The red headed woodpecker from Leanin’ Ladders was a moment in my life that I happened to be lucky enough to capture on ‘film’.
It visited later,
when the hubby came home.
And I haven’t seen it since.
But,
she didn’t live with a Red-Headed Woodpecker,
she lived with a Red-Bellied Woodpecker.
And those I have seen,
both the male and the female.
This morning while outside trying to keep ahead of the weeds,
a Pileated Woodpecker flew over my head calling out
and then a Red-Bellied Woodpecker called out from the tree behind me.
I looked way up,
waiting for it to call again so I could pinpoint it.
It called.
I saw it.
Another called in response.
Whatever is around you,
that is what you’ll pay attention to.
That’s interesting.
I’m glad I’m not around Drama because I’ve been told to beware of that stuff.
My yard is around me,
almost all day,
every day.
I don’t find it boring.
There’s always something to see
AND some-thing (a lot of things) to DO.
And sometimes that part sucks.
Not to say that I never get bored,
but sometimes boredom is just being tired of having to weed
because weeding sucks.
(I gotta change my attitude about weeding if I want to get any done this year.)
Am I the best at drawing or painting or any of this?
No,
and I mean NO (a’la Sandra Bullock in 28 Days)
if I looked at Some People’s stuff and tried to compare mine to it?
(I have in mind that person who does the most amazing watercolor paintings on YouTube with the blues and the reds and the really intense gazes)
I might as well just stop now.
But I’m not gonna,
because what I am the best at is my own personal style,
infantile......I mean child-like and all.
(Some say Tim Burton - I say, Dr. Seuss, if him and Tim Burton and Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean and Kevin MacLeod all had a illegitimate daughter, that'd be close to Me.)
We are all best at being ourselves.
In art, trying to find out who that is takes Time.
It takes copying other people's work to find out how to draw
(yes, I said copying)
and then it requires doing it again and again
and some more
and more, more, more.
And all the time,
opening your own self up.
That means your heart AND your mind with no doors locked
and no secrets kept,
being willing to tell your art what scares you,
what excites you,
what makes you pee in your panties?
When you grow up,
that's a sneeze.
:)
Meanwhile, you’re looking at more and more people’s work
and bringing that in,
combining all of it with the You, you've uncovered,
to form this Frankensteined way that takes on an electrified life of its own
and becomes what people will eventually recognize as Your Personal Artistic Style.
That is if you stick with it.
It takes time and dedication and actual doing,
and unfortunately not just wishing.
(but I wish it did!)
My ego says to tell you not to copy my stuff.
But another part says,
No one can take anything away from me that I’m just giving to them.
:)
whatever.
I am not going to sit around here trying to protect me from someone stealing what I’m sharing.
Does it really matter anyway?
To some, but I try not to let it matter to me.
I don’t have the time to add my name onto every photograph I take.
If you like it,
right click it and copy it to your computer.
Forget it 'belonged' to me.
And just use it to get your juices going.
I’m happy if you do that.
Just don’t be making any money off it and we’re cool. ;)
I’ve found out,
sometimes there is no protection against people robbing you.
I get robbed by stores all the time.
No one does anything about that.
I buy something and the thing breaks in a year or two (or sometimes less).
Really??
How long should I expect a product I buy to last?
Depends on what it is I guess.
whatever.
I’ll just be here making art, recording it,
and making more art out of that
(and shaking my head in disapproval at 'Industry')
;)
all for our enjoyment -
Mine and Yours.
That’s what a part of every day of mine is about,
and Capturing some part on camera.
Do you think that woodpecker made a special appearance in my yard so it could become a forever part of my work?
There are a lot of woodpeckers out there,
but only one woodpecker opens the beginning of Leanin’ Ladders by A Magickal Meliss,
eh?
Even when that woodpecker dies,
there is a recording of it,
so a piece of it lives on.
Even after technology reverts at some point,
and no copy is left of Leanin Ladders,
it still was a part of what I created
and that can never, never die.
Even if no Hard Evidence of it remains.
Nothing Dies.
IF we could wrap our heads around that,
we could Live.
I have received some really heart-warming comments.
I cut them out and put them in my art journal planner made out of an old 70's photo album.
So I can have your words outside of my computer.
(Computer = Brain. Words glued into an art journal planner page = Heart)
I do like what my hubby says about the videos....
“It’s cool because there’s no one there, and then....
There’s Someone there!”
I like that I can make someone appear
out of thin air (or paper as the case may be).
I can make them disappear as well.
and I have!
M-wha, ha ha ha!
I can paint right over your ass if I don’t like it.
I can erase it.
I can fix it in some way where your ass works in harmony with the rest.
I can make your ass go into the background.
I can cover it up with something beautiful.
I can make it a layer.
I can blend it into what’s already there.
I can blend the edge of your ass right into the paper with modeling paste so I start to forget it’s there.
Or if it’s really bad,
I can dismantle the entire thing and take it back to basic paper.....
‘Cause, I can cut a piece of paper to fit exactly over that there spot that’s out of place on the page and is causing disharmony......
But don’t think I’m looking for your ass to be perfect.
Look at my art,
I enjoy the imperfectness of disjointed’ness,
of twisted’ness,
of miss-shapen’ness.
I ain’t looking for pretty pretty here.
I am into The Grunge,
AND The Glitter.
I really need to put some Glitter on my next piece!!
Glitter gets girls giddy.
And giddy,
we need
~magick~
Meliss
