JAGUAR LOOKING BACK

From a thought to an image…

Jaguars have always fascinated me — the way their lithe, heavy bodies move silently across the forest floor, every step deliberate yet effortless. I didn’t plan to paint this one; she crept into my mind then onto the paper. Back turned, watching me with a steady, unwavering gaze. Is there strength in her stillness? I feel it, though I don’t have the words yet. After all, this is meant to be only a ‘study’ — whatever that means for me.

The deep red beneath her was always meant to be. I remembered a painting I’d seen once, where this exact color seemed sacred, and it lodged itself in my mind. On paper, it behaves differently, but I can imagine how it might sit on canvas in oils. The background pulses with something ancestral, older than me, something that hums quietly beneath the surface.

Loved painting Calla lilies…

The calla lilies appeared almost of their own accord. I don’t remember how but I have never painted them before. I love their velvety richness, and where I live they grow nearly wild. They carry elegance, resilience, and endurance. TI looked up their symbolism and ithey speak to renewal and transformation, subtle shifts and new beginnings. And like the jaguar herself, I feel they hold a soft, commanding pull..

I added other symbols too — an oak leaf, an embossed dragon, an infinity sign. Perhaps I’m not meant to explain them. For now, they speak of stillness, even  power, inner strength, and presence. The Orb in the glass was difficult. I wanted a transparent glowing orb but couldn’t make it work. My skill?  The scratchy paper? The golden earth with South America highlighted, the home of the Jaguar.  Strangely another image of protection like the polar bear. Why is this coming to me I wonder?

She seems to beckon me…

I’m not entirely sure what she’s saying. Perhaps she wants to become a full-size painting someday. Perhaps there’s more here for me to explore in my own world that others might be drawn to. I love the idea of the etched champagne glass, a new focus, though I’ll have to practise my glass painting skills!

There’s something else in the air — a feeling that reminds me of the Bengal tiger in my Smudge book, ‘the Benevolent Uncle.’ I’ve always imagined him saying, “Well, what are you waiting for?” — a mischievous nudge from an old friend. I painted him at the beginning of this century!

In this Jaguar’s gentle aura, I sense she might be waiting for something in me. Maybe something to change, to transform. My shoulder accident has put me in a stage of reset, yet there is meaning in it for me— If I choose I feel like I am being called to recognize a time of transformation, like many of us at this time.. Maybe her grounded energy tells me that she is here to remind me that we are here as custodians of the Earth and all who share her. We must  honour, protect, and guard the earth in the most subtle meaningful ways.

Thank you so much for reading. Love that you visit…
See you soon ……blaze

polar bear study

Polar Bear – Holding the World 

Polar bears had been in my thoughts for a long time. Not sure why but I felt they represented the  lingering resilience of nature on the edge.  As I broke the surface of the paint or rather dry brushed the background on this scratchy paper a shape efinitely appeared. This is the technique I use for drawing-scratchy chalk first till I ‘touch’ the feeling of the animal. The I enhance with detail focussing on light and shade.  I certainly had to go look at some photos of the bear but I rarely use reference…simply an eye here, a paw there. This stance I made up.  Not quite perfect but you get the gist….Inspite of this he  stands solid, front paw holding the Earth, protective, calm, maybe a sense of wanting attention.
He looks at me — or maybe at all of us — with a steady glare.
There’s a quiet strength here, born from resilience and solitude. He doesn’t seem to yell at me but simply reaches out, beckoning, sensing the shifts in the world around him.

Symbols of resilience

To his side, bamboo leans into the warm yellow light — fragile but determined. The ice melts, the Earth warms. Even the coldest places are not untouched; change is creeping in everywhere.

The Arctic poppies and edelweiss in the foreground, tiny glimmers of beauty in the seeming vastness, speak of life, resilience and hope.
Behind him, misty mountains rise, ice-capped and enduring, while civilizations — buildings hidden in fog — seem swallowed by the vastness of eternity.

The game of life, a checkerboard floor, holds him tenuously, playful , nebulous a reminder that even in strange or unexpected places, grounding is possible. Life must go on.

I don’t know exactly what he’s saying. Perhaps he’s asking me to notice, to pause, to hold what we care about with care. Perhaps he reaches out to my heart and whispers, “We matter too.”

What does he say…

There’s something in his presence that stirs my own reflections: patience, allowing, showing up for what matters without forcing it. Even in seemingly empty moments, there is feedback, information.

For me he feels like a mirror — steady, observant, sort of insisting on attention. Watching him, I am thinking a little more about what it means to move through the world with a peaceful heart and protect what you can, without fanfare, without noise, simply because it is right.

I felt polar bears for a long time.  Maybe a painting to continue this conversation……paintings always to to you.

Lovely to see you here. Thank you for reading my stories.
Keep creative in your world ……. blaze

“We’re often told to just ‘push through’ when we’re stuck,
but sometimes that only makes the fog thicker.
This is the story of a time
I lost the keys to my own imagination,
and the quiet, unexpected
‘turquoise box’
that finally brought the fire back.”

The Turquoise Box – A Story of Emergence

For many months, it felt like I had lost the key to my own imagery wonderland. The fire inside had gone out. I was at a complete loss, mourning a part of myself I thought had vanished forever.

I kept telling myself that “something has to go in for something to come out,” but even in the quiet of my meditation, I couldn’t find the way back to my special place.