Dryad Inks

Never surrender...

"Sam to stay" and the ways of Hecate.... I have been dead. I will tell you the resource I have. I will tell you the skill I bring. I can paint a dog in your doorway or a tree to arch over you to bring the healing feel of home and a time. A gift arrives...it is evocative.... look out for a new page... because: rebirth and moving lifeforce from one place to another, this is what we do. (New business model follows some of the ways and influence of the Greek goddess Hecate: lost children, the underworld, keys, dogs. And Artemis, Selene... aspects of "the hunt" and "the moon". Triple aspect feeds through things.) Reasons to be cheerful...1...2...3... Leaving and arriving. I am stuck in the time before...The time before I walked through a portal door. I cant bring myself forward in all the pieces. But, I will tell you the resource I have and we can create. Give me time for my process and I'll give you time for yours. We can.

Be present enough to notice... be noticing enough to consider...be considerate enough to remember...be remembering enough to recall...to recall... the right feeling.... the right sentiment... when you need it.

It's Ready... The Concept, It's Cooked.

"My God's Not Dead, He's Surely Alive.... and He's living on the inside, roaring like a lion..."

"Magic", or "God" or something else... Whatever you call it... We can begin to miss our "something else". No, more than that. We can begin to fall out of love with ourselves, and with life. Begin to think, "What is the point of this?". We can easily begin to wonder, "Did anything truly light me up...and where did it go?"

Well, it did. Any it went nowhere. That aspect of life went nowhere. It is out there in life. It surely has to be, because you see others with it... correct? You see others with it and it hurts too much.

Purpose...Purport. "Purpose" without pressure in the usual sense.

'porpos, purpos, pourpos,... design, plan, proposal. 'that which is propounded or placed before one', see PROPOSE. Something intended or proposed to be done; an intention, determination; something set before one as an object, aim, design...

My 1961 Universal Dictionary of the English Language can't tell me everything, but, definitions give me insight often.

Someone to propose something and direct you... can we trust enough?

Well, therein lies some magic... in facilitation. Like any magic, it's got gooey bits. It's got bits where the definition seems to melt into wax pools and you wait a little while before scratching it in to the cold remainder... to hold the idea.

You just need someone to hold an idea for you... perhaps.

Three voices and one is yours... and an idea delicately held...perhaps?

This "ideas juggler" would like to say...

I Dwell In Possibility.

(That's from the poet, Emily Dickinson)

And also, Good Morning!

(That's from me... and anybody... and everybody. And it is OK to have a place to be where you are seen. It doesnt have to be all the time. You can retreat and process. But it is OK to have a place to be where someone remembers.... alright? Good.)

The "hope boat", the "changing tree"... The evidence of bravery.
........

(2012, 2010, 2017ish...)

Forward, backward, left, right, up, down, alphabetical order, rotating circles... I don't want to attach you to me. I want to attach you to LIFE. To life. Move if you want to move. The impetus to go. The impetus to go where? If you want to make your "where"s your "where"s and your "who"s your "who"s then there needs to be something there. This is not evidence enough. Something is not evidence enough that never existed. How much is a "finger twitch" truly investment? Barely felt. Isnt it barely felt and forgotten?

We remember the things we held, the places we sat or stood, no? So, how will it be? The odd image on your retina for a memory, but how will it be if we scroll scroll scroll? Where will life go? Cant you picture your handwriting on a page of a crossword, some evidence of you. Cant you seal in a feeling again with a touch or a smell.... ok. How is it going to go if you are not touching the wood of the table. If you are not present with your attention on an item with any roundness or play of natural light on it. How is it going to go? How are you going to place yourself. How will you remember where you were when you heard a song....if you were not there. If you were in this device, how will you anchor anything?

Musings at 2.36. Picking up sticks. Moving our hands and feet and eye while we move our mind brings things in and out and through. And all I want is for you to make your own choices and have a possibility. But also, if I see further down a track then should I not say? Should I not say "If you want to get to x, you likely need to go this-a-way... it would be helpful to have y thing..."

Don't be mad at me for not being where you expect me to be. Look around. We dont stop dancing, any of us, even a pause is part of it. I dont want an anvil on my head, I dont want to be on the limb being sawn off.

