Kissing the Ground

The Flower
Collage and Acrylic on Paper

If you can love one person, you can love anyone.

If you can love yourself, you can love anyone.

If you can see the beauty in one spot on earth, you can see it anywhere.

Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do,

there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

-Rumi

The Romantic Story of Shakuntala

Shakuntala meets Dushyanta
Acrylic on Paper
Prints available on Fine Art America

Shakuntala is a story of epic cosmic dancing.

Click below to hear the story on my podcast. 

Also available on iTunes.

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Fish in the Sea

Fish in the Sea
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Sir Robert Chiltern:  Anyway, what's that saying about there being plenty of fish in the sea?

Lord Arthur Goring:  Ah yes, but I couldn't possibly marry a fish. 
I'd be sure to land an old trout.

-Oscar Wilde

We Come from the Water

We Come From the Water
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

We come from the water

living in the water

go back to the water

turn the world around.

-Harry Belafonte

Let Me Sow Love

Sowing Seeds
Acrylic on Paper
Prints available at Fine Art America

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

For it is in loving that we are loved.

 It is in giving that we receive.

It in pardoning that we are pardoned.

-Saint Francis of Assisi

The Story of Medusa

Medusa
Acrylic on Paper
14" x 17"

Once upon a time a beautiful young lady named Medusa was a devotee in the temple of Aphrodite.  Against her will she was raped in that sacred space.  Aphrodite became enraged, banished her and changed her hair to snakes.  Anyone who looked upon Medusa from that moment on was turned to stone.

Why did Aphrodite punish the victim? Was it because she, the goddess of love, didn't want to be associated with that selfish side of sexuality?

Poor Medusa, if you can see past her bitterness you find that she is still beautiful. 

She has forgotten how to love, how fun it can be.  

She is silent...

and silence is death.

The Skywoman's Basket

What?! 

There is a folktale about divorce?

Yes... there is.

Click below to hear the meaningful tale of the Skywoman's Basket.
Also available on iTunes.

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Who, being loved, is poor?
-Oscar Wilde

Cupid and Psyche

Cupid and Psyche
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Cupid could only visit his love, Psyche at night.  She agreed not to view him even by the light of the moon.  They embraced only in the shadows of the night.  As if in dreams.

(hot! hot! hot!)

Eagerly savor each new day and the taste of its mouth-
Never lose sight of the thrill and the joy of living.
-Ewan MacColl

Pyramus and Thisbe

Pyramus and Thisbe
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"
Original $275. available on Etsy
Prints available on Fine Art America

Pyramus and Thisbe,

Romeo and Juliet,

Abelard and Heloise...

This is the forbidden fruit of love. 

Tasty, tasty fruit sitting high up on the shelf just out of your reach.

The ache of it hurts so good. 

All you can think of is that one person.  

Everyone else pales in comparison. 

All you can think of is that one person. 

Perfection.

Yet the passion that with equal strength
inflamed their minds no parents could forbid.
No relatives had guessed their secret love,
for all their converse was by nods and signs;
and as a smoldering fire may gather heat,
the more 'tis smothered, so their love increased...

for what is hid from love?

-Ovid, Pyramus and Thisbe

Aloja, The Water Nymph

Aloja the Water Nymph
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"
Original $150. available on Etsy
Print available on Fine Art America

Aloja, the water nymph can be found only around the fresh water springs of Majorca. 

She simmers red by the light of the moon.

The fountains mingle with the rivers,
and the rivers with the ocean

The winds of heaven mix forever with sweet emotion

For nothing in the world is single

All things by a law divine meet and mingle

Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high heaven

and the waves clasp one another,

No sister flower would be forgiven

if she distained her brother.

And the sunlight clasps the earth

And the moonbeams kiss the sea

What are all these kissings worth

if you kiss not me?

-Love's Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Can You Define Love?

Self Portrait "In Love" 1999
Watercolor on Paper
16" x 24"
Print available on Fine Art America

It is not ownership. It is not about marking someone as your territory with a ring or a photo.

Love is acceptance.

The purest love between parent and child has an openness, a bond that encompasses all.

And then there is romantic love....

The kind that fills you with longing. To comfort and be comforted.

Sometimes I feel that I SHOULD be able to love anyone because we all deserve love. Yet I have only felt passionate love for a handful of people. When I think of those individuals I looovvvvvve, it is like grabbing a unique lily white snowflake with my tongue and feeling this is it! My mojo flips backward and groans, hot damn, THIS is it.

How would you define it?

The Roses of Aphrodite

The Roses of Aphrodite
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, was running through the forest in hot pursuit of one of her many lovers.  She pricked her finger on a thorny bush.  As her blood spilt onto the vines a bud formed to create the first rose.  This beauty sprung from her pain.

Romeo: Is love a tender thing? it is too rough,

Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.

Mercutio: If love be rough with you, be rough with love;

Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.
-Shakespeare

And yet...

