Description
‘The Everythingness of Everything Else’ by Jeannie Lynn Paske
Artist: Jeannie Lynn Paske
Title: ‘The Everythingness of Everything Else’
Medium: Watercolor, Pastel, Powdered Pigment, Varnish, Graphite and Ink on 300lb Hot Pressed Watercolour Paper
Dimensions: 10.5″ x 13.75″
Framing: Unframed
Year of Creation: 2019
About the Artwork:
“This piece was inspired by a poem written for Carl Sagan by Diane Ackerman in 1976 entitled, “The Diffraction” in which the poet suggests being “stricken by the ricochet wonder of it all” and “knee-deep in cosmic overwhelm” when describing Carl Sagan’s teachings. I find the poem to be captivating both in word usage as well as subject matter. I certainly agree that the universe can be overwhelming in terms of size and mystery and the earth itself home to unbridled beauty. I would love nothing more than to lose myself in these thoughts, however, more often than not, I seem to find myself distracted by the overwhelming chaos our civilization creates on a day to day basis. I wish that the magic of the space that lies beyond our skies would come and inundate my mind on a more consistent basis, if only to remind me of why the bombardment of our actions on this pale blue dot of a planet may not be as all encompassing as I sometimes allow them to be.” – Jeannie Lynn Paske
“The Diffraction”
When Carl tells me it’s Rayleigh scattering
that makes blue light, canting off molecular
grit, go slowgait through the airy jell, subdued,
and outlying mountains look swarthy, or wheat
blaze tawny-rose in the 8:00 sun, how I envy
his light touch on Earth’s magnetic bridle.
Knee-deep in the cosmic overwhelm, I’m stricken
by the ricochet wonder of it all: the plain
everythingness of everything, in cahoots
with the everythingness of everything else.
-Diane Ackerman
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
Jeannie Lynn Paske is a self-taught artist from Portland, Oregon who creates introspective work under the name Obsolete World. Using a mix of watercolor, charcoal, pastel, graphite, varnish and ink, she designs richly textured illustrations of peculiar creatures in thought-provoking settings. The mysteries of life, loss and loneliness are reoccurring themes, and her compositions often focus on the strange and unexplained. Many of her pieces reference philosophy with a nod to both the melancholy and humorous. Her soft sparse environments suggest a warm, dreamlike state, and the emotional imagery paired with her poetic titles help to convey a sense of gentle curiosity in her work.