Monday, November 26, 2012

Stranger in a Strange Land

It's almost the end of the year and the final months are always fleeting. My husband and I are going to be leaving Toronto soon, where we have been staying for the past 6 months. My time here has been so different and wonderful and I fear I will miss Toronto terribly when we leave. Before staying here, I was first and foremost a portrait artist. I love painting and drawing people. The complicated inner worlds that show through subtle expressions on our faces calls out to me to capture in my artwork. This has not left me, but it has been overshadowed lately by a strong and forceful draw to the trees and nature in Toronto. When I travel with my husband to new parts of the globe, I find myself very much alone in my daily life. As an artist, I spend the days alone drawing or painting when we are at home in Los Angeles, but knowing your friends are out there and with in reach, being able to get together with them at a given notice still fills a large part of my life. When we are gone, It's like there is the part that is customarily secluded while making art, but there is the undeniable absence of my friends as well...wrapping itself around the hours I deem for myself alone while working. 

I have found a great deal of solace and love while spending time in a near by park compensating for the feelings of isolation that come from being a stranger in a strange land. The emotions and realizations that fill my heart and mind while exploring the small but rich landscape have buoyed my feelings of loneliness and a strong fondness and spiritual connection to the area has taken place. Since being here I have taken hundreds of photographs and begun making landscape type drawings no doubt as a natural result of these feelings. I never thought I would have felt this kind of energy making drawings of nature. It is like I am making art in the genre I never thought I could find interesting in a complex way. I never thought it would hold my interest long enough to make art like this other than for commission.

So here I am. Posting another drawing I made from a tree I shot pictures of in Riverdale Park. It is 40" X 32" ball point pen on Arches beautiful and soft drawing paper. The emotion is deep there because of the gratitude I have for the undeniable love that radiates freely in nature to anyone who sets foot on the leafy pathways or sits beneath one of the grand trees. The trees are quiet and strong teaching me to feel the same way as I make my way through a mostly silent day. The beauty and grace I see floods my heart in a way that has lifted me from feeling alone. 

1 comment:

  1. Linda, this post reads like a beautiful story read from the tablets of your heart written by your soul. The lens which you view the world and your life are truly art in and of themselves.Thank you for posting your inspirational story.

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