Tag: Animals

Adventure, Animals, Art

America – Forgotten Echos of the Past

Mark Wayne
GU372

“An American Icon”       Mark Schutter ©2010        Watercolor Pencils

The American Bison is a true original and its image takes us back to a seldom remembered past when they roamed freely over the land prior to their decimation almost to extinction at the hands of man. In this image from my goal was to capture the simple beauty, strength and majesty of this truly magnificent animal. 

So much of history is lost to the echoes and which version of history depends on who is telling it. Each side has an agenda in which the truth can easily get lost. We forget that we all are from somewhere and traveling our paths around this spinning green ball hurtling through space and time. 

We lift up people for one good act then tear them down for one bad one. We admire the thought and criticize the action that follows.

If we were to measure the worth of every human being on whether they never fell short, all would fall short. Only Jesus Christ walked this earth not committing a sin. We lie to others, hiding the truth even from ourselves that we would never do such a thing. For we are better than them. Are we really?

Aren’t we all just sinners, and don’t we all need saving? That is where our commonality lies, that it is only by grace that we can find healing.

#JustBelieve #HopeLives #GraceChangesPeople

Happy 4th of July America!

We can and must be better than this!

Animals, Art, Life

Do butterfly like distractions haunt your mind?

Mark Wayne

“Distractions softly hover in the corners of my mind, 
like a butterfly haunts a flower.” ~M

Butterfly's
Butterfly drawings and paintings previously completed using a variety of mixed media including: colored pencils, pastels, watercolors, crayons, ink and pens. Each piece was completed separately and measure 3 1/2 x 5 inches. They were then scanned and assembled into the collage above with no color editing, only adding a border design line.  Original art work completed in 2012, copyright Mark Schutter.

 Life: is infinite in its variety and intricacies, if we would only take the time to look.

Beauty: a splendor in so many things that exist right before us, with no effort on your part.

Pause: we often fail to slow down enough to see, easily distracted by so many things.

I wish you moments when the distractions fade and beauty crashes in, causing you to stop and pause long enough that it simply takes your breath away. Happy Spring!

Art

Twitter Art Exhibit 2016 – #twitterartexhibit

Mark Wayne

"Silver Mist" Pastels on black paper 4x6 inches ©Mark Schutter
“Silver Mist” Pastels on black paper 4×6 inches Mark Schutter

My postcard art submission, “Silver Mist”; for the Twitter Art Exhibit: NYC (2016),
Benefiting Foster Pride’s “Handmade” Program

Twitter Art Exhibit: NYC is an international exhibition of original postcard art benefiting Foster Pride’s “Handmade” Program, in which young women in foster care learn to create and market a unique line of goods.

Twitter Art Exhibit: NYC is the sixth installment of an open international exhibition of handmade postcard art for charity, donated by hundreds of participating artists from around the globe.

WHEN
Thursday, March 31, 2016, 6:30-8:30 PM
Show runs March 31st – April 21st, 2016

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday, March 11th, 2016

WHERE
Trygve Lie Gallery
317 E 52nd St., New York, NY 10022

 

To support the cause and submit your art just follow the instructions on the Twitter Art Exhibit website.

Art

Home-School Art Project

Mark Wayne

image

The above relief art panel was completed by my daughter for her homeschool art project, where she studies a master artist and uses that technique to create a piece of art. We are using the book Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn F. Kohl and Kim Solga as a guide. I plan on posting recaps of more projects she completes as the school year progresses.

This is a Florentine Relief technique using cardboard, string, paper, glue, paint and aluminum foil in tribute to Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378 -1455). Ghiberti worked his entire life on the golden doors of the great Baptistery at Florence. Upon completion it is said that Michelangelo remarked,

“They are worthy to stand at the Gates of Paradise.”

Life, Writing

A Short Story of… Love

Mark Wayne
He stumbled forward into the cold night. Overcast and dreary, the sleet pounded down relentlessly. Oh how long since he had seen the sun he wondered silently to himself as he walked.
His mind was as numb as his exposed fingers in the cold night air. Yet, still the soft singular voice of her continued to sing that same song over and over in his mind. Thoughts of those long summer days spent in Saskatoon would haunt him like a specter for the rest of his life.
It was a special time long ago with little static to cloud his thoughts or life. Now his life was surrounded by seemingly endless dark and steep climbs. The ambient sounds of the night, he barely noticed until filling the cold empty air all around him was the steadily barking of a dog.
As he looked up the last thing he saw was the large Siberian husky as it leapt from the shadows. He was knocked to the ground and the dog was on top of him in an instant. He screamed as the large furry dog began licking his face with vigor, its tail wagging furiously.
As the sound of his scream faded into the night, a slow smile spread across his face. He lay silently not feeling the cold earth beneath him as the he let the warmth of love wash over him.

~Mark Schutter ©2015

This short story was written during a 5 minute free write using the words in bold above. This occurred during a meeting of the lunch time writing group at my workplace. I have to admit, I did edit a bit while typing it in the blog post, yet easily 95% is from free writing. Hope you enjoyed it!