Purging and simplifying a family and home of over a dozen years is a daunting task. Sifting through the massive pile of stuff hidden in the secret pockets of this old house has been both an adventure into timeless memories and a horror story. Old letters and photographs aside, we have just plain accumulated a lot of used and useless stuff. Until last week, this pile of forgotten things was one of the remaining obstacles separating us from the impending adventure to Costa Rica.
And then we sold or gave half of our stuff away at a massive family Moving Sale of epic proportions. I felt a shudder of relief as it left our house never to return.
Ironically, our house does not feel empty. Sure, the unused are gone; open most cabinets and closets and they are almost bare. But daily items still litter our dining room, coffee table and studio in a comfortable clutter.
Now that the stuffed psychic burden has lifted, I can turn to the box of framed original paintings that have flummoxed me. I will take some, I will store some. But the truth is, I’d much rather leave them in your loving hands and sell them to you.
I’m discounting original paintings and scarves at great deals! I’ll pay for shipping for the originals (without frame). If you live in the Seattle area, I’ll deliver to you with the frame. Payment plans and bulk discounts are available.
All paintings come with a certificate of authenticity and a story card
Contact me at [email protected]to purchase a painting or scarf or schedule a studio visit to check out everything available including prints and pendants.
This commission is taking me a long time to finish. I make three decisions and then I’m exhausted, and the paint needs to dry. I walk away.
As I work, I think about my client. She has an irreversible and deadly disease. This painting is for her life partner as a parting gift, in memory of their life together. Their best memories are in the water, the mantas are metaphors and symbols.
Thrilling, intimate, scary, flowing, connecting …. fill in the rest here.
We all know life is finite. But it is another thing to know death is looming. It is another thing to be touched intimately by it and be asked to partake in the goodbyes.
I love her (my client). Every decision is a worth a million more than the thought that goes into it. I want to have all the time in the world to finish this painting. I want anything to slow down goodbyes. I never want this painting done so she can never give it to him. So she will never die.
So I slow down. And reflect on color and life.
The Birth story: color and life
Of the images she gave me, there were sea turtles, mantas, sea life, water, underwater corral. Of the words she gave me, mantas, moving together, light and colors, love and the stories she has shared with me about them.
This image burned for me. This is sketched and painted on 9 x 12″.
Which eventually led to a rough idea and agreement.
I changed the mantas as little as I worked on the larger image which is about 26″ x 26″. They are purple; regal and spiritual. They come together in a more fluid shape. They merge so one is undecipherable from the other. The energize each other at the connection point.
And then I add background color. I also altered the color scheme a little, adding deeper blues and simplifying. The challenge is to keep the eye on the mantas while creating motion, energy, support and a story with color. A vivid purple draws the eye in just the right places, there should be color and contrast where meaning occurs.
The aquamarine frames the mantas. Dark colors keep the eye inward. The yellow draws the eyes to it and the mantas. Purple and yellow are complimentary colors, they glow next to each other.
Now I’m happy with the basic composition which is different than the first sketch. I took what worked from it and added and subtracted. Then, I return to the blues and yellows, softening, shading, darkening and adding depth.
This week, I came back to the mantas with more layers of colors and shading. The rewards for patience pay back huge in vibrancy and motion. The mantas are deeper purple now, the result is higher contrast which builds more energy and richness to the painting.
What is left?
I need to keep working the shading in the two mantas, their upper bodies are still a bit ill-defined and the background colors still need a few more layers for richness and just the right frame.
Mantas: A Love Story (c) Marika Reinke 2015 #WIP
She loves it. Believe me, she would tell me if she didn’t. I’m relieved and joyful. This project aches, but I’m so pleased that this painting is doing what she wants and needs it to do.
I dislike the word “disabled” and the word “disorder” is just as bad. These words focus on the many ways someone is not <some “normal” trait> which can be fairly translated as not mediocre. Words like “disabled” and “disorder” reveal weepingly dysfunctional thinking. Sadly, they are hurtful. Yet they are institutional terms we pretend are stripped of emotional impact.
Why focus on “not”? Why not reveal the strengths and nuance? Why not celebrate not mediocre?
So it is with dyslexia which at root means having difficulty reading. Many of you likely believe that it means someone who has difficulty keeping words still on the page.
What is not well known is that this common assumption is not always true and more interesting is this difficulty keeping a word still on page is a symptom of a fascinating, beautiful, amazing talent.
Research has emerged that dyslexics are particularly advantaged in a bouquet of abilities and one of them is three dimensional spatial reasoning. A high percentage of architects, engineers, artists are dyslexic (Leonardo DiVinci was all three and dyslexic). They are genius visual thinkers.
