If You Want Him, Come and Claim Him

Arwen with Frodo
Colored pencil

Coloring Again

This is a picture from my Lord of the Rings coloring book. I finished it yesterday.



This is from The Fellowship of the Ring. Frodo, Merry, Sam, and Pippin had just found some mushrooms. Frodo yells, "Get off the road!" and they hide underneath this tree while a Black Rider goes by on his search for the One Ring.

A detail of the hobbits as they hide.

The Black Rider.

This was actually difficult because of all the greenery/moss/brown, etc.. The artist did a good drawing of the scene, but honestly, things don't end and the lines are just crisscrosses and they are horrible to color in.

I think this was the scene from the movie:

As you can see, it's a very dark scene. How do you think I did with the coloring?

Trying to Draw

I have never considered myself to by a drawing sort of artist. I may be a photography sort of artist, and a writing sort of artist, but "artwork" does not seem to be my thing.

This morning, in a moment of meditation, I thought I'd try to draw something on an LED writer I picked up to use instead of post-it notes.

Here is the item I was drawing:

Yes, a little basket with checkbooks in it. Whoo hoo.

This looks like a basket - maybe - but one would never know what was in it.

I did find it an interesting exercise, much like I find coloring to be helpful to my anxiety. And with the LED board, one little click and my efforts are gone (unless, like this, I take a photo of it).

I should probably stick to coloring books.

Bilbo & Frodo

Medium: colored pencil



Medium: colored pencil

Me and My Wizard

Medium: Crayola Crayon

Coloring Again

Medium: Crayola Crayons

Picking Up the Crayons Again

Medium: Crayola Crayons

Wizard with Gnomes

Medium: Crayons

Gandalf Comes to Bag End

Gandalf comes to the Shire

Medium: Color Pencil

Time: Weeks!

Athena

I am fairly certain this is not how the goddess Athena would have looked to Greeks back in the day.




 

Medium: Crayon

When I first saw the coloring page, my immediate reaction was to make her look more like, well, this . . .

You know, like an Amazon. More Xena, if you will. More brown leather and less color.

But after studying the picture, I determined there wasn't much Amazon there. All of that draping and that parade helmet - that's not an Amazon. Besides, Artemis was the goddess of the Amazons, not Athena, though apparently Athena looked favorably upon the Amazons, too.

Athena, aka Pallas Athena, was the Greek goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, mathematics, strength, war strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. That's a lot to put on one goddess, but she must have been up to the task.

She allegedly sprang from Zeus' head, in full-blown armor. That had to have hurt, eh? But not too much, as she was the favored child of Zeus.

To mankind, she offered up the gifts of the bridle, so man could tame horses, the trumpet, the flute, the pot, the rake, the plow, the yoke, the ship, and the chariot. She must not have had much spare time.

In later legends, Athena was the opposite of her brother Ares, who favored violence, bloodlust, and slaughter, while Athena represented the disciplined, strategic side of war. She was more interested in truth, justice, and moral values than in blood and guts.

Her holy tree was the olive tree and she was often symbolized as an owl. She has been known to take the form of other birds as well.

The Romans called her Minerva. She may have been a Mycenaean goddess adapted into Greek mythology. An Egyptian goddess, Neith, was also identified with Athena. Neith was the war goddess and huntress deity of the Egyptians since the ancient Pre-Dynastic period. This goddess was also identified with weaving.

The goddess Athena encouraged everyone to use intuitive wisdom rather than anger or violence.

Maybe somebody should have listened.
 


Memorial Day 2016

Medium: Colored Pencil

The Red-Caped Wizard and the Yellow Rose

Medium: Crayon

Medium: Colored Pencil

Birds of Color

Medium: Colored Pencil

These would be more dramatic and interesting if I were actually drawing them, instead of simply coloring them in, but I am finding the coloring therapeutic. I'm also surprising myself with how well I can actually color, as I have never considered myself artistic in the drawing sense. In writing, yes, and perhaps occasionally I'd manage a lucky shot with the camera, but not "art."

I'm not sure if coloring is an art - it probably isn't - but I do find it a quick way to step out of whatever is troubling me for a few minutes.

My coloring books are kept on an old computer stand, that I have set at standing height. So I have to get out of my chair and off my behind to color, which is a good thing. I sit way too much.

So far I've used colored pencils, markers, and crayons. I like the dark and smoothness of the markers, but I can't make details with the markers as well as I can with crayons or colored pencils. After all, wit the latter two, all one must do is bear down a bit harder and it is as if there is an entirely different color, depending on pressure.

This is from a Dover coloring book called "A Walk in the Woods." I was hoping it would be similar to the Dover coloring books I have of wizards and goddesses, which have large spaces and less detail, but this coloring book is fairly detailed. I like to have a few wide spaces wherein I can simply concentrate on evening out the color and not worrying about detail. I worry too much about detail as it is.

