Branching with the grace of trees; sparkling with the light of stars; spreading with the hope of life; imbued with the energy of Creation; pastel-colored like fairies and rainbows. What am I talking about? LICHEN, of course!

Welcome to my "Garden of Earthy Delights!" Here are some recent macro shots of majestic trees whose bark presents a cornucopia of smaller lifeforms. They represent a microcosm of organic form that rivals the beauty of any flower garden. Form, color, infinite configurations: the peaceful symbiosis of bark, moss, insects, and lichen defy the hungry eye to ignore them. At first glance you might feel these shots are redundant, but if you look closely, you'll see a great variety of abstract compositions!

I LOVE photographing lichen. I think that some of my Abstract Expressionist paintings reflect my fascination with the kind of bursting forth of life force reflected in the orderly disorder of lichen!

If these images awaken your sense of wonder and you'd like to view more of them, please visit my "Living Surface" Gallery at Imagekind.

Little Secrets of the Forest

The Forest Primeval

Lichen Puzzle

Rugged Terrain

I move on. The woods close around me and beckon me further. The sound of my tread is its own music as my feet pad over gnarled roots, soft beds of moss, and the tough flanks of boulders.

I feel the stretch of my calves and hear also, the rhythm of my breathing; only the murmur of the trees is more compelling. I bathe in green splendor, glad for a moment of reverie.

Here in the forest I own myself, I am fully and freely me. The covenant is with the Life Force. And I drink at its fount.

Life looms larger. More real than real, this arbor now--heaving in sync with the wind that enters its vaulted, verdant halls.

Dark hollows quiver with guarded truths, the quiet symbiosis of their parts to the whole. Wholly holy, in tune with itself, integrated and diverse, at rest in activity, steadfast but quick in growth and new life, the forest sings to me in a crescendo of beauty.

And I applaud with my soul.

Lichen Painting

Peripheral Vision has been named on a list of the "100 Best Scholarly Art Blogs." I'm so honored that my blog is listed in the Art-Photo category, along with the "NY Times," "NASA," "Life" and "Time" Magazine blogs, as one of the best scholarly art-blog sites!

Please scroll down the list and look for my blog under "Best Art Photography Blogs." I don't know the person who made the list, but I want to thank him or her for putting me in such good company! It's an interesting list that you might want to check out for your own resources. It seems the author has collected a lot of fine sites for our enjoyment!

http://www.universityreviewsonline.com/2005/10/100-best-scholarly-art-blogs.html

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On another note entirely, I regret that circumstances are causing me to take time off from my blogging for the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I will respond to your comments and try to get around to visit you. It's just untenable for me to be posting now. I know that you have such overly busy times, as well, and that you understand. I look forward to getting back here to post again and interact with you!

Wishing you peace, joy, and inspiration. And of course, some sunshine!

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Presentiment - c 2009 Lynda Lehmann

This is an active and gestural fractal flame, begun in Apophysis and processed in Photoshop. I know nothing about Apophysis, and I don't know how much I'll actually learn in the coming months. But I do love experimenting with it.

Fractals are enigmatic. As organic, flowing, and spontaneous as they may look, they are based on mathematical formulae. It's the same kind of mathematical underpinning that gives our universe order and elegance. So indeed, looking deep into the heart of fractals is like a glimpse into the heart of the cosmos. I'm all for feeling mystical....

If anyone has suggestions for free fractal programs or shareware, I'm all ears. Apophysis is free, so you can download it if you want to try it out. I'm not sure what the newest version might be. I downloaded this one is about three years ago, and have experimented with it a handful of times.

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend. We're making our own sunshine here, because it's dreary and gray outside. Not to mention "raw." But spring is only a month away!

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Masks

We hide behind our masks: our jobs, affiliations, and credentials. Each of us strives to live a good life. But we get caught up in the pursuit of creature comforts, entertainment, and ego-driven goals. These strivings obscure self-knowledge.

Only mindfulness is the path to the heart of your life.

Passages

The Yellow Door

The light is within you.

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind .

ART CRIES OUT: A PROTEST-ART WEBSITE

A real-time friend told me about this site, so I checked it out.

http://www.artcriesout.com/homepage.html

"Art Cries Out" promotes and features protest art. For those of us who experience malaise because we have serious peace, justice and environmental concerns, this may be just what the doctor ordered. So go on over and pay them a visit, give them your support, and maybe submit your protest art! I think they take writing as well as images.