Gardeners are good at nurturing,

and they have a great quality of patience,

they're tender.

They have to be persistent.

-Ralph Fiennes

Celebrate Love this February

Women Creating
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"
Original $275. available on Etsy

Between February 1st and Valentine's Day
I will be creating daily blog posts
on the subject of
~ LOVE ~

There will be stories of romance, sex and poetic intrigue. 
Ooh- la -la! 

I invite you, my friends, to share these posts as valentines for your friends and lovers.

Let's all light a fire and spread the love this winter!

Dream of India

Dream of India
Acrylic on Paper
19" x 12"
Reprint available on Fine Art America

A couple of years ago I dreamt that I was in India waiting for a bus. I realized that under my feet the pavement was painted. Every door, building, signpost was brightly painted.  It was very exciting.
Last night I made this painting to reflect that dream.
(And yes- I dream in color.  Do you?)

There are two countries that I have always dreamed of...

England and India.

Sadly I have never placed my feet on the ground of either.

I need an excuse to go.

I need a reason to make a pilgrimage.

To tie a knot on a tree.

To dip into the water.

What excuse do I need?

Can you give me one?

Life is a pilgrimage.  The wise man does not rest by the roadside inns. 

-Swami Sivananda

Can you see the Lighthouse?

Point Loma Lighthouse
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"
Original $275. available on Etsy

When we visited Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, California

I was especially taken with the lighthouse. 

This painting depicts it on a foggy day.

The sort of day when a lighthouse is needed.

Do you need a lighthouse? 

We all walk in the dark and each of us must learn to turn on our own light. 

-Earl Nightingale

True, true...  but sometimes it is nice to have a beacon. 

Is it not?

Nesting

Nesting
Gouache on Paper
23" x 15"
Reprints available on Fine Art America

This painting depicts both birds and a human woman "nesting" their young. 

We often view animals as savage beasts.  The instinct of survival reigning supreme.

Yet there is a tender side.  There is a primal care and warmth.

All animals and plants when living are tender and delicate. 

The hard and tough are parts of death; the soft and tender parts of life.

-Lao Tzu

2012 Indiana Storytelling Retreat

Hirschten Storytelling to Stuffies 
Circa 1980

Yup- that is a picture of me...

Apparently I practiced storytelling on my stuffed animals long before I had a "real" audience.

This year's Indiana Storytelling Workshop and Retreat is filling up!
On May 26th I will again be leading storytellers, librarians and educators in a day-long storytelling retreat in the heart of Indiana.
(Course Credits Include 5 LEUs or 5 PGPs)

Join us by registering at:
http://www.fantasticfables.net/Storyteller_s_Retreat.html

Share the love- share the stories!

Hirschten storytelling in 2011

 

The T.C. Steele Surprise

T.C. Steele painting at IPS School 84

One of the most famous Indiana painters was T.C. Steele.  You can visit the T.C. Steele Historic Site down near Nashville to tour his home and studio. 

Imagine my surprise as I was walking down the hallway of my daughter's elementary school `when what to my wondering eyes should appear` but an original T.C. Steele painting hanging casually on the wall!

I have no idea how the school came to own this painting, but how wonderful is it that the children there can experience viewing the texture of a real masterwork?

Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady

Many of life's persistent questions can be answered in the wisdom of folktales.

So I ask you...

What is it that every woman wants? 

If you are dying to know the answer to this age old question click below to hear my latest podcast featuring the Arthurian legend of Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady.

Also available on iTunes.

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The Story of the La Jolla Seals

La Jolla Children's Pool
Oil on Canvas
Original $275.
Available on Etsy

This painting depicts the La Jolla Children's Pool in San Diego, California.

In 1931 a protective wall was built creating a secure sandy beach.  The builder, Ellen Browning Scripps, envisioned a play pool for children.  Recently however harbor seals have been drawn to the area and give birth to young pups there. 

Thus the controversy begins...  The majority of San Diegans feel that there are plenty of beaches for recreation in the area and that the space should be designated for the seals.  Yet a few vocal locals want to reestablish the area as a human zone.

I was very happy that despite the large "welcome" sign someone had placed on the beach the day I visited no one was invading the seal's space.    We humans have marked our territory by pissing over so much of creation.  We can spare this tiny space.  We can give it back.

My relatives watching the seals.

It was amazing to watch the wild seals from the wall!  I highly recommend visiting La Jolla to see the seals, enjoy a cafe lunch and stroll through an art gallery. 

(BTW- it is apparently not safe to swim in the pool anyway!  Why?  Because of all the seal poop.  Ha-ha!)

Drinking Water

Penasquitos Creek California
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Reprints available on Fine Art America

My, my, at Waterloo Napoleon did surrender.

Oh yeah, and I have met my distant need in quite a similar way...

It is hard for me to believe, but the gushing waterfall depicted in this painting is often just a dried up trickle.  Yet now there is abundance. 

