Monday, April 28, 2014

Inspiration...



Solace of inspiration  


Nature has been for me, for as long as I remember, a source of solace, inspiration, adventure, and delight; a home, a teacher, a companion.
Lorraine Anderson (1952 - ) - Quoted in
The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women,  Gail McMeekin, Conari Press, 2000, p27.

Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Relationship...



Computer parasitism 


Parasitism is a non-mutual symbiotic relationship between man and computer, where one, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host.
"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Amor fati..


Amor fati
The phrase is used repeatedly in Friedrich Nietzsche's writings and is representative of the general outlook on life he articulates in section 276 of The Gay Science, which reads:

I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all and on the whole: some day I wish to be only a yes sayer.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amor_fati


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Life cycle...


Eternal return
life cycle



Eternal return is a concept that the universe has been recurring, and will continue to recur, in a self-similar form an infinite number of times across infinite time or space. The concept is found in Indian philosophy and in ancient Egypt and was subsequently taken up by the Pythagoreans and Stoics. With the decline of antiquity and the spread of Christianity, the concept fell into disuse in the Western world, with the exception of Friedrich Nietzsche, who connected the thought to many of his other concepts, including amor fati.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_return



"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Symbolic language...




Symbolic explanation


“Man's ultimate concern must be expressed symbolically, because symbolic  language alone is able to express the ultimate. This statement demands explanation in several respects. In spite of the manifold research about the meaning and function of symbols which is going on in contemporary philosophy, every writer who uses the term "symbol" must explain his understanding of it.” Paul Tillich Excerpted from Dynamics of Faith (New York: Harper & Row, 1957)


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Nimble juggler...


Learning environment
“nimble juggler”


Sometimes, one must be a nimble juggler to balance the chaotic nature of real-world problems to create a productive learning environment.

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014© Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Seasons...




Sympathy with the seasons
Nature is the armory of genius. Cities serve it poorly, books and colleges at second hand; the eye craves the spectacle of the horizon; of mountain, ocean, river and plain, the clouds and stars; actual contact with the elements, sympathy with the seasons as they rise and roll.
Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) -
The Journals of Bronson Alcott, January, p. 187, Little Brown & Co., Boston MA, 1938.


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Monday, April 14, 2014

More than meets the eye...




Allegorical landscape
“more than meets the eye”
Digitally enhanced ink drawing


Sometimes there is more to art than meets the eye, even in landscapes. A picture of a green valley is not only about a valley if the artist intended it as an allegory. In art, allegories express a truth about life or human nature through symbols. As an allegory, a green valley might represent many ideas, such as prosperity or optimism for the future. 


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Dreams...



Island of consciousness 
“dreams and fantasies”
11"X14" Ink drawing

“At the very apex of the psyche is the ego, which is at the center of consciousness. Jung likes to think of consciousness as an island, and surrounding this island is a very large ocean that represents the unconscious. Stretching away from this island toward the deep is a shadow land Jung calls the personal unconscious. It belongs to the individual and holds countless forgotten experiences; it is formed from impulses, wishes, and subliminal perceptions. Memories can be recalled from this area either through dreams, fantasies, chance associations, or even direct recall.” http://www.soultrek.com/12%20psych%20jung.html

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Phenomenology...





Phenomenology of Perception
“complex scenes of life”
“Gestalt principles, or gestalt laws, are rules of the organization of perceptual scenes. When we look at the world, we usually perceive complex scenes composed of many groups of objects on some background, with the objects themselves consisting of parts, which may be composed of smaller parts, etc. How do we accomplish such a remarkable perceptual achievement, given that the visual input is, in a sense, just a spatial distribution of variously colored individual points? The beginnings and the direction of an answer were provided by a group of researchers early in the twentieth century, known as Gestalt psychologists. Gestalt is a German word meaning 'shape' or 'form'. Gestalt principles aim to formulate the regularities according to which the perceptual input is organized into unitary forms, also referred to as (sub)wholes, groups, groupings, or Gestalten (the plural form of Gestalt). These principles mainly apply to vision, but there are also analogous aspects in auditory and somatosensory perception. In visual perception, such forms are the regions of the visual field whose portions are perceived as grouped or joined together, and are thus segregated from the rest of the visual field. The Gestalt principles were introduced in a seminal paper by Wertheimer (1923/1938), and were further developed by Köhler (1929), Koffka (1935), and Metzger (1936/2006; see review by Todorović, 2007). For a modern textbook presentation, including more recent contributions, see Palmer (1999).”