I hope to dig up my anti-nuclear posters sometime before or during the summer, to submit to them. This is another way to make our voices heard! I'm sorry for posting twice in 24 hours, but I found this site and I think it's important to get this post about it out there!

"Where the Truth Lies" is available at Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography and will soon be in my gallery at Imagekind . I think this image and title, implying multiplicity, go well with the idea of justice for all.

My favorite moment was actually on Friday, when Deborah and I were hanging the show for Saturday's Opening. Two adorable kids came through the gallery with their mother, and I heard them utter "Oooh, Mommy!" in excited voices, as they pointed at one or another of my paintings with huge smiles on their faces. It seems they loved my colors! Now there's my most enthusiastic audience, I thought! Maybe I haven't lost the child in me, after all!

I had to wonder how such a tiny tot as this little boy could respond to a totally abstract work like "The Garden in Spring," seen here, with such apparent delight.

Whatever the reason, I enjoyed his reaction and it made me feel good that for this child at least, my work was fun to look at. In this photo, the two tots are checking out my painting "Oceano."

This is the Alfred Van Loen Gallery, a beautiful space with curved walls and attractive lighting. The wall to the right, not visible in this image, holds many of my paintings. The larger paintings are hung with more space around them, because of their bold and bright colors and active forms.

Here are a few of my guests. I knew 70 of them, and since there were quite a few faces I couldn't identify, I'd say that 85-100 people appeared at my Opening between 2:00 and 4:00.

Many people approached me to tell me which work or works they liked the best, and that was gratifying. And at least five or six of them asked questions like "Did you take a class on how to name your paintings?" Although they were kidding about taking a course in title-making, there seemed to be a consensus that my titles were apt and well-chosen, and many folks told me they were amazed at how well they fit. To me this meant that the mood, emotion, season or natural phenomenon that the painting evoked for me, was also perceivable to others. It's interesting that abstraction can convey certain impressions or ideas this way, since it lacks literal or objective meaning and usually has a high level of ambiguity that leaves the mind free to find its own interpretation.

It didn't snow on the day of my reception and the food, catered by a local supermarket, was very good. We had finger sandwiches, a fruit platter, a veggie platter, assorted cookies, coffee, tea, juices and sodas.

A good friend of mine from seventh grade came from New Jersey with her husband, to have dinner with us. All in all it was great day and although it was fun, I'm glad it's over!

Thank you for sharing a bit of my show with me! I hope you've had a good week. I'm headed down to South Carolina in a few days, to visit my father for a week, but I'll try to catch up on the posts I've missed!

Hoopla - 48" x 60"

Oceano - 40" x 40"

Thanks for reading a long post and for sharing this with me. I'll try to take some photos at the show and post them! Since you can't come to the show, please visit http://www.lyndalehmann.com/ to see more of my art!

Cosmos - 36" x 30"

Because I have to get ready for my solo painting show in February, I won't be able to be here at AW for awhile. So I've closed down my comments, for now.

I will miss all of you, and wish you the best of holidays and every kind of happiness in your future! I look forward to seeing you again when I get back, in a couple of months!!

Warm regards,

Lynda

CLICK ABOVE TO SEE MY LINKS! THEN VISIT LINKTILES TO GET YOUR OWN SIGNATURE!

I love being in a place where the fabric of the land is not torn and tattered, where the Earth's skin is still (relatively) healthy and brimming with life. No litter, no crowds, no noise: just the gentle wind on your face, reflections silver on the smooth water, and a panorama of the heavens unfolding on the twilit sky. You can have a sense of yourself in relation to the universe, and tune in to your thoughts in a meditative way that's not often possible, with all the distractions of modern life.

How will we preserve what's left of our natural heritage, for future generations? Please look into joining one of the environmental groups I have listed on the sidebar of my blog at www.http://innersights.blogspot.com, or one of the many others concerned with Earth stewardship, to make your voice heard!

