David J. Bookbinder's Blog, page 10

Portrait of an Artist

Cameron Byron Roberts, Painter

About three years ago, Cameron Byron Roberts (a.k.a. Cam) and I cooked up an idea for a process-oriented group for late-blooming artist types like us.

The inspiration came from an article Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers, Blink, etc.) wrote for The New Yorker in which he differentiated between people who, early on, know what they want to do and are recognized for it at a young age (think Mozart and Picasso) and those who, much later, reach their creative heights through a trial-and-error process. The late bloomers at first produce work no more promising than artists who never create much at all (think early Cézanne), and Gladwell pointed out that without support, most late bloomers never bloom at all.

So we became our own late-bloomer supports, and we’ve been helping each other bloom for the past three years. We share our frustrations, respond to the words of artists and writers we find wiser than ourselves, encourage each other in our efforts, celebrate our triumphs, provide accountability, and in general strive to give to each other what late bloomers need to thrive.

During this three-year period, I finished a book, others have advanced in their respective arts, and Cam became not only a proficient painter, but a professional.

You can find Cam here:

http://cameronbyronroberts.blogspot.com/

http://www.cameronbyronroberts.com/

http://www.CRAboston.com

And now, some words from Cam about his history as an artist and his artistic process.

Ken Robinson, the great education guru, tells a story about asking first graders, “who is an artist?” where all the hands go up. By third grade only a few hands go up, and by fifth grade there are few hands remaining.

As one of those kids that always wanted to be an artist, I used to draw on anything, including the walls of my room, and sometimes the newly painted bookshelves in the living room, finding the “bank canvas” irresistible, until being informed they were not canvases.

However, like many kids, I came from a family that viewed art, if not suspiciously, not as a serious endeavor. Instead I was encouraged to be an architect, something more useful, and more employable, and after many years of resisting the suggestion, I enrolled in architecture school and eventually became a licensed architect.

For most of my career I felt somewhat removed from the profession, alienated from its underlying premise that the new was somehow going to be better than the old, its futurism and utopianism seeming messianic and egotistical, somehow.

The exception was my opportunity to work as an apprentice for the architect, Frank O. Gehry at a point in his career when he was transitioning from being a successful commercial architect to being a world renowned “starchitect” famous for, among other things, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spain.

Our relationship blossomed one day when I mentioned that something he was asking me to work on reminded me of a sculpture by the artist Michael Heiser, who, as it turned out, was a close friend of his. Frank was and remains an artist, with his closest friends being artists, and his work being derived artistically. That early experience with Frank was unique and not to be replicated again.

Fast forward several decades: After teaching design and theory at Harvard, MIT and RISD, years as a consulting architect, corporate architect, several in the investment business, and consulting as a capital project manager, I took up painting in 2010.

My inspiration for taking the step came from Susan Langer’s On Becoming an Artist. This gave me the confidence to experience art-making as mindfulness and not be overly concerned about the outcome. Here’s my first painting, on May 2, 2010.

Years later, a re-reading by David Bookbinder of Steven Pressfield’s War of Art in the Artist Group we formed convinced me that it was time to take the outcome seriously. Some recent paintings appear below. There have been innumerable bad paintings and good paintings in between these and that first one, but I now understand the imperative of painting as a means of reconciling myself with existence, reconnecting to the present, and I feel at last that I have indeed become an artist.

Artist Statement (in progress)

Longing and memory, landscape remains ancient and newborn. Conditions evoke primal responses; the back-lit hedge wall, the deep, dark leaves of late summer, fall approaching, winter’s dusk, the sudden damp cold, anticipation of a warm fire, the quiet loneliness of childhood exploring the thicket, first light, dizzying mid-day, timeless afternoon, chiaroscuro evening, the churning majesty of the sea, the shelter of the rocks and the step into the unreturnable deep.

Interiorizing the landscape through painting, setting a point of view, making a clearing in the forest, a shelter in the thicket, or in the cave – that’s what my work as a landscape painter is about.



P.S.

Book News: In my ongoing effort to climb the self-publishing hill, I’m experimenting with price management. I’ve dropped the price of my eBook Paths to Wholeness: Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas to $4.99 on Amazon. You can download it here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NAAFU3S

The compact edition, Paths to Wholeness: Selections is still free, here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N1NV2MA

Acceptance

Acceptance: It’s Already There

My path to acceptance has been mainly through loss: lost career opportunities, relationships, health and, nearly, the loss of my life. Acceptance has come with the recognition that each loss has also been an opening.

