grave yard glimmers mosaic and accompanying poem jenny meehan ©jenny meehan
Art Journal Post 2018 by Jenny Meehan
Poetry by Jenny Meehan
The Graveyard Glimmers
Under grey ground,
my shattered self; recovered;
crept gently, back to the moment
when
a younger me-child
within
Summer holiday sunshine discovered
picking – glass – stones, off graves,
was an open, treasure chest.
Even while, the body
laid low
sighing with relief,
anticipating release,
for each, passing, moment.
Simple time steps.
One strand of self…
to reflect
back to me.
Porous ceramic
spreads moisture.
Yet, only a shadow
touches –
meeting –
edges.
I’m sorry I left, and still sometimes leave,
these parts of me behind.
Much later, my rape was a vacation of another kind.
I hover, momentarily, over my body.
Unable to take in, even in consciousness,
the un do-able,
which was done.
It takes years to cry.
And bodies lie under the floor,
even in houses
Yet,
Light still
makes glimmers.
Glimmers in eyes
meeting.
Glimmers in finding
pieces;
All broken,
but beautiful.
I hold hope, for you,
my friend,
and myself…
on dreamlike – flattened – slates;
To write over
a past story,
with a new one.
We wash the silver ore, and smelt it in the smiles
of those
we love.
Looking forward to working with mosaic in November, tutored by Vanessa Benson, whose inspirational course at West Dean College this year has kicked me off in this direction!
Realising my poetry and all the visual work I do are inseparable. Well, I knew this already, but now I know it more. Also, I will always be a materials orientated artist. One who handles my own materials.
Is Everyone an Artist?
The most annoying saying “Everyone is an artist”. Is everyone a plumber too? The role of an artist has a broad skill set attached.
Everyone is innately creative, yes, but everyone is not an artist. I hate walking past Cass Art and seeing the motto… it’s something like “Let’s fill this town with artists”. Sounds like a nightmare to me. Do you want a town filled with artists? Would be quite a poor town, for a start! But it would, of course, be ideal for the local art shop!!! At least they are honest!
I was reading recently that a survey found most artists earn between £1,000 and £5,000 a year. That sounds about right. I kind of felt relieved on reading it. It is hard when you live in a world where finance reflects value. I know I am doing what I should be doing in life, and feel extremely grateful, that finally, after years of waiting, I am able to work at the work which feels most natural to me. It’s not to be taken for granted. But it isn’t a “job” in the proper sense.
All the other work I have done in the past is very relevant, and has been valuable in many different respects. It’s made me who I am. I wasn’t unhappy in the work I previously did. Just not quite so fulfilled. But there are many aspect to being fulfilled in life, and there were parts of me which probably developed, in a good way, which I might have avoided, if I was art working then. Discipline is important. For an artist, if you have not got it, you cannot be productive, I don’t think. Getting up each morning to do what you must, is part of every occupation, and we don’t always feel like it!
And now, I cannot rely on a “job” to define who I am. It’s sometimes challenging. Like being a mother, I guess. The key thing is, I think, not to confuse status or money with value. It’s always a challenge! What I do does pay for itself. Sometimes I feel discouraged, but it’s only passing. Thankfully enough good things happen to keep me motivated!
Everyone has creative potential. Everyone can create, and we do create. Yet artistic and literary creation are skills and take years of application to develop. That application is what means someone like myself will call ourselves “an Artist”. It doesn’t imply our work is more valuable than the wonderful creative results children often produce, but it does signal that we have taken what we do as a specific vocation or calling in life and that we have treated this direction as any other profession. It is a journey which demands a specify skill set, (well, often quite a few! ) and an attitude and commitment to work with devotion and professionalism. As our work develops it demand rigorous application, research, analysis as well as time, money and investment of many kinds.
Thelma Narrative Series
My Thelma sculpture project was in 2014 and it is now 2018! In truth, the project is not finished, because I got a mould made of the essential base of Thelma and intend to make some plaster versions in order to experiment further. Indeed, I will. Yet for now, here are the images with text, which does seem to have a degree of being a complete work. The actual wax sculpture is in a box in my cupboard, and now and again I pick bits off it and add bits on! It is one figure, which I moved through a series of transformations without thinking about concepts in a conscious way.
ONEthelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA ONE
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA TWO
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA THREE
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA FOUR
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA FIVE
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA SIX
This is probably my favourite in the series…It’s the one I associate with the ongoing process of participating in psychotherapy!
