Of Unknown Origin: The Mysteries of the Universe

Of Unknown Origin - Image c 2012 Lynda Lehmann

Nature cloaks herself in Mystery, not revealing "why." Perhaps She knows that telling, would destroy the quest. She gives us only inklings, some fragile, small glimpses, in order to preserve her Truths. And her message to us, another paradox, is: Protect to Partake.

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Please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or Lynda Lehmann at Imagekind to see more of my photography, digital art and paintings. You can find my art on great Zazzle products at my Watersky Store. My other sites and links are also listed in my blog sidebar. I hope you've enjoyed your visit!

In Search of Archetype and Metaphor: Bizarre

Bizarre - Image c 2012 Lynda Lehmann

I've just finished working on this surreal, narrative fantasy landscape with an owl and a large feline in a cave with eyes.  Yes, the cave has eyes.  
I'm making a series of images that I hope will appeal to the imagination and speak to the idea of archetype, metaphor and dream. I've always had a fascination for metaphor, and these images will reflect my personal search for the multiple dimensions of "inner life" that reside in each of us, as I explore ideas of consciousness and meaning, as well as create (as all art does) a new visual experience. 
This image is a bit scary, I think, but I can conjure no particular meaning.  I often wonder about the idea of art needing to have a "meaning" to be legitimate.  Could the meaning lie in just having the ability to evoke an emotional response?  What do you think?  Do emotions even have a place, anymore, in this age of entertainment, distraction, hype and excess?

NOTE: You can click on each photo to see a larger version. 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 sites at http://LyndaLehmann.imagekind.com/ or http://www.absolutearts.com/lyndalehmann/ if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. You can find a list of my other sites and links in my blog's sidebar. Or google my name for more links. I hope you enjoyed your visit!

Cavern Watch: Turning Inward Toward Metaphor

Cavern Watch - Image c Lynda Lehmann

The owl with his huge eyes and prominent brow is seen as watchful.  Is his vigilance a metaphor for the subconscious mind, perhaps?  He is often seen as a symbol of wisdom or an incarnation of awareness.  But could he be seen also as a symbol or harbinger of things to come?  Or even of the ultimate?  We all face death at the end of our individual and collective life cycles, so it makes sense that we would project our thoughts about our mortality onto some external symbol, in order to deal with our apprehensions.   
Seeing the owl as metaphor is widespread among cultures. What is it in our human psyche that pushes us to recognize or attribute comparisons by way of metaphor?  Is it inherent in our need to clarify or find meaning in the human experience, to understand our world?
For me, a cavern also makes a good metaphor.  I see it as an apt symbol for the inner workings of the individual psyche and for the human body, which "contains" the elements i.e. organs and awareness that we need to be alive, and to live what we call a "life." 
Plato, a student of Socrates, used the cave metaphor differently, in a parable in which Socrates explains the nature of true knowledge being beyond that which can be ascertained by watching shadows move against a wall in a cave setting, which you can read about here if you are interested.  
On a recent trip to Luray Caverns in Virginia, I had the pleasure of photographing many of the cave's remarkable formations.  As you can see, they can resemble anything from practical everyday objects to objects of magic or incarnations from what some cultures believe is the "Spirit World."

Hall of the Ancient Spirits - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Lake of the Underworld - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Primordial Cascade - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Greek classical philosophers and children's fables and fairy tales aside, what's your idea of a good metaphor?  Do you find that a particular symbol is prominent in your conscious mind and has special meaning for you?
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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!

No Illusions, Pulse of the Motherboard, In the Balance and Rising Green: New Digital Abstracts

I don't have much time to post this week, so I thought I would at least put up a few new digital works.  I love working with design and spatial relationships.  I think you could probably guess which title applies to which image, even if I didn't have them in consecutive order in the title of this post!
Is there one among the four that resonates with you more than the others?  If so, what do you think its appeal is for you?
Hope everyone is happy and healthy and taking some time for your favorite creative activity!

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!

In Every Inch, a World...

Texture Play - Image c Lynda Lehmann

The wild woody plexus knows
its own emergence
and certain of the sun,
wills itself to life.

Wrinkled welter of the arbor
yields to efflorescent splendor,
and springs forth in joyful verdure
to grasp the azure sky.