A major turning point occurred several years ago. At that time I was bleeding internally and before I noticed any symptoms, I had already lost about 25% of my blood supply. Though less drastic than a brush with death a few years before, this situation recalled the terror of that time. I grew steadily weaker and underwent a series of increasingly invasive tests, but no diagnosis or treatment emerged. I consulted alternative healers and frantically scanned the Internet. I imagined fatal outcomes. And then one day I stopped fretting.

A Buddhist friend had given me this prayer, with instructions to recite it often, without judgment:

Please grant me enough wisdom and courage to be free from delusion. If I am supposed to get sick, let me get sick, and I’ll be happy. May this sickness purify my negative karma and the sickness of all sentient beings. If I am supposed to be healed, let all my sickness and confusion be healed, and I’ll be happy. May all sentient beings be healed and filled with happiness. If I am supposed to die, let me die, and I’ll be happy. May all the delusion and the causes of suffering of sentient beings die. If I am supposed to live a long life, let me live a long life, and I’ll be happy. May my life be meaningful in service to sentient beings. If my life is to be cut short, let it be cut short, and I’ll be happy. May I and all others be free from attachment and aversion.

At first, welcoming disease or death scared me even more, but with each recitation, I grew calmer. While I waited for test results, I began to have a different relationship with time. Whether I would live or die, whether I would heal by myself, with interventions, or not at all, was already out there in my future, waiting for me to arrive. I didn’t have to plan. I didn’t have to do anything differently. I just had to move through time, making the best choices I could, until my fate became clear. I stopped looking things up on the Internet and returned to my work as a therapist.

That moment of acceptance was liberating. Since then, I have been increasingly able to generalize the process. It’s all, already, there. I don’t need to fret. I don’t need to push. I just need to live my life to the best of my ability and, of the infinite possible futures, I will inevitably arrive at the one that is mine.

If there is one main factor that divides those of us who do not change from those who do, I think it is acceptance: of who we are, how we got to where we are, and that we – and only we – have the power to free ourselves.

Acceptance is being who we are, in each succession of present moments, swayed neither by avoiding what we fear nor by clinging to what we think we can’t live without. In the absence of acceptance, there can be no forward movement. The hidden patterns that create clinging attachment and fearful aversion take over, repeating themselves in our minds, feelings, behaviors, and relationships. We grow older, and the external circumstances of our lives change, but inside it’s, as the Talking Heads put it, “the same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was.”

Acceptance is the door that closes one life chapter and allows another to open. Acceptance is the last of Elizabeth Kubler Ross’s five stages of loss and a necessary precursor to moving on from mourning. Acceptance is the first of the 12 steps in addiction recovery programs and essential to beginning a sober life. Acceptance of self, and of responsibility for change, is the start of true recovery from the many unhappinesses that may come our way. Acceptance can be painful, but it is a pain that unburdens. In difficult circumstances, acceptance is the thing most of us try hardest to sidestep – and then try even harder to achieve. In its simplest form, acceptance is saying to ourselves, “Although I may be suffering, I can be content now. Yes, there are things I would like to change, and when I change them my life may have more ease, but I can already be content with my current circumstances.”

Accepting our real state, no matter what it is, begins the shift from victim – of external circumstances, of thoughts and feelings, of physical challenges, of past injuries – to victor.

More anon,

– David

From: Paths to Wholeness: Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas, © 2016, David J. Bookbinder

Buy on: Amazon  –  BookBaby  –  B&N  – BooksaMillion (print version)

Buy on: Kindle  – Nook  – iTunes  – Kobo (eBook version)

Also available:

52 (more) Flower Mandalas: An Adult Coloring Book and

52 Flower Mandalas: An Adult Coloring Book

P.S. The Goodreads Giveaway for Paths to Wholeness: Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas and the Goodreads Giveaway for 52 (more) Flower Mandalas end tomorrow, January 5th. Last chance to enter!

David J. Bookbinder, LMHC

http://www.transformationspress.org

http://www.davidbookbinder.com

http://www.flowermandalas.org

Post-Christmas giveaways!

On Goodreads, we’re giving away one copy of Paths to Wholeness: Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas and five copies of 52 (more) Flower Mandalas, beginning the day after Christmas, for those of you who wanted just a little more in your stocking (or equivalent).