Would that I were a dry well,

and that the people tossed stones into me,

 for that would be easier than to be a spring of flowing water that the thirsty pass by,

and from which they avoid drinking.

-Gibran

California!

Cliffs at La Jolla California
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"

Reprints available on Fine Art America

Inspired by my recent trip to San Diego I am starting a series of paintings depicting the California landscape!  This one is of the cliffs at La Jolla looking northeast.  Normally you can see the mainland past the cliffs, but this was a foggy January day.

Life has loveliness to sell,

all beautiful and splendid things,

blue waves whitened on a cliff,

soaring fire that sways and sings,

and children's faces looking up,

holding wonder like a cup. 

-Sara Teasdale

White River Tree

White River Tree
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
This painting will be available at the Fletcher Place show opening April 6th

Trees reflected in the river,

 they are unconcious of a world so near them,
so are we.

-Hawthorne

Autumn in Indianapolis

 Autumn in Indianapolis

Oil on Canvas

30" x 40"
Reprints available on Fine Art America

Santa brought me two HUGE canvases! 

I don't know how he got them down the chimney but THANK YOU SANTA!

This painting used up almost all of my oil paint it is so large. 
It depicts my favorite spot on the Broad Ripple Canal in Indianapolis. 

Notice how the light is different in these two other paintings of the same location...

Broad Ripple Canal #2
Acrylic on Canvas
8" x 10"

6pm on the Canal
Oil on Canvas
20" x 16"

This exercise of painting the same spot in different light is inspired by Monet.  He made it a practice of returning to the same place to paint over and over.

"It's on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way.

So we must dig and delve unceasingly."

-Claude Monet

This Summer's Show!

Fantastic Fables presents...

Sleeping Beauties and Beasties

Performances for Summer of 2012

Enter the land of dreams with puppetry and old-fashioned storytelling! 

This performance of fairy tales will enchant children age 3-10.

Every summer libraries across the country celebrate the Summer Reading Program.  Most libraries in my state of Indiana participate in a collaborative theme.  This year the theme is "Dream Big."  Hence my summer 2012 Fantastic Fables library program will feature folktales about sleeping, dreaming and mysteries of the night!

When I was a children's librarian I loved organizing these programs to encourage kids to read AND spark their imaginations.   I am so grateful to be able to share my stories with so many children through my shows.  Summer 2012 will be a busy one!   

My calendar is filling up fast.  Email: fantasticfables@gmail.com to book a performance.

San Diego and Kupka

I just got back from a visit to San Diego. 

I must recommend the wonders of Balboa Park. 

Inspiration station.

One highlight there is the San Diego Museum of Art. 

My favorite painting there?  Oddly enough it was not a landscape, but Blue Space by Kupka.

Of course to see a painting like this in person tops this internet found image. 

But I can still ask the question...

what is this painting about? 

It reminds me of ice, a flower or something of this world... and yet it is not.

The Greenway

The Greenway
This painting will be available at the Fletcher Place Show Opening April 6th

I have been enjoying hibernating in my studio! 

This painting is of an amazing spot viewed from the Central Canal Greenway walking trail. 

When I am there I feel like I am not in a city but transported to medival England. 

It is just that quaint.

Beauty awakens the soul to act.

-Dante

The Two Faces of Janus

Janus is the ancient Roman God of beginnings and transitions.  He is the namesake of the month of January.  He has two faces.  One looks forward to the future and one looks back to the past.
 

As you make your plans for the new year take a look at your past and your future.
 

What lessons have you learned in 2011 that you can apply to 2012?

I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.

-Jimmy Dean

The Wind in the Trees

The Wind in the Trees
Oil on Canvas
9" X 12"
Original $275.
Available on Etsy

Caresses, expressions of one sort or another,

are necessary to the life of the affections

as leaves are to the life of a tree.

If they are wholly restrained, love will die at the roots. 

-Nathaniel Hawthorne

This quiet landscape painting features a beautiful tree

on the Broad Ripple Canal in Indianapolis, Indiana.

How to Create a Painting in 3 Simple Steps

Autumn Day by the Bridge
This painting will be available at the Fletcher Place Show opening April 6th

I am often asked how I create a painting on canvas.  Here is a breakdown of my process in three steps...

Step 1
Paint on a light wash of acrylic paint.  This sets the tone of the work.

Step 2
Paint a layer of acrylic.
 This is another thin layer that blocks out the shapes into the darkest and lightest forms.

Step 3
Paint a THICK layer with oils.
I used water soluable oil paints to create the final coat which almost completely covers the previous layers.  The biggest tip I can give is to make the paint as thick as you can at this stage. 

I sometimes even paint with a palette knife to get a maximum thickness. 
Most often however I use a traditional brush.

I have found that creating multiple layers makes a work more rich. I always put at least three layers on my paintings.   
One important thing to note is that you can paint oils on top of acrylic paints, but not the other way around.  Once you start using the oils there is no going back.

I would love to hear others folk's methods....