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November 2009 
New Painting TheStoryTeller (ka ta see)
Posted on Feb 6th, 2008
by 
Doug
Doug
TheStoryTeller (ka ta see)
Watercolor, Roplex and kaolin clay on canvas
52 X 44"
Another piece in the Big Sur series this one exploring the shifting perception from language and ordinary reality to a kind of warp into a place of understanding somehow outside of the confines of time and space yet lacking the means to explain anything.
The natural world, maybe especially in a magical place like Big Sur, serves as a bridge into that love, that place of knowing. I offer myself, my art as that bridge also and you my friend are the storyteller or rather that you within you that feels ageless and far beyond the confines of your skin. Do you remember the day Pele gave birth to Santa Lucia?
Access: Public
Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.
Hannah Arendt (1906 - 1975)***
Wonderful work and this ones huge! I would love to see it in person. I love how free you are! You inpsired me today, thank you. PS> I've missed you! :)
Hi Heather!
I missed you too dear! Love the Arendt quote and it's so true. Any good story invites the listener to create the meaning. Like our dreams are an invitation to create meaning that is fluid and constantly evolving.Thank you for visiting me!
Doug, I absolutely love that painting! It reminds me of love and light and dark patches and all that is or ever was or will be, and what it reminds me of most of all is that it's all one anyway, all interwoven into one whole. Thank you.
Thank you Rudyan! Wow, I love the way you described your experience of this painting, just beautiful and thank you for sharing it!
A luminosity and beauty of spirit in this, opening windows into all that is, perfect as is.
Thank you Zephyr!
Your words remind me how wonderful each morning can be as I rise up through dream and then I realize it's all very real.
I really love this painting - theres an amazing spontaneity about it which feels consistant throughout
let me share a couple of poems written some time ago:
STORY TELLER
words
dropped lightly
on the dust
like rain
little grey finch
becomes a peacock*
as finger tips
meet and gesture
the peacock begins to sing
like no nightingale can ever
* In the East ‘Peacock’ refers to a wise one
This Painting
(concerning the painting titled:The Whirling Dervish)
Daring to hold back
make the mark -
then look away
half way through
This painting is frightening.
It refuses
not to be rough
- refuses to take leave
of the beginnings of things
I TURN THE MUSIC DOWN
I turn the music down
it speaks too loudly
it is too unabashed
in its proclamations about life
I turn the music down
but it grows louder
inside me
I think of the lady in England
who writes me letters
I have neglected her
I think of the giant man I know
who at times feels so jaded
at times so magnificent
he told me the other day
about stardom in America
here we struggle now
but in a few years
will be just like them
bored
creating our interests
I turn the music down
it speaks too loudly
GOLDEN MAN
I call for the golden man
to visit me;
I need advice.
‘you have too many companions,
I cannot come.’
‘I am alone,’ I tell him, ‘alone’.
‘But so many hopes and fears.
Hopes and fears.’
I look up
there a green jewel lies
slowly moving shadows
aside.
… that'll do for now :D
love to you
I have visited this painting several times…
each time I see something new.
My dear friend, you are talented.
Thank you for sharing your love with us.
Quiet wind blowing
Light playing on the water
Shadows are hiding
The ebb and the flow
Magic waiting to happen
Filling up my soul
-Susan
Thank you Hummy! Your poems are a perfect complement and are your story that becomes our story as we open.
Hi Susan! Thank you so much for stopping by and for your words and you are so intune with my intention.
So beautiful. Can't really spell out the feelings that this piece brings to my heart. The colors, the way they flow together are pulling me in to swim inside them not in the substance of water but in spaciousness where no gravity exists……soooooo amazing :o)
Hey there Jung Lady and thank you!!
“Qualia” or what you were bloging about yesterday, yes THAT feeling.
I like the way William Carlos Williams described it in his poem “The Revelation”
I’m so happy you came to the splash party and it’s not my splash party, WE all made it.
It hypnotizes. It has me pondering, hmm….now what's the story here? And I know if I stay long enough, I will be spinning an extraordinary tale. It certainly brings out the storyteller in me…
Amy :-)
My first reaction when I saw the painting was, “it looks sculpted.” Then my eyes drifted down to your description and saw, “kaolin clay.” Ah! I love the affect. It combines a luminosity with a sense of volume. With the addition of the paint, you'd made excellent use of light and shadow to communicate the environment which inspired you. And, that's what a story-teller does, doesn't he? - sculpt words, playing with light and shadow and nuiance, communicating his inner and outer “landscape.” This piece must be ourstanding to see “live.”
Thank you Amy! If it was Halloween I'd say “Look into my eyes, you are getting sleepy, so sleepy” But instead; “Will you be my valentine?”
Hi Catherine and thank you! I kept seeing you in Big Sur every time I walked to the edge of the cliffs and looked down into the coves and I would have flown in closer but my wings were wet.
The paint is actually not built up into any impasto passages. The clay was mixed with roplex in my feeble attempt to make an absorbent gesso, because I was thinking I'd paint over it. It ended up being translucent like fog so I honored it the way it was. The surface looks like wave is passing under it even though it's flat. In fact I had to check to see if the canvas was buckling due to a bad stretching job.
Hmm….the artist hypnotizes too. Who would have thought of it.
