Halloween Feature: Ghosts

The Ghost
Copyright 2011 Addie Hirschten
Watercolor on Paper
Prints available on Fine Art America

So the truth is I have a lot of ghosts in my life. Not literal ghosts but people, folks who aren't beside me because they are either dead or far away, who inspire me to create.

These are my muses.
They propel me to keep on keeping on... to celebrate the joy of living.

I still feel the love of these dead artists....

Isadora Duncan
"You were wild once, don't let them tame you."

Shakespeare
"Our doubts are our traitors and make us loose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt."

Zelda Fitzgerald
"She was conscious that the things she did were the things she always wanted to do."

Oscar Wilde
"Life is too important to be taken seriously."

The love of these people is like a beacon to me.  I attempt to reflect it back.  In this way the ghosts of people haunt us, pushing us to not waste one minute of our lives.

Happy Halloween!

Weaving Webs

Weaving Webs
Copyright 1999 Addie Hirschten
Watercolor on Paper
Prints Available on Fine Art America

Once she had promised Wilbur she was going to save his life, Charlotte was determined to keep her promise. Day after day, she hung from her web and waited patiently for an idea to come to her. 

-E. B. White, From Charlotte's Web

The Abyss

The Abyss
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"
Original Available on Etsy

It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life.

Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.

-Joseph Campbell

Friday Feature: Phoebe Anna Traquair

"The Victory" by Phoebe Anna Traquair

Symbolism... romance... rainbows... singing birds...

love, love, love
Phoebe Anna Traquair.
(The image above is embroidered ya'll!!!)

"Love's Testament" by Phoebe Anna Traquair

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly.

-Yeats

Yes- Elvis knows best... "don't be cruel to a heart that's true."

 

Falling Light

Falling Light
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
18" x 24"

Listen. Put on morning.

Waken into falling light.

A man's imagining

Suddenly may inherit

The handclapping centuries

Of one minute on this earth.

-W.S. Graham

White River in October

White River in October
Copyright 2011 Addie Hirschten
Acrylic on Paper
Prints available on Fine Art America

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.

-Norman Maclean

 

Ancient Clay

Ancient Clay
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
18" x 24"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Let us remember within us

The ancient clay,

Holding the memory of seasons.

That we may awaken,

To live to the full

The dream of the Earth

Who chose us to emerge

And incarnate its hidden night

In mind, spirit and light.

-John O'Donohue

The Beginning

The Beginning
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"
Original painting available on Etsy

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,

Where your thoughts never think to wander,

This beginning has been quietly forming,

Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,

Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,

 Noticing how you willed yourself on,

Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

-John O'Donohue

Friday Feature: Van Gogh

The Red Vineyard at Arles by Van Gogh

If I had to be banished to a deserted island and could only bring one book I would choose my Van Gogh.  His work is infinitely rich in color, texture and composition.  I think that he was able to capture the movement of creation, the balance of sticks and leaves and water and air... 

bursts of color.  

In 1997? (maybe) I got to see the works from the Van Gogh Museum when their collection was in Washington DC.  What was most amazing about seeing his work in person was how thick the paint was, thick and downright sloppy when you are closeup.  But if you back up- the whole picture is polished and bold. Because he allowed for imperfections he better reflected the rough and gruff essence of the real natural world.

If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint' then by all means paint 
and that voice will be silenced.
-Van Gogh

And yeah... just like all of my other featured artists this month he is dead.  The worst part of his story being that only his brother gave his any real support and recognition before he got lost in despair and committed suicide.

Let us not allow this to happen to our friends.

Let us support each other.

Let us recognize the brilliance in every person so that from them this kind of work can emerge.

For My Cricket

For My Cricket
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
24" x 48"
Prints Available on Fine Art America

Open longing

for what I have been waiting for

your heart over mine.

When I listen

the crickets and sounds

of the earth burn.

Can you see the 3 crickets?

The Spirit

The Spirit
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"
Original available on Etsy

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.

-Albert Schweitzer

I Thought the Sun

I Thought the Sun
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints Available on Fine Art America

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the endless skies.

-Ewan MacColl

So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.
-Baha'u'llah

The Haunt of Day

The Haunt of Day
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
 Prints available on Fine Art America

This living hand, now warm and capable 

Of earnest grasping, would, if it were cold

And in the icy silence of the tomb,

So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights

That thou would wish thine own heart dry of blood

So in my veins red life might stream again,

And thou be conscience-calm'd- see here it is- 

I hold it towards you.

-Keats

Friday Feature: Whistler

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket by Whistler

Another dead artist to light at candle for:

James Abbott Whistler.  

One of the first artists to proclaim that the purpose of art was simply, "art for art's sake" Whistler wanted for art to not be a slave to reality but to "bring forth from chaos glorious harmony."  His work gives a delicate sense of atmosphere making him an influential 'pre-impressionist.'  

Rather like shit, Whistler declared...

"Art happens- 

no hovel is safe from it,

no prince can depend on it,

the vastest intelligence cannot bring it about."

