Let your spirit dance...

Let your spirit dance

Allow your soul to sing

B E L I E V E

in the power within

{ 10 x 14 inch canvas / 25 x 35 cm }

available here

Deep Peace ~ Personalised Remembrance Calligraphy Canvas

The symbolism of the tree & water are popular elements on the remembrance canvasses I write…. the tree… the tree of life… a winter tree for when life comes to a close….  roots in earth and branches in air… the body, left behind on earth and the spirit moving on. Water…. cleansing…. A vast ocean with hidden depths…. a river…. flowing… life flows… continuity yet continually changing….

They have different meanings for different people, and never ever look quite the same…. colours, photographs, words & arrangements change, but this combination of creams & browns with blue & silver is without doubt the most popular. They're calming colours… respectful but not sombre… neutral but not dull…. colours that whisper words of comfort. Biblical quotations are always popular & many people find comfort in them, but any words can be used.

There's a gentleness about this one… a tenderness… and it actually took several attempts to ensure that the name was the best shade & size to harmonise with whole piece. That one word took as long to sit comfortably as all the rest put together… from too big, to too small, to too bold, to too pale…. but I couldn't let it go until it was just right for this particular young man. It often feels that they are there with me, nudging me to make small changes because it 'feels' necessary, that at another time may seem ok.

It feels a privilege to create something that can bring some comfort to those suffering a bereavement & it can take a good few emails to get the sense of what to do for a particular person. That conversation is often as much a part of the grieving process for a client as it is for me to decide on what to do…. but very necessary & welcome.

If this is something you may like, I can be contacted at suziscribbles@yahoo.co.uk.

Hot summer weather….

…brings hot summer flowers

…. & calls for a hot summer canvas!

The sun is definitely here & has been for a while...

a few thunderstorms, but….

it's alright!

Some lovely gold powder dropped into wet lettering & down the side

Here Comes The Sun ~ Lyrics on canvas

And a couple more, just waiting for words…

could go either way

bright yellow, red & orange canvas

inspired by summer flowers

Lunette:- Grey & teal canvas

Background painted…

paint at the ready…

something to stop a tall canvas sliding...

a rough guide of where we want to be & words to copy,

away we go….

stand back to check, then carry on...

 add final touches…

this could be finished...

but one final request….

all varnished & done!

Lunette ~ Guy Garvey

What can be said of the cigarettes smoked

A prop for a joke or a mark on the clock

If I stopped would the bus ever come

Would the dawn ever kiss me forgivingly knowing what’s done 

Would the drivel make scribble, make sense and then song

Would the woodbines denied black another man’s lungs

Perverse as it may sound I sometimes believe

The tip to my lips just reminds me to breathe

What can be said of the whiskey and wine

Random abandon or ballast for joy

That was scuppered with trust

Little more than a boy 

And besides I’m in excellent company

I’m reaching the age when decisions are made on the life and the liver

And I'm sure, last ditch that I'll ask for more time 

But Mother forgive me

I still want a bottle of good Irish whiskey

And a bundle of smokes in my grave

But there isn’t words yet for the comfort I get

From the gentle lunette at the top of the nape of the neck that I wake to

And where are the words for the leap in my chest

When mischief appears either side of the scar on your nose

Made by a rose thorn

So you claim 

By a rose thorn 

The video is here, Lunette starts at about 4:08 minutes….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dELKUivJo4w&feature=kp

A Blessing...

 May the light of your soul guide you.

May the light of your soul bless the work you do with the 

secret love and warmth of your heart.

May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul.

May the sacredness of your work bring healing, light and renewal to those
who work with you and to those who see and receive your work.
May your work never weary you.
May it release within you wellsprings of refreshment, inspiration and excitement.

May you be present in what you do.

May you never become lost in the bland absences.

May the day never burden.

May the dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams, 

possibilities and promises.

May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.

May you go into the night blessed, sheltered and protected.

May your soul calm, console and renew you.

