Flying Colors

Pillars...

...straight, strong and tall support the tender, soft and beautiful.
For it is the style in the "Mundo Vegetal".
A realm so full and sustaining, the source of abundance and well being.

Petals paper thin are meticulously arranged crowning the heads of these pillars.
Called "corollas" (little crowns) they open and unfold presenting,
a splendid offering of scents, hues and colors plus

an amazing golden possibility...

"Petal"
• digital mixed with original printed on ricepaper and mounted on canvas • 10" x 10"

Mother of Millions,

The earth is at the same time mother,
she is mother of all that is natural,
mother of all that is human.

She is the mother of all,
for contained in her are the seeds of all.

Hildegard of Bingen (German abbess, 1098 - 1179)

This piece was inspired from a wonderful "photo" of Julie's at  A Succulent Life

"Mother of Thousands" (Kalanchoe diagremontiana) reproduces by producing tiny plantlets that drop from the edges of its leaves, it has lost the ability to make viable seeds. This succulent has shifted some of the genetic processes that make seeds to it's leaves.

♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥  •  ♥

Never allow anyone to rain on your parade
and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on your entire day.  Og Mandino

to seek,

 

Limited Edition Print of 20 - Stone Lithography - "Search"
Stone lithography and Monoprint on BFK Rives paper • 29"H x 22.5"W • © Lisa Rivas

✦

I laugh, I love, I hope, I try, I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry.
And I know you do the same things too, so we're really not that different, me and you.
Colin Raye (American country music singer)

✦

IF • Poise

o

In this

first heaven

of knowing,

o

the flesh

takes on the

pure poise

of the spirit.

o

Theodore
Roethke

original painting - private collection - Nashville, TN - USA - "Odalisque"
watercolor, wax, rice paper, quilted • 36"H x 54"W • © Lisa Rivas

✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿ - ✿

In the poise of intuitive balance,
death is destroyed upon entering the Sanctuary of the True One.
Sri Guru Granth Sahib (Holy Scripture of the Sikhs)

IF • Legendary

Mythological places are "legendary places" from a relatively cohesive set of myths.

There is an ancient legend which warns that, should we ever learn our true origin, our universe will instantly be destroyed. Len Wein (American comic book writer)

"Flight of Fancy"
• watercolor, wax, iridescent crayons, rice paper, quilted • 38"H x 34"W • © Lisa Rivas

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

If King Arthur is all myth and no historical fact, then its academic as to where the places actually were. However if there is some historical fact behind it, then where did the legendary adventures of himself and his Knights of the Round Table actually take place?

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L O V E

♥
Love has no desire but to fulfill itself.
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.
Kahlil Gibran

We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.
Mother Teresa
♥

The Lacebug...

...is a very small insect which
has delicate wings with
numerous transparent areas.
Their wings seem like as
if they were made of lace.

Only by looking through a
magnifying glass or by taking
a macro picture is the beauty
of these tiny wings revealed!

 

"Lace Bug" e-Stamp
• "FUSED GLASS - illustration" printed as an archival pigment print, 100% rag paper

Veni, Vidi, Velcro...  I came, I saw and I stuck around...
~Author Unknown

Love this year!

Another fresh new year is here!
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

 

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest!
To daily grow and try to be,
My highest and my best!

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  ♥  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!

William Arthur Ward

She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad,
but because the world was so beautiful and life was so short.

Showers & Stars...

When clouds appear like rocks and towers,
The earth's refreshed by frequent showers.
Old Rhyme

"Shower of Stars"
• watercolor, wax, handmade paper, sequins and thread • 13"H x 18"W • © Lisa Rivas

A leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars...
Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)

 

No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land,
or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.
Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)

Tree attire!

❄

❄

...perhaps

❄

the best

❄

Yuletide

❄

dress or

❄

decoration

❄

is being

❄

wreathed

❄

in smiles!

❄

Author Unknown

The naked truth is always better than the best dressed lie. Ann Landers

2 Legged Table

2 legs is what I see.

2 legs that are very blue.

2 legs that hid behind the ...

2 legs that support this tabletop.

2 legs that stand straight up and upon.

2 legs that we think do exist but are not seen.

2 legs that are needed to walk in order to get here.

2 legs placed the basket of "ripe red fruit" upon this table.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

original painting • private collection - Memphis, TN - USA • "Next Door"
watercolor, wax, ricepaper, then quilted! • 36"H x 36"W • © Lisa Rivas

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.
Henri Matisse

The Ovals III... again!

Oh no! "The Ovals"! screamed the "black speckled hens".

What happened to "THE OVALS"?
They are cracked and empty!!!
The "smooth eggs" and the "hairy coconut", all of them!

That "big oval" had something to do with this... they all got just too close...
What do we do now?

digital illustration - Lisa Rivas © 2008 • "Looking for Ovals"

 

PREVIOUS OVALS: All Ovals II • Visiting Ovals I
• digital illustration - Lisa Rivas © 2008

This continues...

Día de los Muertos

Perhaps they are not stars,
but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through
and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.
Eskimo proverb

original painting - private collection - Guadalajara, Mexico - "Bodegón del Día de Los Muertos"
• watercolor, wax, ricepaper, then quilted! • 24"H x 36"W • © Lisa Rivas

The Day of the Dead is a holiday celebrated in many countries. It focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and relatives who have died. In Mexico the celebration occurs on the 1st and 2nd of November. Their traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts.

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
Bertrand Russell

Fall cuttings...

Speak clearly, if you speak at all;
carve every word before you let it fall.
Oliver Wendell Holme
 

• carved design on earthenware (clay) and painted with underglaze • Lisa Rivas © 2008 • Bell

Insults should be written in sand, compliments should be carved in stone. Arab Proverb

Nerves...

 

eyes fluttering

out on a string

dilated pupils

frozen stare

chattering teeth

submersed in fear

deep anxiety

sidelong glance

a sweet fakery

peeking just so

in gray shadows

nerve racking

hung in suspense

between whispers

sweating bullets

racing palpitations

uncertain drama

skeptical illusions

shaking knees

resounding tics

blinking lights

among the folds

drowning gasps

and swept tears

original painting - artist collection / available - Nashville, TN - USA • "Into Focus"
• watercolor, wax, ricepaper, glazed • 36" H x 72" W • © Lisa Rivas
If someone has nerves of steel, they don't get frightened when other people do.