Venetian Scene by Whistler

Mayan Calendar

Mayan Calendar
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas

Most of you would probably look at this image and it is just another Mayan calendar harbinger of doom for this year but for me it is something else...

About 13 years ago (has it really been that long?) I moved in with a certain man friend who shall remain nameless.  He had this Mayan calendar that was made of metal.  I decided that I hated it because it had a big dent in it... and, well, I am ashamed to say, I threw it away.  I am really amazed now that I look back on it that he wasn't livid.  I mean... I totally would have dumped me.  Then again... around the same time period he barfed on my face while I was in a deep REM sleep.  So maybe we were even?  Regardless I still feel bad about the whole thing and recently decided to make him a new Mayan calendar as a peace offering.  Thanks to him for his friendship!  I am so grateful.

Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.

-Picasso

The Perfumed Flower

The Perfumed Flower
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
24" x 48"
Prints Available from Fine Art America

Little flower with its perfumed stamen,

singing,
sipping from the stream of you-

our song continues.

-Ikkyu Sojun

Blooms at Each of my Steps

Blooms at Each of my Steps
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints Available from Fine Art America

Now I am going to reveal to you something which is very pure, a totally white thought,

it blooms at each of my steps...

the Dance is love, it is only love, it alone, and that is enough.

I would like to no longer dance to anything but the rhythm of my soul.

-Isadora Duncan, Founder of Modern Dance

Before and After

Before

After

After

My daughter was assigned to do a community project.  I gave her a couple of choices and we decided to clean up the "no-man's land" between our neighborhood and a section of businesses.  This is a spot that a lot of people pass through and use as a trash can.










 
We cleaned up the space (3 large trash bags worth!), painted bricks to decorate the path, and planted flowers.









And one really cool thing... since we spruced up the path no one has dumped any litter there!

As people are walking all the time, in the same spot, a path appears.

-John Locke

Friday Feature: Hundertwasser

Abstract by Hundertwasser

Another awesome dead artist to honor, Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

To express his distaste for unnaturally structured society, Hundertwasser renounced the straight line.  His paintings are spontaneously abstract and colorful.  In architecture he pushed organic shape to the edge and planted trees on the tops of buildings.  

Hundertwasser Building

 How can I not admire this out of the box, environmentalist who had no qualms about taking his clothes off in public?  He was rad I tell you.

Here is his story...

In 1928 Friedensreich Stowasser was born in Vienna, Austria.  His mother was Jewish and his father was Catholic.  During World War II Friedensreich and his mother lived in fear that the Nazis would discover their Jewish heritage.  After seeing the geometric marching formations of the Nazi soldiers Friedensreich grew to detest the straight line.  To him the straight line represented oppressive totalitarian governments.  When he later became a painter and architect he incorporated organic flowing lines into his work instead.

Friedensreich wanted to encourage life to be free from oppression and more sync with nature.  When he designed buildings he used no straight lines and put trees on the rooftops.  He felt that if trees had to be torn down to build a building people should replace them on the tops of buildings.  He felt that the closer humans are to nature the closer they are to their true selves.  He wanted for buildings to fit the  human body and cater to its needs.

Friedensreich changed his name several times.  He became most well-known under the name “Hundertwasser” which means one hundred waters.  He also went by the names “Renentag” which means rainy day and “Dunkelbunt" which means darkly multi-colored. 

Thoughts:  Hundertwasser is best known for turning things upside down in a revolutionary way.  He brought a breath of fresh air to the world of architecture.  He wasn’t afraid of changing his name, splashing bright paint everywhere and even taking his clothes off in public!  Sometimes when someone has experienced extreme oppression and seen the horrible consequences of it they can open our eyes to new ways of seeing the world, changing it for the better.   

Classroom Ideas:  For painting projects students can create designs using no straight lines but spirals and circles inspired by Hundertwasser’s work.  I’ve also done an architecture lesson with children where we redesigned our elementary school.  The school had no playground because it is in the inner city of Indianapolis so many of the students added playground equipment to their designs.  Imagine our delight when the next year the school was renovated to include a playground on the roof!  Hundertwasser would have been proud

Crickets on the Canal

Crickets on the Canal
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints Available on Fine Art America 

The spirit of the valley never dies... 

it is continuous, 

and is always existing.  

Use it and you will never wear it out. 

-Lao-Tzu

Seeing a Thing

My Palette

There is a great deal of difference between looking at a thing and seeing a thing.

And one does not see anything until one sees its beauty.

-Oscar Wilde

The Tree of Life

Tree of Life
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America 
Original painting available on Etsy $485.

He who plants a tree, plants a hope.

- Lucy Larcom

The Goddess Brigid

The Goddess Brigid
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

The Celtic Goddess Brigid represents light and wisdom, the hearth, the home and childbirth.  According to the legend she married Bres, an Irish king of a rival tribe in the hopes of uniting the people of Ireland and ending the war.  One of her sons died in the battle that continued despite her efforts to create peace.  

Here Brigid stands pregnant with the energy of life flowing from her.

You never understand life until it grows inside of you.

-Sandra Chami Kassis