Three New Digital Painting Fantasies

Sunlight Through the Clerestory

Night Lanterns

Rage of the Minotaur


Even with the sparkle of the holidays, it's good to step back from the partying, over-eating, interactions and distractions, to get a sense of who we are. For me, making any kind of art fills the bill. It's sure beats stuffing on holiday goodies, for satisfaction. For me, it's a kind of euphoria that's always attainable. And will be, for as long as I have my faculties.


So let me take this opportunity to wish you all HAPPY HOLIDAYS and every imaginable blessing in the coming year. May all your dreams come true, and may you feel joy in your pursuits, as I do in making images.


All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

My Newest Abstract Acrylic Painting, "Metrimorphic III"

My newest painting, done this week, has both geometric and biomorphic features. Hence my coined term "Metrimorphic." I enjoy the bright colors floating on the surface of this composition, as well as the more subdued hues beneath them, just barely visible, emerging out of the black underpainting. "Metrimorphic" is 30 x 36 inches, painted in acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas.

I'm curious as to whether you as the viewer, get a sense of changing spatial relationships and multiple perspectives from this piece. I do, but I've always had an overactive imagination!

Thanks for visiting. I wish every one of you the happiest of holidays, and peace for us all, all over the world, in the coming year!

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Monolithic Thinking and Imagination Deficit

Origin of Mind - c 2005 Lynda Lehmann

Ronald Isom wrote a post called The Primacy of Imagination on his blog Metrogadfly Documents, that piqued on one of my pet peeves. He describes people with rigid mindsets that will not allow for input or processing of new information, and certainly not for any level of rational debate.

I know a few people like that, whose picture of the world is so fixed as to allow not one iota of doubt to enter their minds, that their "picture" might be stilted. They are so busy defending their rigid snapshot of the world that wonder, creative impulse, empathy, and a feeling of connectedness are impossible for them. They are truly alienated from the universe, walled in by monolithic thought.

While I respect the feelings of such people and recognize that nature and nurture may have come together in such a way as to foster such traits in their personalities, their resistance often makes it difficult for other people within their spheres of influence, to express themselves!

What's your opinion on this subject?

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind.

Harmony

Just like the complementary colors (magenta and green) in the quietly unfolding leaves of this beautiful plant, the human soul is capable of great harmony. In a meditative state of mind, peace and affirmation may become as real and present as the unassuming, quiet glory of this foliage. Image c Lynda Lehmann.

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Variations on the Surface of a Stump, Between Light and Shadow, Etched by Time

Etched by Time

Between Light and Shadow

Variations on the Surface of a Stump

I enjoy close views of nature's colors and patterns. These intimate views are like little secrets, waiting to reveal themselves to open eyes. I never realized until I read one of Robert Genn's articles at The Painters Keys site, on the art of Miksang, that this art form had a name . This is how the art of Miksang is defined by Wikipedia:

Miksang is a Tibetan word meaning "good eye" and represents a form of contemplative photography based on the Dharma Art teachings of Chögyam Trungpa, in which the eye is in synchronisation with the contemplative mind. The result of this particular perception of the world, combined with photography, produces a peculiar and open way of seeing the world. Miksang pictures tend to bring the observer back into the original contemplation state of the author of the picture. The pictures can bring one back to a purer perception of reality that is often neglected. Miksang involves nothing fancy, no special setup; only a visual capture, in the proper state of mind, of everyday's reality.[1]

I didn't know, until I read Mr. Genn's article, that I had been practicing Miksang for most of my life, even in my childhood days when I ran in the open fields and waded in the bubbling streams of rural Pennsylvania! It seems like I've always been fascinated by the textures of rocks, sea shells, flowing streams, snowflakes, weathered man-made surfaces, ropes and fibers, desert sands, etc. I could go on and on about the things that excite me visually. What are some of your favorites?

I dedicate this post to my fellow bloggers whose love of nature feeds my own, and gives me courage. You know who you are!

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Wreath of Hope

Wreath of Hope - Image c Lynda Lehmann

A festive and colorful orb to celebrate hope in this holiday season. As always and all year long, I hope and pray for peace and justice in the world, and the right to the pursuit of happiness for each human being--man and woman, adult and child.

The orb kind of clashes with my new layout, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Image and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Many Thanks to Sheila!

Many thanks to Sheila for her skill and expertise and PATIENCE as she worked out my new blog design with me. I had wanted three columns for a long time, but didn't have the knowledge of HTML to change all that code. Sheila was very accommodating and has provided me with a new template that I like a lot. Thank you again, Sheila!

If you would like to change your look or just open up your layout, give Sheila a visit. Her rates are very reasonable and she sure knows her stuff. And she has a great eye for design, as well!

Mind Portal

That's what digital art is for me, a portal. The technology allows us to create effects that would be either too difficult or actually impossible, to do with brush and pigment in real-time. To think that way back in the 60s I was against the idea of artificial intelligence, because it seemed to take us further afield in our struggle to remain truly human! Many factors in our evolution and cultural choices may conspire to undermine both manners and morality, but the use of a particular technology, of itself, probably doesn't have that power. Whether we further evolve as a species, or devolve, or both polarities of the human experience cancel each other out so that we remain helplessly stuck in one spot, will depend on a multitude of factors of global import. But that's too far a digression for this post!

Now I not only accept the computer as a useful tool, but I embrace it for it's unlimited potential to bring us knowlegde, and aid and augment our research and creativity, among other things. Of course I recognize that it can also be used for ill, but that applies to almost any tool, technique, or technology that's ever been invented. (Evil is in the hands of the perpetrator!)

As for us artists, photographers, writers, and other creative people, I see us as adding new forms of beauty to the world. To me, that is unarguably a good thing!

