three sisters dance

Though this is based on a family of sisters I know - today, right now, this is how I feel. No matter what I do, I am hemmed in by some imagined necessity.. No matter how I dance I am not doing the right step and meeting with disapproval on every side.

There is a ton of paperwork I am behind on and somehow, despite my efforts and worry I can't seem to do it right.  I forget things. Am beleaguered beyond reality today.

This sketch started in pencil then other odds and ends were used to add color.

Live with Reason and Sympathy!

Live with Reason & Sympathy

Look. Investigate. Appreciate. Share who you are. Help when you can. Value people over dogma. Celebrate this brief beautiful life

It's no surprise that most people find aspects of nature beautiful and inspiring since we are a part of nature and its amazing menagerie of life. We are a part of the earth, subject to the machinations of its atmosphere, oceans and crust. We are part of the cosmos with its billions of stars. This universe is beautiful, astonishing, and we are alive for now - so celebrate, appreciate, explore, invent, create, achieve, care for each other and for our home, the earth! Nature, the earth, the cosmos are a part of 'space-time', a gestalt, a matrix of all, and they are what they are, without intention towards us, whether we understand them or not, and without regard to our various conflicting cultural stories about them. What they are, objectively, can be shown, overtime, though reason and scientific method, which assembles an amendable approximation  of how things work - amendable by future knowledge gained through replicable experiment. This sits opposite so called "revelation"  or story-telling. The writers of ancient texts, "inspired" preachers, story-tellers, alledged psychics, channelers and shamans reveal their own thoughts which may contain purely human metaphor and which may  metaphorically reflect the culture in which they live. Their thoughts may become codified into a dogma or religion  by which some are content to judge themselves and others -- by which sometimes armed groups judge others, waging bloody wars to enforce their beliefs. Everything, (both inside of us and outside of us, including codified belief) arises from the natural physical world. What most folks refer to as the soul is the best part of the self as found in the intricate human brain. The logical end of this thought is this: when we die, the matter and energy that we contain will be recycled and reused, but our unique life will be gone, except in memory, in history, in genetic code. So cherish this one life that you are privileged to possess. Never, never throw it away..

You only get this one life, so live it well.

-- MM Walker

Human Being on Planet Earth,

Painting: The Competitors, some dancers in conflict

This is an acrylic called Competitors which dates from the days when I was associated with the Connecticut Conservatory of the Performing Arts. Though it was voice I studied there, most of its students were dancers. Before that time, I never really thought about the competitive aspects of dance - I just enjoyed watching it.

In this piece, dancers flair into seeming conflict. Or is it seeming?

And yes, their legs are unnaturally long. Very exaggerated.

Oil Pastel & Watercolor – a little ballet with some smudgy color

This is a mixed media work of mine, created with oil pastel and water colors on paper. I think I may have posted it before - if so, I will add a link to that post. This photo is taken through the glass of the frame, so it looks a bit subdued.

DRAWING: Fingers of the Sun

This is a pen and ink from quite a few decades ago. It's first life was black and white only. Then I got the itch to alter and out came the crayons. I like the sense that everything is in motion, very busy, frantic motion. I think life felt like that to me back then.

Bruce Gray’s wild kinectic sculpture – gravity with sound effects!

A Kinetic Sculpture by Los Angeles sculptor Bruce Gray, titled "Califormia Dreamin"

One of things I am always excited about in a work of art - is a sense of motion. But with kinetic sulpture - you have the immediate delight of motion in three dimensions rather than motion hinted at on a flat plain. This sculpture also has sureal sound effects, even though it doesn't seem like the Califormia Dreamin of that era.. Another thing I like about it is the idea of alternate routes that all lead to the same destination and the juxtaposition of natural force (gravity) and man-arranged force which lifts the iron ball to the top for another cycle.

I found this video featured on a blog called DenverArtsyGal - she has a fantastic blog and twitter feed so take a look.

Healthcare thoughts and a book: The Treatment Trap

Sometimes an office visit for a medical complaint seems more like a marriage than a date.  You not only get  your doctor, but all the relatives - a flock of specialists to look after each body part separately.

I have watched strange goings on as a patient advocate for an elder relative for the last ten years. A kidney is atrophied, for instance, according to some test or other by one kidney doctor, then a stent is put in by a sub-specialist kidney doc who does stents, then immediattely there is a question as to which kidney was damaged, as both appear to be fine....

Or when in the hospital for a fall, the hospitalist says they are going to send a neurologist to evaluate her, and also a specialist to look at her sinuses since the scans of her head revealeved a tiny polyp that might be causing post nasal drip. BUT THE PATIENT HAS ALREADY BEEN FULLY EVALUATED and is under treatment by a NEUROLOGIST associated with that hospital.  She doesn't  care about her perennial post nasal drip and wants to go home. She is stable,  and IS SHARING A ROOM WITH SOMEONE INFECTIOUS.  So MRS X -  How about another CAT Scan or maybe we need another MRI, or five more specialists to consult on your case - If you have good insurance - they have some tests they would like to run..... Never mind that post nasal drip isn't exactly something to make you check into a hospital.

Did I mention that these days seniors go to a doctor for each part of their bodies? Besides her primary Doc, my relative has a doctor for her heart, one for her arteries, one for her kidneys, one for the colon, one for her nerves and another for her thyroid. Then several of them want to see her four times a year which always involves looking at the papers and having a chat. No hands on at all. SO Why not do the blood work and let the primary care guy decide if she needs to see them? No fee in that....

For more of the same foolishness and some outright larceny from all across the country - read the The Treatment Trap -  a book by Rosemary Gibson and Janardan Prasad Singh. It's available at the Danbury Library.  It's a sobering read.