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ART
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Susan Moore
be sure to see her
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Page 2 > Susan Moore is an artist, poet, musician and educator. She grew up on the Gulf coast of Florida and graduated with a BA in music from University of South Florida in Tampa. Although Susan has lived most of her life in Florida, she also spent seven years in Mendocino where she was actively involved in the cultural life of the community. Susan is a self-taught visual artist, working primarily in the media of colored pencils and ink. She currently lives in Everett, Washington, and teaches music and some art classes for the Edmonds School District, where she enjoys fanning the flames of creativity in her students. In her own creative life she balances her efforts between music, art and writing. She visits Mendocino whenever she can. Giclee prints of Susan’s artwork are available in a variety of sizes.
For more information, contact Susan at iris.art@comcast.net
If you plan to join our company of artists, please see our submission guidelines. HERE
Green Woman
© Susan Moore, 2002
Before I left Florida I wanted to do a drawing of a woman as a tree, but realized I’d need to do it after I moved. I thought it would be appropriate, since I would be putting out roots in a new place. After I arrived there was so much to do that I couldn’t begin it right away.
I had classes to take for my Washington teaching certificate and began with a course on Native American Art of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Our final project was to create a personal totem. Since the drawing was out of the question due to time constraints, I wrote a poem, which was essentially a visualization of what I wanted the drawing to be. I called it “Everything She Needs” because of the line from a Bob Dylan song “She has everything she needs, she’s an artist, she don’t look back.” This was the first time I had ever written a visualization of a drawing before beginning it. Writing it made it almost uncannily real for me, as though I were living inside the picture. I recommend it.
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Everything She Needs
The woman is green
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green of bud
first thrust of crocus through snow
fiddlehead coil from tender fern
light once golden, filtered through leafy cathedral
shimmers the various hues that chlorophyl imparts
photosynthesis comes naturally
xylem and phloem are part of her now
no bark covers the sheath of her skin
tender as new growth of botanical green |
The woman is green and she is walking
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a feminine instinct
to keep moving is strong
though roots push out from feet, ankles, calves
emerge from her soles and plunge into soil
lift out again with the rhythm of her step
root hairs covered with moist clinging loam
extract nourishment during this unlikely journey
cool wind caresses the emerald figure
this newness of botanical form |
The woman is green, her eyes are open as she walks
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viewing the world
a relief map of the country
sap moving through her trunk guides
sylvan necessity to find a place to plant
a natural, yet crucial decision
eyes the color of moss on a fallen log, flecks of sunlit gold
mineral green of a river that pours into the Pacific
pupils black as the abyss in a hollow stump
(ancient memory of looking for a place to hide)
this time, eyes open, looking for a place to live |
The robe she wears is a landscape of color
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woven fabric
from fine lustrous thread of cocoons....
soft self-envelope for metamorphosis
panels of the silken garment form canvas for painting
one could enter the scene in this robe
sanctuary formed by richness of vision
this picture could transform your life
if you let it
wind lifts the folds of the robe
caressing and billowing as the green woman walks |
This robe contains knowledge of her destiny
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visions of home
a voice in the heart that whispers “keep moving...”
kindred souls murmur “we’re here...we’re here...”