Hey Charmer, that's gonna cost Nature, her fresh blooms ya know. Cool with that? Lol. It's an honor to be your Valentine. For free :-)
Really Amy?
Hooray!! ;-))
We’ll just have to find a way to share flowers without nature losing her blooms.
Please talk to her. Tell her to keep her blooms on already!!
So beautiful and fleshy.
It's nice to see you Erika and thank you!
Doug, today I was teaching an art class….
we had a simple still life up..
a couple of black and earth pots
…made me remember Morandi whose work I love so much
aah! I fell in love
walking round and round
looking from this angle and that
bits of light
blendings of tone
one object melting into another
each angle a new drama
… took my breath away…
I thought to share this with you
Thank You Hummy!
Yes I love his work as well like this one.
There is such an “isness” to them, so humble and alive, so simple and yet buzzing as if the spare objects are materializing right before your eyes. Like just a moment ago they where part of the pinkish light or something before light even. And a feeling that if we turn our head for a moment the painting will return to that state of being prior to it's being an object in our world.
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing that!
I love the pic Doug, thank you
I turned my note to you into a blog just now
- that's a south african saying by the way…
also 'now, now'
meaning 'in a bit' or 'a short while'
yes.. there's a spirit in Morandi's work
which words cannot capture
I guess that's what visual art is all about…
Doug, how did you make that link to the pic in your comment?
Hello Doug - Lovely piece. There is much that I could say about the depth, the lines, the curves - but I am afraid it would detract from the journey I find myself looking into this painting. Thank you for sharing this :-)
Doug,
THis piece is fabulous! For me I see many animal spirits, totems and wise ones in spirit form overlaying, watching over the sea and the sky and the land….its just glorious and so much there to see…. Im just so in awe of this type of thing as I have never felt I could draw or paint. Its just beautiful. Thank you for sharing it.
Hello LA and thank you and I know you could say much and I look forward to hearing it too, and it'll be your story, how wonderful!
Hi Julia thank you dear!
And not knowing is the only place to start. The truth is all art already exists and an artist is just a thief who has asked for permission.
Lol. Very funny Doug. But oh no, no, no. I don't want to hurt Nature's feelings. You know how she gets when she is unbalanced? Yes, she tears down all her art work with a vengeance. lol…
So you've to tell her yourself. :-)
PS: I like this. “The truth is all art already exists and an artist is just a thief who has asked for permission”
Goddess - I like that one too
only thing is a thief doesn't ask :)
my teacher used to say
the artist is
just a channel
the clearer the vessel
the better the channel
love to you all
Hi Amy! Hi Hummy!
Did you ever see the sponge Bob episode where Sponge Bob and Patrick steal a balloon while telling each other they are only borrowing it?
Well the balloon pops so they are devastated and ashamed, so they run away to the darkest and coldest part of the ocean bottom. Soon they are cold, lonely and hungry so they slink back to bikini bottom to discover that they stole the balloon on free balloon day!
So that's how an artist can be a thief and ask for permission. The stealing comes first until you realize it's free balloon day. What a relief and shame and guilt are replaced with gratitude.
I think it's free flower day too and look what I found.
http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2006/12/31/ipomoea-purpurea-flowers-with-raindrops.jpg
Oh Hummy, to create a hyperlink in a comment all you have to do is copy the url (web address) that you want to link to, highlight the word or words where you want the link, click on the chain icon up in the menu bar and then paste in the url.
thanks Doug - aah no chain icon.. I'm on an apple mac…
love the flower :D
and your words on stealing
Picasso used to say artists must steal
- he did all the time
and did some pretty good things with his thefts
I”m not really eaves dropping ;-) but…..Hummingbird, if you use Firefox as your web browser instead of Safari you will get all the tools in you text box.
Doug– thank you for sharing your painting. It is luminous and fluid and I could look at it all day without ever seeing the same thing twice!
I agree what you say about Doug's painting, Amanda. My teacher always used to say - one needs to live with a painting - if it's good you'll never tire of it - if it's not - it'll either start to annoy you - or you'll stop seeing it after a while
Amanda, I do use Firefox - but I do not see my website — aha - gottit yay - thank you :))))))
something new to learn every day :))))))
H Amanda! Nice to meet you and Thank You!!
You know you can never eaves drop where you are welcome so please pull up a chair or a cushion and read some of your lovely poetry and stay as long as you'd like.
Hooray Hummy you did it!!
And I steal from Picasso all the time.
Your support means a lot to me Anna, Thank You!
love to you precious
Oh Doug! You've done it again! Soooooooooo beautiful!!! Astounding!!!
I celebrate and give thanks for you and your imaginings!
Hi Martha and thank you dear! (no pun intended)
feeling vulnerable.. i am falling into this painting.. . i feel cold wind on my skin..i am lost in the color of the sea… and i am saved… because i am in the right place…
Beautiful words Joanna! Thank you for sharing an eternal moment with me.
Doug, I'm not surprised you have so many comments to this piece. it's like a magical magnet.
I just love the flow and the colors. I don't have many words coming for it, for me it's more like bathing in the colors, enjoying how they feel when I look at them, their transparancy and brightness and the darker parts. just beautiful. deeply touching.
I'm reacting strongly to colors, it's an almost sensuous pleasure - very much pleasure for me in this work of yours!
Hi Gabriele and Thank You! I'm so please to share it with you and it's nice to see you.