A child that no one holds - Water Color on Paper - 12" x 18" Painting
In a cold December night
In a crowded place
Many hands upclose
But no one holds
A child that no one holds.
…
Author – simplyoj
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Last December, I had written a recap post called The Best of Wandering Mist in 2009 listing the top 10 blogposts of 2009. This year, December 2010, I hope to do the same and take a quick look at the many blogposts that went by.
As a blogger, this recap is not only a tradition but a great exercise that throws in some surprises and a bit of learning. Who would have thought that a random rant on a cartoon character would be the most-read post. Also, I would have never imagined that a tutorial uploaded very recently would race up to take the second most-read spot. How fast and amazing can Internet be?
As I now sit to look back at the handful of posts made during the year, I make a trip down the memory lane. Hours of writing, clicking photos, cropping, uploading and seeing the post take shape – is indeed an exercise; but the kind I love. It feels good that most of the post had been of some use to my fellow wanderers. And I hope to keep adding content that would be helpful to you.
Today is a perfect time to write a round-up-of-this-year post, as a recap to myself and my fellow wanderers. And to see how exciting this place has been.
Here are the top 10 posts of WanderingMist in 2010, that got many wanderers here. To stay.
Oggy and the Cockroaches, if you like Tom and Jerry
How to make a Sheep Costume for Children
The Charm of Poinsettias in Christmas and Holiday Season
Frugal Table Centerpiece Ideas for Holiday Decorating
Starry Night – Vincent Van Gogh’s Painting of Hope & Despair
Gift a Heartwarming Box of Pink Roses
How to Make Rice Paper Lanterns Chandelier
Top 10 Great Ideas for Making your Own Handmade Bag
Easy Homemade Moist Banana Cake Recipe
I can now see how Wandering Mist has evolved since inception, as well as during this year. It is not merely a chronicle of events and interests of my life, but also a journal of this wonderful journey. And it is also great to know that most of you love cartoons, like to recycle and make thier own things and dig into great cakes and desserts 
and love life the way it is.
Happy New Year to you all!
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Soul Freedom Chained - Acrylic Painting on Paper
Soul Freedom Chained
Acrylic on Paper
12″ x 18″
And an orator said, “Speak to us of Freedom.”
And he answered:
At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.
Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?
In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.
And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?
If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.
You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.
And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.
For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?
And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.
And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.
Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.
These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.
And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.
And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.
The Prophet
by Khalil Gibran
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Send handmade cards to your loved ones this festive season
Festive season calls for greeting loved ones and showing them that you care. This season also calls for sending greeting cards to near and dear. Nothing compares to the warmth and joy of receiving a handmade card from loved ones. Crafted with love and care, these cards bring a lot of joy to the maker, giver and to the receiver.
Here is a quick DIY tutorial for simple, cute and easy-to-make greeting cards. I had made these cards earlier as an invite to a school event but the design can be replicated or improvised to make some good handmade greeting cards.
This tutorial describes the making of a prototype/ sample of a handmade invitation card. Once you get the basic card correct, you can make many cards in one go. Use your imagination, internet, left over materials & supplies, and computer printer to churn out the most-best-loveliest handmade cards for your loved ones.
Handmade Cardmaking Supplies
Card Making Supplies, Material and Tools:
- Colored paper: You may chose to make cards in one, two or different colors. You can also make a color gradient card with different shades of the same color.
- Satin ribbon – to tie up the papers together
- Stapler to secure the pages, scissors to cut, and a pen to pen down your message.
How to make handmade greeting or invitation card
Arrange the different colored papers one upon the other, like even spaced steps. If you are using A4 size sheets of paper, you can make 4 cards out of one set of papers.
Arrangement of colored papers for handmade card
Evenly space out the paper pieces in steppe fashion. Carefully align the paper, one on top of the other before securing them. You can draw or print out images, messages, cartoons, or photos on each page of the card.
Arrange, staple, punch, write and send. Simple Cardmaking Process.
