making space for magic

I had three chairs in my house;

one for solitude,

two for friendship,

three for society.

- Henry David Thoreau

I had coffee with a good friend last night.

I don't have many friends,

but the few that I do have,

I hold near & dear to my heart.

Whenever I meet with her,

I always come home feeling energized,

inspired, good about myself.

That's when you know it's a true friend.

The older I get,

the wiser I am about who I choose

to spend time with,

and the less guilty I feel

about distancing myself from certain people.

So I've been cleaning & sorting things out at home...

or at least trying to.

Between walks and painting and reading,

I'm trying to create order where there is chaos

getting rid of clothes that no longer fit me,

giving away things that no longer serve me

and that may be of use to someone else.

It always feels good to give.

During my sorting out paper stuff day,

I found old sketches and scribblings

that i forgot I even had.

...nose & mouth sketches,

when I was teaching the basics of drawing.

...mini watercolor paintings,

of the sea & sky 

...and more of the sea & sand & trees in the winter.

I used to love these simple little watercolors.

When I started watercolor,

this is how I began. 

Small, simple, limited colours.

If any of you out there are itching

to try watercolors,

try starting small.

You may find it far less intimidating

and if you screw up,

it's only a small piece of paper. 

No big deal, right? 

A great way to get comfortable

with this sometimes difficult medium.

And in between the cleaning & sorting out,
I find time for walks in nature.

Always a priority for me.

There is nothing
like the sound of birds chirping
and even the buzzing of bees
after the long winter.

A quick painting on paper -
getting rid of leftover paint. :)

 I didn't like the gloomy blue background...

So I switched it to orange!
(Sorry, i should have told you to get your sunglasses.) 
giggle....

And this wonderful surprise.

I love the art & words of Tommy Kane

and several months ago,

I joined Sketchbook Skool.

Tommy was one of the 6 teachers during one of those weeks,

and I don't remember how this portrait thing happened,

but at the end of the 6 weeks,

a bunch of the students (myself included)

ended up doing his self portrait.

It was so much fun to see all the different styles

from artists all around the world.

The above image is Tommy Kane's blog banner -

and the 1st painting on the left is mine!

I nearly passed out when a fellow blogger

sent me an email to ask me if I had seen my portrait there.

I hadn't.

My portrait of Tommy Kane.

On his banner.

THE Tommy Kane.

Artist extraordinaire.

Holy shit.

It was painted with acrylics on paper.

When I told my friend about this,

(the one I joined for coffee last night!)

she looked at me and said:

NOW do you believe you are good?

ok.

Sometimes now, I do.

But not always.

I still have my doubts.

Every day.

I've just learned to paint anyway -

despite the little voice in my head.

xx