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and my Art
Hard work, at times, yes, but something which can be a tool in bringing freedom from the negative consequences of violence, abuse, and trauma. This time I spend in therapy is an investment I choose because I value self reflection so much. Participation in Psychotherapy can be viewed two ways. The first way is that of being a practice of WELLNESS…Which for me, it now is, thankfully. (Mostly) It’s like going to the gym to keep fit. The other way that psychotherapy can be viewed might be summed up with “Gosh, they must be very screwed up to need therapy” maybe? It is the idea that someone would only participate in psychotherapy if they really had to, because it wasn’t possible to carry on without it. Because why would they want to do take part in something like that otherwise? Well, I do understand that perspective.
Personally, I did start my psychoanalytic psychotherapy journey in a very distressing place, and I knew it was what I needed, and things were often very alarming and extremely difficult. So it wasn’t optional in any sense in 2011. Yet my journey, and the experience gained from working with a very good therapist, has been so valuable and positive, it seems needless not to carry on with it, as long as it bears fruit, which it does. I do review it from time to time, but so far, I reach the same conclusion, which is why stop for the sake of stopping? It might be different if I was not an artist, but it’s become part of the process of my artistic creating, and it’s so useful, even for that, even apart from the other benefits.
It feels like pulling a net through my own depths, pulling it along the sea bed. It’s an effort, but somehow drawing deep in myself in this way produces a lot of goodness. Life is vastly improved, and I feel so much more alive than I ever used to be. So the effort is definitely worth it for me.
Thoughts on the sculpture…
Difficulty of wading forwards… Trolling is a method of fishing…. There is a huge sense of continuity and flow, in this one, with metal outside of the figure clearly relating to the which goes through it’s core. Through the waters of my mind, in the psychoanalytic work I am doing. Found this, it’s helpful..
“Bodies of Water and the Unconscious
Often in dreams, large bodies of water (oceans, lakes, pools) symbolize the unconscious. As with bodies of water, we often see the surface, but cannot easily see into the depths.
Also, the vastness of the ocean symbolizes the vastness of the unconscious mind. Jung observed long ago that the unconscious mind was much vaster than the conscious portion. His insight has been confirmed by fascinating developments in neuroscience, where new technologies, such as particularly sophisticated MRIs have enabled brain scientists to see that the unconscious processes in the brain dwarf the conscious mind in magnitude.
In those regions of the brain/mind lies the meaning of dreams. Jungian therapy is always aware that, for each of us, much goes on in the depths of those oceanic waters…” quoted from https://www.briancollinson.ca/index.php/2012/11/jungian-therapy-the-meaning-of-dreams-5-water.html
WOW! The unconscious mind….
Oceanic Waters!
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA SEVEN
Must be the faith aspect coming through in this one!
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA EIGHT
No doubt some theme of healing… And in this one, a mould was made, and the body cast in plaster.
Interesting looking back at these. Rather funny that I depicted my right thigh with what looks like a strip of metal along it. This was before my knee replacement and before I was having problems with my walking! Plaster for me is evocative of healing and holding, and showing this liquid flow over the now plaster form, is something I like a lot. The flow may be static in that the plaster is set, but it is suggestive of flow and continuity by it’s very shape, and the meeting point between those forms of underlying form and dripped plaster brings some awareness of touch and being touched to my mind. As the final figure is the model cast, it’s a new creation but still intimately related to the former figure in brown wax. I will continue working with this, and post up soon.
So this is September…OOOps… Late again, October!
jenny meehan art work uk licensable images
Painting “Upper Room” by Jenny Meehan 70 x 50cm This is available, contact me via the contact form.
Bit about my painting…
About Jenny Meehan’s Paintings
My process led painting…romantic, expressionistic, abstract and lyrical, is simply the result of my own contemplative practice, which I work through in many ways. Let by instinct and intuition, inspired by my own life experiences, and several much loved artists, including Klee, Hitchens, Claude Venard, Matisse and Kandinsky, it provides the ground for the viewer’s own interpretations and responses, and will be whatever you want it to be. My own titles reflect my own interpretation/,sense of meaning, but the beauty and openness of non objective painting allows you a place in the process exclusively yours!
