c. Susan Sorrell Hill

The Illustration Friday words of the last three weeks were hibernate, ferocious and mesmerizing.

Yep, I’ve been away from blogging for a bit. I needed a good-sized vacation from My Life, but perhaps I should have been more specific…

What I got was shingles–at least that’s my best educated guess. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, shingles is not a little town in north Nebraska or eastern Texas. It’s an excruciatingly painful nerve event, complete (in my case) with severe back and leg muscle aches, headache, cold-sensitivity, mild nausea, very disrupted mental faculties, no appetite, insomnia and a mysterious, mildly burning and sensitive rash on my left side. From the Google pictures I’ve seen, I seem to have had a mild case of the stuff. (Can’t even imagine what a worse case would be like…I might have been forced to break my no-painkillers rule.) Even reading, my usual sick-day refuge, was out of the question.

Usually I am able to use illness as sort of ‘step-back’ perspective opportunity on my life, contemplating what and how I’ve been doing things, choices I’ve made, and where I want to go next. Not so this time. This event plopped me right down, hard, in the middle of the present moment. Nothing I tried made the pain go away or lessen. Much later when I was able to contemplate, it was quite eye-opening to realize just how uncomfortable I was in the Present Moment. When all avenues of change, escape and distraction are closed, the present moment can get pretty raw. Try it sometime, if you don’t believe me…

Mostly I’m better now. The rash is gradually healing, mental faculties are back to about seventy-five percent, and my To Do list is back and leaning hard. I’m a wee bit wiser now for this ‘vacation,’ and I am not pushing myself or my brain quite as hard as I was before. Hope it lasts.

Note: From what I have read, shingles is caused primarily by stress…and although shingles (if that is indeed what it was) is absolutely *no* fun, I am not advocating the shingles vaccine that is being pushed by doctors right now. What I do recommend, in hindsight 20/20, is to reduce the stress in your life in any way you can. There is plenty of stress floating around in the Universe right now that is not personal, and for that all we can do is breathe and trust, but our personal stresses may be adjustable.

———————————————————————————————————————————————–

This post will encompass three Illustration Friday words, two of which apply to a single image, and a bit of News as well: I’ve just posted my new Member page and mini-portfolio at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators site here.     

———————————————————————————————————————————————-

“Bear” is the obvious choice for the Illustration Friday word of this week, hibernate. A most sensible and economical creature, bears lay low and avoid most of Winter’s assault in their cosy holes and caves. But if they are prematurely disturbed, or first thing in the Spring when they are absolutely famished (read: low blood-sugar crazies) from their Winter sleep, bears can be ferocious. Being a bear might be nice: imagine the carbohydrate binge that happens every fall…yum.

This particular bear was painted about fifteen years ago for a beautiful book dummy proposal, complete with fully finished preliminary drawing for every page, copies of five finished paintings (in oil), pasted-in text, and hand-stitching. It was an impressive presentation, especially for a novice. I had fallen in love with this particular tale when I first read it in a well-known storyteller-psychologist’s collection of re-told and analyzed stories. Being much younger and very naive to the ways of the world, I sent this beautiful book prototype to that author, inquiring politely and enthusiastically, if she’d like to collaborate on a children’s book version of her story. It was all above board and innocent…I still have the letter.

The response came quickly and was ferocious, (the second Illustration Friday word of the week). Threatening lawsuit, among other dire things, she burned my phone red-hot until, finally, I got a word in edgewise. Sobbing, I re-iterated that this was a proposal, not a rip-off event. It took a while for her to calm down. She gave me a her phone number (bogus, as it later turned out), and forwarded the dummy to her publisher. Four months later, with the return of my dummy, that publisher informed me via an anonymous form letter that no licensing rights were being sold.

It was a very long time before I myself calmed down from this series of events, and got back to being an artist and aspiring illustrator. A Cautionary Tale for aspiring illustrators: tread lightly, follow the rules (especially the unwritten ones)…

“Bear”   (oil on gessoed paper)

———————————————————————————————————————————————-

c. Susan Sorrell Hill

The third Illustration Friday word of the week is mesmerizing. This is the drawing I made and inked, just before the shingles event. The watercolor had to wait until yesterday. Darn…I would love to have posted it that week.

