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Show and Tell....ART

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Thanks for the tech-talk Anthony. I only have a few pieces on file, so here's a selection of different styles...

The first is a textile piece of a bird and flower which came out subconsciously and represents freedom to me. The colour balance is not so good in the photo.

The next two are pastel paintings of streets in Croatia.

Then there's a sickly-looking portrait of my hero Syd Barrett, who died recently RIP.

Then a mixed media piece of a little island lighthouse in the Adriatic Sea, which I identified with symbolically when I saw it all lonely and odd.
 
Wow, wow.

My husband is sitting behind me saying "That's frickin awesome! The perspective is awesome!"

I have to agree. You have some awesome color techniques too! Talking about hot, warm colors on cool, subdued hues. Wonderful....

I know that you have talked about not being able to do much of your art because of the side effects of the drugs that you are on. I do hope you get that figured out because artwork is the perfect medium to express. I have such a hard time doing it since I can't help but put my soul into it. And I keep that locked up tight usually. But your stuff is great. I hope to see more soon. I'll post in a bit.
 
The first one is an alabaster stone carving done only with chisel and hammer. It stands only about 8 inches tall. "With Child"

The second one is an oil painting called "Pregnant Landscape" My daughter calls it the beach. I say whatever it is to you, is.

The third is a butterfly mural in my kids room.
 

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That is some pretty cool stuff Nam and Purdy.... I suck at art... and I'm not just saying that, I mean it. Me and artistic do not go together. I am a little jealous of such great work... well done to you both for such fine talents.
 
Oh Nam, I clicked on the thumbnails but they wouldn't enlarge, so I can't see the details. Thank you (and your husband!) for your comments. Colour is one of the things I most enjoy exploring. It's the ingredient that is the closest to gut-feeling for me, whereas other elements (like perspective!) require more thought and application. I tried to do some more drawing today but my drugs are just zonking me out. I can't concentrate and get impatient and hasty. I can't seem to get into that absorbsion, 'the zone' where you lose yourself and go into a sort of trance.

Anyway, Nam, I really admire your sculpture skills. Especially as it's only 8 inches high. That's something I've tried but just don't have the knack for, though I suppose it's practice and technique and experience that I lack really. Have you done a lot of it? Your sculpture is so sensual and curvy, but you manage to keep the underlying line of the body really well.

Your 'Pregnant Landscape' reminds me of early Georgia O' Keeffe, a favourite of mine. She did ambiguous pictures, semi-landscape semi-abstract. Interesting that your daughter divorces it from connotations of pregnancy! I can't see the butterfly very well, alas. Who's that in the corner?

I don't know if I mentioned elsewhere, but I find the experience of being at art college hugely stessful and I spend most of my time there boiling and have had many attacks there. I thought I'd meet kindred spirits, but the course is full of women who I have nothing in common with, and their non-stop family talk presses all my PTSD buttons! I go back in Spetember and I'm already getting stressed about it. I've had quite a calm and healthy summer, but it's about to all start again. It will be interesting if it comes out in my work.

This could develop into a really interesting thread over time, if people post the visualisation of their moods. Go on, Anthony, have a go!
 
More pics....mural I did for a 8 year old boy. He wanted the solar system. I actually had to look up the planets!! Duh!!! Anyway, this mural is all four walls and the celing. It took quite a bit of work...but I think it was a success. I also painted the stars in glow in the dark paint, so when he turns off the lights, he's floating in space...
 

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How cool is that... wow nam... that is some extraordinary talent you have there. That Saturn is pretty cool...

I should have tried painting glow in the dark stars on my roof a couple of years ago, as I always slept well when outside camping, under the stars, compared to being in the bedroom.
 
I love the way the sun pushes up from ground level. Like the tip of an iceberg, you get the feeling of immensity of the rest of it that you can't see. I think Jupiter is my favourite, which I can just see on the ceiling. Lucky boy!
 
You know, I was thinking how I got to this point in my artistic level. I certainly didn't get much help from my parents. I have always loved to draw and many teachers that I had as a kid saw the potential and urged me to continue. Then during high school, my art turned really dark. I mean really dark. I had beautiful female face cut in half. One side a beautiful girl and the other an ugly disfigured face. I had a drawing of a unborn baby growing inside of a tear drop about to fall into flames, hell. My high school art instructor let me express myself in these drawings but none of them could be displayed since there was a lot of nudity and questionable content.

Of course, I did a lot of regular art too. Santa during christmas, apples, pears for still life, etc. When I do apples, I do everything technically: proportion, balance, color theory, perspective. But I notice that I get totally into a zone when I would use my emotions as the driving force behind my art. I'm actually kind of afraid of doing that now. I didn't know then the ugliness right behind that memory wall. Since I"ve glimpsed it now, I don't know if it's wise to return to that mind zone state.

Under the advice of my therapist, she wanted me to paint PTSD and it's effect on me. That was a heart wrenching experience. I struggled to stay in control. I used a lot of black, and dark red. A dark box with blood pouring out of it spilling to the floor. Daggers hitting the box and in an open wound, a little glipse of my heart peeked through. Unfortunatly I can't show you the piece since it is now distroyed. After it was finished, I couldn't bear to look at it and I took a knife and tore at it in rage. It was a canvas painting...So it felt good to feel the fabric split. When it was shredded, I proceeded to break the frame, and threw it in the trash. I was so angry and tormented.

Ever since then, (it's only been two years since the painting was made), I haven't done anything that would retreat me into that place. It's hard for me to even paint the female body. I find that no matter how beautiful it is on the surface of the skin, I know the horrendous mutilation on the inside. All of the faces of my girls are sad, withdrawn, or just plain out of it. I feel that is the way I feel. People have told me over and over how beautiful I am, and I just could care less because I hurt so badly. Finally, and only recently, have I been able to see the beauty that resides, because bit by bit, with the help of this forum and my husband, I have been able to heal from the inside out.

My husband wants me to have a room all to myself devoted for painting. A room with three walls of windows. A four season porch kind of thing. Someday.... Hopefully by then, I'm able to use this ability again. Not just for my wellbeing but for the enjoyment of the viewer.
 
Nam, I think your work is very beautiful. You have really excelled yourself in your studies of art. Art is such a therapeudic remedy to the healing process of PTSD, and I have no doubt it has had significant positive effect on you during your recovery, and possibly even keeping you a little more sane than without the art.

I would have actually really liked to see the PTSD one... I think maybe it could have been incorporated here even, a depiction of what PTSD looks like through art.

Nam, have you ever thought about selling your artwork? It is very good you know. If you ever do another painting of PTSD, I would love to see it.
 
If I had your talent, I would be sharing too!

I would love for you guys to see one of my plays, but I don't have any footage. I express myself through theatre, pretending to be someone else has always been one of my favorite things in the world to do.

I can,t paint but I love to appreciate it!

Beautiful, hell of a happy place you created!
 
Nam, Purdy... ya'lls artwork is awesome! I had taken a college course, Fine Art Appreciation, and your works are definitely fine art.
 
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