2nd day of Five Photos, Five Storiestina's painting

I attend an art group meeting once a month on a Saturday morning. The people are so lovely and warm and real and I always come away from those meetings feeling alive and energised. It’s pretty unstructured – we discuss all sorts of things, from exhibitions seen or upcoming at various venues to critiquing art works that anyone may have done or are in process and which are put up for us to view.

Tina is a dear soul – she recently returned to the group after a very long absence. She left her high pressure job a few months ago and is doing other things, I’m not sure what. But her painting, her first time using oils, that she showed us yesterday morning was so alive – and still wet.  I was in such awe, it was truly vibrant and pulsing. She said how anxious she’d been about trying out oils but somehow she got herself out of her way and with abandon she painted, using different brushes for different strokes. Honestly, my photo does NOT do it justice. It looks brighter on my phone –

The first time I’d seen Tina in a long long while was when she came to the art meeting this past April and brought a fresh radish, the fruits of her gardening – I said to her that one day I would like to use a photo of this beautiful radish in a blog post and now I am!

radish 1

When I left the art meet and attended to my 67 minutes and got home later in the afternoon I attended to emails inter alia. Gulara http://gularavincent.com who nominated me for this 5 day challenge had put up her post yesterday, which was on art! And the necessity for getting out of one’s own way. And late last night I went through belatedly to Samantha’s post (the 3 day quote challenge:http://thescheherazadechronicles.org/) and while it wasn’t on art and painting as such, it was in a way as music is seen as the universal language of the arts. She provided a clip of Leo Ferre singing his composition Avec le temps. The previous evening my husband and I had listened to a CD he had bought that evening which was French music, soulful songs with very little accompaniment (accordion and piano) which added somehow to it’s depth. As Samantha was putting up her post we were listening to French music. A friend was here for supper last evening. We’ve done many hikes in the past, along the coastline of South Africa, Macchu Pichu, Kilimanjaro and we were talking about another hike in the future, somewhere. After she left I attended to more emails and responded to Beth Lapin’s post – which was about hiking. For me, small instances of synchronicity but meaningful.

Danie is part of our art group. He’d recently returned from Rwanda and showed us some beautiful photographs of this archaic land. One of the photographs was of a large sign; underneath and on the ground were instruments of weapons used in the Hutu Tutsi genocide 21 years ago. The sign translated read ‘If you knew me and I knew you, you would not kill me’.

He also told us that the cities are clean, roads are good, no litter and no beggars. He asked a taxi driver about life among the Christians and Muslims in present day Rwanda. The taxi driver replied that the Muslims fear their God, the Christians fear their God, but everyone fears the President. Who, incidentally, I heard recently, actually walks alongside his people in picking up trash.

Now, to nominate another: Marian, please will you pick up the challenge? Your photographs are lovely and your posts always beautifully written and insightful. And it’s ok to decline. http://plainandfancygirl.com (Mine are going to be very short these next 3 days; I’m totally blogged out!).

Rules for 5 photos, 5 days 5 stories challenge

1) post a photo each day for 5 consecutive days

2) attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction, non fiction, poetry, a paragraph – all entirely up to you!

3) Nominate another blogger to carry on the challenge. Your nominee is free to accept or decline the invitation! This is fun, not a command performance!

22 Comments on Five Photos, Five Stories Day Two

  1. Hi Susan – synchronicity keeps happening doesn’t it. I love the idea of the story challenge – sadly I’m not blogging now and don’t want to break the rhythm of life I’ve got into .. to help myself – to get out of my own muddle and clear the space/s …

    Love the radish … I usually have a few with my lunch time salad … and art work – something I simply cannot do … sadly .. but my great friend is starting to utilise her talents – she’s north of London so I don’t see her too often – but it’s excellent to see her grow with her talent.

    Yes as Samantha mentions .. I too would love to know the CD you were listening to … lovely post – full of positivity … cheers Hilary

    • Hi Hilary – the synchronicities remind us to keep open to the world. And good on you for making time to clear the space. Believe me, putting anything on a piece of paper – paint, charcoal, writing or whatever is the hardest thing for me to do. Am going to be fashioning something out of clay in a few days – an idea I had from someone who showed her art work last Saturday. (When time permits).

      I’ll let you know the name of the CD – it’s in my husband’s car which is where we first listened to it – and he’s not here right now.