So, forgive me if I go "off script"... or don't. Always your choice. I "screenshot" enough art but how much do I apply. You are here. Not here, but there. Put this down, touch your chair... you are there. Want to make it better, nicer, different? Give a reason to go or stay some place. Have a letter to deliver or something to blue-tack to the wall or something unfinished to add to that brings joy and not misery? Want to bond? Maybe not. Maybe attachments hurts too much. But, have something left for if your screen wipes out or phone battery is 1%. Have some way to feel like you are ok and have witness in your world.

Cause, oh boy, lack of familiarity and lack of control can knock your socks, my friend. You have no idea. A hand-drawn line or squiffy screwhead, thumb-print in a piece of clay, dropped stitch in a scarf... One day you might crave that so badly. You dont know. Too much "proof of humanity" perhaps. But, you want a little. Stick your own thumb-print somewhere where it stays. Ink it on the corner of your desk. Rebel. Have something to notice, something "out of place". Because then you will remember.... if you want to.

It's a flat world, please dont take our picture... Are we doing it "for real"?

Buster Keaton - The Art of the Gag Before Edgar Wright and Wes Anderson, before Chuck Jones and Jackie Chan, there was Buster Keaton, one of the founding fathers of visual comedy. And nearly 1...

Do you ever feel like you are trying to sell maps to people who weren't lost, and they get lost while they are talking to you... but you were the one who was lost all along? https://www.facebook.com/splpoetrypage

SPL Poetry Page One person. A few poems. Hot off the press. Spontaneous writes. A mere fragment of the whole. Enjoy!

"So, why define? It's the real damn thing..." This song IS about you, if you want it to be. Every and any song is... if you want it to be. The metaphor that leads you to the groove. We present the idea into the world, someone in the world sees it as true, a guide... They act it. They make it true... enough of them. And the place where we got the root components of that idea still exists. So, by God, it is "universal truth" and "invention" all at once. It is a pile of words. The words that herd the actions. And, what are we pinned upon? I believe in walking through a physical threshold. I believe in that much. What do you believe?
https://youtu.be/VbDMkXPnUNY

https://youtu.be/q5NQqwP7Rxs

NEFFEX - Tell Me That I Can't ⚡️[Copyright Free] No.122 Stream Tell Me That I Can't HERE - https://smarturl.it/TellMeThatICantGET TICKETS TO MY FALL 2023 WORLD TOUR 🤘🔥: https://www.neffexmusic.com/tourJoin the N...

Art journey

imposter syndrome

Sometimes I dont show my face, sometimes I do. Did you know I am going to be on TV in 2023 on the BBCs upcoming series of "The Bidding Room" (series 6/7)?! Of course you didn't because I hardly told anyone and I dont even have a TV! But, you gotta be a little brave sometimes. It can feed your soul. Take me sat eating mussels on a bench at Leith harbour in Edinburgh the night before filming.

Oh, and I have a 🎹🎹🎹 YouTube channel; So, if you want permission to creep, here is your permission to creep... by watching what I put on YouTube and commenting if you like... it's a limited permission! I'm trying to put the real life in the real life and... there's something, isnt there? Vibrations and divine timing. There's something...

The Youtube is called "TattooedHandPiano" but I think the web address is still "MissPollyPopcorn". I think the "Miss Polly" popcorned into something else, and this is good! Explore some more, hold out for one fine day.

Brave Face - Rough practice. Frank Turner piano cover by TattooedHandsPiano it's the start of something. This is take 6, I'll just leave it here. Somehow made punk sound twinkly and Christmassy

Art and music can teach us to love. Maybe it starts with someone or something to adore. A sound or a sight to anticipate, be pleasantly surprised by, warm to the presence of. Something there you did not create, something there that you did... a gentle overlap of being. As the lazy ocean laps the shore... Something or someone to shower with art. Someone whose very BEING is art to you.

I'm not an active follower of the Christian faith anymore... I don't think. But I can begin to understand something. I can begin to understand the teaching, comfort, structure, hope and permission in "How Great Thou Art". And, that's another song. This one is "measure of a man". The lyric "did you learn to love" hits me. Did I learn to love? Well, no... maybe.... results inconclusive. But the journey is not over yet. Some Saturday evening musings, with tentative love (whatever that is!) from Sam 🍃

Measure of a Man (Live) - Misty Edwards & David Brymer From Forerunner Music's album Onething Live: Magnificent Obsession! Download it at http://smarturl.it/magnificentobsession or get the CD at http://smarturl.i...

