Change

Wow! 2011 is here!
We're living in this paradox of wanting things in our life to change vs fearing the very same thing.
May this year be the fulfillment of beautiful expectancies.

Below is the body copy of the strip:

Change
When does it happen? And how?
I mean, you wait and wait
for this mythical day when things will change and your whole life will suddenly be better somehow.
As if a new car or a new job or a new boyfriend will be the new leaf in your life… as if it will fix everything somehow.
If only. If only I’ll get that job in the city.
Then I can move out of this sleepy town and my life can finally begin. I’ll start wearing heels to work & dress up as though I walked off the runway.
I’ll meet this attractive stranger in the elevator and it will be love at first sight – we’ll just know we’re meant to spend the rest of our lives together in holy matrimony. We’ll buy a house & a dog, have kids, never argue or be sick and live happily ever after.
If only is a dangerous game to play. Your life will live without you. You’ll wake up one day like Rip van Winkle and wonder where’s it gone.
I’m not even sure it is within our power to instigate change. Some advocate so brilliantly how we are the masters of our own destiny. What happens in our life is the stuff we allowed to happen. Yeah right.
Maybe you can control your emotions; the words you speak and the choices you make.
But what about the things that happen TO you? An accident? An illness?
Or the things that doesn’t, but you wish desperately so?
I guess it’s like that Beach Boys song, God only knows. And only God can really change your life.
I love that scene in Under the Tuscan Sun where they speak about the nature of faith. Francis Mayes wrote, “They built the train tracks over the Alps between Vienna and Venice before there was a train that could make the trip. They built them anyway. They knew the train would come.”
I suppose it’s up to us to build the tracks & wait for God to send the train.

The dog and his shadow

It has been a while since my last post, but this project has taken a little longer than anticipated. I've worked with scraperboard only once before and wanted to get a good feel for the medium. I wanted to explore different markmaking possibilities and whether they would appear different from the more fluid ink lines. I also wanted to see whether it is possible to create your own scraperboard to work on. I think the test went rather well. The lines of the brush to paint the gesso with added to its rugged appeal.

I chose the fable of the Dog and his Shadow to illustrate. There is a lot of truth in this fable for me. The dog was so lucky to come across a juicy steak, but when he left he saw his reflection in the water, and thinking it is another dog with another steak grabbed at it in his greed. The steak in his own mouth fell into the water, which left him with none. There is a lot of value to this fable. We can so easily miss the beauty & blessing already present in our lives. We need to learn gratitude.

Found wanting

I've just always loved this Indian Folk tale and thought it an apt time to illustrate. It sends a beautiful message of the complexity of female identity.

The Date

Ah, the dating game...

I kiss better

I've read this slogan somewhere and just knew it would look striking with a pinup inspired theme. I wanted her to be bold (hence the red), yet vulnerable.
I just love the crimson dress :) - wouldn't mind one of my own.

Your word is a promise

This Question

I'm finally connected to the internet again. Hurrah!
There are some stories that dwell in your thoughts in an annoying sort of way, but if you refrain from pinning them down they'll abandon you. This one got caught in time.

Breakfast

"I'll have another slice of that delicious man, please."

You are poetry to me

I'm walking again - awake, not dreaming.
Inhale deep, exhale... fresh air, new thoughts. How wonderful that the world is greater than you expect; there exist places you've never been to. I stop and take a picture, inhale. Though this reminds me of a Millet... only, there's more light and an overwhelmingly beautiful sky. Exhale. I remember a line of NP van Wyk's poem, it loops in my thoughts.
"En as ek dood is, sal alles nog so mooi wees?..."
(And when I die, will everything still be so beautiful?...)
I breathe you in and take you with me.

Back home I search for the rest of it:
"En as ek dood is, sal alles nog so mooi wees?...
die ylrooi bloeisels smôrens blink aan die perskeboom,
die wit wolke torings bou daar bo die verste berge,
die kalwers langs die kraalmuur smiddags lê en droom?
Sal daar nog warm plekkies son wees tussen donker bome,
en goggatjies nog teen die grassies klim,
as ek so ver is en daarvan nie weet nie,
en maar geen liggies voor my oog wil glim?
Sal voor my venster nog die rose somers rank,
die berge ver, so ver en blou wees,
die swaweltjies in waterklare lug draai,
en sal die gras nog hier so warm net soos nou wees?
Ek wil geen mooier wêreld hê as hierdie,
en wil nie blind wees, blind en doof en koud.
O sterf met my, o sterwe, skone wêreld,
hier in ons liefde eer jy dof word en so oud."

Pure as pearl

I've become a fan of weddings. Recently I was asked to shoot a couple's country wedding. The whole ceremony & scenery moved me so much that midway through I had to stop & wipe off the river of tears - probarbly not very professional.
In the bride's thank you letter to me she said pearls symbolises a wedding ceremony to her since both are symbols of purity. The beauty of both is born out of the lonely painful wait. Each bride stands pure in wait for her groom. That moment she sees him her pain of being lonely transforms into something beautiful - a gift to him - knowing she belongs only to him.
What a privilege to have been a witness to this kind of love.