Read My Book: Focal Points- Artful Practices that Bring More Peace
Roxanne and I have a new book, Focal Points- Artful Practices that Bring More Peace
It seems like something is set loose in the world. Do you feel it too? Wars and rumors of wars? It looks like multiple forces of destruction are intensively and simultaneously at work everywhere. And just when we think we can’t stand ONE MORE THING, a new thing comes darkly with breathtaking force and sometimes, with violence.
Writer Ronald Steed and watercolor artist Roxanne Steed have been feeling something… a nudge toward resistance; things they could do and commend to others, however small, that would mitigate or stop the madness, or at least add some peaceful counterweights.Roxanne’s art was the inspiration. The focal point of a painting is where there is the greatest contrast between light and dark… it draws the eye in a most compelling way. The focal point is where the sharpest edges are… where the painting is most in focus; edges deliberately soften as the painting moves away from the focal point.Focal Points in France - Artful Practices that Bring More Peace, evokes many peaceful practices, one focal point at a time. Each point will have a watercolor painting rendered by Roxanne, with a haiku and a meditation by Ronald, centered on a peace-practice that can be tried. These practices have a focal point; the place of greatest contrast between conflict and peace, where the sharpest spiritual edges are located.
They completed all the works in this book as Artists-in-Residence at Chateau Orquevaux, France (https://www.chateauorquevaux.com), where they spent the entire month of July 2022. As Ron put it; "For both of us, it was the most artistically productive month of our lives. It helped that we were immersed in two groups of profoundly creative artists of many mediums; there was so much inspiration. We would wake up in the morning and set to work. By the time the sun was setting, we wondered where the day had gone."
These are paintings, poems, and meditations inspired by the environment around us, not a scholarly treatment about non-violent resistance, rather a breathing in of the spirit that others might share. Their hope is that other artists, whatever their medium, might find a new purpose behind their work; the setting-loose of peace into the world.