Isn’t it fascinating how we thinking creatures can mesmerize ourselves into believing that we are something that we absolutely are not? Maybe it’s a mild form of schizophrenia? I bet you can think of lots of examples of this self-mesmerizing, without even trying…(about other people doing it, not us, of course!)

“Mesmerize”   (watercolor, pen & ink)

c. Susan Sorrell Hill

The Illustration Friday word of the week is boundaries.

“Bad boundaries…” It’s a New Age expression that reminds me (uncomfortably so) of the grand old tradition proudly labeled eminent domain.

If we gave them the benefit of the doubt, would we say that the people, corporations or countries who transgress our boundaries just have a vision problem?

“Untitled”   (watercolor, pen & ink)

c. Susan Sorrell Hill

The Illustration Friday word of the week is mysterious.

In ancient cultures (and still-existing traditional ones) the shaman was a mysterious figure. He (or she) usually lived at the edge of the village, and often did not participate in the daily activities and chores of the tribe. Using strange instruments, archaic symbols, even stranger words and gestures, the shaman walked with a distracted (or maybe intense) manner…simply because he or she knew things. Think ‘Merlin’ for a clearer picture of this.

Sound like anyone you know now?

If you guessed artist, you were spot on. Artists, in their right role (as my wise friend and fellow blogger, Linda Hensley, pointed out so brilliantly in her recent post here) were meant, in the larger design of the Universe, to be the ones “just outside.” Not for punishment or ostracization, but to fulfill their function of having one foot in both worlds, keeping or bringing the numinous back into daily life…communicating with the Gods. Artists, shamans and healers (often the very same person) were called upon to restore the balance in bodies and hearts, between people, and in the natural world. Their ability to see past the imbalances, into the perfection and peace that is always available, was invaluable to tribes hard-pressed by mere survival issues.

Alas, the role of artists has greatly diminished!

Please don’t mistake my musings about artists for arrogance: shamanizing is very hard work. But instead of contemplating and illuminating the obstacles to a pervasive world peace, prosperity, and health of body and soul, most of us (hard-pressed by survival issues ourselves) have been reduced to making throwaway entertainment, decoration, or selling vodka and packaged goods with our gifts—the same deep, Universe-given gifts that have the power to enlighten, empower and bring unfathomable joy. Something is very wrong, indeed, when the healer-shaman-artist’s much-needed role no longer finds a place in the culture…

“Heart Medicine”   (pencil)

Congratulations! to all of the many talented artists who’ve shown their re-imagined book covers…and a huge *Thank You* to all of my fans who made “The Girl With Silver Hands” the first place winner! There will be more happenings at the Uncovered Cover Art blog, so stay tuned here or join Heidi’s followers here.

“The Girl With Silver Hands”   (watercolor, pen & ink, digital type)    Inspired by “The Handless Maiden” tales, found all over the world.

c. Susan Sorrell Hill

c. Susan Sorrell Hill

The Illustration Friday word of the week is disguise.

Consciousness is what we are, behind and above all else. But what disguise will I wear today? Will it be the artist, the lover or the friend? Will it be the neighbor, the daughter or the sister…or the writer, the gardener or the dreamer? What role will I play…what face will I wear today?

And will I be able to remember who I really am, all the while…?

“Untitled” (What face will I wear today?)    (pencil, oil paint on gessoed paper)

Only a few more days to enter and/or vote for your favorite(s) at the Uncovered Cover Art‘s new Blog Launch Contest!

Voting and entry closes August 30th!

(stars will look like this)

If you’re in the voting mood, my own entry, “The Girl With Silver Hands,” would really appreciate your vote, as it’s a very close race! Go to Uncovered Cover Art…type in “girl with silver hands” in the Search by Title box….follow the link…vote by clicking a Yellow Star. If you’ve voted successfully, a “Thank You” will appear just to the right of the stars. (Comments are *always* appreciated, but do not count as a vote.)

And my personal big “Thank You!” to all of you who have already voted!

c. Susan Sorrell Hill

The Illustration Friday word of the week is influence.

I have a special relationship with a copy machine at my local Staples store. Well, several copy machines, if you must know. Sometimes my attentions go to the black and white machine, and other times I turn my affections toward the full color machine. Full color copies cost about five times more, but they are so worth the pain: to see a smaller version of my newest watercolor painting, or a larger version of a favorite Klee painting from a library book (which I can then, guilt free, cut out and paste into my scrapbook), is a feeling beyond price.

