Enchantment Before Twilight

Bathed in Evening Light - Lynda Lehmann c 2011

 
NOTE:  I have picked these two photos from my archives to post with this poem, as I could not shoot while paddling.  But they don't do justice to the beautiful play of light, water and sky I witnessed on this occasion.  Nor do my words suffice, but I write them in homage.

Enchantment

Thunderheads form and morph: vast cumulonimbus canyons turn from white to gray to orange or silver-rimmed.  They stand silent, at a distance.  Evening sunlight's warm caress, wraps a golden light over the emerald island: a jewel-like scene that seems to shimmer with benevolence and promise.  Verdant glowing hues band outward from the island's shore, reflected with sky tones and bands of gold and black in the flowing stream.

Pale violet clouds in cauliflower forms bifurcate and move higher, until they reach the towering nimbus state.  
So far beneath them, paddling the lake in my tiny blue kayak, I feel my smallness.  
Each dip of my paddle brings up droplets that make whirlpools as they fall back onto the water's surface.  A line of whirlpools ripples smaller as each moves forward from the first set of spreading circles.  I can hear each drop fall and watch it meld.  Ensconced in the drama of whirlpools and lace-like water doilies, my boat is couched in a pattern of of subtle movement: energy waves strong enough to be visible, yet insignificant to the larger universe.  Yet, with my persistent stroke, I have made them.  I watch the forms disperse as they merge back into the infinite and undulating sea. I do not have the power of nimbus clouds, but I make my own music, just the same.
I feel complete, ensconced in the luxury of light show and water symphony, while the sky plays its pastel counterpoint.  
It's hard for me to believe there's room for conflict, greed, and suffering in this world, while I am surrounded by all that seems holy.  
-- Poem c Lynda Lehmann 2011 

Enchantment - Image c 2010 Lynda Lehmann

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission from me, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my sites at http://www.absolutearts.com/lyndalehmann/ or http://LyndaLehmann.imagekind.com/ if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. Or you can Google my name to see my other sites and links. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog.

Mid-Winter Beach Walk: A Sounds-of-Nature Video

For your pleasure. This video is about six minutes long. Watch as much or as little as you like.

I have to laugh at the dark shadow of my fuzzy black winter hat, appearing like a Darth Vader-type entity at the edge of the video. And the hat fibers that flutter into some of the frames like wayward bats!

Needless to say, I need a better camera than my point-and-shoot, to make quality videos. In order to upload it, I had to compress the file to under 100 MB, so that reduced the quality, as well.

Even with gloves, a heavy coat and a hat, I nearly froze myself. But next time, I promise: I won't wear a hat!

I hope you enjoy my little beach movie!

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.

Earth Speaks In Many Voices

Listen closely: she is talking to you!

Life force flows in murmurs from the ground. Water gives and seeks more life, springs from unseen spaces to follow sand to sea. A great continuum. Serenity drifts on passages of life's long song.

(I tried in vain to get away from the house construction sounds, but it's been ongoing. Rather than let it disturb my mood, I listened more intently to the sounds of trickling water and screeching gulls. We will ALWAYS have our distractions to contend with, lol...)

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.

The Colors of Bark

I had no time to blog tonight, but I couldn't help myself. When I find 20 minutes or half an hour and start to work up an image, I have to see it through. So I'm addicted to photography, Photoshop, and blogging, all at once. Many times it gets in the way of my painting, which I'm trying to keep as my first priority. Especially as I have that show coming up.


This is the bark of a palm. I found it to be such a textural treat, and full of colors and character as well, that I had to post it! I love the sunlight playing on it, making it glow and come alive for the eye! If you look closely, you can see the blue, orange, and purple tones. I'm truly coming to believe that some of the most stunning and magnificent scenes are to found in very small things, or portions of those things. And nature is the thing I like the most!


Do you find beauty in this image, or am I just blinded by the (sun) light?


