Photo Credit: Jennie Anne Benigas
  

 

JUDY'S JOURNAL

 

October 2023

Black and white transformed itself into technicolor, like in “The Wizard of Oz.”

 

 

 


Stop, Look, and Think #17

Dear Reader,

This is the 17th blog in a series written to offer another way of experiencing art. One of my artworks is below, followed by a set of instructions.

  • STOP, LOOK AND THINK before you scroll down to read each section. Take in the image without the influence of any information.




  • Here are a few facts: Title: “City Tree” size: 6” by 6” by 2,” medium: ink on clay board, created in 2018. This information may or may not verify or affect your first response. Did you notice more details after learning my title? Is there anything in what you see and/or the title that clicks with your perceptions or emotions? Now that you know a bit more, compare your thoughts and feelings to your first response (image only).

  • Here’s the story: Hands down, this series of ink and artworks that produced dozens of companions was a ten on the joy meter. The 6” by 6” by 2” clay boards, pens and pencils were easy to pack, and because It was a time of intense stress and instability, they offered me solace and comfort. Making them reminded me that I was able to leave my surroundings and work creatively with problems of design. It reminded me that we humans are capable of willing our consciousness into an altered reality, albeit briefly. When I began working on “City Tree,” it was all straight lines, angled upward into what became an imaginary sky. Black and white transformed itself into technicolor, like in “The Wizard of Oz.” I put myself onto the streets of mid-town Manhattan on a crisp fall day. Traffic is crazy loud, sounds affectionately called “the music of the city.” Today, no one is sauntering on the sidewalk – everyone walks purposefully. Isn’t it wonderful when we know where we’re going, and the air seems to be cleansed of harmful particles? These buildings give off an energy like nothing else anywhere in the world. Window shopping is a delight, free for the taking. You pause, adjusting your eyes to the glass windowpane and notice a gorgeous tree reflected behind you. There you are, captured in a moment of a tree’s perfection: the lines of its limbs, its leaves, all framed for your pleasure. That’s where I was when I could escape.