Just thought my friends in the USA would like to see this quiet, contemplative spot on the Liesbeck River in Cape Town. I hope your storms have passed over now. Looking forward to more winter photo's, Suki!
My dear blogger friend, Cynthia awarded me this award for not only being worth reading but also bringing my sweet natured yet powerfully potent heart to all of my creative work. Aawww!!! She is this amazingly talented writer and so I feel really honoured that she considers my words significant!
39 comments:
I loved your interview Dianne. I can't believe that you have been my sister'n law for so many years and I really haven't known the real, lovely you.
God bless you lots, Claire
What a lovely interview, Dianne. Your description of yourself as a child reminded me of me. I still struggle with shyness in many situations. Enjoy you art and check out my new adventure with the healing power of art.
Well done Di! Lovely interview, so informative and insighful.
(Where on the Liesbeck is this spot?)
Dianne, I love this photo! It is so beautiful and truly contemplative! I will have to spend some more time with it, too.
Congratulations on the award which is WELL DESERVED! How adorable! Your words are VERY SIGNIFICANT! Take a look at what you wrote for that interview...you are touching so many people with your words! Including me in a profound way!
Thanks Dear Friend!
Love,
Kim
That's a winsome award. No pun intended.
I'm over from Kim's place, having read your generous interview. Yes, you bared your soul. But nudity becomes you!
Thank you, dear Dianne, for your abundant praise...you do bare your soul with your artwork and your words...it is both charming and uplifting. I love that peaceful oasis in the photo. I´m there! <3
Great photo!
The interview is MOST enlightening,,and I agree with San,,,you look great 'in the buff'!
Dear Claire,
Thank you so much for your kind words! You do live a long way away there in Melbourne, hope the heat isn't too bad there? I have enjoyed our chats on Skype recently, it is so great to be able to see you while chatting.
Keep well x x
Dear Carol,
I had a look at your blog and your ideas for the healing power of art. What a very worthwhile idea, I look forward to following your project.
Hi Liz,
This spot on the Liesbeck is just near Paradise Motors. There is a path going down which is very well tended by the local inhabitants. They have planted indigenous plants along the banks. Our Plein Air group spent a few weeks painting along the pathways.
Dearest Kim, you are so inspiring and encouraging with your words, you could be the most amazing motivational speaker (if you can speak just as you write)! You have made me feel so much more confident in my painting and writing, since knowing you.
Thank you special friend!
Hi San,
Thanks for making me laugh! My soul is definitely getting an all-over tan!
Dear Cynthia,
I can see you meditating on the banks of this river. This was the first Plein Air outing that I attended after spending 8 months in Sharjah in the desert. Can you imagine my joy, just sitting there, breathing in the beautiful sensory input, hearing, smelling, seeing and touching....
Dear Babs,
Thanks for reading the interview, it must have taken you ages to read - Kim has this knack of getting a stream of consciousnes flowing.
Very interesting to read the informative interview on your life and working practice. I think the best artists are those that are committed to their dream, as you certainly are.
Thanks for the shout out Dianne. I love the interview and I looked up the Owl House woman and Ron mueck. Both quite interesting. Before I read your interview it occured to me to rework my kimono of paper and do so by placing it on the floor.
Dear Carolann,
So glad you enjoyed the interview. You are right, artists have to be committed to their dream in order to persevere sometimes, but the artists I really admire are those who hold down a full time job and still somehow find the time to paint just for the love of it.
Your welcome, Suki! So glad you are trying to work flat - it doesn't have to be on the floor, some people wedge their work on a plank between two chairs and they can still see what they are doing. The flatness suits watermedia or anything that is very liquid, it allows serendipidous things to happen!
What is a kimono of paper? Will come over to your blog to see if you have written about it.
Dear Di,
Your interview really touched me deeply. You are very brave to have bared your soul so explicitly. I realize we have much in common! There are many parrallels with my life and I feel you are a kindred spirit. I have known you for years, but never actually really known you! Thank you for sharing so much. Love Wyn X.
Dear Wyn,
Isn't that so often the case, we know so many people on a superficial level and never really touch on what goes on inside the real person. So many of us highly sensitive bods learn to wear masks in order to protect ourselves. Occasionally we let down our guard and can be incredibly hurt in the process. Painting and writing has become a vehicle of expressing myself in a way that I never could in a verbal manner.
Please feel free to visit some of the other blogs and leave comments, they would love to hear what you have to say.
Hey Diane - I found the interview so in depth and felt so close to you with some of your choices, particularly the abstract work - love MEDITATION, GENETIC CONNECTIONS etc . Where do you get such good ideas for titles??? The story of you being isolated in Sharjah was heart rending and I could picture you turning to your art to find a way to express yourself with no friends to relate to. A great interview full of feeling. Well done.
