Tag: help

Going Down To The Crossroads

Posted on by omordah1

No, not that crossroads. Though the “devil is definitely in the details”. Being at a crossroads with your art, or writing, or whatever creative things you do, is always a nail biting, angst ridden moment. And hopefully that’s all it is, a moment, a short period of time in your life where you may be questioning your creative ventures, your style, inspiration, or if you even want to continue. It can be a confusing and scary time.

OK so zombies may not be the best example, but they are scary and confusing.

In the course of my career as an artist, I’ve had many of these crossroad moments. In particular ones that in hindsight seem to coincide with that seven year evolution we all go through, uh, every seven years. (Proven, look it up). Not that I don’t have other “moments” in between, because I do, and have. But the big ones do fit that pattern. Currently I am going through it again. I should have realized as I have had a hard time concentrating, and finding inspiration, or ambition. At first I blamed it on this last, long year of Covid19 and isolation. You have to feed the beast, and being home all the time is not conducive to that. Hence my thinking that that was the only reason. It is a huge reason, but not the only one.

Recently, one of my adult children mentioned during a conversation about eye glasses, that she was “old” and her “eyes are sensitive now.” What the what?! She’s 35. And when I said that ‘I never really felt old until this year’, she sent a shocked face emoji. Humm. At any rate, that got me pondering, as us old folks will, that perhaps it isn’t just the plague causing my lack of inspiration. And doing some calculations, I saw that yes, I’m starting a new seven year cycle. I’ve embraced and been known as being an artist, nearly my entire life. If I don’t paint, or sketch, then who am I? Just another faceless person in the crowd?

Don’t worry, I haven’t gotten to the point of no return. As a matter of fact, I never really stopped painting or sketching. It just hasn’t been at the same level of intensity. I have been feeling somewhat directionless and all over the place. I’m sure I’m not the only person feeling this way. It has been a tough year for everyone, and many of us must be feeling at loose ends.

As with everyone else, I have been impacted in ways I didn’t foresee. Plans, important plans have had to be put on hold, possibly for a few years, possibly to never happen, and this has been difficult. Many toxic things happen on a daily basis in the world. As an artist, in a family of artists, I know that the impact of this toxic world hits us deeply, making creativity that much harder to attain. It’s hard not to be affected. It’s hard not to engage, or see it. But for us creatives, it is vital that we learn to do what we can to help, and not absorb all the toxins, because that causes us to become immobilized. Add to that the seven year metamorphosis, and you can see my dilemma.

As I sit here writing this, it feels a bit cathartic, like getting it out, writing about it helps. Yes, I have been painting and drawing things aimlessly, but maybe that’s good. I’m still working at it, and perhaps after I’ve had some time to just play around with it, something will kick in, and I’ll know which direction on that crossroad to follow.

Thanks for visiting and reading my blog. Stay well. If you are interested in any of my paintings or would like to commission a piece, please DM me, or go to my Etsy site, at etsy.com/shop/omordah I’d love to hear from you!

"Rising From The Ashes, Hope For Australia" (Art for Australia.)

Posted on by omordah1

Hello everyone, I sincerely hope that this finds all of you well, and finding healthy ways to cope within the ongoing crisis. With so much to deal with, I know that asking you to consider other desperate ongoing crisis is asking a lot. As many of you know, prior to the shyte hitting the fan, I had been planning to release prints of a painting I have done for sale, and the proceeds are to go to an organization in Australia that were battling the wildfires, and are trying to save the many creatures impacted by this tragedy. It has taken me a bit longer to get this together. But amid all the chaos, the care givers of these Koalas, wombats, kangaroos, and all the many other creatures impacted by these devastating fires, still need as much assistance as they can get.

Nearly 500 million animals — including mammals, birds and reptiles — have died in bush fires in New South Wales. These numbers are unimaginable. Therefore I am going ahead with this campaign to do what I can to assist. Below is the painting I have done for this effort. (The watermark, -my name- will not be plastered across the front, that is just for online copy-write reasons. 🙂

“Rising From The Ashes, Hope For Australia”

Choosing to paint the legendary phoenix helping the indigenous animals of Australia, came to me while sleeping, and I feel it shows the hope and strength for renewal. The colors are vibrant and these prints are limited first editions. Every monitor is different, so there may be a slight difference in the colors. Either way, I feel you will love it and treasure it as a reminder of resiliency and hope for our world. I will post these on my Etsy site for sale, or feel free to contact me here. Other than shipping and handling, (handling in this case is the cost of the prints themselves, you know what they say about “starving artists”, -not starving, but not wealthy either, heheheh), the rest (most) of the cost will go to the following organization that I have researched called; WIRES, which seems to be an excellent recipient.

WIRES: The New South Wales-based Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc., Australia’s largest wildlife rescue organization, is accepting donations to help fund the rescue and care and treatment of animals affected by the fires.  You can learn more at wires.org.au Prices for each size of these prints are listed below.

Poster sz: 1 first edition sz: 16″x 20″ $35.00 – 3 first editions sz: 8″x 10″ $15.00 ea. – 8 first ed sz: 4″x 5.3″ $ 5.00 ea. ( I will eventually put the original up for either sale or bid.)

I have also done a painting to help save elephants. I will be having some prints made of this and offering it for donation sales to one of the elephant rescue sites that I follow, in the future.

It would be wonderful if those reading this, along with purchasing one of these prints could also pass this on! If more people are interested, I will have more prints made, thus gaining more for this worthy cause.

On behalf of those we can save, Thank you! Be healthy and safe! See you next time!

Some Color For January; A Sneak Peak Of Something For A Good Cause

Posted on by omordah1

First just a quick note: { I’m not sure if anyone noticed, but through an error, my beautiful front page and other banners, were somehow deleted. I think it was something I had done unwittingly. My daughter had done the lovely design set up, so I am upset over this. She assures me that she can fix it, so although I hate to have to have her redo it all, I am very grateful that she is willing and able to do so. Hopefully they will be restored by the time I publish my next post. 🙂 }

Most everyone must know about the horrific wildfires in Australia, and the devastating effects they have had on the land and tragically on the animals there. It is a very hard thing to write about, but for those there, I can’t even image how it must be.

I haven’t been able to get it off my mind that I would like to help in some meaningful way. Originally, I had planned to offer half of the proceeds from my works that are currently available, to this cause, which I will probably still do.

However, after speaking with my brother who has lived in Australia for forty plus years, he suggested I do some art of the affected wildlife. I thought about it for a while, and an idea came to me that I have begun working on. Rather than do a completely realistic version of some of the koalas, kangaroos, wombats, quokka’s and others, the picture that came to my mind was more of a fantasy, graphic style. I did a preliminary painting, and since have started a slightly different adaptation that I am going with.

I will be offering all of the proceeds except for shipping costs, from this particular painting to the cause for saving, and caring for these priceless creatures, and toward reestablishing their habitat. I believe that although it will take time, it will happen.

There will be a limited number of copies, in a few different sizes. There are a few wildlife rescue services, I believe the most well known, and largest is WIRES, NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc. Once the painting is finished I’ll contact them and/or others to make arrangements for the donations. My hope is that if enough people see this and pass it on, there may be enough to help as many of these precious animals as possible with this limited edition painting, and the others on my site as well.

I’ll post the painting as soon as I can. I hope everyone likes it, passes it on to as many other people as possible, and maybe gets one to enjoy and to help. See you next time!