      Thank you again – Susan

  2. Hi,
    very nice picture and an excellent story. It’s interesting that people are leaving high powered jobs that demand their entire life blood to find themselves again in art. Beautiful.

    Shalom,
    Patricia

  3. Synchronicity, Susan: Radishes are in season here in Delaware now. I bought a bunch of locally grown ones the other day and ate a radish in my salad for lunch while you were posting this blog. Also, re the arts, so important to society, global society, the universal language, and I am so passionate about the arts and perpetuating the legacy of our restored historic Opera House, that they have appointed me a board member. The Opera House was built in 1870, at the end of the American Civil War, to unite the community: Delaware was divided, half slave and half free state.

    I might like listening to that French music you and your husband were listening to. Can you tell me what it is? Accordion and piano — sounds delightful.

    And, thanks for the shout out. 🙂

    • Thanks Samantha. Where would we be without the arts? I heard recently that employers are looking with a keener eye at potential employees who have immersed themselves in the arts or studied the arts and humanities as they have come to see that these have a broader vision of the world – and actually, may make better employees!

      Only a pleasure re the shout out!

      The CD is in Neil’s car – I’ve made a note to let you know. 🙂

  4. There is so much animation and excitement when you discuss this group, Susan, clearly, there is so much love and support among members. When you were describing Tina’s work… I just had goose-bumps and her work is truly inspiring. Lovely to read this update, it gave me a boost of energy!

  5. so nice to connect with you Susan, glad to know that you are part of a group that meets regularly, its a beautiful experience to be in the company of genuine persons, who are positive and energise us. Like the picture of raddish, looking pink and fresh. when ever I hear about things like genocide .. it pains me and I feel sad.. in our campus a few years ago there used to be so many suicides, due to social unrest…. our counseling centre Sahayam (which means help) was started with an objective to respond to students who were killing themselves… now I am here for the last 4 and half years working in this counseling centre, and suicide prevention programmes always remains our top priority… I like the caption “if you knew me and if I knew you, you would not kill me…. so true. Thanks for sharing…I am tempted to do the five photos and five stories…

    • Morning Genevive and thank you. How wonderful to be part of a counselling centre in the bid to prevent suicide among students. May I nominate you please to be be part of the Five Photos Five Stories?

  9. I enjoy hearing about your travels – and the joyful art pursuits you share with friends. As you know, I love colorful things and have recently read a book about color and meditation. Soon, of course, I’ll be writing a blog post about it. I suppose that could be a case of some synchronicity between us.

    I’ll respond to your kind invitation via email, Susan. Oh, and congratulations on completing your 67 minutes of service to others. Perhaps we will hear about that too soon. 😉

    • Thank you Marian, I look forward to your post on colour and meditation!

      My 67 minutes – when we lived in our old house, I would walk to the end of the road on a Sunday to buy the newspaper from Petros. In winter I’d take him a steaming mug of tea or coffee and a sandwich or whatever. After art class, I stopped by Petros and gave him R67 – actually a little more than that. He was happy to see me, I was happy to see him. I parked my car up the road and picked up trash for a half hour, filling a plastic bag or two, came home and later in the p.m. walked around my neighbourhood picking up trash.

  10. Susan, I loved your post. It is such a joy to me to hear about your day and your friends. Your art group sounds interesting. The painting looked unique, but it was hard to see on your website… or maybe it is my eye sight. 😉 The genocide in Rwanda is so terrible. I so wonder how one peoples can simply slaughter another group of peoples. No wonder people are immigrating to other countries!

    I did chuckle at your picture of the radish… but it is a big beautiful radish! Thank you!

  11. I’m behind in looking at blogs and I think I’m going backwards, so have to look for day 1.
    Your art group sounds like such fun. I, too, love when I encounter, “small instances of synchronicity.” They’re like little magical moments.

    I love your friend’s first oil painting. My mom used to paint in oil, but then switched to pastels because they were easier to manage. The radish would also make an interesting painting.

    Difficult to people that the genocide in Rwanda was 21 years ago. It seems both more recent and longer ago, although I’m not sure that’s possible.

    • Thanks Merril for coming by! A few years ago I was a pupil of Ianthe’s who was a water colourist, and a wonderful one. We had one on ones, once a week – water colour has to be the hardest thing.

      I remember the genocide very clearly, an awful figure like 800,000 slaughtered in 100 days. Now they are at peace I gather.

      And on a positive note at the start of the week, have a good one!

Comments are closed.