Artist Denise Hartley blogs about art, painting, murals, and philosophy.
As an artist I seek balance in my life. As a healer, I use healing in my art process to address the healing of our planet.
A study of the painting, Aquamarine, by Maxfield Parrish.
For the fans of Parrish, I began this study to learn how to create the glowing intensity of his works.
My study was created in acrylic paint. A larger work will follow, created in oil.
Aquamarine, 1917, Oil on panel, 15 ½ x 19 ¼”
Photo from Maxfield Parrish and the American Imagists,
Laurence S. Cutler, Judy Goffman Cutler, and the National Museum of American Illustration, 2004.
Work in Progress:
Study of Maxfield Parrish, D.A Hartley, 2021
The mountains of Sequoia National Park, foreground Lake Kaweah.
In this series, World of Abstraction, my paintings are based upon philosophical ideas, and addressing the unknown. Paintings by Denise Hartley.
“Passage Way”. The opening into another dimension. How do we reach the unknown within ourselves? How do we learn about ourselves?
So to know yourself is to forget yourself. This is to say that when we make friends with ourselves we no longer have to be so self-involved. It’s a curious twist: making friends with ourselves is a way of not being so self-involved anymore. Then Dogen Zen-ji goes on to say, “To forget yourself is to become enlightened by all things.” When we are not so self-involved, we begin to realize that the world is speaking to us all of the time. Every plant, every tree, every animal, every person, every car, every airplane is speaking to us, teaching us, awakening us. It’s a wonderful world, but we often miss it. It’s as if we see the previews of coming attractions and never get to the main feature.
"Mitochondria I", mixed media and gold leaf on wood, 4' x 6', 2002. Private collection.
"Mitochondria". Each of our cells can contain thousands of mitochondria. They are used by our bodies to convert molecules into energy. They are independent, and genetically distinct from the cell nucleus, and can manufacture their own proteins. It is thought that mitochondria originated as a separate single-cell organism that became symbiotic with their hosts, as to be indispensable. Mitochondrial DNA is a remnant of a past existence as a separate organism. Mitochondria contain their own DNA, which we only inherit from our mothers, and can be used to trace maternal links (The American Heritage Science Dictionary).
“Jade Disc”, acrylic paint on canvas, 4’ x 6’, 2002.
“Jade Disc”. This disc is called a bi disc, it is a flat jade disc, with a circular hole in the center. They were used in Neolithic times, burial objects, undecorated, about 3000 B.C.E. The jade objects represent Heaven and were laid on the diseased.
Tao”, mixed media, acrylic on canvas, 4’ x 6’, 2002.
This painting represents the beginning of the universe. The red rays
piercing the disc, are the sparks that create the Ten Thousand Things in our
existence.
Verse 1.
The Tao that is unnamable is the Source of the Heaven and
the Earth.
Verse 40.
The name, once introduced, becomes the Mother of the Ten Thousand Things.
Returning (to the basis) is the motion of Tao,
Yielding is the work of Tao,
The Ten Thousand Things in the universe are born of being,
Being is born of nothingness.
Verse 42.
Tao begot one.
One begot two.
Two begot three.
And three begot the Ten Thousand Things. Lao
Tzu, The Tao Te Ching
"Silent Passage", oil on gessoed wood, 4' x 6', 2003.
Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching.
The reason water can keep changing its form is because it is essentially
formless. Its form is determined by what is around it. Put it in a cup, and it
will be cup-shaped. Put it in a ravine, and it will be river-shaped. It needs
no form of its own, because it harmonizes with everything around it, taking
other beings as its outline, instead of imposing itself upon others.
“Zen Drawing”, mixed media on wood, 3’ x 4’, 2002. Private Collection.
“Zen Drawing”. Enlightenment, the first principle is possible acknowledging the everything and everyone is Buddha-nature. Enlightenment is possible to everyone. Enlightenment in Buddhism, or for the Taoist sage, is not expressible in words, or logical thought. Intuitive understanding is necessary, acknowledging that eternity is here and now. Fredric Liberman
Douglas Creek is one of many small creeks that come directly
from the high-country snowmelt and natural springs. It is our drinking water
for our cabin in Stanislaus National Forest, located at 6,700 ft. where the
water is delivered by gravity flow. After passing by our cabin it enters the South
Fork of the Stanislaus River, which begins at (9,635 ft. (2,937 m) Leavitt
Peak, in Tuolumne County and eventually enters the San Joaquin River, and
drains into the San Francisco Bay.
This little mountain stream and river have sustained life
well beyond our time. There are parts of wagons used by the settlers trying to
cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There are obsidian points from the Miwok Native
American tribe and grinding stones. The tiny stream banks are lined with
willow, horsetail herb, mints, orchids, and many other wildflowers. As a child
I wandered where ever I wished, with the caveat that, if lost, head downhill. I
have slept outdoors with bear and mountain lions as possible visitors. Deer
have taken a nap beside me. Chipmunks and Golden Mantle squirrels have sat in
my hands. I trust the four- legged critters but keep a wary eye on the two
legged.
Climate Change is changing our landscape quickly. We had to
saw down six large beautiful Ponderosa trees this year alone. They are dying at
a rapid rate, from bark beetles (love the heat), and a fungus, which spreads
from fir tree roots. This was all predicted by a U.C. Berkeley scientist that
wrote about how pollution affects the photosynthesis process, especially in the
Ponderosa Pines. I watched a fire burn this summer across the river, tree
torches burning brightly in the night.