In fact, there was an article in today's paper about how coloring is not just a "fad," that it can help one work through grief, or help people enjoy their passions because there are coloring books about everything, apparently. A visit to doverpublications.com reveals coloring books that are classic works, remakes of old movie posters, Gaugin paintings, fairy tales, flowers, patriotic colorings, dogs, nautical scenes, etc.

They do not, however, have a Lord of the Rings coloring book. Never fear, though, my dears - for you know how much I love Tolkien. There is a Lord of the Rings coloring book coming out, based on the movies, as of May 31. I have it on order, so expect to see colorings of Gollum, Frodo, Sam, and Gandolf over the summer months. I have not looked for one based on The Hobbit; I must remedy that.

I actually pulled up each bird and looked at it on the computer as I colored, turning around many times (for I color with my back to this thunderous machine) to see how the coloring was. Of course, real birds have much more detail and the colors blend, and I couldn't really do that, but I did my best. I think I am learning, and maybe this kind of creative effort is good for me. It is change, like playing music, something different for my brains to ponder.

The Stalkers

Medium: colored markers and colored pencil.

The entire time I was working on this picture, I kept hearing the song Africa, by Toto, which was popular in 1982 and reached the top of the charts in 1983, in my head. I hummed it for 10 days while I worked at coloring this picture, doing it in tiny increments as time allowed.

I always liked the song. Some of the lyrics resonated with me, as they must have done with millions since the song was so popular.

My favorite lines?

"I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say, hurry boy, its waiting there for you."

and

"I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become."

The song is about love, and wanting, and needing to never be apart from the one that you love. "It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you," the song says, noting that a hundred men could not separate the lovers.

Something could, though. The song does not say "Nothing will ever drag me away from you," but instead that it would "take a lot" for the lovers to part. So there are boundaries there. And boundaries are good. It is not healthy to be so caught up in the life of someone else that you lose your own.

But back to those lines that I have always found intriguing.

Stopping that old man along the way, searching for something. I do that all the time, only I do not stop old men. I call up old friends, and new - I like to seek out other's opinions, thoughts, and ideas on issues of concern. That is one of the allures of social media, so many opinions, thoughts, and ideas. There are too many, though - they over stimulate. That is why the singer only asks one person, the universal symbol of knowledge, the wise man. Jungian psychology calls the wise man an archetype, something found in the collective unconscious.

We all recognize it - we all know without knowing that there are always wiser, smarter people out there. Some of us are scared and angry about this these days, so we flaunt our ignorance instead of seeking more knowledge. We do not ask the wise old man, we look instead for someone of equal ignorance to lead us along a familiar path while we resist change and newness with every step. We know this person will not get us to the airport, but he is familiar and comfortable, and we don't want to hear forgotten melodies anymore.

The singer seeks things he does not know, but also things that once were known. He is looking at the past to recreate a present. The wise man tells him he already knows and has what he needs - it's inside of him. She's also waiting for him at the airport.

And then there's that other line: I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become.

This has all kinds of implications, doesn't it? Is the singer unhappy with who he is? He is looking for a cure for what he has become - is that a lovesick young man, needy and wanting? Has he stopped dreaming and become a drone in an office somewhere, letting the desire for capital gain overcome his desires and hopes? And why does it scare him? Is it not acceptable? Has he turned into someone he did not expect?

I have been seeking to cure what's deep inside for as long as I can remember. I was born with an ache, I think, some kind of deep soul-cut that runs deep and long. I've had many people tell me I am an "old soul," and I know that is meant as a compliment. It means I have learned from living, from the things I have experienced, the world I have seen. It means I take little for granted and am constantly seeking more wisdom, more wise words, more of whatever it is that makes us human and whole. It means I have empathy and I feel the pain of the world sometimes. It means I am wise beyond my years.

The years, though, have caught up with me and now I should be wise, should I not? I've an old gray head, after all. Lots of white hairs to indicate that I have lived.

Too bad that few people seek out the wisdom of the elders anymore. The knowledge of the older generation is more valuable than all of the colors of the land, but it's a coin easily dropped in the African desert sands.

Alice

Alice in Wonderland from a coloring book called "Mythic." Medium: colored pencil.

Psychedelic Butterflies

Medium: Colored Markers

The Wizard and the Peacock

Medium: Crayola Crayons

I had trouble with the peacock. The wizard does not look as nice in the photo as he does on the page.

The Hawks

Medium: Colored Markers

The Goddess Freya

The Hummingbirds

The Hummingbirds

This one was colored with Bic colored pens. It takes me 10 days to two weeks to do a picture because I have a little coloring station where I must stand up placed in my office. This forces me to my feet and gives my body a change of stance. I stop by on my way in and out and color for a few minutes. I do not do a whole picture at a time.

I find it very soothing, and calming. I have also learned if I am upset I shake a bit and must be careful wit the markers!