Image c 2007 Lynda Lehmann. "Solitude" is available at www.lyndalehmann.com

Image c Lynda Lehmann. "Smooth as Glass" is available at www.lyndalehmann.com.

http://floydssecrets.blogspot.com/2007/10/floyds-best-blog-awards-october-2007.html

Thank you Floyd and William, for your kind acknowledgement! I'm grateful for the creativity, intelligence, and sharing brimming from the blogging community. Maybe we can all find in our collective good will and wisdom, new hope for our common humanity!

You can view my blog PERIPHERAL VISION at www.innersights.blogspot.com. Come on over and check it out!

For me, art and design have been a source of joy in my life since the time, long ago, when I first played with "Colorforms" as a small child. Viewing the art of other artists, both the great and the less well-known, and doing my own art, has seemed to elevate me above the ups and downs of the everyday world, and to lift me beyond whatever sadness or despair I might feel.

I would make the point that there are people in every field of endeavor who are evolved, stable, self-aware, and competent, and also in every field, those who are self-indulgent, biased, regressive, or just plain "insane." For this reason I dislike the stereotype of the artist as a"tortured soul," and don't accept it. Though I will concede that some artists may produce their greatest works at times when their equilibrium is upset by human suffering, either their own or other's, I believe that many artists are very conscious of peace and social justice issues, and are often outward-looking and active in the pursuit of solutions.

In fact, most artists I've known love to share and communicate as well as enjoy all the immutable and ubiquitous beauties of the world. To the artists of the world I say: Ignore the stereotypes and create in joy!

To read more of my thoughts on the creative process, please visit: www.LyndaLehman.com, or read my articles on Creativity Portal. All text c 2006 Lynda Lehmann. The image above is "Souls of a Restless Sort," done in ink on vellum. I always loved biomorphs, so this is one of my favorite drawings. Prints are available at my site listed above.

European architecture, with its combination of structural and decorative elements, has a wider range, in my opinion, of elements that can be looked at in metaphorical ways. I have a post half written, that describes my feelings about what I like to call "transitional spaces": the arch, balcony, and alleyway. I'll post it soon, along with photos from Bussana Vecchia (an international artist's colony) and other scenic, medieval towns in the Ligurian region of Northern Italy.

I wonder what Joseph Campbell would tell us about the symblogy of locks and doors, among other things... I'm sure they are the stuff of myths.

Image c Lynda Lehmann. Available at www.lyndalehmann.com.

Molly Childers has interviewed me for Creativity Portal, and the interview went online today, June 25. Here's what Chris Dunmire, publisher of Creativity Portal, has to say about this interview:

"In my opinion, this interview is one of the most inspiring testimonies to the rewarding, spiritual depths one can experience on the path of being an artist.

I don't want anyone to miss reading this -- I've made it Creativity Portal's home page feature this week."

Here is the link, if you want to read it:

http://www.creativity-portal.com/bc/molly.childers/careers-lehmann.html

No matter how much I read in the way of explanation, certain phenomena continue to amaze me. For instance, the concept that sunlight contains all the colors of the spectrum, and the colors of all things are determined by the way in which their particular molecular structure reflects/refracts sunlight. Consider the colors of a rainbow against a gray-green stormy sky, or the colors and patterns of Aurora Borealis. Or the hues of flowers.

Color as an inherent property of variations of molecular structure seems so marvelous, intricate and amazing a scheme to me, and so improbable. In fact, the existence of color in all its rich, gorgeous and mellifluous variations, seems entirely unlikely to unfold by virtue of the laws of science. If color is an adjunct form or system of ordering within the complexity of the universe, why such an extended nomenclature? Hence I am driven again, to believing in miracles. Not in a Biblical sense, necessarily, but in the sense of something awesome and extraordinary. Whether such miracles derive from the exigencies of evolution or by the hand of God, is beyond both my knowledge, ability, and desire to expound upon. Suffice it to say that my sense of awe is piqued by such seemingly serendipitous gifts of organized complexity.

In spite of a number of books that address the marvel of the apparently self-ordering qualities of the universe, I cannot conceive of the ubiquitous and layered complexity that makes up our world.

Light from the sun contains all the colors in our visible spectrum. So essentially, sunlight casts layers of color all over our world.

Text c 2007 Lynda Lehmann.

If you would like to see more of my art please visit www.lyndalehmann.com.

