An Artist's Eyes
Mary Apple's Journals
A highlighted collection of excerpts from journals, sketchbooks, personal and travel diaries, notes on art and printmaking processes created by former Texas Wesleyan University faculty member, Mary Apple. The collection dates from 1960-1990s.
An Artist's Eyes
LEFT IMAGE:
Untitled (rabbit arch)
Mary Apple
RIGHT IMAGE
"Beasties of the Bean Cathedral
A
-Book-
A series of stories revolving around the garden
- Death of the warrior lizard
- Descent of the beings of light = and the growing of the vines
- Installation of the Toad Pope
- Development of toad site (Deva sitting on it like throan)
Can the garden be seen through the eyes of Bengal the cat -?-
who waits in the weeds at the garden’s edge.
can be designed in the style of an illuminated manuscript. - Crowds of praying mantis = at the installation
- -the wounded hummingbird- relaying his travels
(seeing through a hummingbird’s eyes) - Marriage of the toad & lizard at apse
- Lizard Pope’s bones in Reliquary chest
images
pilgrims will come to worship the bones - Devas riding on the backs of dragonflies
- Great guardian figure standing out under the moonlight in the forest – maybe -he- controls the armys of dragonflies who Divebomb
- Bean beetle – arch enemies-
- The great storm!-"
The Good Pasture Fairy as the Landscape Dawn
Mary Apple
"With my work I strive to show the viewer glimpses from another world. A fantasy world I have created. It has grown over several years and has been [illegible] to me for several years. [illegible]. Only a few random images of this world have been executed… seemingly unrelated but related to my thinking about various parts of this created world. The Evil creature has been pictured by a hooded [illegible] figure, [illegible] the Bean Cathedral is fragmentary- and needs its beans thriving to be complete.
To get images more focused get out- draw with lots of feeling- get out old slides that relate
[illegible]
Angel descending
This fantasy tale is a symbol of my rebirth as an artist. I will draw for NBC & ABC & I will also be a successful illustrator of [illegible] fairy tales – that I will [illegible] with [illegible] & Chris helping me & I will apologize to Chris [illegible] as he has to help sometimes. Beyond my psychic art where is the one who needs to be healed. Who is wounded mentally by violence. She can not bear violence. She is so psychic and is affected by the mental.
She is so psychic, and is so affected by the thoughts of others, she needs the protection mentally, shielding out harmful rays and the GPF is trying to help Bengal learn again how to let the helpful [illegible] She has forgotten in this [illegible] (BORN AGAIN- REINCARNATION… Is it mentioned in the Bible???
The [illegible] one is Death and is [illegible] the Protection Angel. How [illegible] he? But its true. Ask George if he [illegible]
The Great Horned One [illegible] it’s ok
She cries and laughs. She GHO [illegible]
The entire Deva series, an on-going expanding fantasy concerning the Good Pasture Fairy and her relationship with plants, [crossed out], animals and dead. [crossed out] The Devas are a “race” of nature spirits [crossed out] who are invisible caretakers of each plant and animal, and creature in the garden. They are beings of light who can rarely be seen’ when they do appear it is usually as patterns of light & energy faintly visible to human eyes. In the hierarchy of devas the Landscape Deva is the guiding “overspirit” of the garden. The Good Pasture Fairy is a Caretaker. In another guise she is also the Great Horned One who is another aspect of her role as Helper in the Garden. (the secret meaning is The Garden of Eden.) Somewhere this world exists at the same time."
LEFT IMAGE:
A pencil sketch of a blade of grass.
RIGHT IMAGE:
A pencil sketch of an iris. On the right side of the sketch are notes indicating what color the petal should be. Longer petals in a "brilliant yellow" and shorter petals in a "lighter yellow".
Two sketches in pen and framed in a circle. Both sketches feature a woman with a cat(s) and flowers.
A drawing of the tower at the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare of Classe in Ravena, Italy. The drawing is on gray paper with orange, white, black, and reddish brown coloring on the tower. At the bottom of the drawing is written, "Tower S. Apollonaire in Classe, June 8 1985"
LEFT IMAGE:
Great Horned One's Mask
Mary Apple
RIGHT IMAGE:
Entry with additional notes on Mary Apple's Bean Cathedral
"Popular Electronics Mag
The Characters The Micro Millennium Christopher Evans Viking
1988
gpf (good pasture fairy) rw (rainbow warrior) the Viking press 625 madison ave
hb (hummingbird) fdd (furry domed demon) ny ny 10022
hbw (hummingbird woman) df (dragonflies)
I will start again on the Beasties of Bean Cathedral.
