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Pictured, in-progress eBook, “Images, One Year of Pictures on Yoga-Adan.com”

Please check My eBooks page for current updates on all titles.

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“the intent of this blog is to incrementally build a body of thought that works toward integrating various topics, yoga, fitness, and the arts – it’s a process…”

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Fitness ** Arts ** eBooks

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my original paintings art work, # 1

“swan on lady bird lake” – originally titled “swan on town lake” [1]

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if a picture is worth a thousand words, a painting then, is either worth none, or more than can be said –

and either count could signify like or dislike

so, i’m not gonna try that 😉

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instead –

* i’ll supply a bit of background on the image

* a bit of info on the physical painting: size, medium, brush work, etc as appropriate

* a little history of any prev commentary if available

* if the painting is for sale, donated, sold, or simply in a private collection

* and lastly, but as per my purpose in my blog, integrate what this painting may mean to me, as relating to things-yoga

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i don’t intend to post my work in any particular order, letting myself enjoy picking an image that simply appeals to me to do

at times i may know or sense my choice is:

because of the time of year, or an article i’ve recently posted or intend to, or the image reminds me of something happening in my life at this time –

if i know, i’ll be sure and say…

otherwise, maybe later, i’d get a glimmer of why the clouds and sun played out the sky i saw that day 😉

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not all things are known, or need to be known –

just being where i can seem to know, seems to be enough these days 😉

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enjoy – let me know if you like the image

thank you much!

adan

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Why “Swan on Lady Bird Lake” ?

there’s all kind of reasons why i chose “swan on lady bird lake” as my first painting to feature –

one, it was up on the wall – has been for years since the early 2000’s when i painted it

two, one of my favorites 😉

three, based on a photo i took with my oldest granddaughter, scout, along the hike & bike trail near downtown austin

four, looking at the painting, right now, on the second bedroom’s wall, it closely matches what i describe as a visually-felt state of being

it was an easy choice once my eyes rested on it…

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Picture Facts

* 16×20 oil on canvas

* painted about 2002

* not for sale

* set in spring in austin

* relatively heavily textured

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Why I Painted “Swan on Lady Bird Lake”

visual art i create comes from a verbally-complex intuitively-simple part of me

i can usually verbalize and verbalize the whys and whats of a piece of art i create

but it goes back to and comes from the image touching this most consistently conscious part of myself i can remember

this is especially true of visual art i create in paint

the colors and textures and push and pull of brush among pigment is like a self-guided visual meditation

all i require is a concentrated co-ordination of my eye, my hand, and my heart

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the day was beautiful, austin at its remaining-good-weather best

the day had warmed toward the 90’s but been beat back nearing evening

scout, our oldest granddaughter was visiting, and we’d walked down to (then) town lake  [2] to catch the sights

joggers with bp monitors strapped like a stripe around their chest passed by, mingling with 3-wheel strollers holding tots or pets – shadows were creeping down the banks into the water – and the noise and shudder of all the autos waiting for their lights were…silent

the shuttered power plant along the north bank of the lake (the fragility tamed colorado river dammed further upstream to the west toward the sun toward the hill country) cast smoke-stack shadows reaching past the reflected creeping growth of green

scout spotted a bird, a white swan, the swan of town lake i told her, grinning – you know, like swan lake – no grandpa, that’s lame she grinned yet smiling through her eyes

i took some shots – there’s another one grandpa – click click

evening was cooling and we were getting hungry…

grandma would have supper ready 😉

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Details

this was the early years of my switch from acrylics to oil, from harder edges and abstraction – to softening blending sides and i-can-recognize-that images

i liked experimenting with thickly laid undercoats with ridged passages of color

i liked cross-laying the over-coats in skips and jumps and peek-a-boos

hellos and smiles and surprise expressions

but always touching the heart…

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Yoga

so is this yoga?

well, at this level of feeling, that i have for both my art and my yoga practice, there’s no doubt for me it is

does it fit all definitions of yoga?

i doubt it 😉

but then, it doesn’t fit “everyone’s” definition of art either 😉

namaste – con dios – god be with you

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adan’s orignal paintings series

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footnotes

[1] lady bird lake, austin, tx

the name for the portion of the colorado river that is flow-controlled that passes by downtown, was originally called town lake

except for after heavy rainfalls, a person can actually canoe on the river most of the time

a few years ago, a non-binding vote-in was held, and town lake was renamed in in honor of lady bird johnson, the wife of president johnson from texas – i totally supported that with my own vote for her

lady bird did more to beautify texas (in my lifetime) than any other person i know of

there are actually stretches of texas hwys that are a visual pleasure to drive, esp in the spring time

it is hard to realize, without seeing photos or film of what the banks of town lake looked like before lady bird took charge of making town lake useful for the people of austin, how treeless and muddy and outright dangerous the place was

[2] a super great short video to see, is from downtownaustintv.org/

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