Do you notice that?

In my art when I try to find this drumbeat, this pulse, this spirit – I try to find something that connects me to others, my culture to other cultures, my mind to my body. I mostly use an object that I can hold in my hand which I will then photograph and use in a collage repeat on canvas. As an example: I used a smoking pipe in my series “Pipes”.

The Sioux tribe believes that a smoking pipe, Calumet, represents Creation.

The Stem is a symbol for masculinity and the animal world. The Chamber stands for the femininity and the plant world. The smoke represents the prayers that goes up to the gods. I then selected a calabash pipe to connect my world to the world of the Sioux tribe. The pipe pieces made for a beautiful collage and gave my series the heartbeat of creation and its being. Sometimes, if a new painting in a different series would relate to the earth and its beings (a.k.a. have the same heartbeat), I would use the pipe as a foundation again like in this painting.

Other objects that I’ve used as collages to form a painting’s drumbeat include words, buttons, scissors, irons, labyrinths, knits, hands and even complete paintings of mine.

Have a look around you and spot the drumbeat that speaks to you.

Keep connecting!

Liesel x

Every night when I go to bed, I look at it and I can’t quite put my finger on it. It makes me think of..

is it the veil of a bride?

or is it a waterfall that covers up immense beauty still to be discovered?

or is it a hidden city where the buildings are rooted to the ground like plants with bridges leading to…I don’t know where.

Some days it makes me think of one of my favourite things. Rain. When it rains so much and hard that I can’t see through the rain-curtain that rolls from the roof. I don’t know what will be left after the rain. It’s so loud that I can’t hear what the person next to me says. It’s just me and the rain and what I know to be true behind the veil.

I wait.

I wait to see what will still be true after the rain.

I search in anticipation to see what I need to see and then I fall asleep.

In waking up I fall in love with the piece all over again.

In love with the delicateness in the give and take of the colours that look different and new again in the light that the morning brings.

In love with the lightness that I feel.

In love with the little imperfections that reminds me that there is room for change.

That reminds me that nothing is permanent. Everything is permanent until it’s not. Not to me any longer.

After the rain, my truth (that always has room to) changes. I am no longer who I was before the rain. It’s a new day.

Scribbling away in her notebook to leave evidence that there was in fact a life being lived between the edges of photographs, the girl started to ponder about borders / no borders. Which option is the freer option? Sometimes borders – emotional borders, country-set borders, bank account borders – are set as freedom protectors.

Pondering and pondering about questions like these for days, weeks, months – the girl decided to rely on the idea that made her feel happiest on the inside. “The idea that freedom lies within borders, tend to be driven by fear”, she thought  and she decided that the idea of “My sky is your sky is her sky is his sky” felt much more bright-eyed, open-hearted, open-armed and definitely promoted hugging on a regular basis.

She felt relieved about her conclusion and pondered about it no longer.

Taking Flight by Liesel Beukes

Have you ever heard of the ten-year-old mayor that solved the riddle of the crying umbrella? Well, it’s a true story – a friend of a friend saw the umbrella with her own eyes.

The town of Onki-O used to have a normal “moustache”-aged mayor (if you know what I mean). The people loved their mayor and the mayor loved his people. One day, an umbrella flew into town with the cunning old northern wind that lived for creating chaos when there was too much peace around.

The umbrella was a pinky red, almost like the colour of a man’s face when he knows that he is in trouble. Something was strange about the gift from the northern wind. It didn’t take the people of Onki-O long to figure out what it was: It rained from within! It cried!

As the days went by and the trees changed colour, the town of Onki-O grew sadder and sadder with the sobs coming from the umbrella. This was a big concern for the mayor. When even the children of your town stop laughing, something MUST BE DONE!

The mayor has tried everything.

First he tried to hang the umbrella over the river to let the tears flow away with the river, but the fish became so sad that there was no more dancing on the water.

Next the mayor tried a street corner near the best bakery in town that promises “Our fragrant bread brings a smile to a head”! My, oh my! Within a month the merry bakery turned into a blues café!

The mayor then considered bottling the tears, but the idea got not one, but five “REJECTED!” stamps all over the paperwork by SWADRA (Sad Water Drinkers Anonymous).

The mayor has puzzled and pondered and pondered and puzzled. His advisors had no more advice, his councilors no more council and his gurus no more guru.

So he did what any caring mayor would do. He set out a “Wanted!” poster that read:

“Solve the puzzle of the umbrella that cries

and become the next mayor as your prize!”

This was a puzzle-O to the whole of Onki-O. Everyone tried to find a solution and every day the mayor listened to a hundred more failings. Just as the mayor thought that burning the umbrella seemed the only way, a little boy pulled on his jacket.

