Hands

 You might have noticed that I have been quiet for five months. I won't be explaining my whereabouts but about one thing I will tell you: Last year, in October, I was invited to go to a workshop: ‘to create is to live’. It was based on a layering technique using collage, paint and other creative processes. I find it important to fill my creative well by doing art and going on other creative workshops; this keeps my creativity alive.

After five happy hours of sticking, painting, 'podging', stamping and stenciling (and a wonderful lunch) My Hands appeared.

Layered Hands.

Happy hands

healing hands

caring hands

reaching hands

lifting hands

holding hands

clapping hands

cold hands

warm hands

wringing hands

human hands

ordinary hands

pretty hands

lovely hands

young hands

 old hands

hands belong to all of us

hands link us together

push us apart

I am held

in the Hand

and you are too

It makes me smile

Knowing that I am Held. 

This technique consists of layers of paint, collaging serviettes  for texture, podge, stamps, and stencils. It starts off with a light luminous layer (here it is yellow), then you choose patterned paper serviettes which you collage over in a random torn pattern, you need to separate the two back layers of paper of the paper serviette so that you can create the translucent effect. I used podge to stick my layers down, first you paint the podge on over the paint then place your torn pieces and then paint over it again carefully with more podge. You can also use translucent/clear glue. 

When this layer is dry you can continue layering different chosen patterns from serviettes or you can use stamps and stencils as well. Always wait till the layer is dry; you can use a hairdryer to speed up the process. If you choose a dark colour remember to keep this for last and use carefully otherwise you wont get a very nice effect because the dark colours conceals all other colours and patterns. If you look from left to right in the image below it will give you an idea of the different stages.I used the dark color last to create the image of the tree so you can see that it covered up the patterning where I didn't want it to show and thereby creating the patterned tree.

I felt it was a serendipitous way of creating depth and textures which could then be used for art and image making. It was fun and I felt free to 'play'. I enjoyed being part of the group instead of facilitating a group.

Moving from left to right shows the different stages of building up the layers.

In my next blog I will show you my own interpretations of using this new technique.

Everyday Art: whale watching

Mother whale and her calf just off Muizenberg.

Instead of painting this last week, we went to watch the whales. The mother whale and calf were close to the shore. It was good to get out and enjoy nature. What struck me deeply was the transformation of the sea, while the afternoon went by, from turquoise calm to a grey, choppy sullenness. And so, as I thought about the sea, a poem emerged in my mind. Here it is:

    

The sea

The sea with its temperamental complexity
reminds me of our humanity.

It holds within, the shallow and the deep:
Once sad grey, wanting to weep,
then angry and violently mad,
the waves relentlessly rolling in,
never stopping
as the orange-sun sets with a grin.

Rough one day, the next calm:
its 'turquoise-tranquility' watched
is the traveller’s balm
while the sea storm
teams with life
it also takes a life; someone's death bed
uncovering treasures
and swallowing the dead.

Just like the sea
we live with complexity
of contrasting treasures
and desperate-dark measures:
Humanity is infinitely interesting.

:)

Everyday Art: silk in the wind

Waves breaking at Buffles Baai, Cape Point, 2011 by Morag Noffke.

The elements, such as the wind and the waves of the sea speak to me of the mutability of life and humans while the rocks speak of the immutability of certain physical and spiritual laws such as gravity and giving. There is variability and security woven into our existence. I believe ultimately the Creator knew what he was doing.

Who are we?

A fleeting life, a mere breath…
Aimlessly blowing in the wind
“when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind” - Solomon, Ecclesiastes

But
We are a spirit-soul malleable in the Makers hand
like a seed blowing where He wishes through the land
Gently responsive to his Spirit
merging with the flow as one
in unison,
My life is to receive His kindnesses
to return to fuller connection
to repair this world
hand-in-Hand
to live my fleeting life,
a mere breath
in response to His
Breath.  
  

What
He does, the Spirit-Maker, is create us…
we are His silk blowing in the Wind
In response to his toil
he has achieved,
he has loved,
he has breathed
His life
into
us.

We are not
meaninglessly
blowing in the wind
although our achievements
and our toiling might be meaningless
a chasing after the wind, in place of the Wind. 

 

Conceptual Journaling: water

Photo by Morag, 2007

Water has many symbols, there are too many to elaborate in one post.

 The next series of drawings and poems are extracts from a conceptual journal 

I created in 2006.

Water carries many symbols.

Drawings by Morag Noffke, chalk pastel & poems collated onto one page.
It has an translucent overlay on  which  I wrote the poems, 2006.

Water
trickles
cleanses
splashes
gushes
carries
and overwhelms.


Spray
glistens
reflects
refreshes
and quenches.

The next poem speaks of my origins, the way my parents came together; 

the way life unfolds and opens up, enlarging as it goes.

One single droplet of rain

is the source of where I originate.

One single droplet of rain

and the action consummated.

They come pelting down

each colliding together.

They come pelting down

making my river bigger.

I am the droplet, I am the river, chalk pastel by Morag Noffke, 2006. 