The bunched up papers look like the ones below. You have to secure the set of papers with a stapler to keep them together.You may choose to keep the loose ends of the paper neat, scalloped or cut in any fashion, depending upon the theme of the card.
Colored papers used in making greeting cards
Punch two holes near the stapled spot and tie satin ribbon bow in the color of your choice.This bow can conceal the staple pin too. Since this card was high on color, I chose white ribbon to balance it. Here are some of the samples I tried with different color ribons and diffirent cuts. All that remained was to write the message on these cards
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Since this was an invitation card for a fancy dress competition, to be given by the children to the guests, I wrote the following wordings for invitation on the card.
Each loose end of the paper had space to write one line. Apart from the top paper (where the main invitation message comes) there were 6 loose end papers. Here is the message:
What will I be?
a rock-star, tiger or honey-bee…
an astronaut, doctor or Gandhi?
We lovingly invite you to see
the many things we can be!
Here is the prototype of the card with handwritten message. These messages can also be printed for neatness and then tied together.
Write or print a personalised message on your handmade card
As you flip each paper, you can see drawing/ cartoon images of what is written at the bottom. There is never a dull moment while reading this card. Six pages of simplicity, fun, color, imagination and a lovely message makes this card an adorable one.
You can fashion your invitation cards, party invites, Christmas greetings, New Year messages, save-the-date cards, thank you messages, and more on these lines. Eventually what matters is the message you write on them. So go quirky, funny, silly or sober, there are enough words of wisdom, quotations, or ideas on the net – when it comes to writing the message.
This Christmas, New Year, and hence forth, make you own cards. Involve your kids for some offbeat ideas and for their choice of colors. As you make these cards, you will make memories, like I did.
Have fun!
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Why do we paint?
This is the question that often comes to my mind… why do we paint?
What makes you paint? Is it because you took to the brush when you were a kid? Did you see a masterpiece so magnificent that you took to the brush like no tomorrow? Why did you not do something else? Why did we choose to paint over many other options available to express? How do people end up painting, in life? Or is it just the one side dominance of brain?
I am not talking science here. The science of art is neither my area of interest nor my cup of tea, at the moment. There are artists who stress upon how methodical and scientific art is. I may climb to that realm, later in life.
I experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful. I am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream
Vincent van Gogh
What I am more interested now is how art makes you the person that you are – when you paint or when you admire art. I want to know how art starts to speak from within… how art expresses the deep core…. how art translates the messages…. how art works when words fail… and a lot more – for art was when languages were naught. And even today, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Then, is art an urge to express? Is it our failure to master other forms of expression that art gives us the refuge and medium we seek?
Do we artists reject the nuances of language, grammar and words, to express? Do artists want unbridled freedom in expressing and questioning? Do artists want to do something that was never made before? Is this the way we like to be spent? Does making artwork undo the artist? Is art a part of unlearning to enlighten? Does art make us understand the elements better? Does art makes everything simple?
The only time I feel alive is when I’m painting
Vincent van Gogh
There are a multitude of emotions that an artist goes through when creating a painting or a sculpture. The joy of seeing ones vision translate with hands, the despair of a wrong brush stroke, the anxiety of using a new color, the confidence of a repeated brushstroke, the tension of a measured stroke, the strain of fine brush work, the stressful judgment of seeing the big picture, the want to create a balance, the stray hair of the brush on canvas, the pace of emotions within, and a lot more….
Art is artist painted.
To paint is to show a bit of your soul. Where words fail, colors and strokes convey. Deep seated sub conscious comes to life. It is a way of connecting with your inner self. And more often than not, we remain surprised with what we see.
Like Jerry Fresia said, “we make a mark on the canvas and when we look back, we see something that seemingly was not there a moment ago. And there is that miracle: by virtue of making marks, we have created ourselves a tiny bit more – and we actually can see more, feel more, because we have become more, by that tiny bit”.
Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.
