Watchful

Posted on by Spyder Webb

watchful

Just watchful. Relaxed. Alert.

And ready. Definitely ready.

But it may not be what you think. This is a modern man at a 21st century powwow, thoroughly living in the now world, and at the same time standing in oneness with his ancestors.

Who also lived in their now world.

Standing as someone who refuses to be co-opted by the current madness.

Not trendy, though occasionally trending.

Knowing deeply who he is, a two legged creature among the four leggeds, the sky beings, those who fly and those who crawl or swim, the star beings, and the tall ones, those whose lives are measured in millennia, and those whose lives flash like a spark before they’re gone.

Relaxed. Alert.

Alive.

This image is from my new gallery, Paintings — check it out here when you get a chance:  

If you’re interested in purchasing the original for your collection, drop me an email to see if it’s still available.

Night Blooms

Posted on by Spyder Webb

night-blooms

So few flowers bloom at night, it’s almost an oxymoron. But some do, and they’re all the more precious because of it.

In many ways, we are now in a time of darkness in our world, perhaps entering an even darker time. There have been others, some much worse, and the cusp we are now on could actually go either way.

The flowers can’t hold back the darkness. But they can bring life and beauty to the darkness. Those who do, do a great service to us all. They remind us to hold on until the dawn.

And there is always a dawn.

This image is from my new gallery, Paintings — check it out here when you get a chance.

If you’re interested in purchasing the original for your collection, drop me an email to see if it’s still available.

The Turban

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Turban

A Cherokee type of headwear, picking up on some exotic imports from the far east via a visit to the English king in 18th century London. Lots of different styles according to clan and individual taste, they were all the rage for the well dressed Cherokee man for a good hundred years, give or take.

So back then it wasn’t the guys wearing turbans that were the terrorists, it was the guys pouring out of the tall ships with the funny three cornered hats and foreign religious ideas that were running amok tearing up the joint and generally making everybody’s life miserable.

Funny how things change.

But then, sooner or later, they always do.

This image is from my new gallery, Paintings — check it out here when you get a chance.

If you’re interested in purchasing the original for your collection, drop me an email to see if it’s still available.

As Above So Below

Posted on by Spyder Webb

As Above So Below.jpg

The old saying points to our three dimensional world as being a reflection of the greater dimensionless world of spirit. That the rules of spirit are the same as the rules of our physical world.

Well, to a point. But let’s not get all carried away with all this. A reflection is not the thing itself. You can’t shake hands with yourself in the mirror. The reflection only points to a reality greater than itself.

And so we have to be very cautious when we try to apply the rules of — well, let’s call it the spirit world for now, although that word carries a lot of unfortunate hitchhikers with it — to the world we seem to inhabit.

A reflection actually can give us very accurate and very helpful information about our world. Is our hair in place, are we buttoned up straight, and more importantly, is there a car coming up in the next lane that I need to be aware of before I move over?

We’re hinting at very large questions here, way too big to cover in a short blog post. But as you look at the little (8″ x 8″) painting with its clouds that are reflected not quite perfectly, and the grasses and flowers in the foreground — now where did they come from, and what are they reflections of? — let it serve as a reminder of the relationship between the big reality and the reflected planet earth physical human animal reality that is our boots on the ground experience.

No big deal. It’s just fun to ponder big ideas. We don’t have to understand them completely or solve anything.

Yet.

This image is from my new gallery, Paintings — check it out here when you get a chance. 

Cactus Valley

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Cactus Valley

Amazing things, cacti. Where a human would die for lack of water, some living things can thrive and grow to enormous sizes.

Some people flourish in one set of circumstances where others are overwhelmed and drown or wither and shrivel up in a situation that isn’t right for them. Take a beautiful saguaro and put it in a rain forest, and you’re not doing it any favors. Same for a lush tropical fern if you put it in the desert.

Thing is, the cactus, being a plant, doesn’t try to force the fern into its own comfort zone. And the fern is just as happy to let the cactus be a cactus. Kind of a nice way to veg out, if you think about it.

All depends what you’re built for, I guess.

This image is from my new gallery, Paintings — check it out here when you get a chance.

Yellow Lake

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Yellow Lake

So other than the fact that the colors are interesting, why is the lake yellow anyhow?

Well for one thing, the whole darn scene is alive and following its own agenda rather than ours. You’ve got trees marching over the horizon, clouds hanging in the sky checking it all out, and the yellow lake not reflecting the blue sky like it’s supposed to. Darn uppity lake, anyhow.

So who says things have to behave in ways we’re used to? We humans tend to get awfully confused when things don’t follow a “normal” script. And sometimes they just don’t. Or won’t. So we explain those things away as hallucinations, delusions, dreams, mental illness, fabrications, anything to avoid dealing with the reality that sometimes reality doesn’t behave, well, like reality.

Kids know better, of course.

Messes with our tidy boxed up categorized and domesticated safe little worldviews, though. Unless you’re some kind of mystic or shaman or new age flake or something weird like that, which in itself is quite enough for those of us who aren’t to dismiss it anyway. Or a kid. But hey, what do kids know?

Except sometimes the sky is blue and the lake is yellow, and trees march over the horizon. And little orbs of light start floating around.