Back in the 60s, I read the humanist psychologists. Seems they all talked about one kind of process or another. The process of learning, the process of rebelling, the process of creating, the process of loving. I read Abraham Maslow, Karl Rogers, Alan Watts, Rollo May, to name a few. There were so many, I can't remember them. No matter what their particular slant, the emphasis in those years seemed to be on either "Being" or "Becoming." At the tender age of 19 or 20, I knew I was nowhere near the mark. All the concepts made sense, but it was intellectual sense, not the kind that resonates deep inside.

Now, many decades later, I look back in awe at how much "Becoming" I missed. Living in the suburbs, raising a child and participating in all the cooperative functions that mostly mothers ran, even while they juggled jobs, homemaking and child-rearing, had its satisfactions. But my creativity was relegated to the sidelines of my experience, for sure.

I always wrote during the toddler nap years, and through nursery school, as well. During the elementary and later years of our daughter's schooling I penned four novels and a bunch of stories--mostly soft, sociological science fiction for young adults. So I always played around with ideas, and have two of four novels that I hold dear because they embrace my deepest values. The other two novels were fun but were more "entertainment" than value-driven. I finally gave up writing to pursue my art, which had for years been on the back burner even though I took an occasional painting class at the local art league, to keep my hand in it. One day I may pick up those manuscripts and send them out again. But right now I'll "settle" for the art. For me, both art and writing are consuming processes that require total commitment, and I'm not one of those people who can do everything. I'm not willing to sacrifice quality (or what I perceive as quality) for quantity.

I find that now, at my seasoned age, I have the time and wherewithal to devote myself to creative process. Finally, it is a process, and I'm grasping the "Being-ness" that everyone was talking about in the 60s. In the past year, I have fallen in love with painting. I could eat and sleep, walk and talk, painting. As a matter of fact, I awaken with too many ideas to get up and make notes on, for fear that my adrenaline will then keep me up all night.

The process has taken over and finally, it's not being truncated by other concerns. I'm still delinquent on gardening and as domestically challenged as ever, but I don't mind defaulting on some of those obligations. And if dinner is late, well, everyone knows where the frig is.

It's not as if I don't have any problems. I do, like every other human being. But the overriding feeling, as I delve more and more into the feel and character of the paint, is bliss. I feel so fortunate to be experiencing this joy. One thing leads to another--each image calls for a dozen or a thousand variations. The bounty is overwhelming, the color and rhythm and flow of it the most satisfying experience I have had in this life. I thank the powers that be for this creative impulse that is at once a joy and a burden. But if I have to have a burden, creativity is the burden I want.

The only real difference between then and now, is that I finally have continuity, the time to BE in the experience. I have process. Thank goodness for process.

Text c 2007 Lynda Lehmann. Please visit www.lyndalehmann.com to see more of my art, or visit my blog, Peripheral Vision, at www.innersights.blogspot.com

I perceive myself as a liberal, and as an artist especially, I believe in and cherish freedom of expression. But I also believe in morality, moderation, a sense of fairness and reason, and what society once referred to as the "Common Good." In view of the Virginia massacre which is on all our minds, I think Hollywood and the "Big Business" video game makers need to re-think the idea of freedom of expression. If we pave all the roads that kids walk on with vicious, sadistic, and destructive images, it's much easier for them to fall into behaviors that reflect this conditioning. We need to have more art and entertainment that inspires, that reaches for light and hope, instead of making death and destruction feel like "fun."

We "Baby Boomers" grew up on gentler images, in an era when a parent was home and we knew all the neighbors. The idea of virtue was not yet defunct, and hope was not yet buried, either. Now most children have two working parents, if they are lucky enough to have two parents. and they have few or no mitigating factors to impress them with a positive worldview. If, as they grow up, they are taught to perceive everything in terms of dominance, rage, and retribution, they become easy prey for violence, their own or other's. We cannot wallpaper their lives with foul and violent images and expect to rear young people with a balanced world view. They are sure to develop a jaded and extreme sense of mistrust and a twisted concept of "generalized other," a term I remember from college psychology classes.

Parental supervision, attention, and guidance are one issue. Gun control is another. But to me, an issue of paramount importance is the prevalence of violence in the images kids take in, every day of their lives. I really think Congress ought to mandate times and places and ratings for all mainstream entertainment and design some kind of system to penalize the entertainment industry for non-compliance. Nothing less than our children's future is at stake.

