The Rainmaker. I harness.
The energy of tropical sunshine and rain.
Bringing sweetness to the earth and all that she flowers. ~Ally.
This week I have been researching:
STEEMBAY after reading @rheteric's Alchemy-Stone and @denmarkguy's The Steemit and Steem Economy is WORKING.
Different types of Creative Commons Licenses after looking at @alexandravart's DISCONNECT new free crypto artwork.
And explain why I've decided to wholeheartedly
Embrace Creative Commons.
The concept of Creative Commons is not entirely new to me. Although I wasn't aware of the actual term Creative Commons, by the early 2000's my heart was already stepping away from the practice of copyright after being deeply immersed in its legalities. SEE BELOW.
It all began after twelve years of painting on silk, along with the promotion and marketing of this work through all manner of group and solo exhibitions in art galleries and high-end retail stores, as well as various trade and craft fairs around Sydney.
Silk paintings like Living in bliss in the Hinterland were designed to touch a viewer with their vibrant colour and symbolic intimations. As well as being seen in person in many different venues they were also reproduced as cards and prints.
As it was always my wish that the the healing energy I wished to infuse these paintings with, would be felt by as many people as possible: What better way to do that now than to make them available as Creative Commons images?
Handpainted on Silk by Alison Lee Cousland.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Living in bliss in the Hinterland
This painting was designed to support someone welcome and delight in change. To acknowledge that:
Change is the only constant.
There is nothing permanent except change. ~Heraclitus.
The prospect of a relationship falling apart, or any of the myriad of life's circumstances changing can sometimes be quite daunting. We feel change is inevitable and that it may even be for the ultimate best. Yet why do I have this tightly knotted feeling in my solar plexus, restricting my breathing and my ability to even feel anything?
Looking at Living in bliss in the Hinterland will support you because:
The frog as a spirit animal or totem reminds us of the transient nature of our lives. As a symbol of transition and transformation, this spirit animal supports us in times of change. Strongly associated with the water element, it connects us with the world of emotions and feminine energies, as well as the process of cleansing, whether it’s physical, emotional, spiritual or energetic. ~Elena Harris. Source: Frog Spirit Animal.
You may wish to optimize your health by changing your diet, exercise program, waking and sleeping routines: Or deepen your relationship/s with your partner and/or parent/s: Or increase the range of your creative expression.
You may not know how or where to start: Just that you see the need and know you must instigate change in some form.
Looking at Living in bliss in the Hinterland will support you because:
Like the Green Tree Frog the Cooktown Orchid of northern Queensland loves water ~ Your emotional nature. Her gentle feminine beauty will soften your resistance to changing the things you wish, deep down to change. Absorb her violet openness as you make a start, and let her graciousness carry you into making those changes.
My journey: The short version.
After participating in a single morning workshop on how to paint on silk in the late 80's, I experimented by myself for several weeks with a variety of silk painting techniques on different silk fabrics.
My ultimate aim was to draw and paint on silk in very fine detail and in order to achieve the degree of fineness I wanted, I developed my own techniques of Serti Silk Painting.
There is much still to share with you about my silk painting journey: The enchantment of the medium, the road paved with gold, as well as the challenges and disappointments I faced.
Stepping away from the practice of copyright after being deeply immersed in its legalities.
By the mid 90's my work was recognized in Australia, for its fineness of detail. And I was facing the age-old artist's dilemma: How to have enough quality time needed to produce new paintings when the marketing took so much of my time and energy?
Was it my desire to find someone who could take care of all the marketing for me that led me to introduce myself to a woman, who immediately loved what I was doing and suggested we negotiate about the reproduction of my work.
Can you imagine how tantalizing the proposition of: An entire store dedicated to my artwork, similar to Ken Done's Gallery and his Shop sounded to me?
The VERY short story: After weeks of exchanging and modifying The DEED with regular visits to the Arts Law Center of Australia I had to walk away from it all. But I walked away with a much better understanding of copyright and a far stronger determination to develop whatever it took for me to be able to market my own work.
Creative Commons Licenses.
Of the six different Creative Commons Licenses, CC BY is the most liberal.
