Sapir-Whorf Meets the Twelve Days of Christmas

I learned a new Southern Culture term this year.

"Old Christmas"

I leave my tree up until Epiphany. You know, like the Germans do. At which a colleague of mine smiled and said, "Oh, Old Christmas." 

I learned Epiphany was also referred to as Old Christmas. In my mind, when I think of the word Epiphany I actually translate it from the German. I don't think Epiphany at all. I think in the words for the date. The 6th of January (der sechste Januar).

Even where I am determines my English word choice. In Huntsville, Alabama I probably would say the 6th of January. Specific and engineer like. But South Carolina has an entirely different language dance. (Pocketbook for Purse, Supper for Dinner etc.)

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis says that our thought processes are influenced by the structure of the language in which we are thinking. I'm not 100% sure if this is true. I wonder if geography doesn't also play into that. I do know, I feel differently about things depending on which language my mind is using. For example when I think in English about "the dirt" the dog has brought in, I'm feeling, "OK no big deal - I'll get to it." But when I'm thinking in German about "der Dreck vom Hund" all kinds of shaming bad Hausfrau feelings come at me.

All these many words to say,

How do you feel about the Twelve Days of Christmas?

Because my German brain absolutely loves them! A time for family, visiting with friends and reflection. AND even better, they come after all the shopping and gifting is done.

So during the past 12 days, I enjoyed creating my second 12 days collage series. This year I based it on the English Twelve Days of Christmas song, which will always remind me of the Florence Regional Arts Alliance Board of Directors and their holiday gathering. Never has it been sung by a finer group of folks.

It was also a time of play for me. I sat on the floor in front of my, by now pretty crunchy Tannenbaum of a tree, and cut and pasted. Just like my 2nd grade old self used to do. And it was a glorious creative escape.

Until the next day, when I could barley walk. Because apparently once you reach a certain age, sitting for hours on end on the floor - cutting and pasting, makes your body ache and incredibly sore!

Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy them!

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." - Charles Dickens

Wishing you all a very Happy 2018!

 

What Happens to Birds During Hurricanes?

“He in his madness prays for storms, and dreams that storms will bring him peace”
― Mikhail Lermontov

The photo of this bird was shared in a bird group I followed on Facebook. It was captured by someone after a recent hurricane hit the East Coast. And it immediately struck me. What does happen to birds in these storms? Where DO they go? How do they find shelter if caught in the midst of one? Why did this one not escape it?

I asked the photographer if I might use her image as a reference for a painting. She granted permission and since then, I have been immersed in the intricacies of this one's composition.

It captures so much to me.

That there is grace and beauty in dying. And yet confusion as to how a death can look so peaceful with a ballerina like pose. It doesn't seem polite.

It swells in me the grief cycle. Pirouettes and all.

*A sincere and special thank you to Marylee Newmann for permission to use her photograph that captured such a striking and moving moment as a reference image.

Time, Texture and a Few Thoughts

Happy Day Light Savings Time week, Americans! Funny how that one hour time change makes everything feel so weird during the first few days. The time change is giving me a little extra morning studio time before leaving for work.

Here are a few practices in watercolor texture for Fall. If you have watercolors, I encourage you to pull them out, pour a cup of tea and play.

Saran wrap, applied on wet paint and allowed to dry

Wet in to wet. Color drops allowed to blend and do their own thing.

Gauze! Probably one of my personal favorites. Place upon wet paint or paint over without moving it and allow to dry

Scratches with the end of a paintbrush

Drawn wax circles, then painted over

Due to said time change, I find myself struggling to stay awake past 8 in the evening...and that leaves me thinking about time.

The realities of the time constraints working full time have been evident. But ultimately, we all have the same amount of time in each day. It's how we choose to use it that matters. 

My choices include trying to wake up early in the morning, while the moon is still out. Reading more and swimming whenever I can. (OK that's a lie, sometimes I make excuses and don't go the gym...But at least I still think about swimming on a daily basis.)

I've also recently decided I'd follow only one social media platform and let the others go.  More time offline is going to be a new luxury I gift myself this holiday season. 

The biggest struggle for me in all of this though is my inability to stop working on a task when it's time to put something down. I simply don't like to leave things unfinished. Often ignoring the constraints that time provides for the sake of balance.

“The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.”
― C.S. Lewis

Carpe Diem! 

Moirai

Fate or the Personification of Fate. In Greek Mythology, three women plus a delicate and fragile thread.

Moirai
Watercolor on aquabord
7" x 5"

Ich wandte mich und sah, wie es unter der Sonne zugeht, daß zum Laufen nicht hilft schnell zu sein, zum Streit hilft nicht stark sein, zur Nahrung hilft nicht geschickt sein, zum Reichtum hilft nicht klug sein; daß einer angenehm sei, dazu hilft nicht, daß er ein Ding wohl kann; sondern alles liegt an Zeit und Glück. - Prediger 9:11 from the Luther Bible

I find the German a much more poetic and descriptive version of the sentiment expressed in the following verse.

I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.  Ecclesiastes 9:11

In the German the verb help is used (almost as if it is gently correcting our thinking about all that we think we need to have help us. Ending with "everything lies within (or perhaps upon?) time and chance". A theologian might have to correct my loose translating.

But the thought, I suppose,  remains the same. And I find it is also expressed through those mythological women holding that metaphor of a fragile thread.