A chronicle of the efforts of one artist to manifest a new creative vision.
Sylvia Baldeva
Art that moves me, that most inspires me, has a dreamlike quality. It is more symbolic than realistic. It emerges from somewhere deep with a message that, however vague, is somehow potent. Examples include Bob Dylan’s songs, Picasso’s paintings and improvised jazz music.
In painting, the art that most interests me has a relaxed freedom about it. Sylvia Baldeva, a French artist of Bulgarian origin, is one whose work I turn to for inspiration.
Her paintings carry the quality the Taoists called wu wei — effortless action, nothing forced, nothing withheld.
Here's an example:
Her technique captures the true beauty of watercolor as a medium with its delicate washes and vague shapes. She lived under communism until her teens and that, she says, gave her a love of freedom. She describes her art as an “ode to freedom.”
You can watch an interview of her here.
You can see more of her art here and here.
. . .
This above is the first post in the new Heron Dance Substack, Nurturing the Song Within, exploring work by other artists and authors that is inspiring the transition in my own art to semi-abstract, impressionistic work. You can sign up here.
The Tao Te Ching Journal: A Path To Inner Quiet
Zen Mountain Journal blends Taoist hermit poetry, contemplative art, and reflections drawn from a lifetime shaped by wilderness, solitude, and decades doing creative work on the outer boundaries of our culture. These journals are companions for seekers — guides in the reconnection with inner quiet, beauty, and the “soundless music” of a life lived with simplicity and meaning.
• Size: 9.25 × 8.5 inches — convenient size for desk or lap.
• Hardcover — the book can be written in without a table or desk.
• Double wire-o bound to lay flat.
• Printed on Mohawk Superfine, a premium uncoated paper for a beautiful writing surface.
• 160 pages.