Water
I thirst.

Water

I drink.

Dew

drops
peacefully,
sending out ripples.

Ripple effect

in my life.
comes crashing,
splashing and splitting -
making changes.

Dew drops ripple

ripple effect changes,
changes my life:
I thirst, I drink and I am satisfied.

Changes, chalk pastel by Morag Noffke, 2006

After these drawing, many changes occurred in my life. 

It could be that the writing and drawing helped me process what was going on; 

that by expressing the issues my insight and quiet conviction grew.

This gave me strength to grow through the changes.

Conceptual Journaling: swans

Size 12 X 12 cm , Chalk pastel, by Morag Noffke 18.03.09

I have a fondness for swans. It reminds me of my father. He drew swans. He grew up in Scotland where he came into contact with them. So swans also remind me of love, the love a father has for his daughter: the love that encompasses unconditional positive regard, empathy, compassion, care, grace and mercy. It reminds me of the stillness of being seen by a father for who I really am. It’s the love which understands the privilege of seeing his daughter grow up.

Swans

Unconditional

Positive regard

Empathy

Compassion and care

Grace and mercy

The stillness of being seen

The privilege of seeing

Everyday Art: my neighbouring geese

I watch the geese...

they see me...

they relax...

and preen... 

I like birds of every kind.

Birds remind me of our souls.

They are free to move between earth and sky

that is why

I like birds to be free.

One of my favourite birds is geese.

They symbolize migration

and know their direction. 

They are water birds.

Water is the age old symbol 

of the psyche's unconscious and emotion.

When they call

it is as if they reach deep into my heart;

and my soul 

echoes back in humble response 

to the knowledge that we all 

are part of nature created by the Great Designer. 

I am grateful that I am free.

These are Egyptian geese.

Everyday Art: A rainy-day poem

I thought I would share one of my poems with you as it shows the other side of my enjoyment of weather.
I like communicating with written words; and especially using words that I make up.

I love the Rain.  11.07.08

Some people say:
"Wetting clothes,
Getting cold...
Cold seeping through to the bones,
Bones creaking to a halt,
Freezing cheer,
Wheezing chest...
I hate the Rain!"

I love the rain.

It is a comforting sound,

Hearing it pelt against the pain,

Feeling cocooned against the cold.

The bidding call of the Olive thrush,

Synonymous with rainy seclusion,

Adds to my appreciation.

I love the rain.

This is the rain.

I see it puddling across the garden,

Pouring down from the Heavens.

A roaring sound dying away

To a spittering glitter at play:

A patch of sun.

A dash of fun.

This is the rain.

*

What do you think of my words:

Puddling and  spittering?

Here is my explanation: Puddling is the verb for a puddle growing bigger or many puddles forming. Pittering is a smaller version of pattering, just at the ‘i’ is a smaller shape than the ‘a’ shape. Think of pitter patter little raindrops (the sound of rain) and mix with splitter splatter little raindrops (the feeling of the rain) and you get my word spittering which is a tiniest wet soundless sound (the opposite of a roar). J

Overlooked but not forgotten.

My apologies… I have become flustered as possibly I have been too ambitious for a beginner blogger; taking on two blogs at once. Somebody said to me the other day that she thought I had too many irons in the fire and so I have become, so to speak: distracted… preoccupied… engrossed… or otherwise engaged with life and my other interests. My attention has been diverted.

Don’t think that Artist’s Guild has been put out of my head or that I have become confused, muddled or disturbed. I am simply finding my way, slowly.

Here is a poem I wrote on 05.07.11about walking a labyrinth; I also think it is a lovely metaphor for life.

Walking in square circles.

as I walked I thought

'so quick and easy' but

Just as life is... it is not that way

I found myself criss-crossing

zigzagging on my way

inch by inch

another thought entered

as I walked the folding corners of the circle

overlapping this way and that:

'I know where I am going... I think... this is taking time'

life's just like that and that’s a fact!

inch by inch

I meet up with an 'other'

for a while our paths travel abreast

walking a quiet connectedness side by side 

then going our separate ways

only to meet up again later

inch by inch

traveling along ways i don’t anticipate

I feel like I am turning away from my destination

the path seems to be going in the wrong direction

'I am lost!'...it begins to disorientate

but the path is ahead of me all the way

inch by inch

I feel like I am close to the end

when actually I've just stepped into the circle

following the many folds

a journey of a thousand 'noticings'

is like waking up:

first noticing so much detail

leaves, feathers & drawing pin

then noticing my surroundings,

the court yard that I'm in

again noticing the 'others',

inevitably on their own way

inch by inch

for a while traveling faster

but then again winding

my way at a slow pace

to stay on the path

inch by inch

Living life as it comes

living with surprising turns

on my own

having the confidence

that this is the way

following the path

wherever it goes (inch by inch)

life and it's many layered pathway

can be confusing

can feel futile

so I just do what I must do (inch by inch)

putting one step in front of another

the path will emerge

as it is laid out before me

trust...

there is no hurry

slowly slowly on my way

walking in square circles.