"Auntie Em's Garden of Meditative Delights" -- Surreal Digital Art -- Artist Blog

Perhaps it's odd of me. I don't understand surreal poetry most of the time, but I love this type of art. You are an artistic genius.

Thanks, Pam.

To share in this moment of frank honesty, I will confess that there are a lot of poems (surreal and other) that I just don't get. Art (creative expression) is like that.

Glad you liked this !!

This is awesome!

Thanks, Betty :-)

Love it.

Thank you, Ms. Lee :-)

Looks like a fun place to go. Perhaps in my dreams tonight.

You'll have to let me know if that works out for you, Jan :-)

Glad you liked it !!

I love it!

Thanks, Leah !!

Those are very cool!

Thanks, Janet :-)

Looks more like a desert. Almost Egyptian...yet uniquely American. LOL.

Good eye, Allison ;-)

American deserts tend to be rocky, with bluffs, crags and gullies around, rather than smooth and flat-ish.

Best To You

I just keep wanting to go deeper into this image. It feels bottomless. Is that you in the hat pulling the bottle?

That kind of depth you describe is something I really try to put into my pieces, so I am truly glad to hear you mention it. Thanks for that. :-)

Yes, that is me (a line of me) in the hat, but that is not a bottle. It is a representation of my head made to look like stone.

Best To You

I will look closer, deeper. I am in love with this work. It really gets the neurons going.

It's great and Ann really deserves it. She helps poets and writers too.

Thank you, Sharon!

Your very welcome. Thank you for all the help you give writers.

Thanks, Sharon. I totally agree with you!!

:)

I'm sure Ann will delight in the honor... I'm sure we all delight under her aegis...some even more than others...

Thank you for submitting to Gathers Luminous Writers and Artists. Now Featured.

Indeed, I am delighted, and can't wait to give Bill my interpretation.

Thank you for the feature, Mr. Berwaldt.

Best To You

this is an amazing, mind-expanding, and completely wonderful work!....i absolutely love it!

blessings

Thanks, Wendy !!

I so enjoy hearing all those descriptors. :-)

Best To You

Very, very cool!

Thanks, t b

:-)

Bill, my friend, you have SO crawled into my head! My husband and I were just admiring this and found it an excellent expression of my life interests and spiritual orientation.

I don't think there's any way I could properly thank you for this, but may I reproduce it on my blog (with attribution, of course)?

Metta to you and Donna.

I just wrote out a detailed list of my symbol interpretation and Gather ate it! I'll try this again tomorrow.

Here's the symbolism I see, Bill (from left to right):

1. Juggler: I am both a sun worshiper and a follower of the Tao.

2. Flag wavers: Promotion of the arts?

3. Mannequin heads: I place a high value on aesthetics

4. Telescope: Probably my favorite symbol. Depending on which end you look through, you can observe the minutiae of biology or the cosmos.

5. River: The river of life.

6. Circus tent: Love it! Jung at heart. Is that an archetypal hero in the clouds?

7. Guys dragging the black thing: Looks like pollution cleanup.

8. Compass: I'm in the east but wishing I was west, as always.

9. Ambrosial Library: This looks like a science library, as it features atomic particles on the top.

10. Wreathed Head: Looks like the Goddess presiding over Nirvana!

I'm not quite sure about some of the trees. Are those the trees of "good" and "evil" at the gates of Nirvana?

You are a wonderfully talented symbolist, Bill, and I think I would place much of your work in that genre (among other genres such as surrealism).

Ann, I am both glad and relieved that you enjoyed this piece :-)

For the most part, I just let my muse wander through the memories and impressions that developed over the past few years. Then, adding a little bit of research from your Gather profile page, this work sprang forth. Yes, you may absolutely share this on your blog. I am deeply honored by that consideration.

Your interpretations were great. Right on target. Below are some addendums I'd just like to add.

1. additionally ... you cast much light to others with your fine juggling of so many things here on Gather

2. the flag waivers (flag dancers were my actual inspiration for that element) are artists manifesting colors with their movements

3. Spot-on :-)

4. the green folk (green for organic; children of nature) at the bottom of a double helix ladder (their DNA) which allows them to climb to scientific discovery

5. Spot-on :-)

6. Spot-on with both counts: Atlas figure in the background for your heroic efforts at well managing so many groups. And of course the tent represents The Surreal Circus ;-)

7. the black thing being dragged... Your pollution clean-up perception is so metaphorically close that I don't want to touch it; other than to say that the black thing being dragged resembles my head, with a face made of stone.

8. Yup, as do the buildings in the southwest corner of the landscape; right-center in the image. :-)

9. The library is meant to reflect the height and breadth (the sound impressiveness) of your academic knowledge: scientific, artistic and literary. Carbon atom at the top (organic chemistry). I hope I got the number of protons, netrons and electrons right.

10. Spot-on !!

The two trees can represent good and evil, but I was leaning towards life and knowledge.

The blue pyramid, the stone walkway leading towards it and the flowing brown ground of the enitre landscape were inspired by pieces of Maya Lin; an architect/artist listed as a favorite on your Gather profile page.

In the background of the landscape are several "statue gardens" which I considered (hoped) appropriate to your contemplative and nature bends; and there is a small tower near the statue garden just right of center, to represent monastic teachings.

Also, there are a small group of buildings in the background (left-center) where a windmill generates electricity. I seemed to recall that you are a proponent of such; hope I'm not wrong on that. :-)


My Very Best To You

Wow. It will be so much fun to put this on my blog. I'll be sure to include an explanation.

I do see how the pathway looks like Maya Lin's work, particularly the Vietnam war memorial.

Thank you again-- I can hardly imagine a better gift!

You can access my blog post here.

The dialogue between the pair of you adds immeasurably to this piece. It is excellence on Gather.

Another very interesting work from you, Bill. I don't know much about symbolism in this piece but from the comments, I can tell that it strikes home with Ann. When the honoree understands it, that's all an artist can hope for! She is so deserving of the honor. Both of you are very talented artists!

Thanks, Debbie :-)

You did an awesome job on those

Thank you, Angela :-)

Far out meditative delight.

Thanks, William.

This is a wonderful piece Now one of my favorites of your works.

This is fantastic and very inspiring. I just started doing Ipad drawings mostly on Sketchbook Pro, in the beginning learning stages. In comparison to this I'm more like Grandma Moses.

A very fitting tribute Bill.
Incredible art work.

Featured at The Surreal Circus.

Beautifully done Bill. A wonderful tribute to Ann's hard work...

This is NOW FEATURED in ART FUN!

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful art! And a fitting tribute to our friend Ann, a lovely and learned lady. I congratulate both of you.