Artandicon's Blog

  • Maps of My World

    A cognitive map is a representative expression of an individual’s knowledge about the spatial and environmental relations of geographic space. Everyone has a unique relationship to his or her own environment, so each person’s cognitive map is different. I learned this the hard way back before the advent of GPS. Folks would give me directions…

    artandicon

  • Memories and Forgiveness

    Does God, who knows all things, also have a memory, or can God choose to forget? I often wonder about such ideas, for when we ordinary folk experience horrific traumas, we often say, “This is going to be with me for the rest of my life. I’ll never get over it.” In some cases this…

    artandicon

  • Rabbit! Rabbit! Welcome to July!

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.”

    artandicon

  • Spring Trees Renew Our Hope

    Picasso is often thought to have said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” However, just as we tend to view anything on the internet as true, along comes a meme from Abraham Lincoln reminding us of the exact opposite proposition. As one of my old debate team mentors in high…

    artandicon

  • Point of View

    It’s a matter of perspective. The point of view determines the perspective of a work of art. One’s point of view, or preconceived bias, can determine how one sees the world and the decisions they make about the information that comes to them. If we think the world is a scary place, resources are few…

    artandicon

  • Painting Snow Scenes

    I’ve always been a weather watcher, even as a small child. One of my first memories of the weather was my Dad putting the finishing touches on cutting the front lawn just as the first raindrops would fall from the sky. When I grew up and had my own home, the scent of an impending…

    artandicon

  • Palette Knife Flowers

    Every blade of grass outside is a uniform tan, for winter’s pale light has sucked the life and green from its living cells. Each colder breeze separates yet another straggling leaf from a sleeping stick attached to the limbs of a hibernating tree. The sap won’t rise until mid February, when the days are warmer…

    artandicon

  • Energies of the Labyrinth

    The word labyrinth comes from the Greek labyrinthos and describes any maze-like structure with a single path through it. It’s different from an actual maze, which may have multiple paths intricately linked. Etymologically the word is linked to the Minoan labrys or ‘double axe’, which is the symbol of the Minoan mother goddess of Crete.…

    artandicon

  • Alone in the Woods

    Life for extroverts in the Age of Social Distancing is difficult. They need people to bounce their ideas off of, friends to hear their tales of daily struggles or victories, and most of all, the transfer of energy between the parties to feel alive. For introverts, most of whom need space and quiet to restore…

    artandicon

  • A Happy Bird for a Cloudy Day

    “Do not curse the king, even in your thoughts,or curse the rich, even in your bedroom;for a bird of the air may carry your voice,or some winged creature tell the matter.” ~~ Ecclesiastes 10:20 “A little bird told me,” my nanny often said, when I asked her how she knew about my doings. “The walls…

    artandicon