****

In the tangle of the thicket,
intimations of Everything...
and in every inch, a World.

- Poems c Lynda Lehmann




Bark Abstracts c Lynda Lehmann

(Note to my dear blogging friends: Any and all constructive criticisms of these two little poems are invited and will be gratefully accepted. What would you change? Which words would you leave out? Would you change the line breaks?)

HAPPY SPRING, EVERYBODY!

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art, 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 River Wakens

Morning on the River - c 2009 Lynda Lehmann

River stirs to morning light.

She yawns, and stretches--sleek silver-blue--

past distant field and copse.

Though smoothly, she quickens,

unfolds to light,

flowing past verdant hills and tawny ledges,

in glimmering contentment.

In the Shade of the Far Bank - c 2009 Lynda Lehmann

Text and images c 2009 Lynda Lehmann. Please visit me at www.lyndalehmann.com if you would like to see more of my photos, digital art, and abstract expressionist paintings.

The Yin and Yang of Water: Light and Shadow, Spray and Stone

Fluctuating Trunks

Spray and Stone

Amber

Shimmering Pool

Composition in Water and Stone

Taking It In

Water Pebbles

Wild Water, Sacred Stone

To me, metaphors like "The Tree of Life" or "The Perennial Stream" refer to God, to all of Creation, The One, the Universe, ALL, however you want to say it. It's the same thing: the generative power/miracle at the core of Life, that allows us to BE, as individuals and in diversity and relationship, connected to the larger scheme.

I see in all of nature (humankind included) the principle of differentiation and diversity, yet needing to, at the same time, stay aligned and empathic with The Whole.

A river flows downstream from the mountain above, as a singular, dynamic entity. But all its rhythms and patterns change as it turns, trickles, charges, and eddies over the changing terrain. As it is with the blowing leaves and the boughs on the trees.

We lose our personal power if we try to live it in a vacuum, isolated or unmindful of The Whole. Just as we lose our personal power if we attempt to guard or hoard it. We must interact, in concert with the larger truths of LIFE beyond our personal subjectivity.

I dedicate this post to all my blogging friends and especially to Max, because our discussions inspire me. You can read about paradox and duality, or Yin and Yang, at Wikipedia.

All text and images 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 buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Thoughts on The Tree of Life

Tree of Life - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Witness the great tree: the overarching Tree of Life.

It spreads and reaches....
soaking in light from above
to nurture the growth
of all its branches.

We are like the twigs,
works-in-progress growing,
turning, striving, streaming
and
bifurcating from branches
larger than we.

We are each rooted in
humanity, as each branch
springs from the tree.

But on a tree,
divergent branches although separate,
do not turn on themselves,
nor on others.
Nor do they ridicule those
weaker tentacles whose growth
does not rival their own.

Because they remember
being tender shoots
themselves,
barely differentiated from the flesh
of the great trunk,

they know their origin,
respect it,
and are humbled.

Mindful, they know their attachment
to something greater:
a force that nurtures them while still
enlisting them to provide.

There are no outcasts among branches.

Nor scorn for angling off
in a different direction.
For each twig and branch
sees its own way
towards the light.

****

The branch reaches far
yet gives thanks for its base,
its connection to
the larger tree.

No branch stands
on a pinnacle
to proclaim its sovereignty.
Lording not, over others.

Nor does it claim
more than its share
of root's nourishment
or succor of light.

A single branch
is gangly, awkward, lost...
unrelated...
yet a tree brims

with the hope
of all levels of life
reaching
for more of itself.

A branch splintered
from The Whole,
loses stability, sustenance, meaning.

Embedded in its cells,
the code,
calling for contribution
but not conformity...

to evolve in concert with The Whole.

We have much to learn
from mingled branches
that together stand proud, as
the Tree of Life.

A World of Their Own - Image c Lynda Lehmann

MY BLOGGING FRIENDS: Just a note to tell you that this will most likely be my last post for a week or two, because of other projects I have to attend to. Everything is fine; I'm just busy.

I WILL however, visit your sites and comment, and respond to your comments here. Any constructive criticism on the poem is most welcome! And I'll be back to post as soon as I can. Love and peace to you....

Journey - 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.