January 2021 - Barbara Sefran Art

Blue Moon Mandala

You might see a moon like this only once in … a blue moon! When a title for some art piece just arrives to me and I like it, it sticks!

In this case, what I began with reminded me of the way a full moon often looks in a dark sky, when you see the clouds around the moon lit up. The moon on that night, the real moon, had a shadow somewhat resembling the Ying-Yang sign, which happens to be a favorite symbol of mine.

The symbol was familiar to me many years before I knew what it meant, because, when I was a young child, my Dad subscribed to a magazine with that symbol, in red and white, on the cover. Many elements of early Taoism still appeal to me. So I decided to put one in my picture!

Art Method follows, for those who are interested:

This was made by my favorite method: chance, natural processes, liking a pattern, plus foto-fiddling.

This is a “black plate” piece. My “black” plate is a Japanese-style small square plate (made in China) and glazed with a dark–grey, pewter-like , “metallic” glaze. When certain liquids left on it dry, they form dried puddles in various shapes, different each time. On a photo of the plate, I draw out the colours which I want, and add or change other details as I wish to.

What do I mean by drawing out the colours? As painters know, grey is not always a mixture of black and white but may be made by mixing complementary colours. The beautiful thing is that colours reside almost everywhere, even tho’ you may not notice them! If you take a photo of a dark scene, and later try to increase the saturation of the darkest areas, you may find, not black, but coloured pixels. You may be able to look at the corners of a darkening room and see that the grey is not black-white, but a scintillating “grey” made of the colours which you see in the daylight.

Here is the black plate original. I up-saturated the colours, found shapes which I wished to emphasize, and drew a ying-yang symbol in the centre.

You might be able to “see” certain animals around the moon, if you try really hard! 🙂

Message

The next message you need is always right where you are. -Ram Dass

Blue Barky Abstract

This is one of several abstracts inspired by the beautiful patterns of bark on trees.

It was made from a photo of greyish tree bark. I up-saturated it and re-coloured parts, but otherwise altered very little, since I liked it the way it was. (And, for the record, I also love tree bark just the way it naturally is ! ) 🙂

A City called life: Alone

From the City Called Life Series : Alone

What a lovely surprise to finallly discover how unlonely being alone can be.- Ellen Burstyn

The longer one is alone, the easier it is to hear the song of the earth.
-Robert Anton Wilson

Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying. -Martin Luther

Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets. -Paul Tournier

Language has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone; and it has created the word “solitude “to express the glory of being alone.- Paul Tillich

When I’m alone, I can sleep crossways in bed without an argument. – Zsa Zsa Gabor

I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone. -Robin Williams

The Tree knows its roots!

“The Tree” in this series, represents the individual person or our society in general.

“ To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul”
-SIMONE WEIL

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The concept of roots interests me in so many ways :

Root systems display the branching pattern seen in so many places in nature, roots for nourishment, connection, transportation, information . . . survival !

Roots as in origins: I note that about half of my friends, like many Canadians, were not born in Canada, where we live, and thus, at some point in their life were “uprooted”, as was I. Or perhaps our families moved when we very young. For everyone, finding true roots (and for some, “new roots”) and continuing to nourish those roots, is a lifelong process.

Roots as stability: one who is rooted does not get easily blown down by a storm!

Where do you feel rooted, where do you belong : in your body, family, friends, work, community, country, World, practice, faith, Nature, Universe, or…. …? So many possibilities!