The Sound of Music

When in Montreal, I was captivated by the sound of music in the street. I had just left the Hyatt Regency Hotel and was immediately entranced by the style of music that this violinist was playing. I can only describe it as totally funky and haunting at the same time. He had some pop music playing on a sound track and was accompanying it with the violin, giving it a strange, otherworldly feel.

He was set up just outside the Museum of Contemporary Art. I was on my way to view the display there and had to simply stop, stand and listen. Yes, I threw him some moolah and told him how talented he is. I wish I could remember his name, but there was just so much happening that weekend that this is one piece of information that has slipped away. It could be the early onset....but then it might be.....wait a minute....what were we talking about? Oh, ya. Music.

This was in such sharp contrast to the display inside the museum. Now, I have to admit, I should have known by the name of the building "Museum of Contemporary Art" that this was going to be a bit of a trip. There was one display of nice paintings where one could actually tell what it was supposed to be. The rest were over priced pieces that looked like a squiggly line on an otherwise blank canvas. Not my cup of tea. There was a display of glass which looked like a dining table set up with ornate crystal, all lit with bulbs inside the bases of glass lanterns, as well as a chandelier made of every size and shape of crystal glass, starting with the largest of Red Wine Goblets at the top and spiralling down to the smallest of shot glasses. This was all very pretty and stunning with the light reflecting off the glass. It appealed to the parrot in me. Parrots are notorious for liking shiny objects. That is me. I like the sparkly, shiny stuff. The rest of the displays were a vast disappointment of everything from stick figures to BDSM to a film of a poor animal being slaughtered in a slaughtering house. That last one made me sick to the stomach and I left. I have learned that contemporary and art are most often a contradiction in terms, much like the phrase "country music". At least I came away with the experience and with knowing more about what I really enjoy and what I really don't enjoy. It is all affirmations and life lessons indeed!

Blessed Be
Trent
www.youtube.com/trentdeerhorn
www.deerhornshamanic.com

All things simple

I helped my mother-in-law learn how to create a pansy on paper that looked like it popped right out of the page. This was years ago before her crossing over. She had a stamp set and was creating greeting cards to send to friends. But no matter what she did to color in the pansy stamp, it continued to look flat and unappealing. So she asked me what I would do with it, considering that I am an artist.

The first thing I told her was that she needed to see the pansy with a new set of eyes. Too often we overlook the simple beauty that is right there in front of us. Then we needed to sharped the pencil crayons she was using to a fine point. We cannot use a "broad brush" when we are trying to create detail. Then we began the lesson on blending colors. The colors of a pansy are not just black center,then colored petal, then green leaf. They smoothly blend into one another, like lovers and very good friends blend into each others' lives. And in that blend there is a mixture of color that is created. Not just one or the other, but both. We then need to allow the light to shine from a particular direction, and indicate this with highlights on the petals and leaves. We always need to know the source of our light. Then we need to shadow the colors where the light is not so strong and the dark is able to exist. We always need to be conscious of our dark aspects, otherwise it will all still turn out flat. And, last but not least, we need to recognize that no matter how shaded something is, there is still light shining through, thus the leaves have to have some of the colors of the upper petals on them, indicating the light shining through the umbrella of petals and cascading a new tone onto the leaves below.

"Where did you learn this?" she asked me. Well, I have a mother and two sisters who are also artists, so some of the technical stuff comes from that. But the essence of it, the ability to see what I am looking at....that comes from my own spirit and my own desire to know and to observe and understand. My soul is fed with compassion and understanding, and the soul of all things, whether elaborate or simple, is also fed with compassion and understanding. This is the shaman's way.

Blessed Be

Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com