujah, Wandjina (Australian creation god), snake (female symbol of creation), and a flower made of gargoyles. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

ANOTHER CREATIVE APPROACH TO THE ICHYTHOSAUR

A dear friend of mine, Robey Tapp, created art inspired by the work of one of the first women paleontologists, Mary Anning, who found fossils of ichthyosaurs. Here is a short video in which Robey explains her creative process. 

REVERB10: ARTFULLY REFLECTING the HERE and NOW in FIXED IMAGES

Hallelujah for images that capture the human spirit! Hallelujah for SYMBOLS in these images that provide meaning and courage to each and every one of us. Today, to meet the REVERB10 December 25^th CHALLENGE, I have chosen one of the images I made at the beginning of my JOURNEY along the Dinosaur Trail in Queensland, Australia.

This image, “Stepping Out with Black Cockatoos and Fruit Bats,” began in the tropical city of Townsville along the northeastern coast of Australia. Because it was the end of June—winter—the cool comfortable temperatures permitted me to sit out on our modest balcony with a view of the Coral Sea, a cup of coffee, and traveling art supplies.

The night before, we had watched Fruit Bats, or “flying foxes,” drop from their roosting trees and fly into darkness, their heavy mammal bodies lifted by fleshy webby wings. In the morning, noisy mobs of lorikeets had roared by our windows at sunrise. The Townsville environment percolating around me was rich with seen and unseen fauna. From my perch overlooking the sea, I asked myself the following question: “What does my SOUL want to express about BEING here right now?”

“Stepping Out with Black Cockatoos and Fruit Bats” emerged, with me, Hallelujah Truth, entering the world of SEA and AIR. I am not alone in this adventure. Wallaby, my VULNERABILITY, accompanies me. Flying foxes pull me into the UNKNOWN. From the corner of this UNKNOWN, black cockatoos hover under my feet, singing of approaching nurturing rain. Change is at bay. I am being summoned to an ADVENTURE.

Later in the morning, Chiboogamoo and I drove west, leaving the tropical coastal environment and traveling into the Mitchell Grass plains, flat treeless expanses of rolling grass. Each morning along the Dinosaur Trail, I began a drawing/painting reflecting my state of BEING as I studied fossils of living forms preserved from 100 million years ago.

Since I was accompanying a brilliant paleontologist—my husband—but am not one, this ARTFUL REFLECTION expressed in daily drawing/painting is a stimulating tool for maintaining ME, for integrating my art with my husband’s science (read about Townsville in his blog, The Great Cretaceous Walk)! How fun! How stimulating!

Therefore, “Stepping out with Black Cockatoos and Fruit Bats” is an image which reveals what I love most about LIFE. By BEING PRESENT to our SPIRITS, we can make discoveries about ourselves wherever we are—physically or spiritually! Hallelujah! (Here in Georgia, I have returned to work on this painting twice, and I still consider it “not” finished! I see myself revisiting the fruit bats and cockatoos until I feel the image holds the “energy” I need it to.)

SOUL BLOG with Hallelujah! Share your response to the December 25^th REVERB10 PROMPT: Photo—a PRESENT to YOURSELF—Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you.