But last week I went in search of copying pleasure on, alas, the first day of High School. The parking lot was packed, and a crazed SUV driver pulled a definitely-illegal full-reverse down the lane I was slowly–lucky for me–moving into. Instead of an almost-empty store with the typical few and elusive employees, I found check-out lines twenty people deep, clerks madly rushing about, loud sales announcements, and aisles crowded with harried mothers and their oh-so-cool, socially correct teenagers. Most striking of all, I found a considerable amount of female teenage flesh on display.

Now…I am not a male of the species and admittedly I’ve been living rather a closeted life lately. I’d forgotten that Life–and Fashion–goes on, as does the News, Government, and Television. I had no idea that the ‘Britney Spears‘ attire was still in strong evidence, and indeed, had accelerated. Perhaps there are even newer, younger Pop Stars out there who’ve taken her approach to further extremes? Whatever the reason, that day at Staples, there were a lot of under-sixteen girls under the influence of this trend, and wearing (as my Grandmother would have put it) “Hardly more than a handkerchief.” And they weren’t looking at all embarrassed…quite the opposite, in fact.

The last time I was wearing scarcely any clothing as a teenager, was the Graduation Pool Party in 1971. It was the first time most of us (of opposite sex) had seen each other with less than shorts and t-shirts, and I can still remember feeling acutely uncomfortable. My beach towel was my closest friend that day, and my hard-earned tan was not nearly enough to hide behind. I was shy by nature, but even so, very few of us back then were strutting in the Britney way.

Don’t get me wrong…I am all in favor of the beauty of the female body. (Although, all things being equal, I would choose Eileen Fisher over shredded jeans, push-up tops and studded belts any day…) But this trend seems to be something else entirely. What is the point, I ask myself? After all, without all of the Display and Parade, I (and my mother, grandmother and her grandmothers before her) managed to attract loving relationships and reasonably fulfilled lives. Most of us females even produced children. All based on having qualities and attributes that were apparently attractive to the opposite sex, and deeper–and more long lasting I might add–than youthful flesh and the mandate to Go Forth And Multiply. It is quite a mystery to me: why has the mating ritual been reduced to such a bare minimum? Perhaps this is the reason that the divorce rate is so high?

Don’t get me started on teenagers with big bellies wearing the Britney Spears look with insouciance. Or middle-aged mothers who dress like their daughters. I’m feeling my age, and better go lie down now…

“Walk This Way”  (detail)     (watercolor, pen & ink)

It’s the last week to enter artwork or vote for your favorite re-imagined book covers at Undercover Cover Art‘s new Blog Launch Contest. If you are in the voting mood, my own entry, “The Girl With Silver Hands,” would really appreciate your vote! Type “Susan Sorrell Hill” in the Search By Artist box, and follow the link to the Yellow Stars. When you’ve clicked on your preferred Star, the words “Thank You” should appear just to the right if you’ve voted successfully. Voting ends August 30th. A heartfelt “Thank You!” to all who’ve voted for my entry already.

This is what the stars will look like!

c. Susan Sorrell Hill

The Illustration Friday word of the week is swell.

“Happy is the woman who does not seek the Things that make her head swell, for they would surely turn her into something green, scaly, and altogether not nice.”   (Anonymous)

“The Beast’s Ring”   (watercolor, pen & ink)

There’s still time to get your votes in for the Undercover Cover Art‘s blog launch contest! Vote for your favorite re-imagined book cover by visiting here, and clicking the Stars on any images Comments page. If you’d like to vote directly for my own hopeful entry, “The Girl With Silver Hands” (thank you so much!), visit here, type Susan Sorrell Hill into the Search by Artist box, follow the Read Full Post link, and then scroll over and vote with the Yellow Stars. Comments are most welcome, but clicking stars is the only way to vote. You can vote for more than one artist’s work, but you won’t be allowed to vote for the same artist more than once. Note: Entry for your own re-imagined book cover art is still open too…hurry…
Voting for all entries ends August 30th!

Alas, California is so far away…

Read all the details for the evening at http://bedstuygateway.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/bakhita-girls/

c. Susan Sorrell Hill

The Illustration Friday word of the week is imperfect.