I pray for healing for all the families who have just lost their children in so random, wanton, and senseless a mass killing. May we all walk safely down the corridors of life, and may we see our children grow up in a society that has more to offer than images of greed, adultery, betrayal, and violence. May we as artists, be part of a force that helps to usher light and love back into the fabric of society.

I think most of us would agree that producing art gives us power. I see it as a power over ourselves, as opposed to power over what is outside of ourselves. It is a personal power over our own energy, perception, and motivational systems. And perhaps more important, the making of art helps us transcend the need to achieve a social equilibrium (which in my opinion, is rarely possible anyway). Instead, we are involved in a process by which we may achieve a degree of harmony within ourselves, in relation to the universe. In the dynamic state of being committed to a creative process, we do not need to steal anyone's energy, or let them steal energy from us. The truth wears six billion faces, each with different life circumstances, a different life script, and a different mode of emotional being. For me, doing art takes me to a place from which I can accept all scripts and embrace the subjective and relative nature of truth. (This is not to imply that morality is relative, however, because murder and extortion are always wrong, no matter whose script dictates it.)

Because my own script, when involved in creative process, is so engaging to me, always varied and full of mystery, it teaches me both tolerance and hope. The bounty of creative options available to me, gives me confidence in the infinite potential of the universe, for hope, harmony, and healing. In short, it gives me joy.

I've heard it said that artists, in doing art, are participating in a God-like creation process, and indeed it is true. While we are by no means transmuted into gods by making art, we at least become his humble hand-maidens. We see glimpses of beauty and wonder in places where other people may fail to look, unearthing it at every turn. We see new relationships, both visual and metaphoric, sociological and scientific. It becomes easier for us to step back or undercut the tendency to power struggles, that so often consumes people. (The last thing we need in this weary world is more conflict, personal or generalized, to spew hatred around the globe!)

I've heard it said, also, that we artists make art in order to find love and to be loved. I think the apex of this is that in the tender connections we make to the universe, we find some degree of self-love. I think this is a balanced form of self-love that perceives the relative and tenuous nature of things, including the subjective nature of our own lives. Therefore, in my opinion, it is a mature self-love, not to be confused with narcissism.

I would love to hear your ideas on how art empowers you!

Note: This blog entry has been modified slightly since it was published online as a response to Robert Genn's perceptions on the topic of "art and power," as presented first in his newsletter and then on his "Painter's Keys" website. It has since been published on the Creativity Portal site, and in a catalogue for a large artist's exhibition in India.

To read more of my thoughts on the creative process, please visit: www.LyndaLehman.com, or read my articles on Creativity Portal. All text c 2006 Lynda Lehmann.

For years I have been asking myself, "Just why is there beauty in the world at all?" Our need as a species to groom, to acquire, to procreate, to hunt and gather, to stake out territory, all come from the survival imperative that has impelled us through the ages. But in addition to these more obvious needs of the human condition, there is a universal recognition, pursuit, and enjoyment of what we call "beauty." Though the apperception of beauty varies according to time, culture and temperament, it nevertheless is pervasive and universal. Whether there exits an objective validation or proof for the idea of beauty matters not, for if the perception of beauty is universally wired into our senses and intrinsic to the human mind, it exists as powerfully as if it had an objective life outside of us. The effect is the same: a compelling and powerful moment of arrested perception that illuminates our thoughts and impressions with an image, either natural or manmade, that moves us inexplicably.

I wonder if our "biologically unnecessary" recognition of beauty means that we were programmed to aspire towards the transcendent, the logical outgrowth of which is a belief in a higher power, rather than for mere survival. Though I do not believe in the generally divisive structures of organized religion, I believe our universal recognition and pursuit of beauty and our proclivity for wonder, so thoroughly programmed into the species, offer proof of the existence of God. How could magnificence be so universal and compelling, if not by design? Why would it exist, by virtue of evolution or any other force, if not to inspire us to recognize the higher values implicit in the idea of "Deity"?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic!

To read more of my thoughts on the creative process, please visit my "Words, Not Pictures" page at www.LyndaLehmann.com, or read my articles on Creativity Portal.

All text c 2006 Lynda Lehmann.