Not quite polka

A late polka entry for Inspire Me Thursday. I like the liveliness and lightness of polka dot patterns and thought about creating something with polka dots all along, without ever finding the right combination of spare time and right mood. Today I pulled out the roll of a painting I'd started earlier this year. Noting that it had some round elements that had polka dot potential, I went to work with black for enhancement. The whole painting measures about 100 x 180 cm and is acrylic on orange kraft paper.

Transformation

From the last thoughts of Erica M. Youngblood

At age 45 I'd reached a point where I was willing to try anything to transform my imperfect physique. I'd always thought certain parts needed improvement – my overlong, sharp nose, my receding chin, my sagging bosom and flaring hips –, and when I chanced upon Madam Oryema through an ad in an esoteric magazine, I thought I had things licked. Little did I suspect that her patented blue shrinking pill would turn me into a candy-coated blue peanut. Here I am now, immobile on the floor, waiting for somebody to come in, sweep me up and dump me. Or worse: pick me up, wipe me and munch me.

Faithfully recorded by Leonard Blumfeld

Drawn and written for Inspire Me Thursday and 'Shrink'.

Well, I could ...

Do
I
have to?
Nice choice to-
day: sleep in? Go shop?
Paint? Write? Sheer opportunity ...

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2008)

It’s Saturday, so this is all true. For Sunday Scribblings #122.

Seven shadows

Seven things that cast shadows ... or remove shadows

1. Twists of fate (obviously these work both ways)
2. Love in all its insincere, fitful, joyous, painful and – ultimately, hopefully – genuine, unadulterated incarnations
3. Intersocial play ... the equality – inferiority – superiority game
4. The weather
5. The planets (anything can be blamed on planetary influences)
6. I myself
7. Constraints ... basically anything: taxes, traffic rules, work, the need to have dough ... anything that restricts freedom ... thank God for some of these

List inspired by Café Writing: "So, gimme seven things that cause shadows in your life OR gimme seven things that you do to chase the shadows away."

Black Mexican Turtles

The stylized black turtles (or what else could they be?) I brought back from Mexico many years ago. For Project Black Take 9.

On a blackened door

This one I found near London's Brick Lane this May.
Take 7 for Anna Carson's Project Black.

More about treasures found in Brick Lane.

Approaching black

Another city ground shot for Anna Carson's Project Black.
Shades of asphalt approaching black.

Black holes

Black holes in the city for Anna Carson's Project Black.

Has much black

The Old House in Hereford, UK, built in 1621
for Anna Carson's Project Black.

Twigs, blossoms, sunlight

Twigs, blossoms, sunlight
Acrylic on paper, 2002

Posted for healing at Inspire Me Thursday.

Even though I do not necessarily think of healing as a prime objective of my painting effort and paintings, there definitely is an effect I look for in what I paint and what I'd like viewers to experience.
Several years ago I had an art exhibition titled 'Between harmony and disharmony.' One of my friends who attended the opening said, "You know, in your previous shows there were some paintings that were disharmonious, but there's not a single one here today that feels that way to me." I took that as a compliment and accomplishment.
But back to the experience I'd like to evoke ... I'd like the people who look at my art to feel that they have received something best described, perhaps, as nourishment for the soul.
And that would qualify as some sort of healing, wouldn't it?

Leonard Blumfeld