All Things Considered: Sense of Wonder

A few weeks ago, I sat in a study group under artificial light in a darkly paneled room with no windows. 

The teacher pontificated, "We have all lost our sense of wonder."

He shook his head sadly and continued his lecture on ancient theological arcana. 

Speak for yourself, mister, and get a window. Better yet, get outside where all your senses can spark if you pay attention. One glorious place to breathe in and explore is right in the city.

I'll Fly Away- Saturniid Moth-- silk painting by Beth Surdut (sold)

 The butterfly house at the Tucson Botanical Gardens is a steamy world of small wonders.
It is also a kind of coming home for me.

Tucson Botanical Gardens

Orchid Society by Beth Surdut

                      

The years I spent in the jungles and rivers in Hawaii and Florida

Butterfly islands design by Beth Surdut

Tucson Botanical  Gardens Butterfly House

TBG Butterfly House

Hibiscus Varietal-OOAK hand  painted silk woman's top by Beth Surdut

  introduced me to the mysteries of orchids, hibiscus, epiphytes,

Dendrobates ventriculatus @Tucson Botanical Gardens

 and dendrobates, tiny colorful frogs with a poisonous reputations and Latin names so satisfyingly  fun to say: ventriculatus, histrionicus, tinctorus.

Painting by Beth Surdut of dendrobates ventriculatus @Selby Gardens

After a volunteer checks to see that no butterflies are hitching a ride on me,  I stand in each realm of the botanical gardens, seeing what I have already painted and drawn, and planning what I want to do for a solo exhibition in the lovely gallery that was the home of people who absolutely delighted in nature's beauty. Every element extends an invitation to me as a visual storyteller and writer, illustrator and designer. In turn, what I create will, I hope, both please and inspire, and come full circle so that people will follow the path from my art to the fascinating beings and habitat that causes me to pick up pen and brush.
An otherwise shy lizard, big and handsome, flaunts his spiny blue back as he pauses in front of me and turns his head to give me a sideways look. I can tell you that his sense of wonder and mine are still intact.

Armored Chameleon (detail) painting by Beth Surdut (original and prints available)

I invite you to step inside my garden @www.bethsurdut.com

Barbie the Bigot and the Big Idea of Spiritual Stewards

Halloween’s coming and guess who’s all dressed up as Barbie the Bigot, the newest in hazardous toys scheduled to be pulled off the market—that self-proclaimed Republican pundit Ann C, who told Donny Deutsch that Christians are perfected Jews. Hunh? So, what is the Big Idea here and why did she get any air time? Having interviewed some severely twisted people myself, I understand about letting them hang themselves.
So how does this tie in to what I do besides live on our ever warming planet? Consider the upcoming masquerade/opening of Myths, Masks, Rites & Rituals at Aurora Colors Gallery in Petaluma, CA. where you’ll find four of my best pieces at the gallery. My ongoing visual storytelling begins with a known mythology and adds new coloration. The painting shown here is Spirits of the Millstone. A friend came to my studio in Hawaii when she was writing a book about fairies. She asked me to create a painting to send around to her agent (who turned out to be tied into that whole little girl with wings concept), but our discussion fostered the idea of spiritual stewards of growth, like the garden devas at Findhorn, Scotland. That first painting, We Heard You Asking About Us, sold to a couple in Harvard, MA, where Amazon lilies provide a home for the eyes of the spirits. A few years later, in a quintessential New England town, a massive runic circle lay flat in my garden of peonies and nasturtiums until a well digger noticed it and told me his father collected the stones. Thanks to Archimedes and his fulcrum, the stone was uprighted, more nasturtium planted, and through the round window of the runic path I could see the pond beyond, where each year a goose couple flew in from Canada to breed, and each year the clever fox and the banshee screaming wolverine attempted (and sometimes succeeded) eating the goslings.
So in this time of need and beauty and global warming and ignorant varnished bigots masquerading as conservative intelligentsia, I contend that we are the guardians; we are the spiritual stewards of growth and the time for the spiritual warrior is now.
See you at the masquerade in Petaluma October 30th.