Monday, February 23, 2009

untitled ... mysterious .... ambiguous ... metaphors .... contest ....

i belong to a group on flickr ... deadline painting group ..... this month's deadline (next week, i'm early! tra la la, and rah for that) .... is to do a painting on any topic that reflects one of the other artists in the group, wholly or in part ... i chose in part ..... and i chose shakespeare monkey ... 
because he's done some mysterious pieces that i find intriguing .... like this ... and this ... so ... 
i've done my own piece with mystery and ambiguity .... 
here it is .... 
mysterious, but it still looks like mine, right?

i spent the day at best pal al's house painting .... and i finished this piece (that you know well if you've been keeping up with my blog lately .....

allison and i had interesting discussions of what this  collage means .... god, gods, creation, earth, home, nest, family,  ...all sort of in the context of is it done? when do you know if it is done? do i keep going?  if you keep going, do you spell out the mystery too much? .....  and then i brought it home, put it on my hearth and the family discussed it .... time elapsed, growth, becoming, finding happiness vs. having happiness, green (yes, green, not orange ... how odd).... all sorts of mysteries hidden in all those layers of collage and paint! ..... so ... i'm having a mystery contest ....

contest: on this blog, in the comments to this post, please leave your interpretation of this painting, using all of the hints that i've given you .... (you can also dash over to this piece at flickr to see what i wrote about it there) ...

prize: i will send the one most interesting commenter (or the one that is closest to what i was thinking ... or the one that i wish *i* had thought up ) an art piece ... a six inch canvas (or a personalized print if you prefer) .... and ... if i get flakey and can't pick a best, i'll pick one at random .... (my contest, i can plan ahead to be flakey) .....

fine print: i suck at going to the post office! so i have no deadline on when i'll actually get your glorious prize to you ... but i promise i will ... i always keep my promises! ..... i'll just be slower than i should be ... but this little caveat leaves me exempt from any and all guilt .... 

rules: 
1. clever, bright, witty, fun comments on this post are the only ones entered .... 
2. leave email info so i can contact you to mail your prize to you .... 
3. you may enter more than once! ... sometimes truly clever comes later .... like in the middle of the night ....
4. um .... i reserve the right to make up more rules later .... 
5. i'll probably have more than one winner, i'm like that .... it's a dippy wishy washy try to be nice to everyone thing ..... 

so that's it ... 
leave your comment ... what does this painting mean to you?


16 comments:

Anonymous said...

family....I love it!

Queenly Things said...

I jknow I say this to you often but I mean it each time - I really do. This is my favorite painting so far!!! Brilliant.

Carmen said...

I see protection and comfort in this painting, a feeling of safety - emotional and physical.


Namasté,
Carmen

Chris said...

Well, I had an idea right off the bat, and then I decided not to say it. Instead, I put your collage up on my computer desktop and looked at it for awhile as I was working. And then I got a thought. But I decided to say my first thought anyway:

The egg comes before the chicken!! Huh?! Am I right? They say trust your instincts! So it must be right!!


okay, I'll try again.

Chris said...

Okay, here's another idea. They are stealing the nest. This means: take what you need when you need it because you never know if someone else is going to take it first!

how's that?



okay, I'll keep thinking.

Chris said...

Alright. I've got it:

If you put the baby birds up by the sun, they will grow big and strong and have big pointy beaks and long claws and flappy wings and make loud noises at the bird feeder!

?


how many guesses can I have? I want one of your canvases because they are awesome and gorgeous like this one. Oh, sure, I could buy one, but that would be easy.

Anonymous said...

nurturing is so important and this collage is about nurturing -hence the nest .....:-)

Anonymous said...

oops, I did it again....clicked on wrong thing before entering Artmom
not anon.

Kelly Warren said...

hmmm....i'm thinking god provides us with what we need. i see a home, i see a nest, i see a heart for love...all wrapped up in maya's message. that's my interp!

one another note...i just awarded you a "spreader of love" award on my blog.

3rdEyeMuse said...

I've been lucky enough to be a winner, so rather than look GREEDY, I selflessly remove myself from the running & wish all the rest of you the very best of luck!

cath c said...

i've been mulling you painting in the back of my mind all day so i wouldn't just give a quick interpretation. funny, though, the first instinct still sticks:

warm family, beginnings, love, stages, releasing to the sun...hope.

i really like how the x kinda looks like daddy arms crossed in front of him in a moment of uncertain happiness, kinda like attending his child's graduation.

Chris said...

okay, okay, I know what it is! I do!

It's that teaching from the Bible that says something like (from the paraphrased version, you know), 'the little birds do not toil, and look how God provides for them. If He cares that much for them, how much more must He care for you?'

right? right? oh, pick me! pick me!!


what? that's not it?

okay, look: don't forget about the wrath part...

3rdEyeMuse said...

it wasn't completely altruistic ... I am sooooo very bad at metaphores & figuring deeper meanings to things ... I am a person that allows things to simply speak to my heart ...

... this piece reminds me to live well, love well & dance out loud ... as long as we do, we carry our homes where ever we go.

Jeannie said...

went straight to the bottom -- not looking at anyone else
my interpretation :

There is this couple - they have been searching - for something...love, a life together, roots...
the nest symbolizes these things for them.
they are happy they are together and know that no matter what that together is where they want to be

Chris said...

I figured it out. Here's what it is.

the letters represent lateral thinking and the egg shapes (the heads, the sun, the candle flames) represent circular thinking. The letters and the egg shapes represent the Xs and Os of kisses (verbal) and hugs (emotional). So this collage is telling us that if we strike a moderation between the intellectual and the spiritual, we will be able to weave a strong nest which will keep in our darling babies. We will not waste anything, and therefore, our art studios will always be piled high with treasures and we won't be able to find anything when we need it, necessitating going back out and getting more stuff, thus further enriching our nests of creativity.

The yellow/gold/brown colors represent the various colors inside diapers and certain species of honey bees.


is this it?


Okay, why are you torturing me?

Contessa Kris said...

I really don't have any concrete interpretation for you. But I wanted to say how beautiful this piece is and that I love all the layers.

I think each person can and will come up with a different meaning based on where their life is taking them.

I sense protection, maybe from the father standing over the other (don't know why I think of the tall one as the 'father'.) I think about God holding us in the palm of his hand (have you heard that song by Allison Krausse?) About home being what you make of it, comforting, a place to 'nest', to relax, be joyful and grow a family in. It also seems to me they long for children to fill their nest.