Southern Frame of Mind

I could not possibly love a land more than I love the American South.  The South flows in my blood, is imprinted in my genes and beats in my heart.  My ancestors cut their way through Southern forests, lived the story of the South and passed it on to me.  I love Southern people, quirks and all, with their diversity of spirit, common decency and courtesy.  I love the Southern landscape, too.  I like to think from a "Forever Summer" perspective which I think is distinctly Southern.  Which reminds me of one of my favorite descriptions of the Southern landscape from The Mind of the South by W. J. Cash:

"Moreover, there was the influence of the Southern physical world - itself a sort of cosmic conspiracy against reality in favor of romance.  The country is one of extravagant colors, of proliferating foliage and bloom, of flooding yellow sunlight, and, above all perhaps, of haze.  Pale blue fogs hang above the valleys in the morning, the atmosphere smokes faintly at midday, and through the long slow afternoon, cloudstacks tower from the horizon and the earth-heat quivers upward throught the iridescent air, blurring every outline and rendering every object vague and problematical.  I know that winter comes to the land, certainly.  I know that there are days when the color and the haze are stripped away and the real stands up in drab and depressing harshness.  But these things pass and are forgotten." 

I am glad home is a place where old times are remembered, but winter and drabness pass and are forgotten..... 

Montego Bay?

When I was at the Art Institute of  Ft. Lauderdale I did this project composed of matchcovers from Ft. Lauderdale and Miami restaurants and bars.  I am trying to remember if this really good restaurant I remember was Montego Bay.   All kinds of seafood and mandarin oranges and nuts in the salad. 

814

O God, the creator and preserver of all mankind, we humbly

beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men; that thou

wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them, thy

saving health unto all nations. More especially we pray for

thy holy Church universal; that it may be so guided and

governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call

themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and

hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in

righteousness of life. Finally, we commend to thy fatherly

goodness all those who are in any ways afflicted or distressed,

in mind, body, or estate; especially my friends who are out of hope;

that it may please thee to comfort and relieve

them according to their several necessities, giving them patience

under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their

afflictions. And this we beg for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

Rethinking Wisdom

I am a big fan of the Holy Spirit.  Thoroughly Episcopalian and not pentecostal in the sense the word is now politically used,  over the years I have studied and thought a great deal about this manifestation of God.   In fact, I believe that latley the Spirit has stepped in and carried the other side for me and probably done a good deal of my praying for me because I have not known what to pray.  Pentecost is my favorite feast day of the liturgical year because I am most moved to comprehend the presence of God IN our lives today (and I love all the red). 

Wisdom is the Holy Spirit.   

Awhile back I had an entry entitled Evil in Silk & Pearls.  In there I quoted Cicero  who said that the  function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.

This is a moment in my life when this quotation is so worth reconsidering.

Digital Signatures

I have a tendency to fail to sign my digital art work, and I must correct this shortcoming.  When I produce work for my parish I recognize it as a gift for God, so I always make an effort to keep my ego in check.  When I produced the bulletin I would credit the bulletin cover art on the inside to protect my copyright or the copyright of the artist whose work appeared on the cover (and to provide some education concerning the symbol or image used).  But if an artist does not create the inside of the bulletin, I have found that the art is seldom credited or copyright protected.  For postcards I credit the art in small letters on the address side (which is sometimes accidentally covered by the mailing label), and newspaper ads are not credited at all.  This used to be ok, but it is not ok anymore.  So a digital signature on artwork is a must.  

For years I have made excuses for the church's overall lack of appreciation of art.   As an artist I have had trouble understanding this; aren't most of us worshiping in beauty that was crafted years ago by hands now inhabiting the grave?  As people enter and stutter at the beauty of Episcopal churches, we cannot fail to see beauty's impact.   Progress is being made through organizations like ECVA and CIVA, yet still many local churches do not see it as a ministry, much less a bridge to God.  

I think that some churches do not appreciate art because the local nature of the institution is highly protestant and anti-image.  Others are just missing the heart and head to comprehend that beauty is the direct reflection of God and that art is a ministry.   This selfishness or carelessness is akin to that of gardeners who do not plant oak trees after the age of 50 because they will not be around to see them in their glory.  It doesn't particularly matter if this tradition of beauty ends because they won't be around to see it anyway.  And some churches are just filled with dark energy rather than light, and demons hide from light because, afterall, isn't Christ "Light from Light"?  Is the glorious body of Christ paraplegic, distorted or crippled?   Sometimes the mouth keeps working when the rest of the body fails.

Percy Dearmer was right when he predicted that if unencouraged, artists would take their talents elsewhere besides the church.  I won't go so far as to say that The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, as revealed in my art for my parish, just caught the last train for the coast....I will say that I now approach it differently. 

Which leads me back to why digital signatures are important.  Yes, we produce our gifts for God.  But we also produce them for each other in the form of the body of Christ.  Let those who have ears hear; let those who have eyes see.  But just because some are blind, it does not mean that it should be free of copyright protection unless the artist chooses.  

A wise friend once told me, move where the waters part, to which I add, move with a signature.  

Sun, Water, Wind

I was talking with an old friend the other day, and we were both pretty down at the moment.  It occurred to me that as long as I can remember the feeling of sailing on a Hobie Cat with the sun beating down, the spray salt water and the wind, it is possible to be happy again.   Joy is somewhere out there in this cruel world. 

So, all my dear friends, when you see SWW, you will know I am sending you my best thoughts, strength and the memory of  - and hope for - joy. 

Peacock Feather: The Color of Summer

_{The peacock feather appeals so to me because it sports many of my favorite colors, and they are the colors of Summer.  A carefree, dazzling beauty, that no one could have made up but God himself.}

_{This is an interesting combination of hand drawn and digital art.}   

Transparency

It is nice to see situations where people own their words and take responsibility for the seeds they sow.  I was very impressed this week with a post on this topic by my virtual priest, Fr. Jake, of Father Jake Stops the World blog.  Taking a prompt from Episcopal Cafe's policy of asking folks to post in their real names, Fr. Jake decided to reveal his identity and provide some background information on himself.  See his article on Transparency on his blog.  It is nice to know more about one of my favorite priests.  

True Knowledge

"True knowledge is being struck by the arrow of Beauty that wounds man, moved by reality, how it is Christ himself who is present and in an ineffable way disposes and forms the souls of men."  ~Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

Sonnet Tucked Away

I don't like poetry as a general rule.   I do, however, love the following by Edna St. Vincent Millay which I socked away in a drawer on a little piece of crumpled, folded paper:

Love is not all: It is not meat nor drink

Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain,

Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink and rise and sink and rise and sink again.

Love cannot fill the thickened lung with breath

Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;

Yet many a man is making friends with death even as I speak, for lack of love alone.

It well may be that in a difficult hour,

Pinned down by need and moaning for release

Or nagged by want past resolution's power,

I might be driven to sell your love for peace,

Or trade the memory of this night for food.

It may well be. I do not think I would.