Oy.

This is one of my favorite styles to work with — it’s reminiscent of a block print, a look I really like, but it isn’t. The original is acrylic, painted with brushes with a strong graphic look. The paint is protected with a semigloss or satin protective varnish. It’s easy to gently clean with a soft cloth and water, even mild soap if necessary, just don’t scrub. I paint on paper mounted on plywood, so it’s very stable and sturdy. And it’s small (the original is 8” x 8” x 1/2”), so it’s perfect for small spaces.

This image is from my new gallery, Paintings — check it out here when you get a chance.

The Moon and the Stars Below

Posted on by Spyder Webb

The Moon & The Stars Below

Sometimes images present themselves that have no easy or obvious connection with our everyday reality. Is that a flame bursting out of the field into the dark sky, or is it perhaps a fiery bush of some kind? Or is it an archetypal burning bush, and if so is it speaking to us, and if it is, what is it saying?

What about those puffy clouds, and are those units of thought or intelligence or beings of some kind in the clouds and the flame (if that’s what it is), or…?

And then what are we to make of the stars and the moon underground where they surely don’t belong? Or are they a reflection of things in the sky that we can’t see?

The image is one of those jumping off points into meditation, that can help us break out of our logical left brain thinking, a leap into the unknown, where the ordinary rules don’t apply, a pathway into the numinous, a breaking of our orderly world that opens us up to…

This is one of my favorite styles to work with — it’s reminiscent of a block print, a look I really like, but it isn’t. The original is acrylic, painted with brushes with a strong graphic look. The paint is protected with a semigloss or satin protective varnish. It’s easy to gently clean with a soft cloth and water, even mild soap if necessary, just don’t scrub. I paint on paper mounted on plywood, so it’s very stable and sturdy. And it’s small (the original is 8” x 8” x 1/2”), so it’s perfect for small spaces.

Ch-ch-ch-changes…

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Hey, just a heads up, the name on this blog has been updated, because…

Surrounded

I’m shifting my focus to little paintings.

This one is called “Surrounded” and it’s 6″ x 6″, painted in acrylic on watercolor paper mounted on plywood. I was given the name “SpiritPainter” years ago, and so I’ve chosen to sign these with that name.

The originals will be available soon on eBay, because I prefer to sell my work on a Pay What You Want basis, and eBay is an easy way to accomplish that and give everyone a fair shot. Bidding will start at 99 cents plus shipping. And prints will be available just like with my photography here.

OK, enough of the commerce, but hey, a guy’s gotta pay the bills, you know?

I’ve been an artist most of my life, and the photography has been wonderful, but I miss the painting. I’ll still post the occasional photo with my thoughts, but at least for now, I’m switching to small paintings. Starting with a few I’ve been holding privately in my studio.

What do I mean by small? Typically either 8″ x 8″ or 6″ x 6″.  And not at all like my photographs. So…

Stay tuned!

It Gazes Back

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Much needed at this time. Thanks so much for this.

Cristen Writes's avatar

I know how it feels to look at the world and see it struggle, and I understand what it means to touch the earth and feel her pain.  I too have trembled at the sight of the weapons and wars, the hunger, the hurt, the fear, and the frenzy.

I know what it’s like to turn on the news and find the dark face of despair staring back at me, and at times I’ve had to paddle wildly to avoid drowning in his gaze.

But I also know what promise looks like when it graces the morning sky with golden light, and I’ve beheld the beauty of a fresh bloom in the rain.

I’ve seen hope rise up like a spring from a once barren soul; and I’ve watched as newfound courage devoured the darkest of fears.

There’s no denying that this world is made of both shadow and light…

View original post 623 more words

The Blue Farmhouse and God

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Blue Farmhouse FAA

It’s actually a lot bluer when you’re standing in front of the actual thing than it is when you’re looking at the photograph. But even the actual thing as we see it before us is just a representation in our brains of what’s there, it’s not the thing itself.

A bat would have a completely different way of perceiving that farmhouse. More than likely, “blue” wouldn’t enter into it.

So what is reality exactly, that we are able to grasp it so differently? The photo is a real representation of the farmhouse, even after I’ve run it through my artistic software tweaks. It’s real enough that you could pick out the real thing after seeing the image, anyway. But a dog, say, probably wouldn’t connect the two dimensional image (which smells very different anyway) with the three dimensional house.

So. There’s something there, but we don’t know what it really is, do we? Our senses give us enough consistent information so that we can interact with our physical world, but as to what that physical world may actually be, we truly don’t have a clue.

Same with God. Let’s say the Methodist is a bat, the Buddhist a dog, the Cherokee an eagle, the atheist a fish. (A fish is probably never going to even be aware of the farmhouse. Just sayin’.) Each of these is just a way of trying to get a handle on some kind of something that’s ultimately incomprehensible, and there’s no point whatsoever in the fish arguing with the bat. Just leads to frustration.

Oh, man. All I wanted to do was take a pretty picture of a farmhouse, and I ended up in theology. See how one darn thing leads to another?

This image is from my gallery, Out Here in the Country — check it out when you get a chance because you’ll get to see the full resolution image in all its detail. Plus a little about how I go about creating these images. Just go here.