The Journey Begins

Art by Daniel Lieske

“My journey begins on an old and dusty attic. A little boy unveiled a passage to another world and prepared his backpack. The moment is there – the moment of gathering courage and doing the first step.

I wanted to paint a picture about the nature of journeys. I wanted to show, that you always have to leave something behind if you want to reach for a distant goal. The boy’s belongings are on the left side, as well as his cat and the place he calls home, which shines a warm light from below the attic trapdoor. On the right side I arranged things that symbolize the journey. There you find the globe, the telescope, the ship, the bust of the great Homer and the skeleton which stands for the last journey. My goal was to create a tension between the two worlds, so the perspective lines are arranged to build a subtle drag into the glowing painting.

I also wanted to paint a picture about us artists. We constantly struggle to open doors to other worlds with our artwork and by creating foreign landscapes and fantastic creatures we fuel the imaginations of our spectators. Our paintings literally become portals into the realm of fantasy and that’s why in my painting the zig zag path formed by the road in the painting and the carpets on the attic floor ultimately leads to the viewer – to invite him to venture on a journey of his very own.”

-Daniel Lieske, 7th of May 2006

The first time I saw this painting I stared at it for a good 20 minutes.  So much of it’s story speaks directly to my soul as a writer.  The act of creating something that lives and breathes out of nothing is one that is very precious to me.  The  desire to create has always come to me in times where I felt helpless to things happening in my life.  Writing helped immensely during my cancer.  Another rush of creativity came to me when I learned that having a child would not come easy for my husband and myself.  The greatest desire came after I miscarried my first pregnancy.  My stories are not unlike children after all.

I also love what the artist says above, “I wanted to show, that you always have to leave something behind if you want to reach for a distant goal.” It’s so beautiful in it’s truth.  Another way that this painting pulls at my heart is how much it reminds me of the boys I love most in my life.  They have served as my inspiration for many stories of adventurous feats and epic tales.  You know who you are and I am forever grateful to have you in my life.

Juxtaposition

It’s been a week since I started my new blog and I’ve gotten lots of positive feedback.  I am thankful that people are finding it enjoyable enough to visit.  =)  Last Friday, Ramses and I were lucky enough to see Matt, Robert, and Amanda and go over character ideas.  It was lots of fun and reminded me that I have really creative and funny friends to share this new story I am working on with.  Each of them bring something different to the table and give me some great ideas to bounce around.  I am so thankful that they are sharing in my enthusiasm.

Oh, and an extra special congratulations to Matt for finishing all his school work and for being offered that awesome opportunity to contribute to a new textbook on the Holocaust… not that the Holocaust itself was at all awesome.  Wow… it’s really hard to be excited for a friend when his great new opportunity is to discuss the murdering of the Jews during WWII.  Hmm… juxtaposition-y.  =P