Wonderful interview. I set aside time last evening to read it all at one sitting.
We share the passion for learning and taking in all the art and art knowledge possible. I remember reading, writing and emersing myself into art as you so beautifully described...half way around the world....kindred spirits.
I am so glad you all have enjoyed this interview so much.
As an introvert I find this venue a little more comfortable than the stage, Dianne...although I have done my fair share of presentations to large groups (I just have to step outside myself more in those venues). So I am not sure motivational speaking is a part of my gig...and it would take time away from the studio, right? :)
This was definitely a collaborative effort...with much of the effort being on Dianne's side!
The Conversation with Dianne will be at the top of my blog throughout the weekend, so please invite your friends to read. If you do not get there this weekend, then if you look on the side bar of my blog there is a list of interviews I have done...click on Dianne's name and you will be transported...in many ways!
Have a Delightful Weekend Everyone!
Dear Joan, I am so glad you could relate to my story. Isn't it strange that a very difficult experience can become such a positive stepping-stone. You ask about the titles, I will write a posting about this soon.
Dear Mary Ann,
Thanks so much for taking the time to read the interview, we had so much to say to each other, it became incredibly long and I was worried that I would bore the pants off everyone!
Yes, we are a whole group of kindred spirits, what a great experience this is!
Dear Kim, I hope you have enjoyed reading all the lovely comments! That experience on the stage - I was a chorus girl - I didn't like being front of stage, I just enjoyed being part of the collective sound.
I hope you also have a great weekend!
Ohh, Dianne! A chorus girl! That sounds so glamorous! Did you dance, too? I can imagine you singing and dancing away...then your prince charming comes along and sweeps you off your feet!
Hugs Dianne!
Hi Dianne,
i like the baby hand holding on to the finger best in A Mandala.So real in an otherwise abstract world.
Love Claire
Dear Di,
Oh so true! I am inclined to wear my protective shell rather a lot. However, I must admit that as I've aged, or rather 'matured', I am finding I have become a lot tougher. Certainly as far as my work is concerned. I respect the criticism of others, however negative, as long as it is constructive. On a more personal level, I am still rather shy and lacking in self confidence. Like you I find I can express myself far more freely and forcefully through my painting, than verbally. Best wishes, Wyn. X
Dear Kim,
Yes, there was quite a bit of singing and dancing done on that stage! Yes, Iain swept me off my feet, we decided to marry after only three months of knowing each other!
Dear Claire,
Carolyn loves the hands in the mandala and has asked me to do a drawing for her incorporating these hands.
Dear Wyn,
This expressing ourselves better through our painting is what makes us artists, I think it is why we are motivated to continue painting. I have a feeling you are good at expressing yourself with your writing and I am really looking forward to you creating your own blog.
i have just read the interview with kim. and thoroughly enjoyed it. the attention to detail shows how your mind works and how your wonderful art is produced.
Dianne, thank you so much for sharing all these things here in blogland with us, I so enjoyed reading your interview. And Kim is such a sensitive interviewer. I loved to learn something about your creative path and past, the way painting fought it's way through to it's right place in your heart:)
I feel very related to your experiences. And also I loved to peek into your studio, seeing you working there on the floor on this wonderful big painting!
Thanks again for being so generous and sharing your story with us,
love
Andrea
Dear Andrea,
I am so glad that you enjoyed the interview with Kim - she is such a lovely person and just knows the right questions to ask.
I hope you are not freezing there in Paris, I have just seen Paris on the TV covered in snow.
Thank-you for sharing, Dianne. It was a pleasure to look into your life a bit. With your journal would you have enough information for a book? With all your travels and life experiences I think that a book would be wonderful! - Kathy
Dear Kathy,
I'm sure we all have a book in us somewhere. Yes, one day, I would like to put a book together, I will put it on my wish-list for now.
Wow Dianne - what an interview! Your deep feelings come out in your art and your writings. You can see by the number of comments you recieve that people love what you do. I really think a book is just waiting to emerge. By the way I saw a still life on your web site, Shades of Light, and the petunias, also on the interview post - I think they are some of the finest, most beautiful watercolours I have ever seen. Just had to share that with you.
Dear Carol,
Thanks so much for spending the time to read the interview and also have a look at my website.
I have a real love for watercolour painting and will never give that up, Margie was an inspirational teacher. The thing is, so few watercolours really work for me, I have hundreds that sit in my cupboard, rejects that I think I will make into cards or use in collage. When a wc painting really works, like, Shades of Light and Petunias, I want to say, what did I do? How can I do this again?
It is the most difficult medium to master.
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