Before dawn, in the crisp cold air of an old house still thinking about firing up the furnace, I creep past sleeping lumps of my children and up the stairs. My friend and I smile greetings, unwilling to disturb with unnecessary words a quiet that feels somehow reverent. Large cups of coffee cradled in…Read more See You – Progression of a Piece
art
Painting a Place Beyond
I discovered this week that writing about the American/Vietnam War stirred up a torrent of scary emotions. I often “think” in feelings, not words or even images, but currents of emotional energy. After I wrote certain phrases, they tossed around in my head like a bare branch in the wind. Then, as I reflected further,…Read more Painting a Place Beyond
My Truce With the City
Turning down the obscure alley on my way to Modbo and S.P.Q.R., twin galleries in downtown Colorado Springs, my memories slip to another time and place. I see a much younger version of myself, laughing with friends in a city-scape of clanging metal, hissing manholes, and steam curling into clouds. At first, I skidded into the city like…Read more My Truce With the City
Into the Light
Dense, opaque tendrils curl, clutch me captive. I wither in the cruel confines of this grasp. When suddenly, inexplicably, the darkness reels back upon itself, cringing. Light flung like glitter, gleaming like oil on water, unveils the secret of this murky prison cell. The mystery of the darkness – myriad colors warped, bound so densely as…Read more Into the Light
To Know About God or to Know God
To hear about God, to know about God, you go through the motions. You don your Sunday best. You settle reverently on a golden wood pew. Like the words that are said, a smattering of colors from stained glass windows cascades across your face but never touches your heart. You bask in the peace of the sanctuary,…Read more To Know About God or to Know God
Progression of a piece – Songs in the Dark
There is an idyllic perception of the artist, wiling away hours in beauty and serenity. Paint streams from garden paths of the mind. Birds sing, sun shines - effortless flow. Perhaps this is the experience of some creatives. It is not a familiar space to me. Almost every piece I begin thrusts me onto a precipice…Read more Progression of a piece – Songs in the Dark
Songs in the Dark
Sometimes darkness presses in all around, suffocating, like the hazy veil of smoke from a nearby wildfire. It irritates our eyes, catches in our breath, and coats everything in layers of black soot. But we are able to hold it at bay, just beyond the ragged edges of our being. We figure out how to…Read more Songs in the Dark
Sojourn
Something autumn seeps among these grasses. Rooted, fettered - bodily, as through me treads the sky. Pressed to this leaden veil, geese consume me there, suspended in their hollow, longing call. Oh, ponderous song! Where the way through? Take flight! if I could, neither north nor south -
Why I Make Art
I am wired to connect with people. Although I measure about as strong on the introvert scale as possible, I am an introvert who loves people. I need to connect with others in order to thrive. For many years of my life, I felt torn between these two seemingly contradictory compulsions. I crave hours of…Read more Why I Make Art
Called
One minute you are leaning back, reveling in early morning-bird songs, relaxed, mind wandering. Then something quickens your spirit. You bolt upright, alert and faintly alarmed. You suddenly become aware that you are in the Presence of One Much Greater. And He is calling you. Maybe the calling is to meet Him for the first…Read more Called
Colleen Briggs Images & Writing 