HARVEST OF PAINTINGS

Elsha Bohnert, 2011

"Healing Mirrors"

Acrylic on paper

26" x 36"

Elsha Bohnert, 2011

"Pull Me In"

Acrylic on paper

26" x 36"

Elsha Bohnert, 2011

"Story Shiva"

Acrylic on paper

26" x 36"

Elsha Bohnert, 2011

"Laxity Dog"

Collage, acrylic on paper

26" x 36"

The paintings above came out of the recent workshops with Timothy Ojile.  Most of them have been reworked afterwards.  For instance, "Laxity Dog" is a collage added to the painting I did on the word Laxity.  (Timothy gave everyone a different word to paint)  Some of the other assignments were: 

- Think of a story and paint it

- Discover another planet and paint it 

In Open Studio today, Jahn-Peter and I played with the idea of giving ourselves assignments.  Neither of us was terribly serious about it, but still, it's a fun thought. 

NO NYEPI BRAIN

 "Hush" - Mixed media collage

Elsha Bohnert (2011)

Today is Nyepi, Balinese New Year, celebrated by 24 hours of silence and darkness.  No fires, no lights, no cooking, no TV and radio, no airplanes, no driving or walking out on the street.  Everybody stays inside, including the tourists, to take a break from the outer world's distractions.  Except for babies and animals who don't know about rules, the otherwise bustling island settles into an eerie and blessed quiet. 

As I'm writing this, my downstairs neighbor suddenly starts up his vacuum, another neighbor clangs her pans, a helicopter roars overhead, the ice cream vendor jingles on the scene, someone splash-bombs into the pool, and someone else explosively starts up his car.  All of it simultaneously in rapid succession!  This concatenation of noise is highly unusual.  We live in the quiet end of Waikiki and our place is all snuggled up to a dense and lovely grove of palm trees. Birds and the wind through the trees are usually all I hear.  But now it is as if just writing about a whole day of quiet calls forth all the demons of noise.  Funny how that goes.

 

"No Nyepi Brain" - Ink on scrap paper

Elsha Bohnert (2011)

It's quiet again.  Outside, that is.  Inside my head not so.  No Nyepi in my brain. But that's okay.
Nyepi or no Nyepi.  It's all good.  Now hush, no more talking today.