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Goodreads Book Giveaway


Paths to Wholeness
by David J. Bookbinder

Giveaway ends January 03, 2017.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

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Goodreads Book Giveaway


52 (more) Flower Mandalas
by David J. Bookbinder

Giveaway ends January 05, 2017.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Pre-Christmas Giveaways!

On Rafflecopter, we’re giving away Paths to Wholeness: Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas and 52 (more) Flower Mandalas, beginning today!

a Rafflecopter giveaway



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mary O’Malley: An Introduction

Mary O’Malley: An Introduction

One of the things I most like doing is introducing interesting artists to readers and telling, or letting them tell, their story. Because I love her work, and because of our recent collaboration on our coloring book for adults, 52 (more) Flower Mandalas, I’d like to start with Mary O’Malley.

Mary and I met about a year ago. I had just released the coloring book 52 Flower Mandalas and was thinking of doing a sequel. A mutual friend said, “You have to talk to Mary! Her work is already like a beautifully colored coloring book!” I took a look at her website, maryomalleyart, and I was awestruck.

Mary was the perfect collaborator. She understood the coloring book concept immediately, she was already a flower and mandala artist (and more), and she saw how to transform the Flower Mandalas into illustrations that colorists could interpret in ways I would never have imagined. Here’s a bird’s-eye view of her work on the book with “before” (David) and “after” (Mary) examples.

Click the image below to download a colorable sampler of some of the Flower Mandalas and the illustrations Mary created from them.

I asked Mary to say a bit about her art.

“I’ve been making art my whole life. As a child, I was very shy and quiet, and drawing became my way of communicating with the world, and I suppose it still is today. It was never a question for me what I wanted to do with my life. I knew from an early age that I wanted to become an artist.

“I find inspiration for my work in many places (nature, botanical art, textile and surface design, folk art, fractals, fashion, architecture, etc.) I keep a large database and archive of images I’ve collected (from books, magazines, the internet, and my own photos) as well as sketchbooks to serve as jumping off points for pieces. I also think discipline is extremely important to keep ideas flowing. A lot of my ideas come from previous work; they are born out of the experience and process of making work. Having a regular art practice keeps me open to ideas when they come and also for me to find them in unexpected places.

“Because my work is so detail-oriented, it becomes a very meditative practice for me. Especially with my silver ink on black paper pieces, which I begin with minimal planning. The black paper I use will show any pencil or eraser marks, so I have to keep any sketching to a minimum. This keeps me very present when I’m working.

“Working on the coloring book was a very satisfying creative experience for me. Once I got past the practical hurdle of figuring out the best and most efficient way to create the drawings, I was able to really enjoy the process of transforming the photographs into images that would be fun, interesting, and challenging to color. What was most fun for me is how much each mandala surprised me; I would look at David’s photograph, and think I had some idea of how my drawing would turn out. But almost every time, I was pleasantly surprised at the final outcome. I got to really spend time with each flower, look at it really deeply, and discover all the complexities and beauty in them. I feel like I got some sense of what a colorist will experience when coloring these mandalas.”

You can buy 52 (more) Flower Mandalas here.

P.S. You can get a peek at Mary’s new coloring book sampler here.

P.P.S. You can find out more about 52 (more) Flower Mandalas here.

P.P.P.S. You can download the $6.99 eBook version of Paths to Wholeness: Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas here.

Mary’s work can be seen at:

Walker Contemporary, Waitsfield, VT: www.walkercontemporary.com

13 Forest Gallery, Arlington, MA: www.13forest.com

Her website: www.maryomalleyart.com

You can also buy high-quality reproduction prints (and a limited selection of originals) in her Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/maryomalleyart

You can follow her at:

www.facebook.com/maryomalleyart

www.instagram.com/maryomalleyart

www.twitter.com/maryomalleyart

Two new books! And a new imprint!

Two new books! And a new imprint!

I’m back. Really.

Moving forward, you’ll be hearing from me on a regular basis, with new images and new writing about art, healing, and transformation, as well as excerpts from books and announcements of publications and events.

But meanwhile…

After months of looking for a traditional publisher for my Kickstarted book of essays and Flower Mandalas, and after a mixed experience with a traditional publisher for an adult coloring book, I’ve decided to “go rogue” and create my own imprint, Transformations Press.

In the future, I hope to publish books by other authors, but I’m starting out with two of my own: a new version of the Flower Mandalas book, Paths to Wholeness: Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas, and a new coloring book for adults, 52 (more) Flower Mandalas: An Adult Coloring Book for Inspiration and Stress Relief, a collaboration with artist Mary O’Mally. I love the way both books turned out, and I hope my readers will, too.