“Mr. Mayor, I think I might have a solution.”

The mayor that likes kids to know that they are taken serious, goes down on his one knee to listen to the boy.

The boy started to explain: “If water flows downwards they form tear-drops that brings sadness. When water flows upwards it brings happiness in the form of a fountain. I think that the umbrella doesn’t want to be an umbrella. I suspect that she wants to be a fountain. I believe that she cries herself into a puddle because it lets her see a reflection of herself like she would most want to be seen.”

The boy turned the umbrella upside-down and there was an immediate switch to happiness – the umbrella fountained, the fish danced again, the children laughed again and the whole town was happy.

The bakery stayed a blues café, because the sad-happiness of the music reminded the people of Onki-O that looking a certain way, don’t make you a certain way.

 Liesel xx

The area where I live, Neuhausen, hosts a once yearly open studio event for the more than 70 artists in the region. The event is called “Kultüren” and is a play between the german words for culture “Kultur” and doors “Türen”. This was the tenth year that this event has taken place, but the first year that I took part.

What an adventure!

It started Saturday at two and at just about two, everything was in place. It really does take a village to set up an event like this and I am incredibly grateful to those that jumped in and help without hesitation. How lucky am I?

At exactly two, the first guests arrived. This is what it looked like.

What was on offer?

Never seen before paintings

Never seen before Bhoomies

Never seen before Designs

The Event

On Saturday the house was filled with art interested people from 2pm to 10pm and after sitting with some friends and a glass of wine for another couple of hours we packed up for the day, exhausted but happy.

On Sunday we re-opened our doors at noon. At first it was a bit quieter than Saturday, but then the house filled up quickly again.

I had so many special encounters with art lovers which made every minute of hard work that went into this event absolutely worth it. All in all the weekend was very exciting to me.

A huge thank you to all of you that visited the event and added to the spirit of the weekend. For those of you who couldn’t make it, not to worry, my new work will soon be uploaded to the website and you’re also welcome to make an appointment for a private studio tour.

Keep well!

Liesel x

See if this beauty moves you:

Moves me every time!

Keep connecting xx

and that is how it’s done!

have a creative week!

-liesel-

Creativity for all!

-liesel-

PS. It was real nice of the guy that set it up. Isn’t it wonderful to know that there are kind people out there? xx

“Healing may not be so much about getting better as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are. Not a better you, but a realer you.”

- Dr Remen, The Human Patient.

~ the real You for all, and all for the real You ~

liesel xx

]]> http://lieselbeukes.com/the-real-you/feed/ 0 http://lieselbeukes.com/do-you-maybe-have-sky-colour/ http://lieselbeukes.com/do-you-maybe-have-sky-colour/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:41:58 +0000 Liesel Beukes http://lieselbeukes.wordpress.com/?p=248 I occasionally do creativity “preservation” sessions with kiddies. They are wonderful to work with. I once had a little princess (Isabel) and her chess-champ brother (Adam) over. They made this beautiful castle:

with this beautiful damsel:

and this super-strong superhero on his way to save the day:

We made our own custom tower-heads and carriages. When Isabel wanted me to pass her the blue she asked: “do you maybe have sea color?”.

How nice to see the world in your palette.

Then there was Emily the three-eared giant (so that she could listen better) by the lovely princess Isabel:

She is bigger than my husband (what he wouldn’t do for me:))

I recently had another little girl that came over for the second time. The first time was a little bit hard on me, because the little one didn’t speak a lot, which meant, I had to balance out the conversation ALL IN GERMAN (whew!).

So, we set up another date to play and wonder.

This meant getting ready. In preparation, I read the german version of “The Little Prince” aloud to my husband at breakfast in an attempt to loosen the tongue a little, should conversation be up to me, you know? I also removed gold from the palette for the session, as, in our first session, she made EVERYTHING in her best-loved color: gold:).

We decided to make fantasy animals, by drawing our favorite animals, cutting them up and using their parts to create our own animals.

Now, with gold removed from the palette I wondered what was coming. Surprise number one: she talked!! Yay! Then she made the most beautiful peacock, an oh-so-cute owl, a butterfly, a horse within a camp (so that he couldn’t runaway) and a flamingo with an egg hanging mid-air (so cute!!!!!!!).

As you can see the animals are super-cute. I felt nervous…

Would she really want to cut them up?

SO, I cut my animals up and glued my new animal friends into shape. When she was ready I assured her that she didn’t have to cut them up if she didn’t want to. And, to be honest, not sure I would’ve had the courage if they were mine… Then, without any hesitation, she cut off the legs of the peacock!!! [shocked!]

Here are her fantasy animals:

Strutting Rorse and Flutterfly

Flying Chorse

Flamingowl with magic wand (the pink oval shape was the flamingo’s egg)

Yes, ladies and gentlemen: that was natural creativity for you in action.

