Here’s To The Brave Women In Iran

The Woman Behind The Veil

http://www.breitbart.tv/new-iranian-protest-woman-in-revealing-dress-stops-traffic-with-uncovered-hair/

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9917SM80&show_article=1

This peice is a mixed media 6 1/2 x 8 1/2. 

Posting this image of a woman wearing a veil is my way of showing support for the people of Iran, and especially the women who have taken part in the struggle now happening there. I made this picture sometime ago, and it shows a woman in a transparent veil, symbolizing her need to speak and be heard.

I create and post my artwork out of the deep need to communicate, I want to be heard.  Wanting to be heard and to be counted is a basic need. Women in Iran are seen by their laws as a third of a man. Can you imagine having the voice of one who has no real voice?

The Elegance of Oma

The Elegance Of Oma

This 8 1/2 x 61/2 picture was done in mixed media.  I try to depict the lovely elegance of the older women that I saw while in India.  The women there have a way of holding themselves and dressing that is no at all seen in American culture.

Sisters

Sisters 5 1/2 x 7 1/2 oil pastel

This piece was inspired by two girls I saw waiting for a bus in India.  They had that innocent, shy, protective demeanor that you don’t see much here at all.  I caught my imagination because it reminded me of myself and my sisters in pictures form my childhood.

Madonna And Child In Red

This is my interpretation of the union of not just the Mary and her child Jesus, but every mother union with her child.  It doesn’t stop at birth, but is intertwined for ever.  I was informed today that this piece was chosen by Courage Cards to be featured in their on-line gallery at www.couragecards.org.  It is also being considered for a line of holiday cards by the same company for 2010.   If you would like to buy a print or order a card go to the link below.

Madonna And Child In Red

I

How I was in Africa.

In Africa l

In Africa ll

These pictures are not for sale because they are so personal to me.  I went to Malawi ,Africa in 1996 and it was a big turning point in my life.  It interesting how one action or decision can change your life forever.  Really every action has that power, but most don’t change it so dramatically.  It makes one think more about each choice, even a simple one, and where it will lead you.

Two Women In Red

Two Women In Red 6 1/2 x 7 1/2

Illustration Friday, May 1, 2009.  The challenge is the word “hierarchy.”  Humans think they are in charge of everything, the wind , the sky, and even the creatures that slither in the grass, but this is far from the reality.  We seem to be the low end of the pecking order.

Two women in red

waiting under a violet sky.

  The moon in anticipation opens

dropping its light on a watery bed

below and at their ankles gathers.

All thoughts of fear recede in time

 what hides in the grass is out of mind.

 © 2008  Marcella Paliekara

The 19th Wife

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I had made this image before I read The 19th Wife, by David Ebershoff.  Upon reading the book, I felt that the expression on this woman’s face may show what a young Mormon woman might feel at being told she must embrace plural marriage.  To read more about The 19th Wife see http://www.19thwife.com/ann.html.

Watching From The Field

Watching From The Field 9 x 11 oil pastel on canvas board

Yesterday we had our first day above  80 degrees, and I thought about staying up late and watching the night sky. I don’t have a field of grass or wheat to go to to observing the night sky, but I can imagine.  In particular picture, I imagined lying in a field watching something spectacular happening in the night.  It is the anticipation that I tried to capture here and how when you are experiencing something like this the coloring of the moment is altered taking you into the unusual.   Expectation, excitement, and awe change your memories forever.

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A Small Patch Of Moonlight

A Small Patch of Moon 4×4.75 mixed media

This mini piece is so intimate, so romantic, just like the memory of a lost lover years later. 

A Small Patch Of Moonlight

 

In the crest of winter drab,

long hours of darkness drag

my heart and ambition

heave and moan for meaning.

Life feels crippled, 

but hobble forward

I must.

Gingerly through halls

without a candle glow

I creep forward

peering through the curtain

straining to see

a small patch of moonlight

you may have left behind

somewhere in my night..

 

© Marcella Paliekara  2007

 

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Arranged Marriage

 

 

Arranged Marriage 8×10 oil pastel

I called this piece Arranged Marriage.  When I made this piece, I had just received the news of the arranged marriage of my husband’s niece (In Kerala, India), and I though how she might feel. Now, as I reflect on marriage for any of us, the marriage relationship is always a mystery and it is only after it is over by death or divorce or some other ending that we might have a chance of knowing what it really was or meant.  

 I came across this poem A Man And A Woman Sit Near Each Other by Robert Bly and I wanted to share it here.

 A man and a woman sit near each other, and

they do not long

At this moment to be older, or younger,

nor born

in any other nation, or time, or place.

They are content to be where they are,

talking or not talking.

Their breaths together feed someone whom

we do not know.

The man sees the way her fingers move;

he sees her hands close around a book she

hands to him.

They obey a third body that they share

in common.

They have made a promise to love that body.

Age may come, parting may come, death will come.

A man and a woman sit near each other;

as they breath they feed someone we do

not know,

someone we know of, whom we have never seen.

Copyright © Robert Bly