Paths to Wholeness is available now from the printer (BookBaby) and is available for preorder from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers (ship date 12/16). 52 (more) Flower Mandalas is available now on Amazon and will be available at other retailers soon. An eBook version of Paths to Wholeness will be appearing at online retailers within the next few days.

Special offers for 2016:

Between now and the end of this year, when you order  Paths to Wholeness  on Amazon , you can get the eBook version for $0.99 through Amazon’s Kindle Matchbook program (see link to Matchbook at the bottom of the Kindle edition).
During the preorder period, which ends December 15th, Barnes & Noble is offering Paths to Wholeness at a deeply discounted rate.
Between now and the end of this year, when you order  52 (more) Flower Mandalas  on Amazon , you can get 52 (more) Flower Mandalas: Selections for free!   This is a printable PDF of selections from the full book, matching several of Mary O’Malley’s exquisite illustations with the images that inspired them. To receive this free book, email a copy of your Amazon receipt to transformations@davidbookbinder.com

To paraphrase journalist Jimmy Breslin, if you don’t blow your own horn, nobody else will. These are beautiful books and terrific Christmas or Chanukah presents. Please let others in your circle know about them.

Here are some links:

Paths to Wholeness: Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas:

At BookBaby (available now): http://store.bookbaby.com/book/Paths-to-Wholeness

At Amazon (ships 12/16): http://www.amazon.com/dp/0984699406

At Barnes & Noble (ships 12/16): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/paths-to-wholeness-david-bookbinder/1125158752?ean=9780984699407

Paths to Wholeness: Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas

52 (more) Flower Mandalas: An Adult Coloring Book for Inspiration and Stress Relief:

At Amazon (available now): http://www.amazon.com/dp/0984699422

52 (more) Flower Mandalas: An Adult Coloring Book for Inspiration and Stress Relief

Thanks again for your support, without which I would never have completed either of these books!

More anon,

– David

David J. Bookbinder, LMHC

978-395-1292

http://www.transformationspress.org

http://www.davidbookbinder.com

http://www.flowermandalas.org

http://www.facebook.com/flowermandalas

http://www.instagram.com/flowermandalas

Mandalas, healing … and coloring!

On May 22, from 6:30-7:30 pm, I’ll be reading from my book Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas: A Meditation and also talking about using mandalas for meditation, healing… and coloring! The presentation will be at Mass Audubon’s Broad Meadow Brook Conservation Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, the largest urban wildlife sanctuary in New England, with five miles of trails for folks of all abilities to enjoy.

Click here to sign up for the presentation.

Copies of Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas: A Meditation and of the coloring book Emily Sper and I produced, 52 Flower Mandalas: An Adult Coloring Book for Inspiration and Stress Relief, will be available for sale. Sample coloring pages will be available from 52 Flower Mandalas and from a new, upcoming Flower Mandalas coloring book I’m doing with artist Mary O’Mallory, 52 (more) Flower Mandalas.

The $5 program registration fee includes admission to the sanctuary that day and you are welcome to walk the trails before the Flower Mandalas program. In addition, the sanctuary is running a yoga program from 4:30-5:30 pm, which you can separately register for here.

Nature, art, and yoga — a nice way to spend an afternoon and evening in Worcester, MA. Hope to see you there!

That’s it for now –

David

Flower Mandalas: the opera, country music, wildlife sanctuary, and the airwaves

Flower Mandalas: the opera, country music, and wildlife sanctuaries

Just a quick update on what’s happening with the Flower Mandalas.

Opera: The “Pink Peony I” Flower Mandala is being used by the Old Opera House in Frankfurt, Germany, on the cover of their 2016-2017 program, on their website, and on 500 large posters hung throughout the city.

Music: The Brazilian band Nemphis Belle, singing in a Country Western style in English, has released an album called It’s Amazing II. Here’s a link to the track “Dancing Wolves”: https://soundcloud.com/nemphis-belle/dancing-wolves. They’re really good!

Coloring: I was recently interviewed on Paula Joyce’s radio show Uplift Your Life: Nourishment of the Spirit. On the show we talked about mandalas, the origin of the coloring book Emily Sper and I released in December (52 Flower Mandalas: An Adult Coloring Book for Inspiration and Stress Relief,) and the ways I have seen people use coloring to process feelings, work through problems, achieve a meditative state and, of course, explore creativity and just have fun.