She's silver, the dragon, and destined to be back in the place of her choosing. With journeys to get there, and maybe no one knows where she rests...

Book dragon art installation piece returning to Bedford street and some sense of self returning to my heart. Am I referring to my life or my art? Or are the two impossibly inseparable? The bookshop has a Sunday without a dragon. I have a reason for a Monday afternoon walk.

And, you know: cut cord, plait cord, make new cord... strain a rope every once in a while. You might just realise it is not tied to anything.

I've CRACKED it! The internet messes with my colour-matching obsession. Ladies & Gentlemen, Tiny Birds and Dragons... People who wish to see one thing change into another. You can email me at [email protected]. I will breathe in smoke or lick a toxic paintbrush but I will not bombard my eyes and heart here in internetland. I would love to manually roast your coffee beans, paint a mural/wall of colour or sit for 3 weeks hand-sewing an outfit just for you whilst also offering any wisdom needed to other crafter sitting beside me. But, that isn't the life we have here. Trying to create a home somewhere where you have NO sense of control or trust is... absolute disaster.

Some closing insights:

The internet never sleeps.

You tend your home as if its all you've got (definition and location of "home"...something to consider)

Do things HAVE to come in threes??

Peace out.

Life is a demonstration of what can be done. I wish to remain versatile and create work that is accessible, and perhaps that means that the results don't look "refined". Is that a marketing mistake? I dont think so. Have you ever looked at a photo-realist piece of art and thought to yourself "what's the point of me ever trying to make anything?" Or looked at a piece of hand-painted wall art and assumed that it is digitally-produced, and so had no spark of a feeling of joy or shared humanity/ craftsmanship?

There have to be things in life that you look at and just KNOW were made by a person. I can't begin to explain why. Well, I could, but I think that I ramble enough here already. I'll be in the "slowdown", where there is paper everywhere and an audible human gasp. Let Internetland snowball itself into more mush than meaning. Let it be a land to get lost in.

I'll be adapting to being able to be eye-to-eye with a soul and still creating items where the pigment can be touched and viewed unfiltered, except by dappled sunlight.

Vlog 12 - Spraytime! White on my wave A little demo showing me using home-made stencils to make my own version of The Great Wave. Look me upwww.facebook.com/misspollyportraitsTwitter: ...

Everything grows that expresses its TRUE character

The Offspring - Behind Your Walls (Official Music Video) The official music video for The Offspring’s “Behind Your Walls”.Listen to the song at: https://found.ee/OffspringBehindYourWalls“Behind Your Walls” is about...

I'm re-sharing "soulful flame spaniel" (2020) and the kingfisher (2015/2016) because I feel like they are two of my most "technically-accomplished" pieces of simple brushwork. They nod to my heritage and childhood experience, but were each created as a way to test the properties of the paint. They are indicative of tending fires daily and sharing those firesides with spaniels at the farm. Gazing at water, fishing, watching birds...the bird table a few feet in front of the window and the brazen little beings coming to find crumbs and nuts. They were made to see what I might be able to do for somebody else with those same materials. And the motivation to be doing a task "for someone" is a curious human phenomenon that I do not claim to fully understand. But, doesn't it keep us going somehow? And, isn't it the key to some of the most beautiful things?

Hold yourself accountable and keep your independent drive. But, I would encourage you, just once in a while, to do something "for" or "with" someone. It may just bring out the very best experiences, insights and results. It's a risk, certainly. You have to pick something and commit. Some discernment may be needed. But, once you choose to put that resource in... once you tube out your paint... well, once it is there in front of you...best get it moving and working.

Once the paint brushes are there; some for backgrounds, some for form, some for fine outlines or glowing highlights or for sharpening up cut corners. Something might kick in. "We can do this!", "We have x amount of time to get on with doing something about doing this..." You confirm that you have a shared goal and... you're away! And you work better because it matters. If you can understand the difference between "valuable" and "damaging" pressure and allow just a little pressure to be applied to yourself or a situation... just a little SHARED pressure... you might discover something!

(Editted)

Nostalgia alchemist... The sky shade was way off to start with so gonna play my way to something cool, I hope. If not, start from scratch all acrylic (rather than the pre-set shade of the wood and metal paint) and then EVERYTHING intermixes and covers predictably. Overnight drying time and next steps another day. These colours are glorious. Good to have a painting session.

