An Art Work A Day

In a stone quarry nearby there is a stone I want for my garden. I want it as a zen sitting stone. :-)
On Zen Sitting Stone - Sketch ink on paper 21x30cm nodp

Today my daughter visited and I was reminded about the joys of motherhood. We had a baptism in the family this weekend so children are very much on our minds nowadays.

 Today is my birthday and I have now 365 days to Complete the "Things to do before I am 50"-list that I have not even written LOL. Even though I might not want to do rafting or jump in a parachute I am trying to broaden my horizen regularly. I try to make the best of the life and the days I have been given.

Lately there is a big discussion here in Norway about how we view ourselves. Many of us feel that we have become much much to self centered and egoistic, especially when it comes to how little we do to help Syrian refugees. The Norwegian flag is in Red, white and blue and have been very much celebrated since we have had a 200 year old constitution this year.

Unfortunately life is a heavy burden for many people whether it is due to practical, economical, political reasons or Health, depressions or worries. Today my thoughts og out to all that struggle with their burdens.  May life give them a nice surprice today, making the burden feel less heavy.

I do not think we can not solve the problems in the world due to lack of knowledge, but we seem all to be at least partly blinded when it comes to seeing the other side in conflicts. This is very much a problem these days in the Middle East.

Even worse those that fight seem blind to all the suffering of civilians as long as they are civilians from the other side. I grieve for the wounds on both sides.

 It being the holidays, I dream and plan of travelling.

Gone Fishing,  watercolour on paper 20x29cm $50

As I said in the last post, life can be particularly hard if you are a woman. If you do not have much value in yourself, then your function will only be in your connections; who your father or husband is or from the children you bear. Not producing the sons expected or losing the husband or a child then leaves only religion as something to seek for help or comfort.

Recently I have studied the situation for women in India. These days there are lots of demonstrations going on to try to do something about how especialle vulnerable women are treated. These include; poor, single, dadit (low cast/castless), divorced or widowed women. I have today chosen to focus on the widows.

Religious texts are used to give alibi to treating widows horrible. Even though the burning of widows has ended, in many areas and situations they are still considered only a financial burden. They are shunned because they are imagined to be bringers of bad luck. In contrast to Western tradition''s use of black for mourning, Indian widows wear white saries.

In interviews, they speak of becoming invisible, someone whom the society not wants to be seen, nearly a ghost because they are not supposed by tradition to have a life after the husbands death. Many end up as beggars. Their situation has inspired today's painting.

 

I am studying at the moment in an online course "A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior" at Duke University. In connection with that some of us meet on google+ hangouts (online kollokvie group). Today two of us discussed what makes some people look for negative things and wondered whether these people really believed in them, in other words do they use self deception. That inspired today's painting. Because these people we talked about almost exclusively see black (negative side of things) and not the white (the positive side of things and other persons) except from themselves of course,  and very rarely colors (all the variations in why people do what they do or why things turn out as they do) I chose to make a white on black image.

Sometimes we just have to defent ourself and say stop to people that are misusing us.

Happy Easter everyone

May love in most variations win.