Soar: white horse art

"Soar"

available for sale as a print or on a number of products HERE

Here are some of the products that come in this listing:

This is roughly a 15" x 20" print.

The frame is under black frames and is GL8

The mat is Arctic White with Black Core

Available for sale HERE

choose sizes, frame, mat, etc from drop-down

Here is what it looks like above a couch (and yes, as a 15" x 20" print):

Next up are some products:

Here is a how it looks as a greeting card (packs of cards are also available):

choose background color.

choose as a single or in a pack

This one is: #1b03ea

available for sale HERE

Here is how it looks as a weekender tote (note, the background is still #1b03ea):

Weekender Tote Bag

use slider to fit picture in

available for sale HERE

Here is how it looks on:

The original is acrylic on paper, 11" x 14" and for sale in a 16" x 20" silver frame. It is in a local gallery, but you can contact me if you are interested: sales((att))LiseWinne.com. 

Here is the best I could do with appearance (the real frame is less towards the beige spectrum and more towards true silver):

Here are the symbolic meanings in the piece:

* horse: balance of wisdom and power
* white horse: transformation, beginning and ending, freedom without restraint, purity, sometimes a sign of wealth and prosperity
* stars: inspiration, intuition, dreams
* vines: the eternal, infinity
* white trees: connection to our true identity, revolutionary wisdom, enlightenment

Until next time ...

WEBSITE

"Streak", new art featuring a horse leaping

title: Streak

© 2018

acrylic painting on paper

8" x 10"

(note: the copyright watermark does not appear on any products)

Keeping up with the direction of my newest body of work is this piece, called "Streak". Actually the horse's name is Streak. He is leaping through the night sky.

I would categorize this piece as storybook art.

Symbolic meanings in the piece:

* horse: balance of wisdom and power
* white horse: transformation, beginning and ending, freedom without restraint, purity, sometimes a sign of wealth and prosperity
* white heart: purity in love
* stars: inspiration, intuition, dreams
* vines: the eternal, infinity

I have archival prints and products available for sale in this design HERE. The original, at the time of this writing, is also available for sale. I have it in a local gallery at the moment, framed in white with a vanilla colored mat. However, if it is still available, please feel free to inquire at the e-mail, sales((att))LiseWinne.com (you can purchase it with or without the frame).

I love how the tote bag came out in this design:

 tote bag available for sale HERE

choose sizes with drop-downs

Here is what it looks like as a pillow:

pillow available for sale HERE

choose sizes with drop-downs

Here is what it looks like with various framing options:

framed prints available HERE

choose frames and mats from drop-downs

this one is:

frame: in the blue category: FT15

mat: very white mat

this frame looks close to what the original frame looks like

again, framed prints available HERE

choose frames and mats from drop-downs

this one is:

frame: in the white category: PLC10

mat: manor white mat

Lastly, this is what this design looks like in a shower curtain:

shower curtains available HERE

More to come ... Until the next time ...

ON-LINE STORE

new art and art show with doves and bunnies

"The Attraction"

© 2017

watercolor and ink

available for sale as a print and other products HERE

art work size: 11" x 14" in a 16" x 20" frame (for the original)

At a local gallery, Valley Artisans Market in Cambridge, NY, as was announced in this post, I am having a show with Marina Petro called "Inspired by Spirit". We are primarily going to be showing original paintings, but I think there may some greeting cards and prints for sale too. Almost all of these artworks from this post will be in the show. 

(Note: If you are interested in the original above e-mail me at sales(att)LiseWinne.com (I will be moving it around to different shows and galleries after it has shown at Valley Artisans Market, other wise click this link for a variety of other products, including prints. 

All of these pieces represent a different direction for me and my art (and most feature a night sky).

Here is what the tote bag looks like from my on-line store:

Totes available HERE

My artist statement for the show:

I found that through 32 years of selling art, clients who purchase particular pieces of art are unconsciously attracted to the symbolism present in the pieces. When they are made aware of what the piece is conveying, using Jungian concepts, Tarot-type meanings and typical spiritual dream symbolism across cultures, they often identify with these symbols in their present lives or self.