It's blue, da ba de, da ba di... a satisfyingly-even coat of blue. If you are wondering: How is this different to what you were doing before? How is this page any different at all? Well, I have never put an hourly rate on myself before. I have charged £40 for 40 hours and my materials have probably costed me £60 to have... and I maybe spent £20 on food while working... and probably stressed a lot about the responsibility of what I am doing... and cranked up my shoulders... and needed to spend £9 on massage and £4 on himilayan salt for the bath. This sign I am making is a gesture of kindness to go in a location in my community that I have been going to with my son for a decade and that I would very much like to still be there. It is a piece of writing to replace an old piece of writing on the wall that is also by my hand. It is anchoring in the new style and pointing to the next level ("more seating upstairs") and, when I see it in the flesh, maybe I can assess what it is worth, what would be charged for a thing like it... whether it is a viable path. I am a creator of pathways. I wipe the dust off the signs so that you can see them. And I hopefully brighten your day... sometimes. The next level is "not giving things away" and I am honouring it by... giving something away. Positively paradoxical... huh? Well, no. It's "sharing". It's sharing a little soul while I make my way to my goal. And, so far, this piece is all reclaimed materials and things I already own. "Something to look at" is a nice thing to add to a space but you will always have someone who sees the thing you adorned your personage or space with... see the thing you put there to brighten their day and say "What's all this?". There's no accounting for taste. Clothes are functional, signage is functional and a little smooth paint on the wall is nice. However you parcel up a thing, someone is not going to "get it" and think the wrapping is "too fussy" or "too simple"... Where am I going with this? Well, you value what aligns with your values and what creates a visible imprint of those around you. Original art and ideas from a person... executed to your liking... need a fee.

For those of you who graft really hard... all the time... or way more than feels comfortable... and wonder "Why?" sometimes, perhaps? A song of solidarity...

I might have "lucked out" on resources by nearly dying and my body being bust up to pieces. In the 18 years of diligently repairing it and fiercely marching on to keep up with what I CAN do, I am 100% ready to work alongside you. If you think, "Well, no one is ever 100% anything", you'd be correct. You are never 100% ready to jump. But, you 100% commit and you jump anyway. Because the benefits outweight the pain. And because you decided, "No Regrets".

The Workers Song Community Project | The Longest Johns If you want to stay up to date with all of these projects, please sign up to our mailing list on our website, https://TheLongestJohns.com. This video is a tr...

I planted a little tree in my garden yesterday. Someone was throwing it out a few weeks ago, or rather, they had it sat outside with the rootball wrapped in a binbag, and, after double-checking it WAS something they no longer wanted, I took it home. I had already been wanting a tree in the middle of the back garden. So, here is my tree, planted on the eve of our move into May. And here is a message I wrote this morning, for YOU (whilst trying out bamboo dip pen and ink and having a little "ink-chasing" exercise!)
"Useful can be beautiful too, and have beauty upon it. There's beauty in you". And it is reassurance that you can drop a few of your concepts and still have a very enjoyable life indeed. I scattered a few sunflower seeds under the tree for the birds as a Mayday treat (though, I am sure bugs and worms are better for them. They will find plenty of bugs around my house!). You work it 'til the work works. But, sometimes, dear friend, you are trying to make too many things work and getting so emotionally-charged or lacklustre about it that the danger is... it all comes down. "Risk vs benefits" is a very good first point of thought. Although, some things are not worth risking at all. Is £30 worth risking for where you are at right now? No? Well, a part of you must know that you have some other tools. Try again with those. No, not that? The money is too much because there isn't any? Put £2 in a pot twice a week and maybe I will see you in August, after the Summer.

You are burning through your resources somewhere though. There's a flame going that's eating up all the gas, or a hole where the air is escaping. Leaping to be rescued isn't right when you can explore and address it. But, if you need an extra pair of eyes and someone to view from a different angle... you know where I am.
Sam

"A sensible and practical idea of what can be expected..." Sensible: based on wisdom and prudence and likely to be of benefit. Practical: Not just concerned with theory but with the actual USE of a thing. So, you have fallen into the internet. You are wondering why you were fine and now you're an emotional mess and incredibly dysregulated. It's because you are living an incongruent life. Saying one thing and feeling another is damaging you. Chasing and maintaining illusions all day is EXHAUSTING you. Ok, it's not? You like it. Ok, off on your merry way. Stop reading right here... right here.