The Furry Dome demon violates the Bean Cathedral. The Lizards and Toads call in the warriorfolk.
The fight against The Rainbow Warrior and the Hummingbird Warrior who are ^close allies of the gpf.
The furry dome demon is the personification of all evil- He is not even human (humans have good & bad in their characters He is all malevolence)
The furry dd [illegible] a gut reaction in my stomach, abdomen & the base of my throat. I hate and fear the fdd and one day I must fight him to the death/to the victory. As I think of him the body feelings intensify nausea rises in my throat
And the throat area is nauseous. How will I [illegible]? & yet I must protect the cathedral sanctuary. Feeling wells quickly up from my stomach ([illegible]) Intensity and uplifting joy. I will not let in the invader. The RW & HW are with me. We are the 3 in 1. The Trinity -The Invincable. The Sanctuary birds are feeding-[illegible] a few at a time. The hb was on a high branch to the right still for a moment after [illegible] The world is at peace
(Somehow I’ll bring in the cats as characters) LFB was here at my left hand till I drew her. Before I could get in the ears she went off. Her expression is fleeting and [illegible]. The fdd has attacked the sanctuary carrying off red winged warriors & the furry rabbit [illegible]. A small green creature just flew in and landed on my shoulder as she began crawling quickly to my neck I
I thought it was a wind borne seed till it landed. Red eyes inquiring & feelers. She sits now on the play house beside me.
Reached up & urged her gently back. She hopped off.The birds go open mouthed in the heat- perhapsI can paint them on a canvas if I like.
Painting. The hb returns to feed blurred movement sipping
Get Paint [illegible]
Paint the Peace of the the kingdom with reigning gpf third"
Great Horned One Worshipped by Cats
Mary Apple
"The ffd attacks – he is darkness and night- I will shoot him on sight with a powerful white light. I will face the Evil Presence and smite it from my haven
CALL ABOUT BABY BIRD
The birds have all flown- fleeing the dark woods- rising up out of the southeast and striking- Hawkeye sees him first through his spy glass in lookout watch in [illegible]
Quick quick sounding the alarm – get to cover. Turtles, toads, lizards & spiders all hide behind the gpf
Leaving the gpf alone. Fear of the unknown menace rising in her stomach.
The light streams from her fingers & third eye. White beams ^shafts of light piercing his dark armor. Is it because I let down the spells and didn’t [illegible] from the old magic? She questioned. I have not whirled the white light round my head & body for some long time. Can it be that the forces of the 4 corners of the universe were weakened? My insides are tight & aching with doubt and knowing. What ever you dwell on will come to pass.
Ugh! This water tastes like the lake at low tide. Calling for her dragonfly mount she mounts leaping into the sky. Transparent wings like iridescent cellophane. Black edged and blurring flying her closer to the fdd. And his faces of darkness. Goodness and light shall prevail. FOR EVER AND EVER. Whirling her body shield in place – rays surrounding the df [illegible]
The cardinal [illegible] of the water flow. Thank god for the hummers who dodge & dart in the bush (^one hummer chases away another? Playing tag? Hat about another feeder. Will they stop fighting)/ The Fawn Buddha
All around the kingdom rises an invisible dome sheltering and shielding the sanctuary creatures. The kingdom is [illegible] on all levels. It is a microversion of the universe. Containing all in miniature. (A story within a story – the key to the Magic Kingdom. One world – (-one garden) overlapping the [illegible] as Frank puts it There is the garden that the eye sees – and the garden that the inner eye sees and there is a place where these two worlds overlap.
When I look out at my garden I see two worlds. I see the garden you see & I see my Fairy Deva garden too- this is the one I [illegible] pay more attention to in my mind. I don’t really know if that’s [illegible] as I pay attention to the garden on other levels too. I go around to it twice a day& see what needs watering the most. I’ve had to give up on my vegetable garden for now – it is so sad. It died so quickly. I was astonished (come back hummingbird come back. I looked up & saw his flutter & movement. I watched him, open mouthed, head tilted back and enjoyed his little gray form. Tilting his black beaked head – sitting more than fluttering movement.