John O'Donohue

Anam Cara ~ A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Memorial Artwork

 I had quite a challenge to incorporate all the different elements requested in this series of canvasses. It was important to incorporate the skyline of a favourite view visible from a window, so using a photograph, I could tear along the length of the mountain ridge & use it as a template to paint over. My client also loved the blue-black skies & gold lettering seen in earlier work of mine.

Another element required, was a representation of the five trees that a father had planted for his children, and I needed to make each canvas similar but different for each child. This was a touching tribute to their father, and a way for the siblings to share something that honoured his memory.

.

Although in reality all the trees had red leaves, I highlighted a different one on each canvas. The layout for the calligraphy was broadly the same, but there is some variation in the line-breaks, and how the trees worked out slightly also affected the placement of text a little. Rather than gold lettering I settled on copper, originally intending to use it for the full poem. However as I highlighted the red tree with a bronze-y red, I realised that it would also pull things together better to use that for the 2nd part of the poem too, especially as the two parts have a different feel to the words.

The poem is "At a Window" by Carl Sandburg~

Give me hunger,

O you gods that sit and give

The world it's orders.

Give me hunger, pain and want,

Shut me out with shame and failure

From your doors of gold and fame,

Give me your shabbiest, weariest hunger!

But leave me a little love,

A voice to speak to me in the day end,

A hand to touch me in the dark room

Breaking the long loneliness.

In the dusk of day-shapes

Blurring the sunset,

One little wandering star

Thrust out from the changing shores of shadow.

Let me go to the window,

Watch there the day-shapes of dusk

And wait the coming

Of a little love.

2nd 'Cotton' Wedding Anniversary Canvas

As the second wedding anniversary is traditionally seen as 'cotton', a canvas is an appropriate present…. especially when it includes a reading from your wedding & takes inspiration from the bridal bouquet! It's not meant to be an exact representation… just something that captures the sense of it… the fresh greens, the feeling of spring in the air...

Before the 1930's, just the milestones were marked; only 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th & 70th had gift suggestions. But as in most areas of life, commercialisation led to a full list names for every year of marriage…. in 1939 the American National Jeweller Retail Association published a full list. The list has been revised over the years & different countries have slightly different versions, and of course some countries have long-standing traditions for certain anniversaries.

In the 'Holy Roman Empire' of the Middle Ages, husbands would crown their wives with a wreath of silver leaves on their 25th anniversary & with gold leaves on their 50th. The tradition of a silver & gold wreaths continued in many places, with the gradual addition of more land-mark anniversaries. Traditions have changed too… at one point the Diamond Wedding was the 75th, but since Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee after 60 years on the throne, diamonds became associated with the 60th wedding anniversary in the UK.

The list I have had for ages gives the 1st wedding anniversary as paper & the 2nd as cotton, which is great for me as a calligrapher… I can offer a gift made from both! But there are various versions…. the UK & US have many dates the same but a few differences, and a 'modern' version seems to have been developed alongside the 'traditional'. Take a look over here> Wedding Anniversary Gift Lists. (the 15th is crystal on all other versions i've found) I'm not sure about the modern one at all…. gold jewellery, cars, optical goods…. hmmm, the retailers are obviously still involved in compiling that…. a kiss on the cheek would be bonus from Mr Scribbles, lol.

The canvas was 'whiter' than the photo, more like the close-up above, but i can't seem to get rid of the yellowy tones. I didn't even attempt to portray different flowers, even if I had the skills I wouldn't want too many different details vying for attention… it's the words that matter here,

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,



Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;


Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;



Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

Despite the formal style of wording, I wanted this to look fresh and modern, so quite informal, brush lettering spills down the canvas…. echoing the brighter green buds of the bouquet nestled amongst the mass of white flowers. It really makes a thoughtful & romantic anniversary gift doesn't it?

I'd love to hear about your most romantic gift… or the least, lol! I can't think that I've received anything outstanding either way... sigh...

Chaos....

Those lovely pieces of green glass were my favourite vase not so long ago...

You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star

~ Nietzsche ~

Chaos is inherent in all compound things. Strive on with diligence.