The problem: a word on a page is two-dimensional and highly symbolic. A dyslexic intuitively seeks to understand the word by picking it up with his/her mind, turning it around, understanding it on a contextual three-dimensional level. This strategy works in almost any other context but symbols on paper. And this strength, that will help a dyslexic excel in construction, sculpture, problem solving, visual reasoning, creativity, management, advanced mathematical concepts and even planning will only send them down the path of failure at a traditional school.
Disabled is not the word I would use to describe a dyslexic. Perhaps it suits the education system better. It is certainly not a just system.
Those strengths are not assessed in school but in the real world, watch out. A dyslexic will score 30% higher on a creativity test than a “normal” person. 35% of entrepreneurs are dyslexic. Some of the most creative thinkers and leaders are dyslexic; Einstein, Henry Ford, Charles Schwab, Winston Churchill, Ann Rice and John Irving. A blind sample of the population, regardless of gender or culture reveals that up to 20% of the population is dyslexic. (See Reading List below.)
My son is dyslexic.
This also means he is a right-brain visual thinker with weak neural circuitry to his left brain language processing center. He is six and in kindergarten. It is a research-bound fact that if he is taught with a functional multi-sensory explicit phonics-based teaching approach now, he has a high chance to learn to read just as well if not better than his peers. Currently, schools tend to eschew this method because the assumption is it isn’t fun, familiar or popular though more children can learn to read and become better spellers with this method.
So, if your learning style isn’t fun, you are out of luck? And the “disorder” award goes to…?
Most importantly, a dyslexic mind is a Beautiful Mind.
A Beautiful Mind (c) Marika Reinke 2015Three 10″ x 7″ Watercolors (c) Marika Reinke
Achingly so.
It is a world of exploding visual imagery. It is a space of diffuse connections, creative problem solving, intuition, enhanced awareness and rapid analysis. But it is a wordless, though not silent, world. A dyslexic does not reason verbally. Words come later on, after the unfolding imagery has revealed sometimes astounding insight.
A Trapped Word
A Trapped Word (c) Marika Reinke 2015
It is difficult for a dyslexic to access the right word while speaking. The clutter of visual imagery, the diffuse connections stall the verbal processing and the neural connection just isn’t as tight as the images, sounds, emotions, patterns that are dancing in their thoughts. A word is trapped. It can not come loose. But don’t mistake this for a still mind, this mind is dancing in the jittery shadows, clutching its fluid jail bars and searching for a pattern to un-rip and let loose the word.
A Word Unraveling
A Word Unraveling (c) Marika Reinke 2015
This brain will always process words differently. Because a dyslexic’s strength is diffuse connections, every word is layered with an explosion of meaning. Not just synonyms, but pictures, experiences, sounds, patterns, physical feelings and emotions. The word unravels into an explosion of possibility and meanings. A mind capable of turning over so many possibilities means a deeper understanding of a single word. The trade off for a deeper understanding is speed, reading will often be slower, but comprehension is so much richer.
An Intuitive Leap
An Intuitive Leap (c) Marika Reinke 2015
Because the gift of dyslexia includes a rich internal visual reasoning capacity, a dyslexic will often come to amazing intuitive conclusions that reveal a rich and complete understanding as well as astounding creativity. These insight can appear like flukes, because to us this mind can’t seem to properly verbalize or read a simple word like “it”. But they are not flukes. They are the result of complex and rapid processing undefinable by words. They are the result of a thinking system unrestrained by the limits of symbolic and analytical language.
My Son and I
My son continues to inspire me. I’m so thankful to have identified this early. More importantly, I’m grateful for what he teaches me about the brain, creativity, intuition, problem solving and teaching. And Love.
The OriginalA Beautiful Mind is available for sale as a triptych (all three): $350 Prints of All Three: $75 A Single Print of one of the three: $35 5″ x 7″ Cards are available to order. Pack of 10: $35. Please specify if you want the triptych or a single image.
Are you looking for inspiration? A little down to earth reflection and renewal? Want to stay current on what’s new and what to expect from Marika? My emails are food for thought packaged with color, soul and humor.
How to describe the climbers’ magic? To persevere, to embrace challenge, to un-puzzle rock, to conquer fear and reach uncatchable vistas and beauty. Adventurers who explore their inner-life landscape with earth’s stone-maps. An ultimate union.
Watercolor 7″ x 12″
To Buy
This painting will be available to buy at Art in the Park in South Lake Union May 7th, 2015 from 11-6 with a frame. $100
climbers in frame
9′ x 12″ prints will be available. I will be able to customize the background and highlight with gold, silver and iridescent colors for $45
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