Dee's brilliant art images will be featured at Celestial Creations in "T or C" throughout the summer of 2010 - while Dee travels the Southwest and Northwest seeking further inspiration for her life and her paintings. Celestial Creations represents 100+ New Mexico artisans/artists/craftspeople/companies. See their website HERE.

STARGAZER © 2010

Visiting Bandelier National Monument, after a concert in Los Alamos, NM in 2007, brought me back to an earlier world of “the ancients.”  Wandering the ruins of this ancient pueblo and exploring some of the crumbling kivas, I climbed up into one of the hillside cavates to meditate on the many symbols surrounding me. It was a peaceful place

offering a  keyhole view of the beautiful valley spread below . . . and calmness spread through me as I relaxed into a more expanded awareness of my connection to things past, present and future.  Cares and concerns of the present faded into an understanding that all time is suspended when we live in the moment . . . all possibilities come alive first in our imagination and are then able to be materialized in our physical world.  I am not sure  whether I remained there for minutes or hours, but when I emerged to walk further up the trail, late afternoon skies were feathered with strange clouds and the huge rocks ahead seemed to loom larger than life.  Pausing to photograph them, I was caught up in “other world senses” and found myself sitting gazing at the sky in a powerful harmony with the silhouetted figure of a “Stargazer Elder.”*  Somehow, the distant heavens did not seem so far away that day in the ancient valley . . .  I, like that giant stone carving that Mother Nature had prepared, was waiting for the return of the “star people” to help prepare the way for a kinder gentler world . . . (Finally painting this 3 years later, the image of ** “Stargazer Elder/Grandfather” seemed to become “Grandmother Stargazer” . . . softly drumming Her new world into existence as “Grandfather’s” voice echoed from the skies)

MOONLIGHT HIGHWAY © 2010 (Sangre de Cristo Mountains)

Passing back through Los Alamos after the concert and my afternoon visit to Bandelier

in 2007, I decided to stop overnight at the campground there so I could get early morning photographs of the Rio Grande and of Camel Rock in Santa Fe the next morning.  Curling up in my back seat, I fell asleep . . . to be awakened later by brilliant moonlight streaming through my car window . . . reflecting off the Sangre de Cristos.  Crossing to the other side of the highway, I took several photographs of the liquid moonbeams reflecting on the dark surfaces of the asphalt and then sat for a few moments on the large triangular rock by the roadside contemplating “the nature of light” and the nature of life . . .

WEEK OF THE MAYAN MOON • Moonlight Way • Earth; Balance of Fire and Water

MY VISION: CAMEL ROCK BY BETHLEHEM STARSHINE  © 2007

Planets converging in the heavens above send brilliant white shafts of light streaming , down upon the craggy rocks & crevices of Camel Rock.  A sheltering cave offers refuge to weary travelers in this miracle of light from afar.  Camel kneels gently after her long journey … as her pilgrims gaze in awe at the scene unfolding before them.  Shepherds from nearby fields have drawn close to pay homage to this holy family of peace …haloed babe and glowing young mother rest in the shadows of the humble stable, where a small gray burro and lamb nestle in closer to provide warmth while protective father stands watch.  Traveling for years, the wise men have reached the end of their search as the predicted convergence culminates in the miracle of the Bethlehem Star!  Hidden from prying eyes and in fulfillment of the Essene predictions, Christ-consciousness first arose on Earth in this one holy form – Jeshua of Nazareth.  This spirit is alive today in Children of God present & awakening on our planet.  Peace in Earth ! Good Will to All !!  

Inspiration: A.R.E. Essene Readings (Edgar Cayce) & Unity Church
Musical Inspiration:  “Camel, Kneel Softly” (Davenport & Schram) & “Camel Rock (Chuck Pyle)

Dee’s newest works are on display at the CONVENTO GALLERY & GIFT SHOP in the PLAZA de ESPANOLA, along with other of Dee’s original oil paintings.  Prints and cards of these and other originals may be purchased at the Convento.  The former Art Center of Fuller Lodge (ACFL), with its mission to “encourage high standards of performance among the artists and craftsmen of Northern New Mexico and provide art- related educational services,” recently restructured in partnership with the City of Espanola, and relocated along this newly developed cultural corridor from the Rio Grande River to Northern New Mexico College. 

