New Painting-Grandmothers Bouquet

Grandmothers Bouquet

This painting is a bouquet for my grandmothers, a group of wise women who have visited me in meditation for the past 20+ years. They call themselves The Midwives of Mankind. They love me unconditionally and I love them with a love that knows no limits. They bring messages of love through songs, stories and prayers. In 2001, we wrote a book together, “Daughter of Spirit, Daughter of Peace: a prayer for humanity”. This painting is for them.

Let me tell you about the painting and how it came into being. I started with a 16” x 20” wood panel painted in soft shades of grey. Then I spent a couple of days making monoprints on mulberry and rice paper. When you click on a detail of the painting, you will see finely-veined leaves and twigs, the textures of cave paintings and worn textiles.

I collaged the monoprints on the panel in a random design. Next, I spent time with the painting, allowing it to speak to me and tell me who or what wanted to emerge. With charcoal, graphite, India ink and pastel, I encouraged shapes to emerge and others to retreat into the background. Then I glazed the painting with layers of pearlescent acrylic.

The painting gives you an idea of how I experience my Grandmothers…with layers of depth, diversity, color and shape peeking through into my awareness. How I appreciate these women who have made me a member of their group of wisdom-keepers!

Perhaps, when I have left this earth, an artist will hear me whisper in her ear. She will paint her love as I now paint mine. In this way, love and support can pass from one generation to the next with the greatest of gratitude.

Click image to see more detail

Grandmothers of Spirit

like ancient trees

providing shade

and shelter.

like rivers

quenching

every thirst.

My Grandmothers of Spirit

stoke the fires

to inspire and uplift.

My Grandmothers speak

and I listen

painting love by hand.

they lived long ago

and live still

forever in my heart.

My Grandmothers

live in me

and I in them.

©Claudia Rose, Ph.D.

For sale on my website: www.claudiaroseart.com

New Painting-The Authentic Pot

The Authentic Pot

“The Authentic Pot”—that’s what the painting calls itself. Slightly off-kilter, definitely imperfect. No matter how many times I glaze the pot, add washes, ink or pastel, it reasserts itself and looks the same!

It wants to be acknowledged and admired as it is—not for its beauty alone, but for its authenticity. It dares to be the center piece of the painting in all its crooked beauty. The pot holds a sparse bunch of flowers that refuses to be defined, perfected with ink, pastel or glaze. The flowers are shy. They don’t need to be admired to feel good about themselves. They are here for the pot to take center stage in all its imperfect glory.

The Authentic Pot says—Here I am. Love me or not. I’m here to remind you that the most beautiful part of you doesn’t fit a mold or standard set by others. The most beautiful part of you is YOU, your authentic self beyond judgment or rules, just as your Creator made you.

I never tell a painting its name or meaning. How would I dare? The painting always knows who they are. They know why they materialized and came into being. They know the message they bring. Artists usually deliver a message solely through the paint and materials. As a medium, I hear the painting speak.

I can’t help it! I could pretend the paintings were mute, but that would be a lie which I could not bear. I hear the paintings. They speak in a language beyond color and shape and line. They speak to me and I tell their story. I choose to listen. I choose to share their story. What else can I do? Only in this way do I honor my authentic self.

What about you? How are you honoring your authentic self today? What action conversation or non-action acknowledges and recognizes your real self?

Detail- click the photo to see texture more clearly

I bathe

in the purple light

of spirit made visible.

Mixed media on 12” x 24” gallery wrapped canvas; acrylic, pastel, India ink, and graphite.

For sale on my website: http://www.claudiaroseart.com/

©Claudia Rose, Ph.D.

Mixed Media-Bouquet of Riches

A Bouquet of Riches

Why not paint a stack of bills or silver coins? Instead, I choose flowers to speak of the richness of life, the abundance of earth’s cycles, and the beauty surrounding us.

I could paint money. Instead, I paint flowers, a secret code between me and God. He gives me life in all its abundance. I offer bouquets of flowers as my thanks, my way of acknowledging that I receive His riches with deep appreciation and paint the face of gratitude in the shape of flowers.

Detail

grateful for every breath

the day blooms

beneath my feet.

Mixed media- original monoprints, acrylic, graphite, pastel and India ink on gallery wrapped canvas; 12" x 12". For sale on my website: http://www.claudiaroseart.com/

©Claudia Rose, Ph.D.

New Painting-Bouquet for Mother

A Bouquet for Mother

I still feel the weight of her hand, like a baby bird, held in mine. I clipped her nails and filed the edges. She surrendered to my care just as I did when a child in her arms.

Whatever regrets or judgments we might have harbored evaporated between us. I held her hand, beautiful in its delicacy. It was cool with no tasks to complete, no weeds to pull, no golf club to swing, no bed to make—now only to be cared for. Now was her time to receive the bouquet, to sit on my couch and let me thank her with a nail trim.

Even when a beloved is long gone, you continue a relationship with them. They are like flowers that bloomed in a past season living on in your memory and heart.

I remember her hand

like a baby bird

come to rest.

Detail

12” x 12” gallery wrapped canvas. Mixed media-acrylic, India ink, graphite and pastel.

Available for sale on my website: http://www.claudiaroseart.com/

©Claudia Rose, Ph.D.

Mixed Media Painting-Love Fills the Day

Love Fills the Day

DETAILS: 12” x 24” mixed media, hand painted monoprints, acrylic and graphite, on gallery wrapped canvas

Beauty is God’s way of saying “I Love You”. Flowers are His gift.

Imagine a handsome suitor at the door. His arm is outstretched as he holds a bouquet bathing you in its fragrance.

Think of the beauty all around you—flowers in the field, trees beginning to bud, ducks floating on the pond, geese flying overhead. All these gifts are yours like a bouquet from your beloved.

every heart

a garden

for love to bloom

©Claudia Rose, Ph.D.