But...but... if you are sick of your own bu****it and ready to try reality. Absolutely, clean white wall reality. Well, I am someone who has lived in fantasy my whole life and I am ready to try reality. And i was taught all the skills of reality. I just put them down with an attitude of "pffft, I dont like these toys". And it is partly because of what others expected me to be but really, it is because it is what was convenient to me. It was what came easy. I am here to peel back layers with you. I am here for us to sit together and learn to drop the act and say "what a s**t show... what can we salvage that's useful". But we cant do it here, in this playground of illusion.

Message or email me: splewis85@outlook com. Let's get off the stage.

(Definitions from Oxford languages. "In text definitions paraphrased and amended from Oxford Languages)

She wanted to be silver...

When I painted this dragon out, she wanted "carbon black" for her outlines. I looked in my box of finest paints for carbon black... it wasnt there. I went out to fetch her her "carbon black" and took rather a lot of the day about it. Out of stock. There was no "small quantity" of carbon black. There was a small tube of "bone black" or "carbon black" in a few weeks with their next order, maybe. I had days, not weeks.

She wanted "carbon black". I spied a large tub of carbon black and I picked it up in my hands. That was SO much black. Black goes a long way. Who needs so much black? I could write the Toddbird books with it. This is the finest pigment paint you can get. Going to be way too expensive. Not even money for food at mo, are you insane? Could make an ink with it. The dragon wants carbon black...TODAY. I held it. I made it possible. I thought of how to decant it. The judgement of others was starting to fall heavy on me. She wants a finely-crafted paint with bone-char in... the dragon...

I picked up the fuzzing anxiety in the shop. The ridiculousness of choosing a cardboard cutout over food and supplies, even if I felt I was "releasing a spirit". I'd got all the way to the counter with my large amount of black that used two thirds of the day's bank balance and could make experimental ink for books and fine outlines for the dragon. It was supposed to be the day for the dragon. In the delay time though. In the tick tick tick...the story switched: Bone black contains bone char, is there in small quantity... it didnt feel the same. It didnt have the energy. But, resigning, I bought the small tube of bone black.

After the outlining (and I have no picture of her. I was so so unwilling to capture her soul on a phone at all) She wanted to be silver. She looked at me. She WANTED to be silver. But, I has pre-destined that she would be decoupaged with paper from the shop whose window she is to be displayed in.... and that she be black. And I had talked about this. She wanted to be silver. I COULD paint her silver. They would love her silver. But, she wouldn't look like an "enemy" would she... or would she? I mean, I am on her side. I love the dragon. I dont want the silly knight to slay the book dragon. She knows things. Feed her a sheep. Let her be.

She wanted to be silver but I papered her with the favours of other people's ideas. Heavy heart... I make her black. We shared space. We shared heavy space... me and the dragon. As I papered her she lost the definition of her black outline... and I knew that she would. I thought we'd work that out when we came to it... we did... we did.

And, I put some silver in her white highlights as a recompense. But, oh, she had wanted to be silver. She had wanted to be a beacon in a different way. And I had told her "It's not PRACTICAL for you to be silver." I gave her a golden eye. I didnt know if she wanted the wings or they suit her but I made those too. And, I love her, look at her, even black. And I never lost sight of her outlines...

But, by gosh, next time I am releasing the spirit of a dragon who will be seen by all the world and wants to be silver (and it wouldnt have been hard. I had some paint) next time, I will let her be silver. If we can do it... the spirit will be silver. Not papered over with the dark black of someone else's ideas. How dare I tread upon the destiny of dragons. If we can do it, I will help her find her silver, her shine.

Companion in this world, I want you to be the colour you are. You can put on a coat for work that's a different colour.... for a while. But when you get home and the coat comes off... I want you to be and KNOW the colour that you are. Know your competence. Know which rays of light you reflect in this world and how valuable they are.

And what of "unhappy dragons"? Well, I dont know. She has a few weeks' stay in a window to be looked upon and after that her destiny is not set. I wrote a label on the back though. It says "We love our book dragon very much. She is not for sale".

❤