Firestorm: New Abstract Expressionist Painting to Benefit Japan

Firestorm - Image c 2011 Lynda Lehmann

I painted this piece last week, and I think it expresses my emotional response to recent events in Japan. In view of the ongoing devastation, grief and loss of the Japanese people, who have lost their homes, their towns and infrastructure and their loved ones, and who are facing the dire consequences of nuclear contamination, I will donate all profits from this painting to the American Red Cross Japan Fund. By that I mean all proceeds minus the fee (if any) due to whichever artist's site I may sell it on. Shipping is always the customer's responsibility. 

"Firestorm" is 22 x 28 inches, painted in acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas. It can be framed or hung without a frame. 

My price is $900.00.  By donating the proceeds of this painting to the people of Japan, I can afford to give a more sizable donation than I would otherwise make.  Maybe it will buy some clothing, food or drinking water for a family who has lost everything.

Let's pray for their comfort and healing, and for the nuclear nightmare they're faced with, to be adequately dealt with and over. As for the rest of humanity, I hope we'll learn to make better choices in our energy policy, and become more aware of the consequences of letting corporate interests and lobbyists push dangerous technologies. 

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

Notes on the Fragility of Life

Coming Into Being - Lynda Lehmann c 2010

Recent media coverage of the Gulf oil spill has been a reminder of the preciousness of life, now put in jeopardy by corporate greed. Let's not forget that the sea is the BASE of the

food chain

. Instead of a sparkling, vital and beautiful ocean bursting with

magnificent

life forms of unimaginable variety and scale, I'm afraid

we may have rendered much of it a lifeless, poisoned, toxic soup. And I'm afraid it may not recover for centuries. If ever...

And how far will the poison spread? Pollution has no boundaries, especially in the fluid dynamism of the sea.

All because our human societies do not promote rational limitations on what both governments and corporations can do. All because we look at the short-term gain instead of considering long term ramifications and a wider view of The Common Good... Because we've gone to the moon but haven't been able to legislate rational limits to the destructive forces unleashed by habits of Consumerism and its untidy extremes: greed and entitlement.

Looking at the tiny, emerging blossom in the photo above, I'm reminded of just how delicate the tender shoots of plants are, how delicate the physical manifestations of each species. All of life on Earth is comprised of delicate cells, tissues, membranes and organs. They are not made of plastic or clay. Each is made up of an orchestrated unfolding and cooperation of trillions of cells. In short, the chain is as strong as its weakest link. So it is with life systems. What the cell cannot withstand, is reflected by orders of magnitude in the health and longevity of the entire organism.

Consider your own cellular structure, protected on the outside by your "integument." Your skin is actually your largest organ. But consider as well, how easily damaged it is, by a burn or abrasion, or worse: caustic chemicals or radiation. So it is with the Earth, comprised of many life forms of wonderful and miraculous diversity. But each organism on our planet is vulnerable, and whole forms of life, which we call "species," have already become extinct. That means that in spite of the fact they they once flourished, they are now gone from the face of our planet forever!

So it is that when we damage whole ecosystems, we damage the integrity of Earth and all her inter-related species. Life is not to be taken for granted. It is not a given. It's made up of a statistically improbable, miraculously coinciding alliance of chemical and mechanical events that generate Life.

The creative force at the center of the universe may be powerful and enduring beyond our comprehension. But the species that populate our precious green planet, are not. And we are one of them.

As Chief Seattle said:

"

All things are bound together. All things connect......

Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission by the author/artist, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved.

HELP HAITI NOW!

The human condition leaves much to be desired. Now we have the Haiti earthquake, reminding us that none of us are immune to natural disasters. Death is the great equalizer.

To me, it’s important to hang on to my values in the face of disaster and in spite of personal trials and tribulations (which of course pale when compared to the more dire scenarios unfolding around the globe).

I think, for all of us, when there is tragedy in the world, it's important to do SOMETHING to help! If you can’t rush off to a foreign land to rescue people, help your ailing parent or neighbor. Or make a donation, however small it may have to be....

As the death toll in Haiti rises, and we are numbed by the scope of the tragedy, let's get our minds and hands in gear to make donations. If you think you are poor, envision being a small child sleeping in the chaos and rubble of the street without parents, food or water. Send money for a blanket or a few gallons of water!

CNN has an extensive list of organizations who can help. I just made my donation to the American Red Cross. You can do it by phone or online. I did mine online in about one minute's time. I only wish I had done it yesterday. People are suffering.

Let's send more than love and prayers. There's no time to waste; lives are waning.

Let's start the New Year with empathy and compassion. Here's a link where you will find many choices of organizations who will send aid.

http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/impact/

All text copyright Lynda Lehmann. All rights reserved.

If you would like to view 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.