My garden activities change with the season. Summer is so hot here. It’s the harshest season of the year- worse even than winter in its hot fierceness. The yard has several patches of dead grass – in strips where the hottest afternoon sun beats ^slanting down… all my garden energy concentrates on keeping things here. After a few years the bushes I plant can make it without extra watering. The two apricot trees in the garden miss the yard’s sheltering embrace. One looks like it will die- But I ^root water it still – I can smell water in my neighbor’s yard. I won’t start the nightly watering till it cools off some. A swallowtail just went by. Only the phlox are here for them now. I specialize in day lilies and they’re almost gone now. The front lantana are practically the only other flower. I’m slowly but surely ridding the yard of 4 ‘o clocks. They literally take over and their roots get so big. There is one by the Santa Rosa plum now that is ^a huge root – I can tell by the size of the stem.. I should get cosmos again – They don’t get [illegible] & they like the heat. I want more butterfly flowers & They are attractive to monarch butterfly catterpillars, being a member of the milkweed family. Winter is the time of the birds and the time of planning a vegetable garden. I like to walk around dreaming of what spring will be like. I know the plants need food but I’m slow in getting them fed. In fact the yard needs me now.
A ½” rain has revived the plants. I water waiting for the rain. Yesterday [illegible] clouds [illegible] Thunder- a few drops and it’s gone. I’ll look at paintings from the 1950-60’s and get back to that painting place in my head. I will go over the top & live again.
I will go back in painterly time & pick up the place I left off. I will CARE. I will be Passionate.
It is important what I do… I read a bit of Gauguin’s Intimate Journal and got sleepy-
His son painted a different picture of a man who had liked drawing from the first of his [illegible] & a mother who had known & accepted the Gauguin who wanted to go away and paint. She accepted the idea of caring for the children herself.
The Great Horned one is Frank in one of his guises Because he is the great god Pan in another [illegible]. So he will be Both in the book because he is witty & funny and we need that levity. That [illegible] and abandonment of feeling – the God Pan appears in the garden [illegible] brother, The Dark Shining One."
LEFT IMAGE:
A profile sketch with notes listed on the side of the sketch.
"Make the flowers a light color
1. Colored paper
2. Flowers close to color of paper
3. leaves colored
4. image of lines in white/black dark red?
See colored papers at Bill Repro."
RIGHT IMAGE:
Complete work Portait of a Flower Child
LEFT IMAGE:
A pen drawing of a possum in the grass
"Possum cresche piece- zoom in onto
dead Possum head surrounded by gnomes & on the
outer border but parsley leaves & leeks"
RIGHT IMAGE:
Another pen drawing of a possum.
LEFT IMAGE:
A sketch of a praying mantis
"Just saw a red crested woodpecker fly into an oak tree & start breaking the bark
July 1978
Metallic looks
Paint on
Butterfly
Beads (plastic)
On D. Mantis’s eyes"
RIGHT IMAGE
Pen drawing of a potato plant.
LEFT IMAGE:
Stencil of lizard
RIGHT IMAGE:
Print of two lizards made from a stencil.
Drawing of bamboo plant made with watercolor and ink.
"July 13,1978
I’ve been sitting in my leafy bower watching what looked like a young mocking bird to me- hop over head with mouth open- probably to hot trying to cool off by (panting?) First one and then two hummingbirds appeared. I saw it sitting still close above my head. The beak is almost as long as the body is from the neck down. They sat on the crepe myrtle too and flew patterns with each other. Once it looked like one was upside down for a few moments. This is the first time I’ve seen two hummingbirds in my yard. Maybe the newly grown out red trumpet vine by the fence helps attract them more. Put out feeder! quick."
Sketches of two raccoons
"Drawings from 2 trapped babies-
They were all so frightened- I think of them being alive & well in the woods"
A pen sketch of a cat laying amongst trees and flowers at the bottom is written:
"Leopard fit boulevard"
"Goals for the France Trip
I will go out every day and commune with nature
I will get along with everyone as well as I can
I will communicate my joy
I will laugh at our problems
I will be a joy to be with
I will be vibrant and alive
I will feel loving toward Susan
I will have about money & I will not worry about how much I am spending
Great Horned One
Has a
Good Pasture Fairy
By being a lover by nature, she is set off from the rest of the Degas
His white hair, wavy- full of wavs and energy field
Can project it and then it becomes visible
A little psychic
Transparent fairy wings that are tattered and bluish"
Pencil sketch of a goat's head