SPIRIT OF PLACE

Prayer, monotype with mixed media on paper by Sharmon Davidson

There are some places I feel such a deep connection to that on first arriving I become slightly breathless and have to take a few minutes to adjust to the power of the place..... if that makes sense. Some are places I've never been to before but from the first moment I am drawn to it.

Photo taken at Kosi Bay last October

I experienced this during my first trip to Kosi Bay last year. From the time my feet touched the sand and I began to walk along the broad expanse of beach for mile upon mile, I was overwhelmed by a sense of belonging... of connecting.

Bosley Cloud by Dean Entwistle

I felt similar emotions in some parts of Britain.

Yorkshire Dales, mixed media on canvas by Wendy Asprey

There are other places that I have known all my life that feel almost sacred and yet they also feel like home.

Guardians of Sacred Places by Bridgette Guerzon Mills

The Drakensberg is the place where I feel most at home, most happy and most alive. All my senses seem sharpened when I'm there and I am overawed by the beauty of mountains, forests and streams.

Photo taken on our last trip to Champagne Castle, Drakensberg. (KwaZulu Natal)

Sharmon Davidson's work creates in me the feeling of connection to a place.... sensing the history ..... of people gone before .... of stories ....of lives lived.

Waiting for the storm, mixed media/watercolour on paper by Sharmon Davidson

"The images are formed from the vocabulary of symbols that I've developed as I sought to express the theme that lies at the foundation of it all: a deep belief in the unity and connectedness of everything in the universe". - Sharmon Davidson

The Speed of Darkness, mixed media/watercolor on paper by Sharmon Davidson

"Ancient peoples believed that places had souls. The soul of a place could be found in the genius loci, the guardian spirit whose personality summed up the special characteristics of the location. A proper relationship to the genius loci was necessary in order for a person to dwell there responsibly. In return, the genius loci would nurture and protect the people of the place.

Even in the modern world the basic truth of this ancient relationship still holds: Places that are accorded the respect we have traditionally given to souls are better places as a result. And the people who live there have a better life, too, because places that long have been loved and taken care of can take care of those who dwell in them". - Elizabeth Vander Scaaf

Song of Solitude by Monique Janssen-Belitz

"Since I moved to New Mexico in the summer of 2007, I have been captivated by the enormous depth of the land and its vistas, the seemingly never-ending horizon, as well as by traces of ancient history still visible on the surface patina. The land of New Mexico speaks of enormous spiritual power, palpable in the steep rise of the bare mountains, the wide valley of the Rio Grande and the patterns scribbled over the desert by shrubs, grasses and human incursions. Ancient beliefs and rituals mingle in connection with the land and weather, affecting even the most transient of visitors." - Monique Janssen-Belitz

Lost Connections, mixed media on paper on stretched canvas by Monique Jansse-Belitz