A recent press release by ACFL Executive Director, John D. Werenko, envisions that:

“ACFL, as the Northern New Mexico Regional Art Center, will continue to utilize art sales, fairs, and memberships as income streams to support professional artists and to subsidize its education mission to assist underserved populations and tribal communities

. . . The education program at ACFL has included fall and spring art classes and work-shops for adults, enrichment classes for children, classes for the developmentally disabled and a Summer Art School . . . The long-range goal is to help establish the City of Espanola as a cultural destination that serves as a gateway to Taos and O’Keefe Country”

For information and membership in ACFL and the Northern New Mexico Regional Art Center, please visit www.artfulnm.org or call 505-500-7126 or visit the ACFL Office in the Convento, Plaza de Espanola  (at the corner of SR 84/285 and Route 30)  You may also email Executive Director John D. Werenko at artful@losalamos.com

ANDROGYNOUS PAINTING STYLE of Dee Boman. The figures that I paint are sometimes “Androgynous” – not by design but from the innermost spirit of my being as I am painting them.  I want the viewer to be able to interpret the culture, gender, race and era of my subjects based on their needs at that moment in time . . .   (thanks to a conversation with Celeste Rich of Celestial Creations which helped me clarify others’ understanding of my unique way of expressing self).

ARCHETYPICAL IMAGES of Dee Boman
Your work presents as a unique and Jungian reflection of “Archetypical Images” 
(thanks to a recent conversation with Executive Director John Werenko of ACFL)

JUST LET THE MYSTERY BE”
Thanks to a very dear friend who is helping me uncover “the real me.”

Messages for 2010
From: Essene Book of Meditations & Blessings - Danaan Parry

TELTANE – August, 2010

“The Bountiful Harvest is Gathered”
Morning Meditation: (Angel of Air)

This morning brings a different breeze,
A sense of change and newness.
What do I sense,
What blurry vision flickers,
Tempting me?
The winds of change blow in my life,
And I must now decide.
Do I unfurl my sails to catch them
Or keep the sails furled?
My choice this season will set the course
Of many season’s journeys.
Let meditation be my guide;
Let calmness lead the way.

Crouched low under leafy cabbage arbor
I retreat into a tightly curled ball –
nose buried in pungent-scented earth –
I hear the drone of approaching planes.

I have seen London’s bombed out buildings,
darkened hulks where life once lived,
as I skipped the pavement cracks
on a recent excursion to London Zoo.

Mother knows my secret place;
reaches down to grab my hand as
we hasten toward the root cellar
at the bottom of grandfather’s garden.

“How is Sheila doing on the farm?”
someone asks, as we sit in darkness.
We have visited my youngest aunt,
caring for relocated inner city youngsters.

Nature might seem a country haven –
a place for healing and safety –
yet, recently, bombs were dropped
on nearby slumbering seaside village.

No ammunition dumps or agency buildings –
only innocent civilians in their homes,
caught unawares by pilots seeking to
empty their load before returning home.

My great-aunt is crippled by this act,
thoughtless, heedless, as war tends to be.
My childish memories reflect my fear –
Is there no safe place? Even for me?

Today, I still seek communion with peace,
the same farm-ranch-nature ideal of my youth;
but am I yet a youngster, head buried in the earth,
not seeing the low-flying war planes on the horizon?

db Mar. 2003 – Asnuntuck Community College, Enfield, CT; Revisited Jan. 2010 – Tularosa, NM – Bombing resumes on the nearby White Sands Missile Range . . .

POEMS
EMOTION © 2010

When Emotion runs deep, your face furrows a scowl,
The voice that emerges – a low husky growl.
Emotion resonates in me, in some deep primal urge,
That life force denial – a need to purge.

From Mother Earth’s molten core, Her pain arises,
Emotion erupting – days of cleansing water and fires.
In resurrection of Earth, the fire that is you and me,
Becomes an unfoldment – of the more yet to be.

CHORUS

Times of regretted action – and of hesitancy
Come now to play, in a spirit of constancy.
Emotion no longer hidden – in these days of change
Releases us both to run free on the range.

All may be free if – “as above, so below,”
We are conscious of life’s ever-connecting flow.
Emotion is the clue – true unity at the core,
“Owning” Earth or one another will be no more.

CHORUS

CHORUS:
Humble sharing – in a most sacred way
Emotions fully honored – paving a new day.
(dboman) June 14, 2010

IF YOU ARE WHO I THINK YOU ARE © 2010

Years of quiet exploration
Recognizing each precious clue;
Images, thoughts and visions
Of that which is both me & you

Like Wind River’s “Gentler” knows
The power of spirit rests inside
Waiting for Grandfather’s message,
To release, with Grace, the need to hide

CHORUS: If you are who I think you are - Pathways ahead will lead us far

Unfoldment in these days of change,
Of the wholeness that rests in between;
Two lives joined in sacred communion –
A template of what patient love can mean

CHORUS: If you are who I think you are - Pathways ahead will lead us far
dboman June 21, 2010 “summer solstice”

SEEING LOVE © 2010

My spiritual core is very strong –
Feeling, intuiting, relating, sensing;
Earthly body – something’s wrong!
Breathing, eating, talking, walking

Nature’s whims of stormy weather
Blow me away like a floating feather
Quiet times of hibernation before
I rejoin this frantic noisy nation’s roar

CHORUS Seeing Love in many faces –Seeking Family in all places

So much Self effort to join in
What Others find so natural –
Changing my colors to “fit in”
Feels like being a chameleon!