~ Buddha ~

In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder there is a secret order

~ Carl Jung ~

In the midst of movement and chaos keep stillness inside of you

~ Deepak Chopra ~

[ yeah, spotted the spelling mistake... just now! ]

Falling Stars...

Way back last August (crikey, 2013 seems so far away now), I had a Groom that was planning well ahead for a gift for his Bride on their wedding day.  He came with a romantic tale too...

Very early in my fiancee's and my relationship, we went stargazing at the top of the tallest hill where we live, which was really the night that we realised there was something special going on. She saw a falling star for the first time in her life, and it's one of our favourite memories. Subsequently while browsing a poetry website, I was floored to come across this poem, which seemed to sum up the feeling of that night.

Do you remember still the falling stars

that like swift horses through the heavens raced
and suddenly leaped across the hurdles
of our wishes--do you recall? And we
did make so many! For there were countless numbers
of stars: each time we looked above we were
astounded by the swiftness of their daring play,
while in our hearts we felt safe and secure
watching these brilliant bodies disintegrate,
knowing somehow we had survived their fall.

~Ranier Maria Rilke

He liked the style of the Yeats, Cloths of Heaven canvas and had the idea of hills in the foreground.... of course I was happy oblige! 

I hadn't come across Rilke before, but having looked him up, it seems I've been living in a cave! His quotes have been used in tv, films & self-help books.... In the US he is one of the best selling poets along with Kahlil Gibrahn & Rumi... not sure about in the UK tho'.

The Poetry Foundation begins a quite extensive biography with these words, 

Widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets, Rainer Maria Rilke was unique in his efforts to expand the realm of poetry through new uses of syntax and imagery and in the philosophy that his poems explored. With regard to the former, W. H. Audendeclared in New Republic,"Rilke's most immediate and obvious influence has been upon diction and imagery." Rilke expressed ideas with "physical rather than intellectual symbols. While Shakespeare, for example, thought of the non-human world in terms of the human, Rilke thinks of the human in terms of the non-human, of what he calls Things (Dinge)." Besides this technique, the other important aspect of Rilke's writings was the evolution of his philosophy, which reached a climax in Duineser Elegien ( Duino Elegies ) and Die Sonette an Orpheus (Sonnets to Orpheus). Rejecting the Catholic beliefs of his parents as well as Christianity in general, the poet strove throughout his life to reconcile beauty and suffering, life and death, into one philosophy. As C. M. Bowra observed in Rainer Maria Rilke: Aspects of His Mind and Poetry, "Where others have found a unifying principle for themselves in religion or morality or the search for truth, Rilke found his in the search for impressions and the hope these could be turned into poetry...For him Art was what mattered most in life." 

 Rainier Maria Rilke 1875-1926

Some Rainier Maria Rilke quotes:

“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.” ―  Letters to a Young Poet 


“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” 

“Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any misery, any depression, since after all you don't know what work these conditions are doing inside you? Why do you want to persecute yourself with the question of where all this is coming from and where it is going? Since you know, after all, that you are in the midst of transitions and you wished for nothing so much as to change. If there is anything unhealthy in your reactions, just bear in mind that sickness is the means by which an organism frees itself from what is alien; so one must simply help it to be sick, to have its whole sickness and to break out with it, since that is the way it gets better.” 
―Letters to a Young Poet


“Extinguish my eyes, I'll go on seeing you.
Seal my ears, I'll go on hearing you.
And without feet I can make my way to you,
without a mouth I can swear your name.

Break off my arms, I'll take hold of you
with my heart as with a hand.
Stop my heart, and my brain will start to beat.
And if you consume my brain with fire,
I'll feel you burn in every drop of my blood.” 


“Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. 

This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse. Then come close to Nature. Then, as if no one had ever tried before, try to say what you see and feel and love and lose...

 Many more quotes here

Apologies for the stripey backgrounds to some of the text. For some reason everything I copy & paste includes the background colour & I can't get an exact match to the background of my blog no matter how much I fiddle around!

Brush your teeth!

