ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES

Small wall sculpture by Ben Wolf

Uneven edges....

Kathryn Frund. See more work by Kathryn here.

Tactile edges....

Michelle Y Williams. See more here.

Rough edges...

Terri Brooks. See Terri's blog here.

on canvas, wood or paper....


Pradeep Neruka. See more here.

all add to the charm of these pieces.

Lin Yan. See more here.

Whether it's a painting, a collage, assemblage or a piece of jewellery...

Necklace by Deborah Rudolph. Onyx, aquamarine, silver, kevlar. See more of Deborah's work here.

 a tea bowl....

Alain Vernis. See more here.

Katsumi Kako. See more here.

Katsumi Kako
or sculpture.....

Sculpture by Ursula Vonrydingsvard. See website here.

the rough edges create excitement.

WATER THERAPY

Rain. Fiberglass sculpture by Nazar Bilyk. See more of Nazar's work here.

I love to be near water though I rarely swim. I would much rather walk in the shallows, soothed by the wavelets lapping at my ankles .....

Robert Rauschenberg. I found this image on Tumblr.

... or paddle knee deep in rock pools searching for pebbles and cowries that have been trapped there on the out going tide.

Jen Bradford. See more details of her work on Flickr, here.

I can't resist mountain streams whether I'm wading in them or sitting on a rock staring into the water.

Baleen by Andrew Wyeth. There are many more images here.

There is a stream on the other side of our garden wall and though I can't see it unless I'm at the wall peering over I can always hear it. It is the music I listen to while I carve or when I'm falling asleep at night.

Detail from The River Map Scrolls by Lorna Crane. I love this piece! Read blog post about The River Map Scrolls here.

Water from the River by Lorna Crane. See Lorna's website here.


WATER by Pablo Neruda
Everything on the earth bristled, the bramble

pricked and the green thread
nibbled away, the petal fell, falling
until the only flower was the falling itself.
Water is another matter,
has no direction but its own bright grace,
runs through all imaginable colors,
takes limpid lessons
from stone,
and in those functionings plays out
the unrealized ambitions of the foam.

Water Overflowing by Linda Nardelli. This piece takes me straight to the beach shallows. See Linda's website here.

Oh if only ! Water Swing (in Dalyan, Turkey) by Emma Holland. Flickr photo stream here.

Shallows by Hanna Kay. See more of Hanna's work here.

Tryptic by Stuart King.

Beach Walk by Cindy Tonkin. Acrylic and collage. See more of Cindy's work here.

Kathryn Frund at the Chase Gallery. See more of Kathryn's work here.

Corroboration by Anthony J. White. Oil on Linen. See website here.

LETTERS FROM AFAR

Souvenirs of the wounded by Hugh Shirley

Those who have spent time in boarding school will know how important receiving post is when living far from family and home. Every lunch time we would all congregate in the quad while a prefect read out the names of those with post. I will never forget that feeling of euphoria when my name was read out. It was wonderful to receive one letter but two, three or four would make me feel quite giddy. Some of the girls received thick bundles of envelopes tied up with string and others would wait for days or weeks without receiving any mail at all.


I found this image on Tumblr.

My mom was always very good about sending a few letters a week. Some envelopes were thick with cuttings from newspapers and magazines, pressed flowers, snippets about the goings-on at the farm, jokes and anything she thought would cheer me up. I was not a happy boarder!


Out of Context by Janet Jones. See Janet's website here.

Valentine's day at boarding school was an important occasion which we all looked forward to because the prefects intercepted the post and actually opened and read the cards out in front of the school. Some of the messages were rather steamy and others were extremely soppy which would have us all rolling around on the floor with laughter. 

Kathryn Frund. See more of Kathryn's work here.

Cecil Touchon. See more of Cecil's work here.

Love Letter series by Crystal Neubauer. Read about the series at Crystal's blog, here.

"The series is built around a stack of love letters found stashed inside a wall in my mothers childhood home.

All of the letters are written to Gerald "Jerry" from his sweetheart Mary, as he travels around the state in the late 1920s looking for work. In the end Mary breaks Gerald's heart by telling him she can never be the kind of girl he needs her to be for marriage.

Background is comprised of original pages of love letters, which have been sampled by the mice and ravaged by time. Other elements include texts, cloth, objects and photographs relevant to that time. " - Crystal Neubauer

Photo mosaic of a carving I did for someone living far from home. See my website here.

SLATE, SEA AND SKY

Sea by Susan Barnes. See more of Susan's seascapes here.

I was browsing through Douglas Robertson's blog and found a poem by Norman Bissell from his book Slate, Sea and Sky. I love the poem and it fits well with the theme of this post.

Weather I by Susan Barnes. See more here.

Sounds

Sometimes here
it’s hard to tell
the sound of the wind
from the sound of the waves
or the sound of the waves
from the sound of the rain
or the sound of the wind
and the waves and the rain
from the sound of my breath.

- Norman Bissell

Drawing by Douglas Robertson. See website here.

Douglas Robertson writes, "The poem is a fabulous wealth of ideas for me, the lines evoking strong moods and images of the sea, and stirring many personal memories and experiences of the Atlantic coast of Scotland."

Caain' Whaals by Douglas Robertson. See website here.

Most of Doug's art is inspired by the sea and poetry. I love his drawings of whales and most of all I love his carved wooden whales. Browse through his blog , here and read about Sounds, the triptych he is working on, inspired by Norman's poem.

Douglas Robertson's beautifully carved wooden whales. See blog here.

Moon by Susan Barnes. See Susan's work at Green Hut Galleries, here.

The Space Between the Light by Kathryn Frund. See more here.

A Connected Solace by Kathryn Frund. See more here.

After the Storm by Amadea Bailey. See more of Amadea's work here.

Wind from the Sea by Andrew Wyeth

..... AND WISDOM COMES QUIETLY

By the Seaside. Mixed Media by Linda Nardelli.

"Come away from the din.
Come away to the quiet fields,
over which the great sky stretches,
and where, between us and the stars,
there lies but silence;
and there, in the stillness
let us listen to the voice
that is speaking within us." - Jerome K. Jerome

Head in the Clouds. Mixed media by Linda Nardelli. Website here.


There are times when I gravitate toward art that invites stillness, introspection and connection with the greater scheme of things.

Begin with the Breath by Linda Nardelli

Linda Nardelli's work originates from a profound inner realm. "It becomes an alter of spirituality and a place for healing" - Linda Nardelli

Motion in Stillness by Kathryn Frund. See exhibition at the Chase Gallery, here.

"Kathryn Frund’s compositions… are landscapes of the mind – vast visions of barren desert, slate seas, and familiar but unidentifiable objects and places that read like hazy memories." - Ken Shulman

Quiet Hope by Kathryn Frund

Talking Low in a Boat by Bill Gingles

Goose Honk, Stillness by Kurt Jackson

Collage by Joanna Nash

Mirage. Mixed Media by Janet Jones

Crystal Crescent Beach by Tom Ward

"Let us spend one day as deliberately as nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing that falls on the rails. Let us rise early and fast, or break fast, gently and without perturbation .... Let us not be upset and overwhelmed in that terrible rapid and whirlpool .... If the engine whistles, let it whistle till it is hoarse for its pains. If the bell rings, why should we run." - Henry David Thoreau

Forest Floor. Oil and acrylic on paper by Michael Porter

Monotypye by Jylian Gustlin