Exercise – Linda C. Everson

Modern Samurai

Linda — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 01:04:05 +0000

Mormon Bishop with Samurai Sword Runs Off Attacker. Not too many people wielding those Samurai Swords today…. but they’re still fascinating! Apparently it’s the first time this bishop needed to use the sword in 30 years (other than his martial arts class).

Because very little land was good for farming in Japan, wars over land ownership influenced the rise of the Samurai. In the feudal system, Samurai or “those who serve” were subject to a lord or daimyo, and were very devoted in their support.

Bushido or “The Way of the Warrior” was an important unwritten code of conduct for the Samurai. Seven Virtues of the Bushido Code were: Rectitude, Courage, Benevolence, Respect , Honesty, Honor, and Loyalty. Freedom from fear, duty, discipline, morality, self sacrifice, and sometimes vengeance were also common traits of the Samurai. Many of these codes are still practiced today in modern martial arts.

The Samurai used lots of different swords. The Katana sword was a curved blade sword. In my Arborglyph monoprint below, I used an aspen tree bark marking that vaguely resembles a Samurai figure with the Katana sword. You also see seven circular shapes that could represent the Seven Virtues of the Bushido Code. Text in the background reiterates the various attributes of the Samurai and their codes.

The Seven Samurai, a classic 1954 Japanese movie by Akira Kurosawa, was a favorite of mine in college and it influenced not only my artwork, but endless other famous movies and Spaghetti Westerns. Again… the number Seven!

Doggy Down and Yoga

Linda — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:06:03 +0000

While doing yoga the other day, I was in the ‘doggy down’ stance. I remembered looking at my own dog that morning and observing her doing something similar. So many of those yoga poses relate to animals and nature. There are the zebra, camel, howling cat, tortoise, cow, cobra, lotus, and tree poses. Plus the willow, sun salutation, and ocean breath movements. Can we mimic and learn from nature? Of course! Do I use nature as a source of inspiration for my artwork? Of course!

A very popular set of yoga poses are called the warrior poses. Many of my Arborglyph monoprint symbols resemble something in life. The symbol to the left reminds me of one of the many yoga warrier poses. See all that positive energy eminating from the ‘body’!

Arborglyph: (1 symbol 9) Under Water.

Art and Tour de France

Linda — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:32:48 +0000

: Linda biking in Corsica

One of my favorite past times is BIKING. I’m no racer like Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France, but I have done several difficult bike tours overseas and love climbing the Colorado mountains. When I’m not riding with others , I sometimes bring my camera and take photos that I might use for imagery in my monoprints. I will shoot photos of the aspen tree bark markings for my Arborglyph monoprint series, or capture interesting textures for backgrounds. I actually have a whole series of images of the cracking asphalt repairs on the roads.

Road repairs can be interesting textures

When you’re biking, you get a birds eye view of the road beneath you and much of my art is about that viewpoint. People have often commented that some of my ‘Arborglyphs’ look like aerial maps or caving/spelunking maps. Its amazing what inspires us artists!

Reminiscent of a spelunking map?

Arborglyph: (1 symbol S2) Sharp on Ochre Bark