Here’s a link to the episode. My interview starts about 21 minutes into the show: http://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/91245/adult-coloring-books-for-fun-relaxation-and-healing

Art opening: And, last but not least, my Flower Mandala images will be on display beginning May 22, 2016 at Mass Audubon’s Broad Meadow Brook Conservation Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, the largest urban wildlife sanctuary in New England, with five miles of trails for folks of all abilities to enjoy.

On May 22, from 6:30-7:30pm, I’ll be reading from my book Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas: A Meditation and also talking about using mandalas for meditation, healing… and coloring! Copies of the coloring book will be available for sale, as well sample coloring pages. You can sign up for the presentation here: http://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/program-catalog#program:sanctuary=4:keywords=mandala:program_code=46194

Program registration includes admission to the sanctuary that day and you are welcome to walk the trails before the Flower Mandalas program. In addition, the sanctuary is running a yoga program from 4:30-5:30pm.

Nature, art, and yoga: a nice way to spend an afternoon and evening in Worcester, MA. Hope to see you there!

That’s it for now –

David

The Garbage and the Flowers (Wabi-Sabi)

Share 52 Flower Mandalas on Facebook and Share 52 Flower Mandalas on Twitter

For the last several years, I’ve found myself attracted to the dead leaves I see on the ground as I walk, particularly those in late fall and winter. I’ve taken hundreds, maybe thousands, of pictures of them. A friend’s mentioning to me the concept of wabi-sabi helped me understand why. Wabi-Sabi is a Japanese term for finding the beauty in imperfection, and accepting the cycle of birth, growth, aging, death, and decay. I’m 64. It’s about time.

The Buddhist teacher and writer Thich Nhat Hanh talks about this cycle when he speaks of seeing the garbage in the flowers and the flowers in the garbage. “When we look at garbage,” he writes, “we also see the non-garbage elements: we see the flower there. Good organic gardeners see that. When they look at a garbage heap they see cucumbers and lettuce. That is why they do not throw garbage away.They keep garbage in order to transform it back into cucumbers and lettuce.”

“If a flower can become garbage,” Thich Nhat Hanh explains, “then garbage can become flowers.The flower does not consider garbage as an enemy or panic when becoming garbage, nor does the garbage become depressed and view the flower as an enemy. They realize the nature of interbeing. In Buddhist therapy we preserve the garbage within ourselves.We do not want to throw it out because if we do, we have nothing left with which to make our flowers grow.”

By colorists emmysuu and Jaclyn

Buy 52 Flower Mandalas coloring book: http://www.amazon.com/52-Flower-Mandalas-Coloring-Inspiration/dp/1682302016/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Download a full-resolution coloring book sampler: http://www.davidbookbinder.com/books/wp-content/uploads/sampler_52FlowerMandalas_pages.pdf

Transmigration of Flower Mandala essence

Share 52 Flower Mandalas on Facebook and Share 52 Flower Mandalas on Twitter

More soon on the topic of transforming the essence of one type of art into another, but both the therapist and the artist in me wanted to convey a personal example by showing how my Flower Mandalas were transformed by artist Emily Sper into line art for our coloring book, 52 Flower Mandalas.

Below is part of a table I created of all 52 mandalas, in both photographic and line art forms. You can download the whole table here: http://www.davidbookbinder.com/books/wp-content/uploads/Flower-Mandala-index.pdf.

To get a sense of the parallels between the original book and the coloring book, download a preview of the original Flower Mandalas book here: http://www.davidbookbinder.com/uploads/Fifty_Two_Flower_Mandalas_Preview.pdf and a full-resolution sampler of the coloring book here: http://www.davidbookbinder.com/books/...

I hope you find this example, and this process, interesting. I’d love to hear any questions or comments on the images, the illustrations, or the transformative process we went through to go from one set of images to the other. I’m also interested in any examples you can point to or talk about from your own experience of this kind of collaboration.

Thanks!

– David

David J. Bookbinder​, LMHC

Create a review or buy the book on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/52-Flower-Mandalas-Coloring-Inspiration/dp/1682302016/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Create a review or enter the giveaway on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/164003-52-flower-mandalas-an-adult-coloring-book-for-inspiration-and-stress-re

Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/a513935552/

Our Diversion Books page: http://diversionbooks.com/ebooks/52-flower-mandalas-adult-coloring-book-inspiration-and-stress-relief

Download a full-resolution coloring book sampler: http://www.davidbookbinder.com/books/wp-content/uploads/sampler_52FlowerMandalas_pages.pdf