dougwestendorp.com
Doug Westendorp
Contemplative Art
  • Home
    • Resume and contact information
    • Gallery of Student Work >
      • The Blue/Orange Project
      • Student Work (2) Yellow/Violet
      • Student Work (3) Final Project
  • Art Statement, 2023
    • Art Statement 2021-2022
    • Artist Statement, 2018-2020
    • Artist Statement, 2011-2017
  • New Work, 2023
  • Blogs
    • Thoughts on Contemplative Art
    • Poetry Journal
  • Drawings, 2020 - 22
    • Biomorphic C, 2022
    • Biomorphic B, 2022
    • Pencil 7.5 x 7.5
    • Pencil 2020 22
  • Square Mandalas
    • Ten Inch Squares
    • The Overspray Series
  • The Remnant Series
    • New Remnants
    • Early Remnants
  • Gallery of Past Work
    • Oil Pastel and Oil Stick
    • Geometric Designs >
      • The "Scythe" series
      • The "Whisper" Series
      • Lattice Windows
      • "Ghost" Geometry
      • Panel Paintings
    • Graph Paper Drawings >
      • Pencil, 2014
      • Pencil, 2015
      • Pencil, March 2016
      • Pencil, June 2016
      • Pencil, October 2016
      • Pencil, 2018 and 2019
    • Stone Poems
    • Disappearing Journal Series
    • Oil Stick on Paper
    • Early Still Life Work
    • Dreamscapes
    • Themed Sketchbooks >
      • Monoliths, 2022
      • Biomorphic A 2022
      • Feathers, 2019
      • Geometry, 2019
      • Geometry, 2015
      • The Crucifix Book, 2012
    • Installation Views
  • Self Published Books
    • Short Stories
    • Poetry Books
    • Existential Coloring Books
    • Portfolio Books
    • Book Design
    • Illustrations >
      • Turf-domed Hermitage Community
      • The Hermitage
      • The Sphere of Life

Up Close is Personal

6/20/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
Life feels less threatening when we back away. Wild animals feel safer when they're in a zoo, trees are safer in parks, and art is safer in museums, behind glass. But we pay a high price for our safety, don't we? We will never know what a wild animal really is if we only see it in a zoo, trees can never be fully trees in a park, and contemplative art must be experienced intimately, up close and personally. 

1 Comment

Breathless Beauty

6/17/2020

0 Comments

 
PictureGraphite on gridded paper. About 7 x 7 inches.

“There must be always remaining in every man’s life some place for the singing of angels, some place for that which in itself is breathlessly beautiful.” -- ​Howard Thurman (1900-1981) African American minister and educator

Have I ever made anything that could be called breathlessly beautiful? Have I ever tried? I don't think in terms of beauty all the time, but the more I think of proportion the more I think of perfect proportion.

A friend asked me recently if this is how I see the world, as ordered and beautiful. My answer is that this is how I see the invisible world, the world within the apparent world. It is a world that has not received much widespread attention since Medieval days, when God was posited as the Architect of the Universe, but it is still there. Still here. Even visible, on a good day, to the contemplative eye.

​

0 Comments

    Author

    I am an artist. I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

    Archives

    March 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    May 2013
    March 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.