In my own work, I use doves to represent spirit. They also represent peace, of course. But in many cultures, the dove is also a messenger to sacrifice oneself to a higher cause, to purify oneself of lower agendas and to acquire devotion to a cause, people or persons. It is a call to more awareness, to seeing spirit and meaning in everything. When an art work has doves combined with other spirit animals, the dove is part of the overall meaning or story of the piece.

Noticing spirit is not something bestowed upon "special people", but rather a kind of noticing "everything as much as possible" perception. I like to think that all living things have an awareness, from the sickly trampled on weed growing in the sidewalk cracks to the spoiled King. Once we are aware of spirit in everything then compassion, peace and learning lessons become life goals. It is easy to hate that which we don't understand, but once we are open to understanding, then compassion is all that can exist. Peace and compassion are also about nurturing and promoting life and giving up on ideas of destruction. When we are at peace with the beings around us, that is also when we notice their spirit.

Why bunnies and doves?

To me bunnies represent the vulnerable: children, survivors of abuse, the disabled, and so on. They have a lot to overcome in dodging predators, but they do. As many of you know, I write another blog for survivors of abuse right here on blogspot called "Misadventures with Angry Alcoholics, Bullies and Narcissists", so when I make these art works, I am thinking about survivors of abuse first and foremost.

But, what about the dove? How does that relate? They typically represent spirit, peace, sacrifice, purification. But they are also the messengers for peace, which is very much about what writing the blog is for me. The promotion of kindness, empathy and thoughtfulness is what will evolve the human race from abusive tendencies (people who intentionally hurt other people), narcissism, perspecticide, war and shaming (shaming being an act of prejudicy -- and yes, this can and does include parents doing this to children as well) ... note: all of the highlighted links go to blogs I have written and illustrated except the one on perspecticide. 

In "The Attraction", there is also a cat, bats and a tree. In mythology, the cat represents rebirth, resurrection and unpredictability and may have other "agendas" in being attracted to the doves, although it is white (the color of purification) too. Bats typically represent death and life, endings and beginnings, transitions. The white tree represents a connection to our true identity, revolutionary wisdom, enlightenment. The whole piece is about being attracted to our higher natures, about communicating peace and spiritual motives, accepting transitions (endings and beginnings), to form a revolutionary new wisdom about ones place in the world. 

"Three Messengers"

© 2017

available for sale as a print and other products HERE

the design of this piece is dedicated to Lenora Thompson and 500 Pound Peep,

two other bloggers who write for survivors of child abuse

The next one is an acrylic painting (the frame I painted myself comes with it):

 "A Deep Thought"

© 2017

13.5" x 16.5"

acrylic painting on panel

only the original is available at this time

Next is one that has references to Tarot symbolism:

"Wand with Magician and Jester"

© 2017

14" x 18" 

acrylic painting on canvas

only the original painting is available for sale

Note: the original is square, not like the photograph.

The Magician in tarot symbolism is someone with skill who can manifest change in a "magical way". He has the ability to transform, to pull together resources, skills, and tools. He is close to the creative source, and has the ingenuity to make dreams come true, the power to attract an audience, the power to display knowledge and thought (sometimes esoteric). He has integrity and is a leader of sorts ... Since this magician is a type of rabbit, he will also have some of the symbolism of the rabbit (i.e. a survivor, even if previously vulnerable to prey). The magician is signified by the number one. One is the trail-blazer, the originator, the creator.

The jester in tarot symbolism is someone who is a word-smith, who speaks in riddles or non-sequiturs to keep from being beheaded by a king or queen. He (or she -- this one is a "she") can get away with being very, very wise (a kind of canary in the coal mine), of speaking his mind because he is not seen as a threat because he is deemed as "foolish" after all. People who want perspectives they can take or leave often prefer the fool or jester. The jester can take "wild thought and verbal leaps" into the unknown because he is aware that the audience is tentative and dismissively fearful at best. The jester is also signified by the number zero. The reason he is zero, is because he is not part of the intrigues at court; he is not a political figure; he does not represent any kind of an agenda because he is not a player "in the game". He is not "connected". He is just this wise messenger, this poet, who people choose to listen to or not to listen to, depending on their mindset. Thus he often also represents the unconscious.