If you want to see more of my photography, or my paintings, please visit www.lyndalehmann.com. My other sites are listed there. Thanks for stopping by!

"Last Light" at Saatchi Gallery Showdown

I've entered "Last Light" into the next round of the Saatchi Showdown. If you like it, you can vote for it on a scale from one to ten, ten being the highest. Votes for this round start on 12-17 and end on 12-24. This abstract acrylic has an optical quality. I painted it on 18 x 24 inch gallery-wrapped canvas. It was inspired by the rose, orange, and azure hues reflected on the lake surface after sunset. The play of colors in the water is like a light show, though the feeling it gives is much more moving and profound. Image c 2006 Lynda Lehmann.

With two clicks, you can vote for it here: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/showdown/index.php?showpic=105775 . Your kindness and support are much appreciated! If you don't have time, I understand!

Bark in the Park

No reference in this post to barking dogs intended, although yes, I've encountered many vocal pets in local parks. It's about "barkscapes." I love to enjoy the natural beauty of both the macrocosm and the microcosm. I think I've learned to take in both simultaneously, through the lens of my camera. And having a "real" microscope that I received for my 12th birthday, also opened my eyes to the amazing and often gorgeous detail below the threshold of our everyday vision.

I think that texture is the most universal underpinning of form--it's everywhere and part of every object, either natural or man made. (Now, f only I could hold my SONY D-SLR more steady! I'm looking for a lightweight monopod that will do the job, so if anyone has recommendations, I'm open to them. My tripod is just too heavy to tote around.)

Here are two photos of the same tree. A sycamore, perhaps? One is at "regular" focal distance and the other is a close up, though not quite a macro shot. In the second shot, I tweaked the colors just slightly and adjusted the brightness and contrast, to bring out the beautiful pattern. I think it makes a good abstract, don't' you?

One of Robert Genn's newsletters at his Painter's Keys site http://www.painterskeys.com/ was about Miksang, the art of seeing detail in everyday things. I tried to find the link to the article to post it here, but my computer started opening multiple windows and I had to close down, because my task manager wouldn't cooperate. You can search for it at his site if you want to read it.

After I read it, I realized I'd been practicing Miksang practically all my life!

My photographs and paintings are available for purchase at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/ and some of my other sites, which are linked there. Images and text c 2007 Lynda Lehmann. All rights reserved.

WAITING

A long line of slatted wooden porch chairs in an abstract pattern, seems to be waiting for sitters, or perhaps something else!

A large part of our lives is spent waiting for one thing or another. How much time we spend waiting is probably due to our expectations of life: do we believe in predestination or waiting for the hand of a higher power to intervene in our behalf, or do we take responsibility for our fates in spite of our varying beliefs in Deity?

Many of the world's cultures have, I believe, a myth of a sort of Cosmic Jester embedded somewhere in their mythology. According to books I have read, whose titles escape me at the moment, this notion is so prevalent, almost universal, that we have to question why this is so. It seems the Jester is seen as a sort of intermediary between the physical and spiritual worlds, i.e. between man and God. The Jester is the force responsible for synchronicity, or what I would call "meaningful coincidence." When one's life takes ironic turns and "special" or remarkable events seem to coincide with personal milestones or rites of passage, this becomes a tantalizing notion. Most of us have at least a few recollections of events in our lives that seemed to present us with some unique personal meaning, especially "fitting" for us as individuals living in the greater cosmic soup.

Which moves me into thoughts of energy, the eloquence and organized chaos of the universe, etc.

No matter where each of us stands on these issues, it's fun to speculate. No one knows the answers, and I suspect that truth is as fluid as the ocean. If only we could see the whole picture....

Which activities and passions we choose to pursue during our short lifetimes, determines who we are and shall further become, while we wait for answers.

Text and image c Lynda Lehmann. "Waiting" won a Special Recognition Award at a Period Gallery juried exhibition. A matted archival digital print of "Waiting" is available at www.lyndalehmann.com, on the last page of the site.