Dailies: A visit to Alice Elahi

I treated myself to an Artist date today and attended the opening of Alice Elahi's exhibition called Reflections, held at her beautiful studio gallery in Brooklyn, Pretoria. She greeted me taking my hand in both hers as I introduced myself. Frail, but looking sprightly at 86 years of age, she stands welcoming waves of people arriving at the exhibition.

Her work is inspired by nature, and she believes in fully experiencing the landscape she's painting. So much so, that she had spent many a day painting alone on a sand dune in the Namib desert, being dropped of in the morning only to be fetched again at nightfall.

I read this in one of the many publications on display. She has had a lifetime of prolific painting and judging from the scores of people, excitedly discussing her work, she is well loved and respected as an artist. This fills me with hope.

A quotation that speaks to my budding artist's heart reads:
"Unless I have something to communicate, my work is meaningless". It is quite clear in the many moods that she had captured in her paintings. She had to be there: with the storm threatening to break above her head, or sitting watching the reflections of the fishing boats in the water at Hout bay.

The exhibition runs from today until the 4th of November 2012. More information at: http://www.aliceelahi.co.za/exhibition/calendar.htm

Matilda

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Vanuit Die Restory - Gesprekke Tussen Reisgenote (110)

Die Week Na 'n Dood Sebastien op sy gelukkigste - by water, besig om vis te vang Die Gesprek Elemente Uit Die Gesprek Musiek Sebastien het altyd gesê, "I like old music.' Hy het. Billy Joel se Piano Man was vir baie lank die ringtone op sy foon. Dat ons só gelukkig kan wees, dankie Sebas. George & Matilda

Vanuit Die Restory / From The Restory (135)

Onlangse Oorsig / Recent Summary Foto's Van Onlangse Gebeure / Pictures Of Recent Events 'n Huis opgeknap en geverf met 'n nuwe badkamer, die koms van lente en reën, retreats, die CMR se breimarathon, aanbied en afsluiting van die Verfrissingskursus in geestelike begeleiding, bywoon van ons kleindogter Ariana se gradeplegtigheid ("Nee Oupa, dis 'n gradige plegtigheid!") voordat sy volgende jaar grootskool toe gaan. A house renovated and painted with a new bathroom, the arrival of spring and rain, retreats, the CMR's knitting marathon, presenting and finishing the Refresher course in spiritual guidance, attending our granddaughter Ariana's graduation before she goes to big school next year. Klank / Sound Die klank van sagte reën na die storm is op baie vlakke nou gepas. The sound of gentle rain after the storm is now appropriate on many levels. Met ons liefde, soos altyd. With our love, as always. George & Matilda

Vanuit Die Restory - Gesprekke Tussen Reisgenote (120)

Skuld as Motivering Die Gesprek Elemente Uit Die Gesprek ~ ❖ ~ "I am convinced that guilt and shame are never from God. They are merely the defenses of the False Self as it is shocked at its own poverty — the defenses of a little man who wants to be a big man. God leads by compassion toward the soul, never by condemnation. If God would relate to us by severity and punitiveness, God would only be giving us permission to do the same (which is tragically, due to our mistaken images of God, exactly what has happened!)." Richard Rohr ~ ❖ ~ "It is about as hard to absolve yourself of your own guilt as it is to sit in your own lap. Wrongdoing sparks guilt sparks wrongdoing ad nauseam, and we all try to disguise the grim process from both ourselves and everybody else. In order to break the circuit we need friends before whom we can put aside the disguise, trusting that when they see us for what we fully are, they won't run away screaming with, if nothing wors

The Restory Retreat Centre

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