Beauty Break

I’m still obsessing with light & flowers.

Not yet sure where all this photo exploring is taking me. I hope to eventually find a bridge of energy between my paintings and plant life. Till it appears here is another “flower power” download as a beauty break for you!

Lately, I’ve been enjoying a little graininess in photos and hope you do too :)

oh…forgot to mention this is a Gladiola from my garden!

They are complete flowers…that means they have all “the parts” to keep themselves “in business” with self pollination. Enough with the plant porn:) Let’s see them as symbols of the marriage of divine feminine with divine masculine.

Ta da! Almost enlightenment;)

I do love me some super moody snaps…but let me try to brighten things up just a bit.

“And then there are the days
where you cannot breathe
because
everything has turned to beauty
and iridescence.
Because
you are a witness to this ordinary world.
”

— Jeff Foster

We’ll continue this botanical love affair with passion flower snaps next time…till then be well!

Eden Experiments

I’m stuck…this group of six pieces is 99.9% done. The only thing that’s holding me back from making them available to purchase is coming up with individual titles.

While I was working on them the idea of “Eden experiments” kept coming into my mind. I think they have a touch of Rorschach. When I look I see a hint of the random “chemical crashes” that trigger the very first building blocks of life. Things like DNA strands, microscopic particles, cells, etc... I also see the beginnings of flowers forming out of seeds and pure energy.

What do you see?

I thought I would pull them all together here on the blog in hopes of igniting some ideas for six names. If you have ideas I would love to hear them.

Email me at siobhan@siobhanbedford.com

Fire in the Belly

I decided this was the perfect painting to share with you as we head into the 4th of July during the pandemic.

First…it reminds me of a firework exploding into a million flecks of light.

Second…and it’s awkward to say, but it does remind me a little of all the virus images we have been seeing over the last few months. Try to forget I just said that;)

This painting is one of the 9 Spectrum paintings I’ve been working on for the last year. Although, they are not exactly monochromatic each piece in the series has a focus on a single color.

This one is obviously very yellow. In a way, it’s like the powerful July sun firing up the long summer days.

Third…this reminds me of the Chakra System.

If you have ever spent anytime breathing & bending in the “yoga world” you have probably heard of it. If not…it’s a Sanskrit system of energy running through the base of the spine to the crown of the head and down again. I like to think about it as the connection we have from our earthy body to our higher self.

Yes, it can all feel a bit woo-woo to our everyday way of thinking of things. And…Yes, it’s also completely fascinating.

Anodea Judith wrote an intriguing book called Eastern Body Western Mind. It’s a very in-depth blending of the physical body, Western Psychology, and this Eastern energy system. In it, she associates each chakra energy with color energy and a place in the body. Yellow is associated with the solar plexus. If you have ever had the experience of “trusting your gut” you know this place. It’s your “fire” in the belly. In the chakra system, it’s the place of power. Specifically the power of the will to transform.

Fourth…I wish you a very Happy 4th of July! ( see what I did there? wink. wink)

Even though things will be different this year, I hope you’ll feel that fire in the belly that freedom makes possible. Like the tiny specks in this painting swirling in all different directions…our power is still brighter together.

PS… If you are curious as to how a painting transforms in the making…here is a slideshow of work in progress snaps.

sweating the start last summer

bring in the yellow

structure of the core

light it up

give it glow with a glaze

snap from last January

sparks start swirling

up on the wall for the deep dry

“Power is the expression of the sacred in its evolutionary unfolding. Power is the awesome presence of the divine. Power is the mystery, the unknown, the confrontation with the other. Power is the transition from the past to the future. In order to escape the narrow traps of personal limitation and approach the magnificent expanse of totality we must reclaim our power. Power is the ability to determine our own destiny. Only in a path of uniqueness can the vital energy uncoil and pierce the regions of the unknown. Only with power can we move aside the obstacles that keep us imprisoned, enslaved and unconscious.”

— Anodea Judith

Poppies

Oh poppies! They bloom so quick and fade so fast! Their beauty is silky and papery. Even the simplest one is stare worthy. I have to share some snaps with you. I took them in the studio using sunlight and a velvet backdrop. I find most of my inspiration for art sourced in nature. So, photography has been a wonderful way to give deep attention to the endless fine details.

If you are a gardener…these are Mother of Pearl Shirley Poppies. Angels Choir is another one of my favorites. I scatter seeds mixed with sand in late February and then again in early March. If there is snow on the ground even better. It feels wonderful to throw seeds in the face of winter. Then run back in the house and just let them be. They are happy if spring is cool and not too wet. They don’t like having their roots disturbed. So to thin them I snip rather than pull the seedlings out. They fade fast when the summer heat kicks in. My garden is really tiny so I just pull them out to make room for sunflowers and cosmos. But...someday I’ll have a big meadow and will let them dry into the prettiest little seeds heads.

If you are not a gardener…just enjoy my obsession:)

“When the world wearies and society fails to satisfy, there is always the garden.”

— Minnie Aumonier