Some colour is needed, I think.... I seem to have been very neutral of late.

Some lively splashes of cerise, aqua & lime.... such fun... 

Designed with a child's or teenagers room in mind...

how many times have we heard or said these words or something similar?

Brush your teeth

Hang up your coat

Wipe your feet

Clean your room

Do your homework

Turn off the light

And remember

Mum & Dad love you x

The set of 3 is available here, but you can have a version made to suit...

with any colours or with your personal most used admonishments!

overall size 100 x 40 cm ( 40.25 x 15.75 inches)

2 canvasses 30 x 40 cm (11.75 x 15.75 inches)

1 canvas  40 x 40 cm (15.75 x 15.75 inches)

I'm trying to think what I said most to my two.... probably something about stamping up the stairs & washing up would be in there... & turning off the tv if they're not watching it! I'll have to ask them & see what they remember! We'll probably remember totally different things, I know me & my mum often used to talk about the same incidents in very different ways. 

My dad was definitely one for telling us to turn lights off... 

& to get our elbows off the table was high on the list!

The last photo isn't particularly clear, but it gives an idea of how the idea can be adapted.

Captain Corelli on Canvas

It's a long while since I first wrote this Captain Corelli passage...

Someone asked if something similar to the scroll above could be done on canvas, in the same colours... cream & browns for a natural look.

Well, of course it could be done! This was a 16 x 20 inch canvas (40 x 50 cm approx). I can post this size & larger in the UK without any problem, but for international orders, the price jumps up for anything with total dimensions over 90cm / 35.5", so I tend to stick to 12 x 16 inches / 30 x 40 cm for shipping abroad.

I tore templates, in different sizes, from paper.... rough squares, torn rather than cut, so that the edges have a raggedy, natural appearance rather than a hard line. Turn them at an angle & hey presto, we have diamonds!

This is the wording I used for the canvas:

Love is a temporary madness,

it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.

And when it subsides you have to make a decision.

You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together 

that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.

Because this is what love is.

Love is not breathlessness, 

it is not excitement, 

it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion.

That is just being "in love" which any fool can do.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, 

and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.

Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground, 

and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches, 

they find that they are one tree and not two. 

Louis De Bernières

Burial Prayer

When I first came across this poem, years ago, it was credited as being an Old Indian Burial Prayer. The words are beautiful, speaking of life continuing in the spirit of nature. I think this may have been one of the first things that nudged me to consciously consider what might happen beyond physical death. The poem is so comforting... uplifting.... it's the one I went to straight away when my Mum died,  along with countless others who have chosen it to be read at funeral services! 

After I wrote it on a canvas recently, I realised that I had a couple of different versions scribbled in my notebooks, so went online to check the wording. That's when I found that the Burial Prayer is a poem written by Mary Elizabeth Frye in 1932, in response to a Jewish friend saying that she couldn't return home to shed a tear at her mother's grave, due to the situation developing in Germany. It's hardly surprising that it's chosen so often for a funeral eulogy.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there; I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sunlight on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there; I did not die.

Mary Elizabeth Frye

A request for something bright & uplifting inspired these versions, one on paper & one on canvas. The second one works fine as a print... just need to get a card version done now!

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Whether on canvas or to frame, this poem is one I regularly get requests for. Not everyone likes the dark, midnight blue background though.... I reversed the colour scheme a while back, when someone made a request for something lighter...

10 x 14 x 1.75 inches on stretched canvas

 A layer of diamonds are scattered, to echo the idea of stars spread across the heavens 

& dreams being spread underfoot...

a mixture of blues, greys & nearly black form "the blue and the dim and the dark cloths 

Of night and light and the half light"...

 available to purchase here

One idea leads to another... often to be painted over but sometimes they just work...

Gold and silver powder dropped into wet acrylic gives some random sparkliness

providing the "gold and silver light". The paint acts as a binder 

& fixes the powder to the canvas, but I also add varnish later.

I'm quite happy to add a short message when people ask, sometimes just names & a date,

sometimes something a little more personal!