A Face, layered in kind

Layered technique: using paint, collage, black ink, tissue serviettes and glitter. 

A Face, layered in kind: mixed media, by Morag Noffke, 18 04 2012.

Cropped.

Everyday Art: Mandala on a rainy day.

It rained most of the weekend. I love the rain. We went for a picnic to Scarborough Beach (in the Western Cape).

You are probably wondering how we have a picnic in the rain. Well when it rains constantly we just have our picnic in the car and watch the view. When the sun comes out even if it is for 15 mins we get out the car and go for a walk. It doesn't matter to us if we get wet; we will dry again.

This day was like that. I jumped out of the car with my camera and bags for collecting shells, drift wood and stones.... there were so many black mussel shells....

I just had to make a mandala. You might think I have mandalas on the brain and yes in a sense I do...I am preparing for an exhibition and I allow everything that comes into my 'focal point' to inspire me.    







Here is 'me' starting at the center...
First I drew the circle.

 Then I packed the shells...

Here the spiral begins...

These are just a few of the photos that my daughter took of my impromptu shell mandala. I had fun.

I encourage you too to go and have fun and take any opportunity to create from Nature's abundant storehouse of materials and inspiration.

:)

Conceptual Journaling: Mandalas...the cycle in marriage.

Here is a series of mandalas which I did while considering the relationship I have within my marriage. 

Marriage has a life of it's own - adding a third dimension - almost like a third person within the relationship. The life it offers is undulating in nature with it's ups and downs, it's twists and turns. 'Man and Wife' have to be stronger than this dynamic in order to weather the storms and euphoria it brings. Victory in marriage is not about fighting on opposite sides and winning the battle; it is about resilience, courage, persistence, and boldness and at the same time love, mercy, forgiveness, grace, gentleness, and giving.

There is a time... when one feels the emotions... and the other sees the facts,

Emotions and Facts, Acrylics, 2011 by Morag Noffke.

There is a time to merge and become one, 

Boldly become one, Acrylics, 2011 by Morag Noffke.

standing in bold delight...

Letting go, Acrylics, 2011 by Morag Noffke.

 or in glowing gentlness ....

Standing alone, Acrylics, 2011 by Morag Noffke.

there is a time to individuate and become oneself....

.......And then the cycle begins again.

There is a time when one feels the emotions and the other sees the facts,

There is a time to merge and become one, 
standing in bold delight...
or in glowing gentlness ....

there is a time to individuate and become oneself....

.......And then the cycle begins again.

You can read more about my take on mandalas here at metamorphosis

:)

  

My Fables, Parables and Poems: A comment on The fable of the Flower-girl.

A comment about my stories in general and also more specifically The Fable of the Flower-girl:
Somebody asked me the other day if I wrote this story or is it a story from the past? When I wrote   "But long ago, a long, long time ago, before people wrote, a flower-girl or boy was one who had an extra-ordinary relationship with flowers. They were connected to them and understood the meaning of them."   I was playing on the idea that although there was a time before our civilizations could read and write which could have believed in 'flower power' there is also a time for all of us when we can't read or write yet and we too had beliefs of our own that to adults might be quaint. (For some of us this does feel like a long, long time ago.)

That is why I wrote:   "Now this story could have evolved before you or I went to school or before our imaginations were lulled into a stupor by life’s busyness and all the seriousness of adulthood. This is a comment about the way we as adults don't have or make the time to be like a child again. Lastly when I say  "I am the ‘finder’ of this story and want to share it with you." I put it in ' ' as to try to show the 'as if' which is in keeping with the playfulness of telling stories in a childlike way.

All the stories and poems that I publish on my blogs will be my own writing unless I specify; for example:  the poem "Son of a Gun" by Padriac Fiacc 1924 published on my blog Metamorphosis.

:)