Henry Ward Beecher
Sometimes we know what to paint and we begin with it. But as time and colors go by, the outcome is totally different as planned. Sometimes we don’t know what the painting is going to be but start painting anyway… and the outcome is something you had always imagined.
Each painting has its own way of evolving…When the painting is finished, the subject reveals itself.
William Baziotes
It is true that once the painting is complete, no matter how much you love it, it is outside of you. All that you held within for that artwork is right in front of your eyes. The entire emotional journey undertaken is right in front of you. A certain part of you has come onto the painting and remains there. Like a child who is born unto you, but is an individual by itself.
It’s not your painting anymore. It stopped being your painting the moment that you finished it.
Jeff Melvoin
Art. Love. Truth.
The colors to use, the shades to restrain, and the strokes to play with… are what defines the art and his artwork. These, over a period of time become unique to the artist and can never be replicated. If replicated, it remains without soul.
Every artwork created with labour and love, speaks to the person who is meant for it. There are many mass produced paintings, which no matter how beautiful and striking to look at, do not strike a chord anywhere. Try it yourself.
Art that gets produced on a fixed time scale, according to me, is never art. There has to be enough movement of soul for something to be produced. Art cannot be mass produced… until unless lunacy rules.
There are times when a blank canvas can stare at you for a long time and nothing seems to move. The blank canvas remains for a long time to come. And then there are those days when many canvases get consumed in few moments. There is no fixed schedule or timetable to create art.
Body suffers, soul celebrates.
To paint is to converse with oneself. I tried to study almond blossoms by Vincent Van Gogh to understand the whys and why not’s of art. As we match his paintings to his life history and the times at which each painting was created, one can sense an immense sense of escape and pleasure of life while at work. Even during his depressing days, the art works seemed to celebrate life. While painting, we live a life within which is much different from what we live outwardly.
Journey of the artists’ art
Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.
Pablo Picasso
As time goes by, painting chronicles our life. Like a journal – diary, we can see the ups and downs of life and the artists impressions. Of the images that lived within, the medium of expression, the sleight of hand, the madness of work, the evolution of subjects and objects of interest and the things that they always wanted to convey. Like a painter/ author once wrote: “painting is my predilection, my way or tool to evolve, to “know”.
If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, there I am. There’s nothing behind it.
Andy Warhol
When I look back at my drawings and paintings, I see a person so far and distant – that was once me. Now, the style, subject, composition, and fervour have evolved. Should this be called the growth or evolution of the person or the artist? I don’t know. But change is there, well chronicled on the chosen medium of communication – called art. And if someone wants to learn a bit more about the artist, study his art work from the beginning.
Art is not off-the-shelf product.
There are some paintings which grow on me after a long time. And this is not because I got used to seeing them.
Once finished and not satisfied with the outcome, I leave it to settle down so that I can come back to it with a better frame of mind and see it in different light or make corrections to it. But more often than not, I end up liking them the way they are – perfectly hung on a perfect wall to dry. They seem to be so much in place and peace that I don’t touch or re-touch them.
It makes me wonder if this is true of the buyers too. Shouldn’t the art lovers be spending enough time with the artwork to decide if it is meant for them?
And when someone does like the artwork so much to buy it, after spending some time with it…. does means a lot to the artist… that the art-lover has experienced something with the creation.
When art gives you hidden lessons or mixed messages, it works. Art that tugs your heart has always been the one that never portrayed the obvious. There is no fun in painting the things what you see around the way they are – within the confined dimensions of space-time. Art is about tasting with your eyes.
I am unable to make any distinction between the feeling I get from life and the way I translate that feeling into painting.
Henri Matisse
It is when the artist’s vision or imagination extends/ stretches these constraints that his art starts to talk to you. And then makes you feel comfortable or disturbed. Either way, it has spoken to you.
Thoughts on art… to be continued
From healing, struggling, binding to liberating… there are so many facets of art. I would love to hear what my dear artists and creative souls think about it or feel within. I keep thinking about it and would like to know your thoughts.
Please do share… and let the journey continue.
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