Quotations and art - Ways of seeing

Today, here are a few more favorite quotations, paired with art.

"There is, at the surface, infinite variety of things; 
at the center there is simplicity and unity of cause."

Ralph Waldo Emerson said this, and these are my three favorite, very simple tiles. Less can be more. I particularly appreciated this quotation when I was focusing on mandala imagery, considering the center and the perimeter.

"The ability to create beauty is God's greatest gift to man. 

And the appreciation of beauty - whether man-made 
or natural - is not only a joy but an active call 
to something much greater than oneself."

The quotation is from Painton Cowen in the book Rose Windows which I greatly enjoyed years ago, again, when I was researching and creating mandalas. This ATC I made has found a new home. The hummingbird is a transfer print; the rest is pen and ink on eco-dyed paper.

"See the extraordinary in the ordinary."

I'm sure I heard this somewhere, but I'll take credit for it. 😉 I'd brought this pine cone home because something about it appealed to me. Later I was looking at it and it struck me that there was a pattern of triangles at the ends so I did this drawing focusing on those triangles. 

"It is time for parents to teach young people early on that 

in diversity there is beauty and there is strength."

Thank you, Maya Angelou. It's time to stop seeing black and white, men and women, old and young, as opposites and in conflict, and instead know that they are complementary. Let's grow up.

These two pieces were created by cutting tiles in half - in an irregular line - and sticking the opposite halves together. There is another black-and-white and another black-and-tan tile somewhere.

"If thou wishest a discerning eye and seekest for a hearing ear,

 set thou aside that which thou hast heard 

from fathers and ancestors, for such things are imitation."

We mustn't believe everything we hear. We have a rational brain; let's think for ourselves.
These "pages" are drawn on eco-dyed paper. Looking for hints of subject matter in the dye markings, I just couldn't stop seeing eyes at the top right of the one page, so even though I almost never depict people I went with the flow and discovered this man. The quotation seemed to go well with it.

From The Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Baha

Want more? See A few favorite quotations... (and art) here.