Lakshmi in her Diwali finery

Limora's Glade for faucon

Sally was quiet because she was listening. She didn't have to talk to understand. The trees moved close to her and they sang....Tree branches bowed and waved in joyful play -- responding to the breeze -- a thought not felt on cheek or golden hair.

Pencil memory

aletta

Amazon Queen Protecting the Realm

Enchanteur Arrives Wearing Black Pearls

You all know Sibyl! She is never one to be coy and shy and loves to make a grand entrance at a party. Personally I think she is wild as tonight. Not sure what she has been sipping in the tea rooms but I most certainly want some of what she is having.

Water Under the Bridge

Could not help but let the pencils do as they pleased. The pencils were, after all, brand new and eager to show what they could do. These after all, were not dollar store cheapies but bona fide art story goodies. I let them go without thought, eager to learn where my subconcious would take them. Seems a lot of waterlilly stories going round lately, and apparently kicking around in my mind's attic as well.



aletta

Amazon Queen Alchemy

I am not sure if anyone else found the Amazon Queen's Alchemy table at the Sunday Market. I was sitting opposite, watching her, captivated as people came and went with her spells and potions. I had heard she was here but this is the first time that we managed to catch up with one another. We have been friends for a very long time but she can be elusive and is much quieter and shyer than most people expect.

I Can Dance

dancing with pencils



aletta

Morning Warmups

It was one of those beautiful mornings. In order to warm my hands and gently set about moving I reached for my sketchbook and pencils set by the bed. Often sketching is the last thing I do at night and the first thing I do in the morning. I was having a bit of a problem coming up with ideas for "what to draw". Staring out the window, the pencil did it's work for me. I stopped thinking and ran with what the pencil wanted and the next and the next. Soon enough the drawing was complete and I found myself working on another.



I was transported to a moment many years ago, walking with my little daughter, about the same age as my grand daughter is now. Private moments on a moist Toronto autumn day so long ago. My hands kept changing pencils and hungrily moved on to another drawing .



The three trees I passed as a child on Sunday walks with my parents. The trees were set exactly at the edge of the dijke.



Old trees, most probably they had been there when Rembrandt walked that stretch in his lifetime. That thought was too daunting, still, as long as I don't compare, leaving Rembrandt out of it.

The Journey altered book

This is the cover of m y altered book - it was a children's picture book, the story of Ali Baba, so I kept the Baba of the title and some of the images on the cover and painted the rest.




This is the inside cover and flyleaf in progress - you can see karen's Lemurian map in the corner.

Greetings!

Hi again everyone.

I'm finally back after such a long hiatus from the blog. Thanks to Heather I'm back on board again.

Here are pages of my visual journal. They're pop-up so I'm uploading 2 aspects of each page. Hope you enjoy them. They're my take on the healing process. I'm working on the third page. That'll take a while though so you might have a long wait before I'm able to publish it as healing is a work in progress like I am.

Life's Lemons Into Lemonade

copyright Monika Roleff 2005.

Fey in the forest

The delightful Fey!

Citrus Bowl Still Life - Hermitage Kitchen #2

copyright Monika Roleff 2005.

The Boat Fruit tree

A sketch of a rare boat fruit tree I spotted along the Duwamish River. I have posted more about this tree at the Cave of the Enchantress.

A Sketch A Day

When I began sketching on a daily basis, began scanning my drawings and posting them on the internet, I was really making a statement about my determination to redress the notion that I had 'no drawing skills'. Of course I am creative! Everyone knows this! But sketching with pencils is a new medium for me to be expressing myself. As I wander down the Soul Food Silk Way, with a band of gypsy travellers who packed up on a whim to come with me, I am discovering a new side to my personality.

Here are a few of my favourite sketches that I have done over the past few weeks. It really is a wonder what I am able to do with some simple pencils.

Coloring pencils revisited

Thanks for inspiring a return to using coloring pencils. However humble the materials, the challenge as an artist is to rise above the materials. I would not want someone to remark, "look at all the lovely colours Grumbacher now makes, I'd like to have them remark", "Goodness, you can do this with ordinary coloring pencils?"

I've had a very addictive couple of days playing with pencils and trying to see the world as a pointilist with only 24 colours at her disposal. Suspending notions of "accepted" techniques" and redefining the rules, for myself I feel I need a structure to exist so I can rebelm against it and test its limits.

Serenity and simplicity explored in silence, where a better wold is built out of colour and form as we will it.

aletta

Owl Island Guardian

Hermitage Kitchen Lemons - Still Life #1

copyright Monika Roleff 2005

Magic map or jigsaw puzzle

Just before I set out from Baba Yaga's to walk to Duwamish, Baba Yaga presented me with this map. "It's a magic map", she explained, "if the map falls into the wrong hands nobody will be able to read it for, as you can see, it is made up like a jigsaw puzzle and the pieces will move of their own accord into the wrong place. The blue pieces represent Memnosyne Stream which will make anybody other than yourself forget they have seen it afterwards. Of course, when in your hands the pieces will always be in the right place. From the stream you will always be able to find your way". I thanked her profusely for this unexpected gift and tucked it away carefully. I wasn't expecting to have to use it, but you never know .....

A Glimpse of Baba's Boudoir

Pink Blossom Spring - Botanic Gardens

Finally taking my own pictures!

One of Baba's Magic Mirrors