Blending into time and place
Becomes a habit hard to erase
Rather like an actor’s costumed pose
“Who Am I?” No-one knows!

CHORUS: Seeing Love in many faces –Seeking Family in all places

I find my core in Nature’s world
Where silence is the predominant word;
Language of humans can often divide –
The false impressions hurt our pride

Actions speak louder and clearer
Sparkling waters and clear blue skies
Bring our souls closer and dearer
Bridge the boundaries of eternal lives

CHORUS: Seeing Love in many faces –Seeking Family in all places (db-6/23/10)

“People of the Horse” are usually nomads!  Dee is spending time in solitude trying to determine just how to travel the path of partnership effectively & joyfully . .

“STILLNESS”

“A little period of quiet and rest each day is your opportunity to establish yourself at the center of your being, the one place where the supply of life and substance is inexhaustible. God is this eternal life that we make into living. Each day you should have a regular period of stillness when the soul may gather sustaining power and restoring life. God gives freely; it is for us to keep the receiving channels open, to keep attuned to the realities so that this intellect of ours does not take us out among the limited ideas of the world.  The manifest man must have the sustenance that can come only from within. We should not draw the strings of this instrument of Spirit so tight that the music of the soul cannot find expression, but this is what living in the world without withdrawal to the secret place does to us.” (Myrtle Fillmore, Co-founder of Unity)

“A finely-tuned and sensitive instrument requires the hand of a master player for the true vibration to be revealed and actualized”  (Dee Boman, Natures Images artist)

RE-CREATION

It seems as though every 5-7 years, I am challenged to “re-create” myself (after xxx yrs, you would have thought I’d get the hang of it!)  It is always a puzzle though; what to keep, what to say, whether to go, whether to stay?  The “pull” between the call of the road (new friends/expanded spaces) and the old (familiar friends/known places).  My prayers sometimes seem to be answered by “messages” in my old Daily Word journals – guidance from my spirit of old to my spirit of present.  Also valued are “messages” from other friends and mentors – which I stumble across in my sorting and preparing for the way ahead – “gems” that are left once I have made again my many trips to the dump!  I remember that my step-father, “Daddy,” always said that owning things was not that important – having the use of them  should be sufficient.  Native Americans certainly did not understand the white way of “ownership” – land, water, air, animals and minerals  were there as a gift from our Creator – to be shared and used only in a sacred way.

Somehow, I cannot seem to be content in a “fenced-in” situation for very long; gates, fences, cities & towns with too many buildings, signs, traffic; all diminish the sense of the world of natural wonder and my sense of self as part of the whole universe.  When I am on the road (away from the confines of whatever abode I am calling home, along with its many responsibilities & possessions), I feel more alive and vibrant, part of the whole again – the longing for freedom grows – life is a trail not a camp!

 

MEANDERING

As I meander again the path of old memories, I remember early married life when the open road called to us and we went.  In a 28-ft travel trailer, we spent a year (1966?) in New Orleans.  Walking the levee of the Mississippi, art and chicory coffee in Jackson Square, the jazz of Al Hirt & Pete Fountain, and the Huey P. Long Bridge! If I needed the car for work that day, a solo drive across this huge arched bridge over the Mississippi River to Avondale Shipyards was required – in an old, very wide Cadillac de Ville, with “The Train They Called the City of New Orleans” (love that song!) running along my center side and a series of loud, wide, noisy diesel trucks blocking my outer view of the deep green waters below. The following year was spent at a shore side park - Indialantic, FL - within driving distance to work at Kennedy Space Center - the screech of seagulls waking us to walk the beach and gentle lapping aqua waves lulling us to sleep at night.

My spirit wonders if this life-style would be possible again in “my 60’s?” (not prepared for a completely hippie life in “the 60’s,” I nonetheless enjoyed my own “50’s” - Happy Days version of gypsy life!)  So, I’m looking at motorhomes & camper-vans, wondering what comes next in this ever unfolding saga of seeking my true mission in life?  Friends do not always understand my wanderlust but the call of the open road is never boring or confining and I feel there is something more that I have to accomplish – the road less traveled may hold the answers.