Mermaid Mardi Gras

While writing “The Book of Mermaids”, I learned that many mermaid celebrations, oddly enough, coincide with our human holidays. So I’m imagining there’s a bit of frolicking good fun going on beneath the ocean waves this last day of Mardi Gras. Bubble-lined parades, dancing in rock caverns, the drinking of rich, salty concoctions, and generally speaking, some swishy, swanky good times under the sea, complete with masks and costumes. (Note: It might feel a bit turbulent if you happen to be on a cruise, depending on how near you are to the festivities.) Happy Mardi Gras!

The Book of Mermaids

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52 Weeks of Peace (squared) / #61

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.”  ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Week #61 / 52 Weeks of Peace (squared) / © Patricia Saxton

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52 Weeks of Peace (squared) / #60

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” ~ C.S. Lewis

Week #60 / 52 Weeks of Peace (squared) / © Patricia Saxton

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“where in the world is peace?” … madagascar!

I suppose the only thing that could possibly have made this one even more exciting would have been if the movie characters had joined in!  (Not to mention a real zebra…) Thank you for this terrific image, and spreading the “52 Weeks of Peace” message farther and wider.

Peace mug overlooking city of Antananarivo, Madagascar


(ps:  you can see all “where in the world is peace?” images compiled on our special “where in the world is peace?” page. Totes, mugs and things are available here. Send your own pictures to 52weeksofpeace@gmail.com and we’ll also post them on our FaceBook page. Let’s see where peace goes!)

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3 Classic Love Poems

On this day of love, whether you have a sweetheart or not, it seems a perfect day to share some sophisticated literary candy from a few poets whose words have withstood the tests and tides of time… enjoy them well!

Two Tulips (close-up) / © Patricia Saxton

18th Sonnet, William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43), Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Love’s Philosophy, Percy Bysshe Shelley

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In another’s being mingle–
Why not I with thine?

See, the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower could be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea;–
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

and a virtual treat for you... yes you, reading this post : )

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Details, Details

Details rule my days, all day, most days. Design details, illustrative details, word details, project details, scheduling, parenting, you name it. (Which is partly why, I suppose, that I love to paint backgrounds with giant sweeping brushstrokes, and why I love big, broad views with never-ending skies.)

When it comes to my art, people often ask “how do you do that shading with a pencil?”, or “how do you create that sense of depth on a 2-dimensional surface?”. Of course I can show them, or I can teach techniques, but the truth is that when you’re in the throes, you’re not really “thinking”, it’s more like feeling your way. (And it should also be said, that one of the key things about details is knowing which ones to leave out.)

In any event, since details play such a big role in my work, I thought it might be interesting to share some “up-close” artwork. Hope you enjoy the closer look!

saxton_cairo.market.detail2

Detail of "Cairo Market" / Oil on Canvas / © Patricia Saxton

"Cairo Market" / Oil on Canvas / © Patricia Saxton

Detail of "Osprey 1" / Pen & Ink / © Patricia Saxton

"Osprey 1" / Pen and Ink on Paper / © Patricia Saxton

Detail of "Eagle" / Pencil on Paper / © Patricia Saxton

"Eagle" / Pencil on Paper / © Patricia Saxton

Detail of "Storm II" / Oil on Canvas / © Patricia Saxton

"Storm II" / Oil on Canvas / © Patricia Saxton

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“where in the world is peace?” … fantastique!

"Living Large" at Chateau de Pau (Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques)

 

(ps:  you can see all “where in the world is peace?” images compiled on our special “where in the world is peace?” page. Totes, mugs and things are available here. Send your own pictures to 52weeksofpeace@gmail.com and we’ll also post them on our FaceBook page. Let’s see where peace goes!)

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What’s In Your Sketchbook?

To be fair, I’ll include a few pages from my own. But here’s the thing with me and sketchbooks: I don’t have an “official” sketchbook.

In truth, any piece of paper within arm’s reach qualifies as a drawing surface. As a result, my doodles and sketches and moments of brilliant insight are strewn about like ashes on a sea. Maybe that’s not such a good analogy. Maybe a dandelion in the wind. Whatever. For all my sense of orderliness, a regular sketchbook falls into a much looser category.

The point though, is that sketchbooks can be truly lovely, as can be seen via the traveling Sketchbook Project. Or in the lush genius of the 2010 publication of Street Sketchbookrecently shared by Brain Pickings (a terrific site with an ongoing must-see collection of wonderful stuff).

Clearly, sketchbooks have been elevated to works of art in and of themselves, and I think, rightly so.

My first sketchbook seduction came from Peter Beard’s marvelous diaries in The Adventures And Misadventures of Peter Beard In Africa. Deliciously detailed and jam-packed with words, illustrations and photos, newsprint and objects, the end-product of his runaway artistic sensibilities, his passion for form and love for Africa was occasionally disturbing, but always stunning.

peter beard

from Peter Beard's collage-work diaries

from Peter Beard's collage-work diaries

By comparison to Beard, or the fantastic pages of Street Sketchbook, my own pages seem tame, bordering on dull. (Except for the random game of hangman.)

But I know, and you now know too, that I haven’t made a ritual of keeping a sketchbook, nor sketched with the intent for those pages to become a final, messy, glorious product. I’d like to someday, so I’ll add it to my list …. in the meantime, the important thing is simply to sketch.

Draw. Write. Cut. Paste. Thoughts, ideas, dreams; record them by hand. It’s a wonderful process – whether in a book meant for sketching, or on the back of a cereal box, or the edge of a client proposal …   express yourself.

So ~ what’s in your sketchbook?

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Roads Travelled

patricia saxton , "searching for buffalo", oil on canvas

“People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness.
Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.”

~ Dalai Lama XIV

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