Flying Colors

Microscopic for Fine Art

My botánica print titled "Attraction" was included in a very unique and interesting treasury on  Etsy 
titled "Microscopic for Fine Art Friday" by lauraprill

Laura Prill is a published illustrator and award winning fine artist. Her paintings, collages and drawings are in many private and public collections. She also worked for many years in the licensed greeting card world as an artist, designer and copywriter. Check her Etsy store

A wonderful collection of minute worlds.
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Visit my  Etsy  stores "Lisa Rivas" and "Flying Colors" on the web to purchase some of my work!

Magnificent!

Precious is the breath of little rose drops
all exploding under the soft canopy of pink clouds
and forever being embraced by the wings of a rooted forest...

...an exquisitely framed moment within the interlocking dance of life!

"Magnifica"
• digital mixed with original printed on ricepaper and mounted on canvas • 10" x 10" • Lisa Rivas © 2009
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“Man's life is like a drop of dew on a leaf.”
~Socrates -Ancient Greek Philosopher, 470 BC-399 BC

IF • Renewal

Upon the awakening of 'Spring' there is a lot more than what "beholds the eye". Most of this activity unfolds underground, below the surface, deep within, pushing upward like rising bubbles.
A fresh and 'anew' sweetness lingers awaiting for the sun's warm touch,
by then filling the air with "gems of life."

• 10" x 10" • Lisa Rivas • "Renew"
• digital mixed with original printed on ricepaper and mounted on canvas

Nature often holds up a mirror so we can see more clearly the ongoing processes of growth,
renewal, and transformation in our lives. ~Mary Ann Brussat

IF • Germs

On man when he came into life the Father conferred the seeds of all kinds
and the germs of every way of life. ~ Giovanni Pico della Mirandola ~ (Italian Renaissance philosopher)

"Attraction" • watercolor, digital, printed on ricepaper and mounted on canvas • 10" x 10"
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The Germ
A mighty creature is the germ, though smaller than a pachyderm.
His customary dwelling place is deep within the human race.
His childish pride he often pleases by giving people strange diseases.
Do you, my poppet, feel infirm? You probably contain a germ.
~ Ogden Nash, 1902 - 1971

Apparent failure may hold in its rough shell the germs of a success that will blossom in time, and bear fruit throughout eternity. ~ Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

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"

Gego

For the past few months, while focusing on the diverse / unique structures of cacti and rendering their forms, a very dear professor of mine would come to mind often, her name is Gertrude Goldschmidt, also known as GEGO.

Gego taught a course called "Three-Dimensional Form & Spatial Solutions" at the Hans Neumann School of Design in Caracas, Venezuela where I studied  Graphic Design. I took this in depth course of hers for 3 consecutive years and worked extensively with spatial concepts... that explains why I think of her so often when I look at these cacti and succulents.

Upon pondering it came to me how spatially interconnected we all are and thus with nature also. And that thanks to the web and art we have been able to express it in so many a wonderful ways, like this Cactus Monday group has done!

• 10" x 10" • (thelocactus) • © Lisa Rivas • "Tribute to GEGO"
• watercolor, digital, printed on ricepaper and mounted on canvas

Gego is a very well known artist, she played with the idea of the stable and the unstable elements of art. The stable elements of art was the sculpture itself, while the unstable elements consist of the constantly changing shadows and the slight movement in her design. She used scraps of metal that she would bend and weave together in order to evoke movement, experimentation and spontaneity. (Venezuelan, born Germany. 1912-1994)

She did a whole series called "Drawings without Paper"...
...to read more about her click GEGO

The creative economy is giving rise to a new spatial fix and a very different geography
– the contours of which are only now emerging...

La Bruma...

Do you wish the world were happy?

Then remember day by day
just to scatter seeds of kindness
as you pass along the way ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (American poet and writer 1850-1919)

• 10" x 10" • © Lisa Rivas • "La Bruma"
• watercolor, digital, printed on ricepaper and mounted on canvas

There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.
G. K. Chesterton

It is the job that is never started that takes longest to finish.
J.R.R. Tolkien

The sequence...

... of "La Bruma"

Opening stages...

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... the adding of drama with India ink!

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... then the rendered wax line is ironed out and outlined with pencil.

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All the rendering is done in hot wax using the "tjanting", a tool for drawing fine wax lines.

