Hikari - (No.II)

Steve, I believe we must all learn to trust in the process and believe that our needs will be provided for. Whilst uploading this photograph I suddenly remembered Kenzaburō Ōe who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994 for creating “an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament. Oe also had many of his own personal difficulties to overcome, one being a boy born with a defective cranium that required multiple operations. The doctor’s bleak prognosis for the newborn became fused in Oe’s mind with the image of the ‘little boy lost’ in William Blake’s Song of Innocence, in which the boy searches for a father who has abandoned him. These reflections revived images of Oe’s own traumatized childhood and the terror of the Nuclear Age, an era that began with Japan’s defeat. While his infant hovered between life and death that summer, the young father participated in the annual Peace Memorial Service for victims of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. He returned spiritually transformed by his encounter with the survivors of the blast, who faced their agony with indomitable courage, and from conversations with Dr. Fumio Shigefuji, who counselled Oe to give in to neither hope nor despair. The father, who had assumed his son would die, saw a ray of hope for the future.
Hikari – meaning ‘light,’ as in a beacon – said nothing intelligible and showed no indication of hearing during his first five years, reacting only to a recording of over a hundred wild bird songs. One day, while Oe was strolling with Hikari astride his shoulders, and as chirping birds flew over the treetops in the forest, the boy announced, mimicking the voice on the recording, “They are water rails.” His parents learned that, despite his autism, poor eyesight and epileptic seizures, he was endowed with perfect pitch. Later awakened to the sounds of classical music and now a successful composer, he has found a means of communicating his private emotions through music. Like a mythological character transposed into a constellation, Hikari is transposed into the central fictional character in Oe’s mature works, in which Hikari is the incarnation of Oe’s profound affinity with the ‘little boy lost,’ the abandoned foundling, the outsider, and the anomaly…....Especially For You Steve – A composition by Hikari Ōe…There is always a ray of hope for the future! Thinking of you!Sx

Linda, I have just read your comment and send you something back…
The night wind whispers in my ear,
The moons shines in my face;
A burden still of chilling fear
I find in every place.
The breeze is whispering in the bush,
And the dews fall from the tree,
All sighing on, and will not hush,
Some pleasant tales of thee……John Clare
I think we are all getting messages today! Thinking of you, hope you’re not too snowed under?Sx

Thank you Debra! I appreciate your comment – Kind regards, Sophie

Josh! I’m thrilled that you like this! I was so excited with the whole exercise, like a young child! This is the roughly A4 size….used the top of an ice cream box and then just built different layers. John took some wonderful photographs, using a torch to illuminate the whole piece at the end. Thanks for taking the time to comment! I really appreciate your input! Came across a very interesting artist today….. Something for you to view….Josh you like it?Sx

Liesbeth, as with all my work I need time to focus and try and understand what the messages may be. As I have completed a few paintings in this fashion I have felt a strong link to Bosch. I can see a few faces under the layers of ice and paint. I had a very strange experience when working on a lecture about this wonderfully mystical painter, who I could spend the rest of my life studying. The painting I was looking at was The Conjurer who was dressed in red robes. He suddenly
changed into a beautiful bird, which I later drew. I will try and look for it Liesbeth, it was quite an experience. Thank you for your comment….I’m sending you a link to the original painting….Bosch – Hope you are well? Thinking of you!Sx

I like that expression Tone….Lab of Life....can I use it? I was wondering if I would ruined a screen print frame if I froze it? I’ve been thinking about that today! What do you think. I have an old one so I guess it doesn’t really matter. I would love to see some of your experiments, why don’t you share them with us? Can I persuade you?....Obviously my snow fight proposition didn’t inspire you, never mind Tone….I can live with it! Hope you are well?Sx

Vickie, I have been thinking about you today….and waiting! I hope you are feeling better? Thank you for your wonderful words…we both know the serenity prayer:- God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to the change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Thinking of you and sending you a big…Bigger Hug!Sx