Expressing Grief through Art

I haven't posted in a while. There's been so much tragedy here in the US in the last few weeks, and again in France and Turkey in just the last few days. It weighs on me heavily.

I'm going to be mentioning tough subjects in this post.

If you're deeply empathetic and easily triggered by reading about tragedy and injustice in the world, you may wish to skip this one and come back next week.

Take care of yourself. I'll understand. Enjoy this photo I took at one of my favorite places to go when I need to feel a little peace in my soul.

Rainbow Flags and Beads of Courage

My heart has been heavy this week after the tragedy in Orlando, Florida. Many people I hold dear identify as LGBTQ including my oldest child, and I stand in solidarity with this community.

love knows no limits

This week, the Diva's Challenge #271 focuses on Beads of Courage, which she tells us is "an arts in medicine program that helps kids with chronic or life threatening illness tell the story of their medical journey."

This program is a bright spot of positivity for these kids and thinking about it helped me remember the kindnesses we humans are capable of creating, even in the darkest times.

Here's my tile with color using the "hefty hack" and the linework before shading. It seemed fitting to keep with the rainbow theme.

Beads of Courage, a Zentangle Inspired Artwork
ink and watercolor

I added the color using watercolor markers from Letraset for the color and did some subtle shading with a set of gray Koi watercolor brush pens.

Beads of Courage Zentangle Inspired Artwork
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Stuck? Mix it up!

I've posted before about the benefits of participating in group art challenges where the challenge constraints help you achieve focused practice. When my choices are limited to a subject or a style, I'm pushed to really consider how I can make something unique, how I can really make it mine, and how I can use the challenge as an opportunity to grow as an artist.

The main philosophy behind The Zentangle Method® is cultivating a calm, meditative state through the mindful repetition of simple shapes that build naturally into ornamental patterns.

there are no mistakes

There are no mistakes when drawing this way, only opportunities to witness what shows up, to accept each unexpected visitor that appears, and to allow these surprises to inform the process.

When I participate in a group art challenge like It's a String Thing Challenge #147, I want to hold space for the mindful awareness that sees no mistakes, only opportunities. At the same time, I want to commit to pushing myself somewhere new with my art. 

I looked at the string. I looked at the tangles. My brain jumped immediately to an obvious "solution" to the puzzle of what should go where. And yet, I wasn't excited about it.

Worse than that, I was disconnected, bored. Maybe I should skip the challenge this week, I thought. I mean, I didn't want to just dial it in. That would be a waste of an opportunity and the time available to me to work on my art is too precious to me for that. But I didn't want to give up either. I felt stuck. I had artist block. Then I remembered:

resistance is a message

When we feel resistance to taking some action in our life, we are getting a message from our subconscious: Yield, Proceed With Caution. It can be a protective instinct, a warning, a fear of failure or being vulnerable, or even just a signal to pause, reflect, and connect with what you really need and want.

I realized that what I really needed was to flip the script for myself and try something that would take me more into the unknown.

drawing tools for black paper
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

So I dug out my black drawing paper and my white pens and pencils. Suddenly a composition that wasn't inspiring me in predictable black ink on white paper felt like a whole new adventure. 

I still used the predetermined composition and patterns in pretty much the same way my brain originally devised, but by reversing the colors: I would have to use chalk instead of graphite, my value scale would go from dark to light instead of my usual light to dark, and I would have to think in terms of highlights instead of shadows.

Everything was inside out.

Time to experiment and see what happens. I felt connected to what I really wanted and need out of this art practice, and suddenly it was exciting again!

Reverse
mixed media on paper
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Siren Call

I know the idea of getting sucked into Pinterest is probably familiar to many of you, and I am not immune. I can spend hours browsing art in all kinds of media.

You know when you see a painting or a photograph and it feels like everything else in the world just stops for a moment? That lurch of emotion, that swoon if you will -- whether the piece inspires awe, pleasure, tranquility, curiosity, passion, rapture, or alarm, heartbreak, anger, grief -- is amazing to me.

It's a little like love at first sight.

And if you're like me, that lurch is followed by a dreamy, meditative state of wondering.

Lost in Thought
encaustic collage on wood panel
12" x 12"
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

"How did they get that texture?"
"What materials did they use?"
"How did they attach this piece to that piece?"
And finally, "I need to try that!"

There it is again. The siren call. And I'm itching to get back to my sketchbook, my pens, my paints.

I've started a Pinterest board for art that I love and art that influences the way I create and wish to create my own art. It's eclectic in media, ranging from painting to pottery to quilt to stained glass.




I've noticed that while graphic black and white dominates my Patterns and Tangles board, my Art and Influences board definitely shows how much I am also drawn to color. This is so true of my own art explorations as well.

Zen Lillies
ink on paper
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Echo
acrylic monoprint on paper
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Sometimes I come across an image that I love or that moves me and I want to do more than just bookmark it. I need to write about it and share it here, in hopes that maybe one more person will get a chance to feel something momentous just from seeing it too.

That happened one morning when I found the website for artist Oriol Angrill Jorda. In the Blendscapes series, the artist uses watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil to merge more than one subject and create something fantastic and magical. 

For example, in Scarf of Cloud, Jorda creates an incredibly beautiful and surreal  portrait of a woman where jagged mountains become her shoulders and the filmy clouds hovering around the peaks become a diaphanous scarf.

I am especially intrigued by the blend of portraiture and landscape into an image that dissolves the perception of being separate from the land we inhabit.

We are not just of this earth, we and this earth are one. We are not separate. My breath was your breath was made by that tree. The salts and minerals in my body are from those mountains, that sea, this rain. Tomorrow they will be in your body, or part of a raven, or in an apple. I want to embrace this connectedness in my life and I hope that one day I will be able to convey it in my own art.