Abstract Dreams

[Thom Courcelle]

Received yet another astonishing piece from Guido Vermeulen recently... This one really "struck me" as fascinating, maybe because of the all-seeing eye at the center of the piece...

Guido titled this piece: "No Paseran!"  And how could one?  I was arrested by it the moment I saw it.  To me this piece evokes multiple imagery at once--the first thing I see is the eye, and being at the center of that long, oblong shape, it immediately looks to me like leviathan--a whale--passing through the deep, but keeping a curious eye on passers-by in the watery realm.  That oblong shape, and the colors, also are reminiscent of the rolling waves of the ocean.  That humanoid figure to the right--the way that his stance is represented--could be "riding" the wave on a board.  That "gate" he hangs onto, it could be the sail on a sail- or kite-board.  It could also be the gate or doorway through which he should "not pass" beyond.

I also like how Guido finds "character" or characters in the spaces between his subject... and they then become part of the story of the piece.  Here, there are at least two more characters who have taken earthly form--at the left-hand side of the piece.  Perhaps other gods in conference over man's fate, the punishment--or damage control--they should have to enact should that human somehow broach the deep and learn too many things of which mortals should be kept ignorant.  A favorite piece from your talented hand, Guido... Thank you!

Another artist who is not afraid to grab her paintbrushes and make bold swaths of color--Emmy Verschoor paints colors into colors and new colors until it is something that reflects her temperament and mood.  Then she has no fear of dismembering those colors and re-assmebling them into evocative color houses...

It's like she is creating the brick materials that she will use to contruct her Taj Mahal, and then sets about with saw and hammer and cement mixer until she's put the raw materials together into a place she can call home--a shelter.  Then she sends it through the mail as though she were asking you over to share a meal under that roof.

Someone--N.B.S., I think--commented recently on the merits and lovliness of rust, and its many multitudes of variant shades.  When Emmy's piece came, at first glance I almost thought someone had glued penny coins to the envelope! Such is the power of the color hues that Emmy is magically able to evoke from the end of her paintbrush wand...  It's a little bit of alchemy, I suppose: rust-to-copper; copper-to gold; gold-to-sunshine.  Thank you so much for sharing your little piece of sunshine with me, Emmy!

[Emmy Verschoor]

Woh, Thom, I feel honoured by your wonderful blog about my piece of mail art.

I made this one with so much pleasure that a part of this very happy mood went into the little collage!

Just after sending it, I was reading a blog about ''gold and rust" showers, so I felt a bit unsecure, hahaha.

Have a lovely creative day, Thom and thanks again for your amazing blog.

 

[cheryl penn]

Great blog  for great work Thom :-) X