"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Connections...






Connections inside my head
That reminds me..”
11”X14” Ink drawing

If one thing makes you think of another thing, you form a connection between them in your mind. The more connections you have, the better access you have to cross-connections. The more things something can remind you of, the more you know about it, or are learning about it.

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Free passage...




Free passage for the soul 
“a place of transition “
11”X14” Ink drawing

In The Book of Symbols, the door is described as a place of transition. In ancient Egyptian tombs, doorways were built to allow free passage for the soul. In ancient Roman cities, the deity Janus protected doorways into the city. The door also protects a house from the elements and whatever else is outside. In the Christian tradition, people often hang crosses over the doorway to keep out evil spirits. In some Eastern traditions, it is recommended to keep a Buddha statue facing the door, so when people enter he is the first thing they see.

(Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism. The book of Symbols. Germany, 2010.)


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Abyss...





Voyage over the abyss 
“rare for the rare”
Ink drawing 11”X14”


“In the end things must be as they are and have always been--the great things remain for the great, the abysses for the profound, the delicacies and thrills for the refined, and, to sum up shortly, everything rare for the rare.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Little planet...







Insignificant little planet
Ink drawing 9”X12”

 “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.” ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Earth...




Earth speaks
Digital print/ink drawing. 9"X12"


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Fulfillment...







Earth’s Cycle of the Soul
spiritual fulfillment
Ink drawing 11”X14”


A  minor variation of the cross in a circe is often depicted in ancient esoteric societies, in sacred religious orders, in indigenous cultures, and in petroglyphs.  This symbol represents a fundamental foundation upon which many faiths are built and it is also made to remind us that something profound is to occur for the entire Earth and for all people. This symbol is a precursor of an event pointing to the spiritual fulfillment of all life.


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Great chain..





Great chain of being
hierarchical structure of all matter and life,
Ink drawing11”X14”

“The great chain of being (Latin: scala naturae, literally "ladder/stair-way of nature"), is a concept derived from Plato, Aristotle, and Proclus; further developed during the Middle Ages, it reached full expression in early modern Neoplatonism.  It details a strict, religious hierarchical structure of all matter and life, believed to have been decreed by God. The chain starts from God and progresses downward to angels, demons (fallen/renegade angels), stars, moon, kings, princes, nobles, men, wild animals, domesticated animals, trees, other plants, precious stones, precious metals, and other minerals.”

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Friday, March 28, 2014

The endless sea...



Teaching
“the endless immensity of the sea”

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” - Antoine de Saint-ExupĂ©ry

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Metaphysical...



Metaphysical interpretation 
remolding archetypal forms
Ink drawing 11”X14”
“Human knowledge consists essentially in the constant adaptation of the primordial pattern of ideas that were given us 'a priori'. These need certain modifications, because, in their original form, they are suited to an archaic mode of life, but not to the demands of a specifically differentiated (modern) environment. If the flow of instinctive dynamism into our life is to be maintained, as is absolutely necessary for our existence, then it is imperative that we remold these archetypal forms into ideas which are adequate to the challenge of the present .... “

Jung, Carl (2006). The Undiscovered Self: The Problem of the Individual in Modern Society. New American Library. pp. 23–24. ISBN 0-451-21860-4.

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Machinations...




"The inner machinations of my mind

are an enigma."-Patrick Star


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Unconscious mind...


Absence of discursive thought 
and judgment

Mushin Japanese mushin; English translation ("no mind") is a mental state into which very highly trained martial artists are said to enter during combat. They also practice this mental state during everyday activities

Mushin is achieved when a person's mind is free from thoughts of anger, fee or ego during combat or everyday life. There is an absence of discursive thought and judgment, so the person is totally free to act and react towards an opponent without hesitation and without disturbance from such thoughts. At this point, a person relies not on what they think should be the next move, but what is their trained natural reaction or what is felt .intuitively. The mind could be said to be working at a very high speed, but with no intention, plan or direction.