This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials. Source: About The Licenses.
At the moment, because the legalities of Creative Commons are all new to me, I've chosen the ShareAlike License for Living in bliss in the Hinterland because this License will ensure that any work derived from it will also be available under the same license terms.
NOTE: This is also one of the mechanisms that will enable the growth of digital Creative Commons.
Terms of CC BY-SA.
This ShareAlike license will allow you to reproduce and/or manipulate this image even for your commercial purposes.
You are required to attribute me, Alison Lee Cousland as the designer/artist.
You also need to be willing to license any of your new creations that make use of this image, under the identical terms IE allow others to reproduce and/or build their own art upon your art, as well as granting their right to commercial usage.
I know I haven't adequately explained yet why I've decided to wholeheartedly embrace Creative Commons. I expect my ideas and feelings about Creative Commons will continue to unravel, when I share more next time.
Beautiful painting, and very evocative poem along with it.
I still use copyright claim because I have suffered so many cases of art and music theft. The problem is not cc because they have also licenses that does not allow derivative work or commercial use but people misconception that cc is free despite clearly having different licenses. Thus information in general is welcome and needed for users too. In general there is so much misconception about intellectual property on internet. So whichever license what matters at the end is that author and creator is the one who has the right to chose the conditions
Thank you for explaining some of the aspects of the CC license. I am going to try to do a collaboration of your image here. I am going to see if I can combine some of my own art along with yours, and if they compliment each other. Thanks! Looking forward to working on this.
A pleasure @pyrowngs.
I'm really looking forward to seeing the transformation that you will bring to Living in bliss in the Hinterland ~ Especially seeing that the green tree frog invites change.
Can you let me know here, when you share it. 🙏
OK - I completed my collaboration. Check it out:
https://steemit.com/creative-commons/@pyrowngs/living-in-bliss-at-hendry-s-beach-creative-commons-collaboration-with-allyinspirit
Hope you like it!!
Absolutely thrilled to see your new version of Living in Bliss @pyrowngs. 🦋
Hendry's Beach is such a wonderful new part of the world for the green tree frog to explore now.
I love Living in Bliss at Hendry's Beach so much. The silk and watercolour combination works so well. 🦋
Oh, Yay! So glad you like it! :) Wow! Steemit is awesome! Who would have thought that someone from Australia and someone from Oregon would get to collaborate? Pretty cool!
I love your work! This one has such lovely sensitive colours... The work is alike batik in the sense batik also has hand painted silks, probably the way the colour is absorbed on the material ~ all I know is that it is gorgeous...
Have a wonderful day, my friend... 😊🌼
Thanks ever so much @ackhoo.
I've always loved Batik work: Especially the traditional works made with natural dyes. I bought a Batik wall hanging when I first came to Sydney, as a homecoming present for myself, because Sydney seemed to be my home and this feeling has proven to be true. The fabric is faded and tearing apart now but I can't bear to part with it.
Yes, the technique of Serti is very similar to Batik. Where heated wax is used in Batik, Serti uses Guta as the resist to outline the areas to be painted. My aim was to make this line as fine as possible while it still acted as a 'barrier.'
The vibrancy of colour is achieved because the dyes penetrate the silk so that the natural sheen of the silk remains. So pleased you like it. Have a few more to share now as well. (While still trying to find the space to experiment with my pastels.)
Hope you are having a wonderful week-end. Sulty Sydney has finally broken. Looking forward to autumn now and thinking of going to the Great Ocean Road in March. 🦋
This is breathtakingly beautiful, from the vivid colours to their deeper meaning. I wouldn't have know it was silk if you hadn't told me. Is it considerably harder to paint on silk than a regular canvas/paper?
I think it's amazing to share this with everyone under the creative commons license. I'd like to remix this awesome art sometime when I find the time.
Thanks so much for your appreciation @soulturtle.
Not so much harder, just a different technique to play with. The dyes spread in a similar way to watercolour pigment on a wet watercolour paper only more evenly.
