Meri's Musings

I haven't reoriented myself in time even though I've been home for a month now. Egypt did something to my normal sense of place, of time. It's hard to explain, really. All I can tell you is this: something's different. © 2009 Meri Arnett-Kremian. All rights reserved. I lose myself in the moment. I am spending hours writing each day but it seems like minutes. I created a new series of 21 pieces based on chrysanthemum imagery in a couple of days, but it seemed like a couple of hours. Some call this state of mind "flow." I don't know what to call it. I just know I haven't been the same since the trip. Talk about trippin.' Oh boy.

Today my time went to the act of creation. When that happens, everything else flies out the window. Here's one of the new pieces in a series based upon chrysanthemum imagery. © 2009 Meri Arnett-Kremian. All rights reserved. My friend June tells me that in Asia, the chrysanthemum is highly revered.  It symbolizes tranquility, purity, abundance, joy, longevity, and life. She says that John Steinbeck wrote a sad, but sexually charged story about a woman in The Chrysanthemum and that Cathy Song, one of her favorite poets, penned a sensual poem about the chrysanthemum in her work Ikebana . She reminded me that Georgia O'Keeffe painted chrysanthemums that were said to have sexual overtones. She sees them in one of the pieces I worked on today, but she also sees bodhisattva figures (enlightened female deities) or shrouded figures in the same piece. I sent her two files. She thought the other one looked like a spider. I hope it wasn't a black wid...

The chrysanthemum photos were just too tempting. "Wallflower" © 2009 Meri Arnett-Kremian. I had to play today.  

A community museum somewhere in the outskirts of the local area recently mounted an exhibition called "Suffer for Beauty." I didn't go see it because it just didn't fit into my schedule,  but it got me thinking about the ways that I have suffered  in the quest forbeauty on the outside, the place that seems to be of utmost importance in the American scheme of values. Maybe where you live, too. There are the obvious things, of course, like cramming my feet into high heels and teetering around town with feet that are screaming  and back that's trying to adjust its alignment and ankles threatening to twist just to stop the madness. I've also had abdominoplasty, a "tummy tuck", to pull my muscles back into alignment and cut out excessive skin and stretch what's left back together after repeated C-sections left my abdominal muscles a little lax. Hurt like hell (more than the C-sections) and the compression garments I had t...

I know that most of you are too far away but still. . . . I wanted to invite you to my upcoming show of dreamscape images from my "About Time" series. "About Time" © 2009 Meri Arnett-Kremian It's going to be mounted at Dragonfly Holistic Healing in Seattle's Fremont District 760 N. 34th Street "In the Nick of Time" © 2009 Meri Arnett-Kremian in time for the Fremont Art Walk Friday, December 4 (from 5 pm until 8ish) and will be exhibited through December 29. There are seven related images in the series. This is a sneak peek at two of them. Enjoy!

Sometimes I'm lucky enough to take a photograph that excites me, an image that's a visual metaphor. It might say "oneness" "grace" or "sadness." "Seeing All the Way Through to the Heart of Things" © 2009 Meri Arnett-Kremian Here, the magic for me is in the wavy panes of glass showing their age, being just as they are. The meaning I ascribe shines through the transparency and openness, the way you can see all the way through to the light on the other side of things. The light so pervasive and yet delicate, coming in quiet in the morning and illuminating everything inside . The art leaning up against the window walls,  hidden treasures just waiting to be revealed. The whole tableau speaks to me of light and open hearts and the gift of creativity. What moved you today? Tell me.

One of the challenges that most women face is learning how to gracefully wield their power and let their light shine. Some of us were lucky enough to find great role models and learn from their examples. Others of us acquired power but never learned to use it wisely. The rest of us still struggle with expressing personal power. What lessons have you learned that might shine a light for other women? Share with us, please.