familiar landscape forms through the mists
forested hills jut into shifting ocean waters
waves crash on convoluted rocky shoreline
pastel dawn fog lifts to deepening blue
clouds that vanish in perspective
soaring into midnight, arms and shoulders are draped
in indigo to black, deep darkness pierced by stars |
A natural foreground encircles the border of the robe
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symbols of beauty
remembered from childhood
(sometimes beginnings are ended too soon)
elongated leaves, stems of iris bend in wind currents
blue-violet petals yield to intricate design
a filigree of contrasting shades
where yellow fur points to the depths of the center
the soul forever imprinted
by the flower, the scent, by the colors of blue
by a name that meant lily of a different hue |
The woman is an artist, a shaper of visions
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in one hand she carries
tools of her lineage to illustrate her dreams
the other hand appears to be empty
she walks not knowing if she’s lost or if she’s found
pulled by longing for a place that feels like home
somewhere to root, branch out, allow leaves
thoughts, feelings to cascade in abundance
where uniqueness of vision can grow
is needed, is welcomed, will resonate, is fed
by an underground stream of spiritual knowing |
Distant sounds of singing are carried on the wind
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ancient melody
weaving through trees permeates senses
evokes forgotten memories, guides footsteps
she thinks she may have been walking in a circle
then realizes that she is singing too
vaguely wondering where
she might have learned the song
that lifts and carries, soothes the heart
draws forth the weary traveler along the spiriling path
into the unknown, toward home |
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The Universe Within
© Susan Moore, 2005
Living through the long dark winters in Washington was a problem for this Florida girl. Having lived in northern California I never thought I would have seasonal affect disorder, but Washington is a far cry from northern California. I was doing a lot of writing during the time that I was too depressed to draw. I finally realized that writing about the way I was feeling made me even more depressed, so I began writing about how I wanted to feel and it seemed to help. In December of 2004 I pretty much dragged myself to the drawing table and forced myself to begin a drawing. I used one of the poems I’d been writing for my inspiration:
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I embrace the golden season
sky blueness
whispering leafy secrets
rivers flow through me
and the universe within.
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The drawing was supposed to be about “embracing the golden season” but really turned out to be even more about “the universe within,” hence the title. Among other things, this piece illustrates coming into the Present.
Morning Song
© Susan Moore, 2006
Clearly, my inspiration for this piece was Joni Mitchell. I have always admired her and her work in music and art. I think that Joni Mitchell has earned the title of bard or poet for our (baby boomer) generation as much as Bob Dylan, but I feel she has been given short shrift. What a consumate artist, in my estimation. I had been planning to do a drawing of a woman playing a guitar, so after I saw a documentary on her life called "Woman of Heart and Mind" it seemed appropriate to use her for a model. I decided to not try to make the woman look exactly like her, but also not to disguise who the model was either.
I did a search online and discovered that a man named Jack Robinson had photographed her early in in her heyday. I printed out a fuzzy little black and white photograph, slightly smaller than two inches square, and used that as my model. It was particularly apropo that the photograph was by Jack Robinson, since for years I have had an outgoing message on my voice mail saying that "I'll call you back before you can say "Jack Robinson" (ala Bi-Colored-Python-Rock-Snake of "The Elephant's Child" from Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, which was the first blacklight musical I directed).
The woodland scene in the left window is what I saw outside the window of the cottage I stayed in during the previous summer's vacation in Mendocino. The person walking into the woods came from my memory of a photo I'd taken of friend, when she and another friend and I were exploring a gorgeous heather garden in Manchester, CA. The sea is of course the Pacific, which was not outside my window that summer, but it was close enough to see every day when I went into town. The black spotted poppies were in a wood flowerbox on the deck. The scene in the canvas on the easel comes from a photograph I'd taken a few years ago in the garden at the Mendocino home of marvelous painter Charles Stevenson, who has now passed away.
Susan Moore is an artist, poet, musician and educator. She grew up on the Gulf coast of Florida and graduated with a BA in music from University of South Florida in Tampa. Although Susan has lived most of her life in Florida, she also spent seven years in Mendocino where she was actively involved in the cultural life of the community. Susan is a self-taught visual artist, working primarily in the media of colored pencils and ink. She currently lives in Everett, Washington, and teaches music and some art classes for the Edmonds School District, where she enjoys fanning the flames of creativity in her students. In her own creative life she balances her efforts between music, art and writing. She visits Mendocino whenever she can. Giclee prints of Susan’s artwork are available in a variety of sizes.
For more information, contact Susan at iris.art@comcast.net
If you plan to join our company of artists, please see our submission guidelines. HERE
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Type Susan Moore into subject line.
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Drop Susan an e-mail note,
let him know what you think of her work.
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Susan Moore