The jester can be an inspiration to the Magician. People who start out as jesters can also end up as magicians. 

In this piece, the jester tries to make a grab for the wand first.

The wand signifies manifesting and channeling magic or energy, the power to change, transform, protect or do good, the tool of a champion or authority.

The doves are over each of their heads. This signifies messages of peace as all of the other works do.

"Spirit Tree"

© 2017

12" x 24"

acrylic painting on canvas

only the original is available for sale

In this piece there are a lot of doves. There is a bunny safely nestled into an opening of tree roots, and one outside to see the display of doves. Again, the white tree symbolizes a connection to our true identity, revolutionary wisdom and enlightenment. This one has no bark (except its roots are a bit "dirty" from the ground), thus a "spirit tree" giving a home to the doves (and to the message of peace). 

"Escape with a Blessing"

© 2016

8" x 8"

a more de-saturated version is available for sale as a print and other products HERE

"Between the Trees"

© 2017

available for sale as a print and other products HERE

This next one is similar to "Wand With Magician and Jester" except this one does not feature a jester. It preceded the one with the Jester, but has a magic all its own:

"The Magician"

© 2017

7.25" x 8.5"

watercolor and ink

available for sale as a print and other products HERE

totes available for sale HERE

The next one up is small. The original is slightly bigger than a 5 x 7. It is called "Breathing Life Into Darkness". 

Some greeting cards were made of the design with the word "Peace" inside.

The dove has all of the meaning and symbolism of the last piece, except this one is celestial. 

The idea behind this piece is that the world is not just black and white (i.e. made up of villains and saints). That goes for how human beings are too. The dove shows us that peace is in the rainbow world of colors. He breathes and speaks about colors and of life. The sanctity of life and relationships can only come about through peace.

Finding an end to abuse and domestic violence is the same as finding a way to end war and destruction. Domestic abuse is usually about bigotry/shaming of a family member (that is the reason for the insults and vilification; this is usually how domestic abuse starts).

"Breathing Life Into Darkness"

© 2017

5.25" x 7.125"

available for sale as a print and other products HERE

the original is in a local gallery

Here is what it looks like as a pillow:

pillows available for sale HERE

(choose size with drop-down and background color with slider)

framed prints available HERE

choose size, type of frame and mats in drop down

(this frame is PL6 in black with a snow white mat)

"The Meeting Under the Moon"
© 2016
4" x 12"
only the original is available for sale

"Night Surprise"
© 2016
only the original is available for sale

The next one up, the bunny is in a cocoon, healing, and in the protection of the roots of the tree. The piece is called "Bunny Nap in Tree Roots" to appeal to a wider audience, but to me, the meaning goes deeper than that. 

Doves fly overhead. Doves, again, represent peace, devotion, the spirit, sacrifice, messenger, purification. 

So I like to think that the bunny, after his restorative sleep, will awaken to a new life as peace-maker, as a messenger of the spirit, and will have pure intent. Often because of the horrific experience of abuse, survivors are generally also doves (they want peace and harmony in their own lives, and they want peace and harmony to prevail in the world). 

The symbol of the butterfly is resurrection, transformation, hope and deep change. 

In other words, after the bunny restores and is healed, he is deeply changed.

The symbol of the tree in this piece is: knowledge, nourishment, sustenance, the giver of life. 

"Bunny Nap in Tree Roots"

small: in an 8" x 10" frame matted

© 2017

watercolor and colored pencils

only the original is available for sale at this time

There will also be plenty of minis (5" x 5"s and 4" x 4"s -- and even smaller) like the next ones:

"Dove with Star"

5" x 5"

© 2016

mini acrylic painting

only the original is available for sale at this time

although I do have one for sale in this design that was heavily photo-shopped HERE

This next one is tiny. It is two and a quarter inches times three and a quarter inches and it is matted, but not framed. I won't have prints of it; it is meant to be an original only.