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The "Grand Finale" will take place next week on another Cactus Monday post!

The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time,
but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order,
it is the continuous thread of revelation. Eudora Welty

Carnivorous Cacti?

So who ate who?
A thorned and spineless situation...
...among the blossoms?
Impossible!
So where is the cacti?

• 10" x 10" • © Lisa Rivas • "Thorns or Spines?"
• watercolor, digital, printed on ricepaper and mounted on canvas

Cannibals prefer those who have no spines.
Stanislaw Lem, polish science fiction writer

Spines are leaves that have been modified into cylindrical, hard structures with sharp ends. They are occasionally called thorns, which is incorrect (thorns are modified branches or stems). Similar to prickles and thorns, they are used by plants to protect themselves from herbivores.

IF • Celebrate...

...with colors!

A rising stigma surrounded by
THE FILAMENTS and THE ANTHERS
are hosting this celebration!

These delicate and loving hosts
lightly powder all guests with
"kisses of golden pollen".
Lisa Rivas

 

"Celebrate" ...of the series LAS BOTÁNICAS & you can purchase this HERE
• digital mixed with original printed on ricepaper and mounted on canvas • 10" x 10"

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How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!
Maya Angelou

A Blue Whisper,

The poplar, or aspen leaf, famed for its trembling movements, was called the talking, whispering, quivering leaf. In Native American folklore, the poplar is seen as a tree whose leaves may tremble, yet the tree does not bow, even to the Great Spirit. That leaf symbolizes courage and respect.

• 10" x 10" • © Lisa Rivas • "Leaf"
• watercolor, digital, printed on ricepaper and mounted on canvas

The simple leaf is so very important to life on earth. Light is processed through the cells of a leaf to create energy. The process is called photosynthesis, during which oxygen is released into the atmosphere. Leaves are a food source for just about all living creatures including ourselves.

How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.
John Burroughs

a head start...

A new year is about to unfold,
—like a blossom with petals curled tightly
concealing the beauty within.

As we make our resolutions for the year ahead,
let us go forward with great hope
that all things can be possible
—with Gods help and guidance.
Anonymous

• 10" x 10" • © Lisa Rivas • "Luna & Sun Drops"
• watercolor, digital, printed on ricepaper and mounted on canvas

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.
Hamilton Wright Mabie

Find the seed at the bottom of your heart and bring forth a flower.
Shigenori Kameoka

An ornament...

The nut doesn't reveal the tree it contains.
proverb - ancient Egypt

• 10" x 10" • © Lisa Rivas • "Inner Gem"
• watercolor, digital, printed on ricepaper and mounted on canvas

Nuts are a big part of many holiday celebrations, whether it’s pecan pie, chestnut stuffing
or just a handful of mixed nuts grabbed at the office party.

Do not be afraid to go out on a limb ... That's where the fruit is.
Author unknown

The Akran / Acorn

Only on mature trees do you appear,
those large and sturdy with years of age.

You will nurture many of those around you,
creatures with wings, tails, claws and paws.

They say you stand for patience and fruition,
a symbol of long / hard labor, one of strength.

Call you the fruit of the enclosed land,
that is only assigned to major trees.

Top Nut, "Little Acorn" of the Mighty Old Oak!

• 10" x 10" • © Lisa Rivas • "Top Nut"
• watercolor, digital, printed on ricepaper and mounted on canvas

Thou wert a bauble once, a cup and ball
which babes might play with;
and the thievish jay,
seeking her food, with ease might have purloined
the auburn nut...
The Yardley Oak, William Cowper (1791)

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Read more the poem: Little By Little...

Like a globe!

Cacti are succulents, a group of plants with peculiar shape and size and mostly adopted for desert life. They have  a highly specialized anatomy to enable them to survive prolonged drought. Their bizarre appearance reflects a unique evolution, in which plant form, function and survival are inextricably linked. Here's a globular stem cacti!

"Globe" (original)
• watercolor, black walnut ink on ricepaper

I made the BLACK WALNUT INK used in this piece.
Click for the recipe!

• 10" x 10" • © Lisa Rivas • "Globoid"
• digital print on ricepaper and mounted on canvas

A sphere (a globe) is the optimum shape for a stem succulent as it has the smallest possible surface area in proportion to volume, keeping water loss to a minimum.