A resist called Guta is used, similar to wax used in Batik. As long as it totally penetrated the silk it acted as a barrier to the spreading of the dye. Too much water and you end up with nasty dark lines. Not enough guta and you end up with colours leaking.
Most artists weren't so concerned about the leaking guta and excess dye marks etc. but I was attempting to 'perfect' these technical aspects and through a lot of trial and error worked out how to do this.
I'd be absolutely delighted if you want to use this or any of the other images I'll be sharing of my silk paintings. Please let me know so I can see what you do.
TIME ~ Everyone I speak to seems to want more of it. It's becoming one of the most precious 'commodities' on our planet. ⚖️
It seems like you've perfected silk painting techniques. It looks so clean and neat you can't tell it's actually on fabric. The only experience I have with silk and colour is through a shibori workshop which was awesome. Doing something like this must definitely take a lot of practice to get right.
So as soon as I saw this, I wanted to try out something with it. You're absolutely right about time. It's the most valuable resource yet it doesn't really exist. This last month has just flown by. I kept this on the back burner for a long time, but finally got down to getting some colab art done.
Colab Art Through Steemit with @allyinspirit
I wrote a post on it which I've linked here if you'd like to see.
I did a little shibori work too Soul Turtle and loved it ~ Have a leaning towards all the Japanese arts as well as indigo dying.
I'm so pleased you could find the time to propell Living in Bliss into another rebirth.
Loved this image and the last two in particular. Collaboration certainly brings in some amazing surprises. What you have done has inspired me to work with some of my own images again too. Resteemed your post.
I'm going to share another of my paintings on silk, perhaps in this coming week now. Will be delighted to share and give your collaboration a mention. ♥︎♥︎🦋♥︎♥︎
Glad you liked my reinterpretations . Your art is quite awe inspiring.
Revisiting old art can be great. I've feel like my art is always evolving and going back to older drawings can reveal new perspective. You should also check out Mirror Lab if you have a smartphone. It's fairly easy to use and can create a myriad of possibilities by combining effects.
I'd love to see more of your silk art and the process behind creating something like this. Looking forward to those posts!
Thanks a lot @soulturtle.
I have some collages that were done after my silk painting phase. I want to work with them before sharing them. So it could be interesting to see the transition that Mirror Lab could bring to them.
Unfortunately I didn't photograph the stages of my work when I was painting on silk and so I only have the final images. Hoping to present another this week: The Inland Desert. 🦋
amazing thank you so much for starting to share with CC , this is @alexandravart and this is my CC community account, and I featured you on the wall of fame
sticker art badge of honor made by @drawingly
Thanks so very much Alex.
It was your article that stirred me into looking more closely into Creative Commons. Understanding now that there are actually different categories of Creative Commons gave me the trust needed to actually assign my work to CC.
Feels wonderful to have this, my first CC image, featured on the 9th day of the Wall of Fame. 🦋
you are so welcome I love your style :)
It's great that you made a new step in the professional plan. Congratulations, @allyinspirit. Unfortunately, there are many bad people who misuse and exploit others' work.
I love your story and appreciate your creativity. Your energy is coming. So you have a positive impact on me, even though you are 10000 miles away. :) Thank you for explaining the symbolism to us.
When I was painting on silk I felt, or rather I was directed to think that I needed to take measures, like using the © with my name, to ensure my work was not reproduced or copied or manipulated by others.
At that time I also had Craftmark accreditation, the officical symbol for quality Australian craft, displayed on my work wherever it was shown.
This was way before on-line days @zoricatech ~ But even then an artists work could be taken by another individual or companies and used as their own. And artists/craftspeople were encouraged to use it.
My venture into working with silk was a semi-commercial one ~ And as such gave me the opportunity to meet lots of other craftspeople in a similar position. Both making and marketing their work. Was such a fun time with so much to learn.
I'm so pleased you could connect with the symbolism in Living in bliss. Working in this way gave meaning and purpose to what I was doing ~ Rather than it being a strictly commercial venture.
Hello Ally!