This one is celestial too, and a precursor to the one above. It is called "Dove With a Mission" and the premise behind this one is that there is no time to waste. We need to spread peace if we are to survive on this planet, and with each other.

"Dove with a Mission"

© 2017

2.25" x 3.25"
only the original is available for sale at this time

sold

This next one is called "Resting Rabbit" and it is absolutely tiny (only one and a quarter inches times one and seven eighths of an inch, in other words, about as big as the end of one's thumb -- and yes, it is hard to make art so small, thus the simplistic rendition):

"Resting Rabbit"

© 2016

0.8" x 1.25"

Please note: If you are interested in any of the original pieces above e-mail me at sales(att)LiseWinne.com (I will be moving them around to different shows and galleries after it has shown at Valley Artisans Market). 

new in my shop: treble clefs on home decor, teeshirts, mugs and tote bags

Turquoise Treble Clef with Turquoise and Blue Border
available through THIS LINK

treble clefs come in a multitude of colors including pink, gold and purple:

check THIS LINK to be taken to the entire collection (and to purchase if you so desire)

Bear with me as these treble clefs come in a variety of colors and products. Products include mugs, tote bags, home decor (bed covers, prints, pillows, shower curtains), large round beach towels and phone cases. Some of the other variations of treble clefs are gold, pink, brown and dark purple (I show at the bottom of the post)

This is what the turquoise treble clef looks like on a mug

(the treble clef is printed on two sides of the mug):

available through THIS LINK

next up is a pillow design:

available HERE

and a tote bag:

available HERE

There are also teeshirts in any color of your choice.

This one happens to be long sleeved and in a silver color:

available HERE

Here are what some of the others look like:

all treble clef designs available HERE (and ... I will always be making more,

so check back for them ... if interested, of course!)

the whole shop is HERE  

A Pawn Escapes, the unicorn as a chess piece

A PAWN ESCAPES

© 2008

for sale as a print, home decor, totes and wearables through this link

This is a piece I designed back in 2008. But this is the first time it is being offered for sale on a number of products (which I share below this post).

As is usual, all of my pieces are embedded with symbolism and meaning (in the Jungian tradition). 

I started the series with pottery and sculpture, making stylized playing card symbols on hand thrown goblets. The inspiration came, initially, out of performing at Renaissance faires where there was a hierarchy: the king and queen, the council, foreign advisers, the court's performers (fools, magicians, actors and musicians), the courtiers dressed in their finest, the merchant class and the makers, the peasants, the pub musicians, the maids and servants. I branded most of my pottery for the courtier class (the finer pieces), and the merchant class (the simple glazed pieces). A couple of huge goblets with a lot of extra detail were relegated to the king and queen. 

When being in that situation long enough, it is interesting how a performer finds himself conforming to a role, even though it is all make-believe! At times I resisted it, feeling my modern self inside an olde gown. At other times I felt like Mozart in the film Amadeus, all too happy to show my irreverence as he did to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzberg. But mostly I found myself conforming, and ruminating on why, late at night. 

With eyes wide open in the dark, I thought long and hard on whether I was a conformer, or on the outside of conformity. Where was I comfortable? Artists have functioned very well on the outside of conformity throughout history. After all, it is hard to be a genius when you are tethered to someone else's tightly defined role. An artist's mind roves, and explores, and insights happen mostly when he breaks out to investigate. 

But, I found that when "the queen" entered into my performing space, that I was bowing to her just as the other faire workers did, and calling her "m'lady", and attempting to please her with my best songs and performances, songs which I felt had the magic to move her to laughter or tears. In fact, I would look right into her eyes, as if she was the only one in the room. If I felt she was getting too uppity (high and mighty), I might sing her a song cloaked in meaning with disapproval at its core (much the way Shakespeare wrote plays like King Lear, MacBeth, and Hamlet, and still managed to play them to his queen without getting his head cut off). 

