somewhere over the rainbow

hello world!

I've had less time for art these days

and even lesser time for blogging,

now that I am working 9 to 5.

I am making the best of it while I'm there,

but I won't lie.

I'm already counting down the weeks.

(4 months to go)

I need to have a few things in my day

to make my life feel like it's mine.

Books.

Art.

Music.

Nature.

Writing.

Notice how office work is not on the list?

But I've made the choice to go back,

so let's just talk about something more interesting,

shall we?

By the way, thank you for all your words

of encouragement in my last post.

You all made it a little easier for me...

I sketched this while watching TV.
A show about some guy
who stalked and raped women.
Probably Dateline...

He scared me as I sketched him
in ball point pen,
so I planted flowers in his hair.

The freedom of being an artist.

Then I did this one below

and felt a little better afterwards.

This book was recommended to me

by several artists,

so i finally got it for myself.

I LOVE books like this.
So creative and fun.

So many fun exercises and
interesting points of view.

I mean, who wouldn't love
this kind of homework?

Can you imagine how inspiring she must be
as a teacher?
I'm sure she helped a lot of kids
find the courage to be themselves.
High marks in school (or college, or university)
aren't everything.
Actually, to me, they mean very little.

I always found it so difficult to grade the students

when I taught part time at the college.

There were some who never struggled

with the deadlines or the assignments

and they always pulled it off smoothly,

with what seemed like

very little effort.

But then there were others,

who struggled all the time...

the quiet ones in the back of the class

trying not to attract attention to themselves.

Working hard,

but unsure of themselves.

Unsure of their ideas.

Afraid to tackle the next project

for fear that they wouldn't be

as good as the others.

Those were usually the ones

I focused on,

without losing touch

with the rest of the group.

Those were the ones

with the magic inside.

They just didn't know it yet.

And it was my job to help them

find it.

And oh, what a feeling when they did.

I'll bet there are many of you out there

with the same magic inside...

and you just don't know it yet.

Don't give up.

Keep doing what you're doing.

Don't lose heart.

xx