Life Is In The Balance

Monarch and Milkweed; in progress     Today I am laying out Monarch and Milkweed, the fourth drawing in my Life is in the Balance series funded by the New York State Council on the Arts. These drawing are inspired by a lifetime of immersing myself in the natural world and my experiences as a recent transplant to Brooklyn, NYC. The series is influenced by Islamic geometric art - a beautiful marriage of science and art. I have been creating art referencing this geometry for over 40 years. I appreciated it on a purely visual level but as I am learning more about the philosophy, I realize it is the patterns that are important. Syed Jan Abas and Amer Shaker Salman in Symmetries of Islamic Patterns indicate that the geometry mirrors the harmony of nature and defines that which is infinite and perfectly beautiful. So  it is actually a marriage of science, art and spirituality. It is the significance of seeing those patterns in life that really hit me emotionally. I don't always ...

                                 Waterlilies, mixed media, 30"x30", Caran d'Ache on paper, 3.7.2023   The light at the end of the tunnel is in sight. What I need now is a bit of magic. I am adding fish to create a more realistic scene and adding black around the blue circles and rushes to unify the imagery.  I want to also add reflections in the water.  TBD is it pulls it all together!  I do like the silhouette of the dragonflies. I think they would be lost other wise.   I want to remember that a major theme of this work/series of drawings is patterns and seeing patterns. What does that mean and how do we do it? I am pondering that question.