Since I was a performer, and a court performer at that (we performed Dowland, who was a real court composer under Queen Elizabeth), I did not have a voice much beyond my music, and its lyrics. I was surrounded a lot by very chatty clever courtiers (actors) who would jest, provoke, scheme and challenge each other to a game. 

Renaissance faires usually have a bunch of games: human chess, jousting, sword fights, archery, and so on. There are also a lot of games (and intrigue) being played in court (mock court).

Anyway, I felt that I was in the same class as the court fools and actors. I have talked about the fool symbolism in my work before in this post. 

In my early days as a potter-by-day and musician-by-night, I sgraffito-ed more fools into my work than just about any other symbol. There is a reason why that symbol was so compelling, and perhaps I will talk about it some day. The gist of it was that I felt "voiceless" in the same sort of way the fool in King Lear was not listened to. The fool also represents "the subconscious", and in King Lear literary scholars have often attributed the fool to Cordelia (the daughter who is thrown away over a competition with her siblings). The fool also represents the wise part of the brain, and he is a type of canary in the coal mine as well. In so many ways, I felt that I embodied the fool, right down to being an artist.

So, in the context of the Renaissance faire, the feeling that I was part of the performing class of the fool was still there, even though I sang like a bird and had more a voice than King Lear's fool. Still, lyrics can seem like the riddles that fools tell to some people. 

By the time I got around to making "A Pawn Escapes" (the piece featured here), I was thinking about games quite a bit, particularly chess and cards. Although I don't play games often, my mother's side of the family had a tradition of playing all kinds of games, and when I found this piece in the computer, it stirred up some issues in regards to that family. 

Games are a way for children to learn how to count, strategize a plan, to keep to stringent rules. The family comes together with the thought of having fun together, and bonding, but at its core, games are about competition, maneuvering, winning, and losing. In cards, you can lose by virtue of having a lousy hand (just as you can in life). In chess you can lose by virtue of having an inability to have foresight, intuition, and a scheming manipulative mind which can look ahead at all of the possible pitfalls and/or gains. In chess you are equals in the beginning, but the whole point of chess is to take away your opponent's power so that you have the upper hand, and in the end, have all of the power and control. I have to ask here: why did someone make up a game like that??

So, I was looking at that family's judgments and pecking order. I would describe the family as ascribing to a very rigid hierarchical structure where members are ranked in terms of their worth. Others, looking in, would probably define the family as an authoritarian family. Authoritarian families are like the Trump family (and in worse-case scenarios like the Godfather family or the Augustus Germanicus family of Caligula). They put a lot of emphasis on "winners" and "losers" and a fallacious perfectionism based on fantasies of how a person might be thinking and feeling, and what their intention may be (indulging in, and unconvincing in, mind-reading). I recently consulted with a lawyer, and I am allowed to say online that my mother and I are estranged, and have spent a great deal of our lives in that state. So, if I sound like I am not a part of her side of the family, it is because, in large part, I am not and was not (not of my own choice, and at her husband's prompting). But having that thrust upon me (and not because I was a bad daughter or did bad things), I have probably never felt all that comfortable with that family. In many ways, I feel like a different breed, born to the wrong family, with only a few genes in common.

In the context of that family, I was the one without a voice, the one with the harp, the one so far in the background as to be falling out, continually superseded by someone else's voice or agenda. 

Of all of the people from that family, an uncle was the only one I resembled and could identify with. I was born on his birthday. We were both teetotalers. We were both artists. We both had the same moral standards. I saw more of him, in my teenage years and twenties, than anyone else in that family. My father resembled that uncle more than I did, right down to the same profession, to the same attitudes about that profession (housing for the poor), to fighting for moral causes, to the same religious faith, to artistic aspirations, to personality, sensitivity and compassion. My mother's choice of picking my father was based on that resemblance (I believe). Since my uncle and father were "there" for me, I became like them. 

So, when I came upon this piece from 2008, it seemed to speak to me about all of those issues. The pampered unicorn, a pawn, is escaping. Is he like the Buddha, who was lied to by his parents, and has to know for himself what life and his own personality is really about? 