As I begin to explore a bit more digital painting, I'm finding joy in it just as I do with realistic photography or expressionistic painting. This is one of my new images, and I think I like it.

To me, "Mind Portal" is a colorful, kaleidoscopic digital painting with an inner glow. I find I can lose myself in it, just as I can with many images of other techniques and genres. I know that many people would rather look at something identifiable and realistic, for a pleasing visual experience. For me, there's room for everything along the spectrum of real to surreal and unreal i.e. completely non-objective and fabricated. How about you? Do you find this kind of image engaging, or easy to dismiss?

Image and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Between Heaven and Earth

Between Heaven and Earth - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Between heaven and Earth the clouds form, to bring the rains that fill the rivers and foster life all over the planet. Not only that, but they make the sunny days that will inevitably follow, seem equally welcome and miraculous!

If you look closely at the left-hand side of the image, you can see some rain falling. And thankfully, the river on the right is still viable. Taken at 500 mph from the airplane on our recent trip to Arizona.

Image and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Spectacle Over Sedona

"Spectacle" - Image c Lynda Lehmann 2008

A spectacular panorama of the red rock cliffs and a dramatic blue-gray sky in Sedona, Arizona. I prefer Nature's machinations to the dreary proclivities of man!

Image and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

The U.S. Auto Industry and the Ripple Effect

Yesterday I posted this video on my Facebook page. As I just replied to a friend who commented on the video, I had not wanted to see another bailout for fat-cats who abuse the privilege of earning their living through our Capitalist system, by their tendency towards greed and corrupt and deceitful activities. Ideologically, they are the most likely segment of our society to condemn socialism. Yet they want us to take care of their gold-plated machine. "Let the 'little guy' compensate for our lack of management and foresight," is like saying "Let them eat cake."

But after watching this video, I think that bailiing out the U.S. auto industry may be a necessary evil. So many jobs will be lost by people who do NOT live gold-plated lives. Countless families will suffer in more ways than we can anticipate.

What do YOU think?

Enchanted Forest in Sierra Club's "Daily Ray of Hope" Feature

My photo "Enchanted Forest" is being used in today's Sierra Club "Daily Ray of Hope," along with the following quote from Sandra Day O'Connor:

We don't accomplish anything in this world alone... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.

This beautiful ornamental kale caught my eye late one early-winter afternoon when my husband and I were on our way to meet friends for dinner. Since my husband cannot stand to be late, I had to hustle to take this shot. It was one of those lucky times when I just happened to have my camera with me.

The kale, in a planter outside a store downtown, was so delicate and just glowing in the afternoon light. I felt I HAD to move up close on it. Looking through its leafy arms was like looking into an enchanted forest.

My thanks to Cara at Sierra Club for using my image. I love nature and want to see it preserved, so I'm very happy with this kind of usage (with my permission) of my photos!

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My thanks also to Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage for the gorgeous set of cards and envelopes she gifted me with! Here's the pomegranate photo she sent, which I had admired on one of her posts.

All her photos are beautiful, and her site looks just great. If you haven't visited Cindy, go on over for a look at her work and to read about her gardening and kitty escapades! Her love for nature and life come through in everything she does.

If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Flourishing in Golden Light

A single tree seems to stand proudly over this open and breathtaking landscape south of Sedona, Arizona, aglow in the golden light. Even places we think of as arrid, teem with life in many forms. I love the shadows over the rolling hills and the huge expanse of blue sky. I'll be posting more Arizona and Sedona photos this week, as time permits!

Image c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Stunning Rocks, Saguaro Cacti, Roosevelt Lake & Other Views from Tonto Forest

My husband and I are still visiting with family in Arizona, and we've taken a day or two to travel to our favorite places. I haven't had the opportunity to post, but today I'm finally taking the time to do so. I hope you enjoy these photos of scenic Arizona. This state is full of breathtaking landscapes and natural wonders. These are views from our airplane as we flew in, approaching Roosevelt Lake from the east. It was a spectacular scene, even from the smudged window of our plane!

A few days later, we drove north into the Tonto Basin and spent an afternoon looking at the sights. Below is a view of Roosevelt Lake from the west, taken on the path that runs up to the Tonto National Monument, which consists of ruins from the Salado people who inhabited the Tonto Basin in central Arizona between 1150 and 1450 A.D. The Salado culture was named for the Salt River (Rio Salado) that was so important to their way of life.

The rocks along the path were as beautiful as the larger panoramas of the lake. Naturally, I had to shoot a lot of them in spite of the bees that were flitting too close to my face, even buzzing near my ear, on this too-hot autumn day. Imagine, 95 degrees for the entire last two weeks of October! Thankfully the weather was dry, making the heat a bit more bearable. The rocks were full of copper, another hiker told me, but I really have no idea what the composition of the mountain was. I saw layers of red rock and shards in what seemed like a million colors and configurations. One day I'll have to do some research on this.

Here's a view of the huge Saguaro cacti from the path leading down from the ruins. I've heard that each arm of the cactus represents almost a hundred years of growth! (I didn't go into the ruins on this trip, because the bees and yellow wasps were still so active. I've been told that they often nest in the "caves.")

It's hard to believe how fertile and alive the desert is. Far from barren or lifeless, the diversity of plants and animals is stunning.

Here are some flowers blooming along a garden wall in Phoenix, where the flora and fauna are more manicured!

We drove north to Sedona a few days later, and the scenery there was just as majestic and inspiring. If I have time to post again this week, I'll share some of those shots with you.

I hope you enjoyed these. I've missed you all, although I've enjoyed the time away from sitting at my desk and computer!

Just a reminder to my blogging friends in the USA: Let's all get out there and VOTE on Election Day! Our democracy depends on our participation!

All images are copyright 2008 Lynda Lehmann.