EXAMPLES OF MY MOST RECENT ART

BEGINNING WITH FOUR COLOUR DRAWINGS

(All from my sick-bed, winter 2012/2013) 

Monolith, usually a single massive rock or stone, but here it takes on a lighter, transformational aspect.

Tri-Pod, comes next, also resembling a piece of sculpture, but with a slightly humorous, light-hearted feel.

With Cock-a-Doodle --- well, it's left to the viewer to to decide, but it's title suggests a jokey take on a Doodle.

Finally, Lark Ascending; my favourite, depicting, I feel, the joy of a bird in soaring flight, captured in seconds in one stroke of the pen. A dash of blue sky; a touch of green grass.

And now I'd like to add:-----

Another group of 4. These were actually the first drawings I made while sick in bed. At the time the illness was affecting my brain, and for several weeks I had been having horrific dreams and was hallucinating. It came to me that it might be a good idea if I got all this horror out of my system, using my artistic abilities, but in a completely new way. I would suspend my mind; I would simply take a sheet of paper and a strong, thick pencil, pen or charcoal and allow, allow; allow all that was in me to emerge freely, instantly, without time for thought to creep in.

I had been haunted by a strange series of figures coming in through the door to my bed-room, and on one occasion dropping in from a trap-door in the roof. This was one of these drawing which emerged, titled after a school-cild's verse; Yesterday upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today: I wish to Hell he'd go away.

MAN WHO WASN'T THERE

This second such drawing I have given the title;  NEW ENERGY.

I could explain this title at length -- or just leave it to explain itself.

The Third in this group arose from a story, BLACKBIRD SINGING in my Dreaming Worlds Awake book. The subject was in my mind before I took up my drawing implement, but the resultant image was spontaneous and beyond-the-mind.

BIRD IN A BUSH

Lastly; it just happened; it just came. A spontaneous image.  HERMAPHRODITE.


A FURTHER GROUP OF FOUR STARTING WITH:---

Portrait with Charcoal Hair. These drawings emerged after the episode where I had been hallucinating; they illustrate a completely new approach to Art, which culminated in the colour drawings which I placed above the pencil/charcoal drawings. Spontaneous, non-thought out, in some cases a single line which captures in a stroke, in less than a second, a form emerging in space.

 Emerging Form 1

Emerging Form 2


And finally I leave a space for the last of this group, titled, Stellaris.
which unfortunately has escaped for the moment!




AND, Finally, FINALLY! The last; a group of three, beginning with:---

 This is First Movement.

 This is Second Movement

And this is Third Movement.

THE WYE VALLEY

A few pictures from our recent trip. 

1/ Showing the Wharf where boats coming from the Bristol Channel unloaded their cargo. It was reloaded onto smaller boats which took it further upstream.  

2/ The village of Underhill where we stayed, showing cottages and the road bridge  crossing the river from where the picture of the wharf was taken.

3/ Tintern Abbey built by Cistercian distinctively white-robed monks in the 12th century.

4/ Another view of the Abbey. Same day, same time of day, but quite a different feel. More romantic; more dramatic.

5/  This is one of the cottages in the Village looking at least as old as the Abbey.

A NEW REVIEW FOR DREAMING WORLDS AWAKE

Having been absent from my Blog for several months due to illness, I would like to post a review I received 6 months ago from Visionary Fiction author, Pat Perrin which I was unable to do at the time.

I read and later reviewed Pat's great book, Mayan Interface, to which she replied, 'a very intelligent and insightful review,' In return she offered to review Dreaming Worlds Awake. This is it:-

PAT PERRIN’S REVIEW

Dreaming Worlds Awake, by Esme Ellis.

This is a personal book, a narrative of experience that leads the reader through some very nice juxtapositions. In her introduction, the author says, “Of its own volition something began to take shape. Stories arose, dreams came, a poem or two, a letter here and there.” And that is what the book consists of. In poetry and various prose styles, Esme Ellis describes dreams, synchronicities, channelled entities, and everyday life. She treats them evenly, finding something to learn of all of them

Esme Ellis is open to the wondrous without insisting on dogmatic interpretations. She says that dreams may, “if you learn to ‘live alongside’ them without pressing for instant disclosure, reveal their secrets later, in their own good time.” She could be describing her approach to adventures of all kinds. Her discussions range from the philosophies of Freud and Jung, to insights from the spirit of the sculptor, Jacob Epstein, to advice from an ancient consciousness, to encounters with animal totems and other unconventional topics. She looks on it all as a “playground of boundless discovery and spiritual expansion“ that is simply not to be missed.

My personal favorite is a brief story about helping a blackbird to protect its nest from a feral cat by .... well, you’ll just have to read the book. I recommend it for those who are searching for a playground such as this.

Review by Pat Perrin.

It might be nice at this point to add one or two reader's comments. To my mind, this first says a lot in a few words. 

What an amazing book. It has the impact of a spiritual depth charge. Pat Panton.

Another one which pleased me, and which also used the epithet, amazing, was from an Australian friend who came to visit me in Bath last year. 

It left me raw, turned upside-down and inside-out. Amazing!  Suzy C

The Visionary Fiction genre seems to puzzle many people and commercial publishers shy away from using that title. Even on the FVA website there is still an ongoing discussion about what exactly it means. 'Visionary' ? Well, it doesn't mean having a vision in the literal sense of the word -- seeing shining figures with wings, and all that. It is about having a vision though. A vision for what the future on mankind could/can be, and about writing a book which, as well as creating a gripping story which people can enjoy for itself alone, may also have an impact on human consciousness. The Visionary Fiction Alliance's 'mission statement' speaks of "getting in touch with our inner wisdom". For myself, personally, I'd like to introduce another term, 'gnost' meaning, inner wisdom connected to, or stemming from our Soul. VF too, 'envisages humanity's transition into evolving consciousness.' Again, I'd like to take that a stage further. Evolution is still within our present understanding of Time: Past, Present and Future. Whereas Expanded Consciousness steps out of Time and into the Eternal NOW. 

If all this sounds too complicated and 'esoteric', remember VF's aim is to create a spanking good read! 

Oh, by the way, Dreaming Worlds Awake  can be bought from:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/Esdragon
or from my website: http://www.esmeellis.co.uk