We recently finished watching the vintage British television series, “The Darling Buds of May,“  starring David Jason (of the British detective series, “A Touch of Frost”, fame) and a very young and nubile Catherine Zeta-Jones. It’s the saga of a 1950′s country family composed of Ma and Pop Larkin and their eight rambunctious kids, all living on a ramshackle farm in the English countryside. There’s quite a lot of food, generous amounts of alcohol of questionable provenance, lots of animals, green acreage and farm equipment. And there is, especially, a lot of love. (It’s not heady stuff, just light dinner and end-of-the-day “check out” entertainment. I found the dvd at the local library.)

The “lots of love” is the part that’s really stuck with me. Having grown up in a “family of origin” rife with parental criticism and completely lacking in democracy, the relationships that these very imperfect people have to one another, and to the other people who filter in an out of the series, could be as close to Unconditional Love and acceptance as I have seen in human relationships. No one ever says anything negative about the very overweight Ma (indeed, Pa is quite enamored with her), the annoying personality, snippy curiosity and intense gazes of the second-oldest daughter, the insipid manner of the tax man who Zeta-Jones marries early on, or even about the hair-brained schemes that Pa and Catherine’s new husband, Charley, get up to. They all love and encourage each other, adapt to each other’s foibles, and even manage to get on with their own dreams and lives. They have quite a few laughs along the way, and no one knows ‘best,’ not even Pa. No one is trying to change anyone else. Remarkable!

Imagine how you and I might have turned out if our early environment had looked like this? I know it’s just a TV series…but it must have been based on someone’s memories, or at least on someone’s longings. Didn’t you have a longing to be accepted and loved, no matter what? I know I did. Surely that desire must be universal! The absence of love and acceptance seems to be depressingly universal too. I have read, and noticed in myself too, that early parental and family criticism lodges itself firmly in a child’s psyche. We become critical of ourselves and others as well, simply as an habitual way of seeing the world. It is, alas, contagious! But it is also entirely reversible …one interaction, one moment at a time. We still have the opportunity to change the world–with kindness to ourselves and each other.

But why did I post “Goose” for this Illustration Friday’s word of the week, you may be wondering? Well, have you ever seen an animal look at another animal and say, “Your feathers are too long, your beak too yellow, the skin on your webs is absolutely gross, and where did you get that goop on your chin??” No, animals, seem to be very good at accepting the lumps, bumps and bulges of their fellow creatures…and they’ve got no fancy clothes to hide their cellulite behind, no Cover Girl makeup to disguise their blemishes. They present themselves As Is, and it seems to be working just fine for them.

Humans, let us take note.

“Goose”   (watercolor, pen & ink)

Have you checked out the new Undercover Cover Art blog and contest site yet? Lots of great artwork being posted every week, and entry for your own version of a re-imagined book cover is still open. Voting is still open too… Vote for your favorite using the “stars,” which can be found on the “Comment” page under each image. (Click “Comment” under a particular image, then click a “star” to vote. Note: leaving a Comment is not the same as voting!) My entry, “The Girl with Silver Hands” would really appreciate your vote…thank you! (Voting ends August 30, 2011)

This is what the stars will look like!

c. Susan Sorrell Hill

News Flash!!!

Five of my original watercolors are en-route to Susanna Maier (founder of the Trade Your Talent art blog) for a New York City fundraiser. You can see all five of them in advance, posted here. Proceeds from the August 10th, 2011 event will fund educational scholarships for a small group of deserving girls in Tanzania. These paintings will be auctioned off along with other donated artworks, including photographs taken by the fundraiser’s co-sponsor, Patricia Schneidewind, during her recent trip to Tanzania.

If you would like to donate some artwork yourself (hurry!), attend the fundraiser and bid on artworks, or find out how you might buy artwork if you are not nearby (or your Learjet is in the shop this month), please visit Susanna’s July 30, 2011 post about the event at her blog, Trade Your Talent, for more information. There is also a link to my recent Artist Interview with Trade Your Talent included in this post about the fundraiser.

It’s a very warm and worthy cause, and also a chance to get your hands on an original work of art for your burgeoning collection. Thanks so much for your support!

“Frankenstein”   (watercolor, pen & ink, pastel, colored pencil)   This is one of the paintings that will be auctioned.