SPALENKA EYE

"I use the figure in most of my art because it can communicate an infinite variety of ideas and emotions. I especially love the nude figure, as it is universal and timeless."

This drawing with charcoal on newsprint started with a live fifteen minute pose of the model. The goal of the short pose is to capture the energy of the figure. Then using memory and imagination I brought refinement to the final drawing. 

Adelaide Marcus, the incredibly talented dancer, artist, was the model.

Purchase the drawing HERE.

In the machinations of our reality, we are bombarded by a worlds opposites of right and wrong, dark and light, good or bad. The more extreme the drama of life the more interesting the story becomes. We see it today most prevalent in the news media who know how to manipulate and stretch the truth to extreme degrees. As an illustrator I came across these discrepancies all the time. It was difficult because I wanted to reflect the truth of an article but was asked to shift the image in a way that would be aligned with the publication's policies and agenda. They did not want to upset their readers or more importantly the advertisers.

Now with social media any event can be stretched to the farthest ends of the opinion spectrum. What is a fact and what is imaginary? One person's science is someone's conspiracy theory. 

It has been my experience that the truth is generally somewhere in the middle of an issue. It lives not so much in the black and white but somewhere in the grey area. I surmise this is where God resides... neutral, in the center, as the observer. Not all the way to the right, nor all the way to the left, neither up nor down, instead firmly in between all these extremes, pulling them together like lines of thought in a tug of war battle that is going nowhere.

Perception is an act of creation, until you know better.

There is a practice which comes from Buddhism called observing in “Equanimity,”  where we experience life in a nonjudgemental state of mind. This does not mean you approve or disapprove of what is happening in any specific scenario, but reaffirms that nothing outside of you creates your reality. It is an inside job. 

A neutral mindset can help keep our emotions calmer, but is there a way to reconcile the opposites in our life? Yes, that is with Love. 

Love is actually the synthesis and synchronicity of all complementary opposites. Only when we see both sides in perfect balance at once, will we experience the profoundness of the saying ‘and the truth (of love) shall set you free’. 

Love, is God in the middle.

Chakra Goddess, mixed media.