I used your art and will be sending you SBD after post payout as my way of appreciating artists on the blockchain!
https://steemit.com/community/@ashleykalila/giving-back-to-the-community-sending-sbd-to-steemians
:)
Ashley, thank you SO much. Such a delightful surprise to see that you've featured Living in bliss in the Hinterland as part of your introduction to your new Appreciation Giveaway.
I thought of someone straight away who I feel is truly deserving of wider recognition. Will share the details on your post.
Apart from being published as a greeting card by an Australian Card Company, this is the first time I've made this image accessible for others to use. And it fills me with so much joy that you are the first to share it ~ And in such a kind and generous way. 🦋
As always, your posts are so inspiring as well as heart touching. I love frogs and adore their totem meaning. I love how spirit animals and all of nature impact our lives. Thank you for a look into another aspect of your creativity.
It's such a pleasure to share this particular phase of my art story with you @sunscape. Looking at some of this work now I wonder how far I could have taken it if I hadn't stopped when I did.
I had so many drawings ready to work on and no end of ideas: Mainly inspired by the healing energy of the Australian wildflowers but also starting to look at some of our indigenous birds and creatures.
But as much as the work attracted a certain recognition, I had a few major setbacks and taking a 'reality check' I had to admit that my commercial venture was highly successful ~ NOT. 😊 That was just after the Olympics came to Sydney in 2000 ~ And when I decided I no longer wanted to compromise ANYTHING ~ And went online looking for Greener pastures. 😊
Well done, sweetie, keep up the good work and your beautiful art!
Thanks so much Isabel. Silk really was a beautiful medium to work with. But SO time consuming. I don't know that I would have the patience anymore. So it feels really good to make this piece, and there'll be others now too, Creative Commons. 🦋
It's amazingly beautiful. Worth of all effort! LOVE!
Every time I showed this work, people loved it. Which in itself, made it really worth the effort.
The colours were so much more vibrant than could be captured in a photograph. And these photographs are fairly old now too. It makes me so happy to know you like it Isabel. 💖🦋💖
I really do! I can imagine... photos never make justice to the subject... Cheers, sweetie!
This is so sweetly beautiful my dear Ally ! And colorful at the same time, which is energising and full of peaceful life ^_^
I'm happy to see your painted art my friend !
Since posting and looking at this image again, a wish to do vibrant work has been whispering to my heart.
It just occurred to me. Because nothing is accidental. Maybe some of my pastel work with benefit now from having shared this silk painting.
Over the weekend, I was looking at a door that a friend and I painted with pastels. We painted blackboard paint onto a wooden board and then drew on it with pastels. When it was finished it was covered with thin perspex. At the top was a cupcake with wings with a rainbow sky background and at the bottom were three gingerbread men, surrounded by flowers in the grass. I thought of you and all your lovely bright drawings.
Like your dancing party person Barbara. Such an awesome individual. 🍹
how beautiful and your message too :)
Welcome to Steemit Fairy Feet.
If at any time you find yourself in the throes of changes happening in your life ~ Just visualize this green tree frog amongst the orchids and everything will flow beautifully.
Thanks so much @pixresteemer. I haven't seen the spotlights for 21 February 2018. Will have a look now. 🦋
Great job dear Alison! Happy Sunday! :)
Thanks so much Maya.
Watching colours spread and blend on the silk by themselves was always full of surprises. But then I developed other techniques, in order to create shading and toning where I actually wanted it to be.
Really pleased you like this painting. I hope that you have a wonderful week. 🦋
Your content is very good, I love it
I love to connect with and upvote the comments of people who leave even the simplest of GENUINE comments. That is as long as I can tell by what they say ~ In their own words ~ That they have actually looked at and read what I have shared. Not necessarily all of it, as there's a lot here to take in. But at least some of it.
Spam is discouraged by the community, including comment spam. Tips to avoid being flagged. Thank You. ~@spaminator. 🦋
I love to connect with and upvote the comments of people who leave even the simplest of comments. That is as long as I can tell by what they say ~ In their own words ~ That they have actually looked at and read what I have shared. Not necessarily all of it as there's a lot here to take in. But at least some of it.
Spam is discouraged by the community, including comment spam. Tips to avoid being flagged. Thank You. ~@spaminator. 🦋