The image doesn’t show the extent to which texture, and various surface finishes are used in the painting, for example, I use tiny glass beads for their effects on light hitting the surface of the painting. Maybe they could be seen as a dance of light and colour? Certainly, as the light in the day changes, the appearance of the painting changes considerably, with different parts being emphasised and other parts sinking into the background. This painting is one which responds, and I hope you get pleasure from viewing it!
jenny meehan art work uk licensable images©jenny meehan
Boat House, Monotype. ©jenny meehan
Sometimes the simplest of things can give pleasure. I am looking at this one at the moment, particularly as I think about how I will approach working with mosaic in November. I think to start with some kind of simple forms, rectangular, square, maybe a good start. I don’t see myself going into the pictorial. I suspect I will need to seriously spend time considering the materials I use. They will suggest a way forwards, I am sure. And I want to make more effort with this linkage between my poetry and visual expression. I think that’s key for me.
jenny meehan art work uk licensable images©jenny meehan
Icy Landscape ©jenny meehan
A major theme of my work is recovery from trauma. The subject of an internal landscape dominates my creative practice. Tiny glass beads are used in the above painting and they catch the light, transforming the appearance of the work at different times of the day.
“Eternal” Painting by Jenny Meehan
jenny meehan jamartlondon art work uk licensable images©jenny meehan
Eternal by Jenny Meehan ©jenny meehan
This is one of my paintings which has been licensed for use as a book cover. The cover designer was Alison Beek. I really like my paintings being used in this way, and it is a small source of income which helps sustain my artistic practice, so it’s very much valued.
“Finding God in all things, hearing God’s voice for ourselves and others…the Quiet Spaces Prayer Journal will help you to develop and maintain a life of creative prayer. With space to write, quotations drawn from Christian tradition and BRF’s Quiet Spaces publication to aid reflection, this is ideal to buy for yourself or as a gift for anyone wanting to deepen their prayer life. It features quotations to inspire, allowing plenty of space to write.
Quiet Spaces Prayer Journal Spiral bound edition by Mrs Olivia Warburton”
Edited by Mrs Olivia Warburton ISBN-139780857465245Format Spiral bound, Publisher BRF (The Bible Reading Fellowship) Publication date23 Sep 2016Pages192Product dimensions 150 x 210 x 14mm E Weight338g
“Quiet Spaces is BRF’s prayer and spirituality journal. Published three times a year, each edition journeys through up to nine themes drawn from the Bible, spiritual writers, the natural world, the lives of Christians from across the centuries or from Christian spiritual traditions. Each theme is explored in twelve prayerful ways using creative activities, your personal faith experience, poetry, liturgy, reflection, imagining and meditation, helping you into a heart encounter with God. Ideal both for those who have discovered the benefits of reflection, meditation and contemplation and are looking for a resource to guide their periods of quiet and for people coming to reflection and meditation for the first time.”
I use my own copy!
This months post is September and October combined! It’s my aim to write a bit less on my journal each month and work more on my poetry. As I mentioned at the beginning, a brilliant course on mosaic at West Dean college tutored by Vanessa Benson has provided some interesting routes in using mosaic, and along with my other ongoing experiments with silica sol mineral paint I want to immerse myself more in silence and music and poetry than longer blog entries. And drumming too. I am loving my djembe, and enjoying learning some traditional West African patterns.
I think I may have exhausted my writing capacity a little bit when writing “The Very Patient Knee Replacement Story by Jenny Meehan” last year! By the way, the knee is working wonderfully. It’s an “Attune” knee. I am no longer disabled and able to live a full life. I am so grateful for the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre, and the NHS. My life would be quite different without such a positive experience.
west dean college short course jenny meehan flora and foliage images© Jenny Meehan
How to Support Jenny Meehan
If you like my art working and would like to support me you can! Pop
Paypal.me/jennymeehan
in your browser and follow instructions. There’s no option for me to thank you via the PayPal Me process but do contact me via contact form and let me know if you have gifted me so I can thank you.
You can buy my original paintings… Just contact me via the contact form. Price range is between £250 and £400.
Also available via redbubble, the well known print on demand marketplace, you can buy unsigned prints on many substrates.
Take a look here, any problems locating it feel free to contact me via the contact page on this Art Journal/ Artist Blog
It’s also a good place to get a feel for quite a big strand of my creative artworking. Any problems locating what you want, feel free to contact me via the contact page on this Art Journal/ Artist Blog jennyjimjams.redbubble.com
I have mostly the abstract, flat colour geometrical art in Redbubble as it makes nice prints. I selected work for that platform in order to help my work become more accessible. There’s also a lot of surface pattern designs. I find creating patterns very therapeutic!
The main style of my original painting is Lyrical Abstraction/Abstract Expressionism. I also enjoy working with black and white photography tending towards pictorialism. I frequently use collage and digital collage.
Jenny Meehan - Art Journal 