We can only learn from them.

play for all & all for play

-liesel-

At the moment I dream of visiting Japan and as the cherry blossom season starts in Japan, I thought this beautiful poetry could lighten up Monday for all of us:

From Blossoms

BY LI-YOUNG LEE

“Nothing is more dangerous than an IDEA when it is the only one you have” – Emile Chartier

Whilst respectfully waiting for Madame Muse to invite me over, I am looking into my ONE idea:

ONE as ITSELF

Neatly nestled in between “oncoming” and “one another” in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.

ONE as a DAY

Today. There’s just one.

“A life lived for tomorrow is crappy today” – Chris Baréz-Brown (author of How to have kick-ass ideas)

ONE as a GIFT

“You’re gorgeous, you old hag, and if I could give you just one gift ever for the rest of your life it would be this. Confidence. It would be the gift of confidence. Either that or a scented candle”

- David Nicholls, One Day

ONE as a SONG

One from the album It all starts with one by Ane Brun

REVOLUTION FROM DREAMS! (from the song)

ONE as the ROOT OF UNITY

Now, technically this is a mathematical term, but don’t you like the ring that it has to it? Among us are those that already realized that making change happen is rooted in unity. When we stand as one, we can make a difference.

ONE to look out for

A lot of you have met the Bhoomies. Now, just to warn you, there is ONE. She has fallen. Don’t let her trick you. The mark of the Bhoomie that she is carrying, is interchangeable. What happened to her is almost unspeakable – she became ugly on the inside!

Should you come across her, it might help her when you switch your inner light to its brightest emergency setting.

So, as the saying goes: “One for all, all for one!”

In 2009 I married a wonderful German guy and in 2010 I joined him in Germany. In my eyes moving to another country isn’t exactly easy. As a part of the residency requirements I was lucky enough to attend German school, where I met some wonderful new people.  We continued German classes at my house afterwards. Living in a new country where you only partially speak the language is quite intimidating; everything in your life feels insecure.  At the time I was studying accountancy, but somehow I lost my way and my whole body seemed to rebel against it.  You know how it is when you’re supposed to be studying, but you can’t pick yourself up from the couch, you just lie there miserably with ZERO motivation. This was quite a challenge for someone like me, who prides myself on never giving up… a very important lesson! Sometimes it’s okay to put something aside and sometimes it’s even acceptable to quit!  Before I studied accountancy I studied art. I then started my own business in South Africa before the move to England. During the six years I lived in England I experienced the most devastating creative block ever which in my suspicion is how I ended up working as an accountant and studying accountancy.

Strangely enough my creative block seemed to slowly fade, with the time that I had on my hands, here in Germany.

New Year’s Eve 2010. Normally my sister and I would have a little ritual, where we would write down all our resolutions for the New Year and evaluate the one’s from the year before to celebrate or mourn its fruition. This year however, with my sister being in South Africa and my new German friends not being that interested, something else came along. In Germany, on New Year’s they play a game called Bleigießen (Molybdomancy in English). It is a game, where you melt a little tin/lead figure (e.g. a horse shoe) in a spoon over a candle and then you drop it into cold water to see what shapes it make. Mine formed a dung beetle with five balls of dung! I couldn’t wait to get home to Google the significance of dung beetles.  I found that they do have quite an amount of followers. With its importance in nature and its sacred status among the ancient Egyptians, I decided that this wasn’t a bad sign at all, and there and then decided that each of the 5 “dung” balls would represent a project for the year. I keep this on my desk to constantly remind me of my goals.

Dung beetle and five balls of dung

I asked my husband, if he would like to join me in working through Julia Cameron’s “The Artist Way”, and to my surprise he agreed. This was so lucky for me, because though I am persistent, I am not always that consistent, which is what you need to be to write your morning pages for twelve weeks in a row. My husband has this super quality of just getting on with it and getting things done. (“Morning pages” consists of writing three full pages of ‘stream of consciousness writing’ first thing in the morning, every morning, for the whole 12 weeks of the program.)

I decided to ease back into my creativity slowly and made “One step at a time” my motto for the year. When I didn’t know what to write in my morning pages, I just kept writing “One step at a time, one step at a time”, until I had something to say again.  By June I have completed twelve paintings and I held my first solo exhibition, my husband and I have partly completed a children’s book and I am in the process of designing a new illustration range. The books that absolutely supported me through the process so far are The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and Living the Creative Life by Rice Freeman-Zachery. The first one helped me deal with my creative block and the latter kept me going. Super inspiring!

I am so excited that I am able to practice my first love as a full-time career…one step at a time…savouring the journey.