Here are the common symbolic meanings of the piece (the same writing from my on-line store):

* unicorn: purity, innocence, the divine, enlightenment, magic. The unicorn has been known to be an independent creature of high intelligence and to be able to purify water and to get rid of the toxicities of life for itself and others.
* millefleurs: abundance, growth, fertility, creativity, freedom from hunger, heightened respect for nature
* playing card symbols: rules, games, the elements (wind, fire, water, and earth), the seasons, the four motives, and the struggle with various forms of opposition for victory.
* escaping: feeling confined by a role (thus the need to flee), going into another form of life for a different perspective, cracking the egg, cutting Mommy's apron strings or Papa's control
* pawn: the ordinary, restriction of movement, restriction of hierarchy (unless it goes through a minefield, i.e. getting to the 8th square where it becomes a queen), being and feeling used by more powerful "players", someone else's puppet or tool or plaything

"A Pawn Escapes" is part of a series having to do with chess (and hierarchy). The pawn in this case is a pampered unicorn with an elaborate copper collar and a red mantle, and he most likely belongs to a King or Queen. He is escaping. "Pawn" also refers to being or feeling used.

Since the unicorn has just "fled the coop", we don't know the outcome. We only know that he has the desire to escape. What he escapes is a lush garden (plenty of food), but the promise of more flowers is outside the opening he is jumping through.

   

.... "and has the ability to purify water" -- Lately, I have become involved in the native American cause "The Water Protectors" at Standing Rock, North Dakota. 

At this point in my life, being inspired to make so many pieces in this style is foreign to me, especially as I take on challenges these days which speak to a much wider and contemporary audience. But I can see why I was on that path, and what it evolved to.

Here are some other products with the image:

framed print -- (buy here if interested, choose your own frame and matting from the drop-down):

tote (buy here if interested -- choose your own background color from the drop-down if you don't like the default color):

greeting cards (buy here if interested -- wholesale prices if you buy a package of 25 cards, choose your own background color from the drop-down if you don't like the default color)

Many more products are available with this listing including phone cases, wearables and home decor.

Until next time ... 

Vigilant Unicorn

Vigilant Unicorn

available HERE for sale

I tell how to customize below

This piece is from 2012, and I still have the original ACEO (without the border) for sale HERE.

Here is another version:

CUSTOMIZING IT:

Here is how to do it:

On the right, click on prints, and then find framed prints.

Alternatively, go HERE where the framed prints are

click the arrow where it says framed prints on the right hand side

Then you'll see a tab come up just underneath it

You'll see a bunch of tabs running underneath the "framed prints" 

(and underneath the tab, you'll see the framing possibilities --

note: the frame defaults to a black frame -- yuck, but you can change that)

Anyway, up where the tabs are, click on 1. for the size print you want.

Then click on 2. for the frame.

You'll notice right before all the little square pictures of frames, you can choose a frame color.

*The first one is in the gold section (click on VN7).

*The second one is in the gold section too (click on 4VS).  

Then click on 3. for a mat color

*The first one is "Mist matte" which is in the second row towards the end.

*The second one is "moss green matte" -- in the fourth row all the way to the end of the row. 

I usually go for the Somerset Velvet paper. It has the best picture quality for my taste,

but if you want to save money and it is going in an area where sun will hit it part of the day,

or in a bedroom, then the archival matte paper is fine.

Here are some pillow possibilities using the same kinds of sliders and swatches
(pillows here):

using the customization colors and sliders it is:

R (105) G (98) B (58)

or #69623a

Here are some other possibilities you can get by playing around with colors:

The reason for all of these possibilities? To go with your decor.

Here is a greeting card with a light green background:

This background color is:

R (215) G (220) B (193)

or #d7dcc1

Here is how it looks as a tote bag

(tote bags are $19.98 for the smallest, and 

$24.25 for the largest):

Here is how it looks as a shower curtain (cool, yes?):

More products are available in this design HERE.

My continually growing on-line shop is HERE (note as of this writing it is a new shop).

Again, the original, a very tiny drawing, as of this writing, is for sale HERE for $25.

Thanks for looking!