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

ISOM SYMBOLIC ART heart mind and soul.



"Things hidden in my head"Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Isom Codex...



Non-specific exploratory
coded abstract images
page 105 of the Isom Codex


Asemic writing is a wordless open semantic form of writing. The word asemic means "having no specific semantic content". With the non-specificity of asemic writing there comes a vacuum of meaning which is left for the reader to fill in and interpret.


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Conscious life...



Conscious life observing the universe

Anthropic principle

In astrophysics and cosmology, the anthropic principle is the philosophical consideration that observations of the physical Universe must be compatible with the conscious life that observes it.

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Horror vacui...




The horror of horror vacui.  
Literally translated, Horror Vacui is the fear of empty spaces. In a more technical sense, it refers to a maximalist aesthetic in visual art in which details proliferate to fill every square inch of blank canvas. This aesthetic is associated with many different periods and places, including Islamic art and the medieval manuscripts illuminated by monks
Horror vacui (00064)
Heat filled rocks and old socks,
green garbage cans and fans.

Gooey marbles and tanks,
wondrous old stinky banks.

Clammy jars filled with fruits,
aliens dogs in suits.

Ink on a green blotter,
pickled pairs are hotter.

Piano keys with sauce,
horseradish shoes and floss.

Stop signs near edge of space,
colored cars in a race.

Police cars filled with cake,
Broken limbs of a snake.


Ronald D Isom

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Mankind and nature...




Mankind  and nature connection
Mankind searches obsessively for pleasure, materialistic goals and abundance. To obtain this we and our ancestors have exploited nature without any moral control to such an extent that nature has been rendered almost powerless in the process of sustaining a healthy life.

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Symmetrical proportions...



Symmetrical proportions the cycle life.


The drawing and painting of people and animals, an activity of artists since primitive times, is clearly associated with symmetry, and geometry, since the human form and the forms of living creatures in general are obviously highly symmetrical in shape. Indeed the beauty of the human form, and also of an animal such as the horse, is firmly based on their symmetrical proportions.  Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht DĂĽrer were deeply concerned with the proportions of the human form from a truly geometrical point of view.


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Hidden Gems...


Hidden gems within the human mine.
Ink drawing 9"X12" $25.00
“Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit there from.” ― Bahá'u'lláh
"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Scala naturae


Scala naturae - structure of matter and life

The great chain of being (Latin: scala naturae, literally "ladder/stair-way of nature"), is a concept derived from Plato, Aristotle, and Proclus; further developed during the Middle Ages, it reached full expression in early modern Neoplatonism. It details a strict, religious hierarchical structure of all matter and life, believed to have been decreed by God. The chain starts from God and progresses downward to angels, demons (fallen/renegade angels), stars, moon, kings, princes, nobles, men, wild animals, domesticated animals, trees, other plants, precious stones, precious metals, and other minerals.






"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, March 9, 2014


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.



"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, March 6, 2014




"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

"Come into the light of things; let nature be your teacher." -- William Wordsworth




Inanimate materials being absorb. 9"X12" Ink drawing.


"The Stone Tape theory is a paranormal hypothesis that was proposed in the 1970s as a possible explanation for ghosts. It speculates that inanimate materials can absorb some form of energy from living beings; the hypothesis speculates that this "recording" happens especially during moments of high tension, such as murder, or during intense moments of someone's life. This stored energy can be released, resulting in a display of the recorded activity. According to this hypothesis, ghosts are not spirits but simply non-interactive recordings similar to a movie. Paranormal investigators commonly consider such phenomena as residual hauntings.



Permaculture. 9"X12" Ink drawing on Bristol paper.

"Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system."- Bill Mollison


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Isomgraphics 0001




Information graphics or insomgraphics are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to illustrate complex ideas.


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, November 14, 2013



Man in pain 0002
Curious man
a broken watch
Time  without
relevant need


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.






Journey 0001
Mind haunted
Time in doubt
Purpose of  journey
Old age
Obtuse connections
"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.