New Website Design

It’s finally here, my new and improved art portfolio website, http://www.pamelaheyda.com!  I’ve been putting off reworking it for a long time because I thought it would take weeks to complete.  Not so!  I created the whole thing in less than a week.  

The original design was no longer working with my newer paintings, and it had become hard to navigate. Then earlier this year I updated my computer’s system software and lost the ability to open my website design software.  It was either learn a new program and start from scratch or use a web based portfolio system.  I went with Zenfolio.com because I found it attractive, easy to use, and affordable.  After setting up my website I contacted the kind folks at Domainregistry.com who helped me transfer my domain to Zenfolio.

Please check it out and let me know what you think.  I find the work looks better in the new format.  It is more crisp and clean.  

Proteus

Chaetoboda (Annelida or worms) by Ernst Haeckel

 

This weekend I watched an interesting film about scientist/philosopher/artist Ernst Haeckel called “Proteus”.

Haeckel was born in 1834.  He discovered and documented over 4000 of the 5000 species of radiolarian, single celled organisms from the bottom of the sea.  Radiolaria have lived on this planet for over 500 million years! 

But there is more to Haeckel than scientific discovery.  He was also an artist.  In love with all of nature, he painted landscapes.  Early in his life he found himself torn between the world of art (playful, heartfelt, creative) and science (serious, cold, rational).  In the film he is quoted as saying that he feels like Faust, torn between two worlds.  He strives to bring together mind/heart, precision/passion, and spirit/matter.  In discovering radiolaria he fused these opposites by drawing and painting his discoveries and exalting in their beauty and mystery.  Through the radiolaria he realizes that all of nature is a single, unfolding work of art.

Cylon Jungle River by Ernst Haeckel

The film also weaves “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge into the narrative.  Using the poem’s inward journey of the mariner and outward voyage of the ship, we see an example of overlapping quests, much like Haeckel's. 

I think I was taken by this film because of my own search to marry the inner and outer.  At this time I’m striving to make my outward life reflect my artistic and spiritual inner life.  I also love this film because of the absolutely jaw dropping, gorgeous drawings and paintings of microscopic creatures by Haeckel.

Trachomedusae by Ernst Haeckel

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from the movie:

You must, when contemplating Nature,

Attend to this in each and every feature:

There’s nought outside and nought within,

For she is inside out, and outside in.

Thus will you grasp, with no delay,

The holy secret, clear as day.

Goethe – from his late poem “Epirrhema”

“There is one spirit in all things, and no body is so small that it does not contain a part of the Divine substance whereby it is animated.” – Girodano Bruno

Side notes: 

*Proteus is an ancient Greek God of the sea. 

*Some selections from the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl_onFMjJWA 

*This film is available on Netflix.

Array of Radiolaria by Ernst Haeckel

"Commitment"

I splurged on a set of Angel Cards the other day.  I’ve wanted some for years.  I love how simple they are.  Tiny laminated cards, each with one word and a tiny angel drawing.  When I got home I took them out of the box, mixed them up (upside down) on the couch, closed my eyes, emptied my mind and picked one.  I got “Commitment”. 

Instantly this word brought many thoughts to mind.  First, I thought about my marriage commitment.  Could the card be sending me a message about that?  No, that vow is as solid as can be.  Certainly not commitment to my job, I’m a dedicated teacher through and through.  But what about the promises I’ve made to myself?  To be true to myself, live my dreams, and be kind and compassionate towards others.  Those are the personal commitments I think about every day. 

Then there is the commitment to my current project; setting up an Etsy store by the end of January.  That takes perseverance I didn’t have until now.  I have a plan of action, clear goals, and steps needed to get there.  I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.  How I will refuse to give up when I get to the difficult, boring, or not fun parts (if there are any).  This project is about much more than starting a hobby-type business; it’s proving I can finish what I start and that I’m devoted to my art.

So, if I feel my art and I are one in the same, then am I not committing to myself as well?