War and being quiet in a loud world

Hello everyone.

November 11th is our Remembrance Day

here in Canada

so i thought I'd start with this.

I'm not big on war,

but there's a soft spot in my heart

for all veterans - past & present.

I especially feel for those

who in the past

were pressured to become soldiers.

Those who were drafted.

Those who didn't have a choice.

Those men with peaceful hearts

who couldn't kill a fly,

and were now expected

to kill another human being.

I can't even imagine...

There's just nothing right about war.

So here we go!

it's been a productive, creative week here.

I feel a surge of energy again,

so i'm riding the wave while it's here. :)

One of my aunts gave me a whole bunch

of painted canvases she no longer wanted.

(merci Angèle!)

Initially, i was gonna paint white over all of them

but then decided to use some of the color

in the background for new paintings instead.

And of course, when i saw this big red one...

I knew what i wanted to do with it.

I wish i could have kept it looking like this...

with more red showing through.

But you know me.

Like most artists,

i don't know when to stop myself. ;)

So I kept painting...

and painting.

The canvas is a large one - about 2 x 2.5 feet,

and once i got to this point with it,

I realized the legs were much too short.

I'm gonna fix the arms as well.

I played with it a bit

and i'm still not done

but here's what I'm gonna do -

extend the body & tombstone

to the bottom of the canvas

so it'll look something like this instead:

(I just cropped the photo for now)

At least i'm hoping it'll look like this. :)

I also want to wipe off some of the paint,

so the red background can peek through a bit more.

Only 3 colours in this one:

Red, Paynes grey and white.

i love the Paynes grey because it has

a blueish tint to it.

This is the watercolour I had done

a few years ago.

The photo had come out in the newspaper

and it struck me so much

that I saved it for a possible future painting.

So here's another cityscape painting,
turned on its side.
I did this one before the veteran one
and i had so much fun doing this.

I felt some guilt about painting over
someone else's painting. :(
I didn't know what I was gonna do
but as soon as i painted these shapes in white,
filling in the empty space just felt like the next step. 

 So then i had this...

I added dark blue around the shapes,

added a few colours, dots & circles

and there you have it!

Once I was done, 

I looked at it for a bit

and noticed a little girl

in this one circle...

Do you see her?

I never noticed her

when i was painting the circles

but there she is.

Blonde hair & a pink dress.

(how could i NOT see her before?)

And speaking of not being seen,

I've just finished this book called QUIET.

It's basically about the differences

between introverts & extroverts,

and although I'm not big

on putting people in categories,

i really enjoyed reading QUIET.

You can look up the definitions,

but basically, an introvert is someone

who is energized by internal things

(like many artists and writers)

while an extrovert is energized

by external things

(like public speakers or CEOs)

This book made so many things clear for me

and helped me understand

why I am the way I am.

For so long, as a child and a teenager,

I thought something was wrong with me.

At school, when everyone was gathering

to play team sports during recess,

I was the one by myself,

bouncing my ball on the brick wall

(and quite happy doing just that).

When there were class plays,

I was the one who wanted to melt in the linoleum floor

while others fought for the lead role.

I disliked anything competitive

(yes, that included team sports).

I hated confrontation of any kind.

As a teenager, I was the one in my room,

drawing or writing in my journal

or listening to music

and being happy to do just that.

At school, I loved the library,

or that cozy little corner

in the schoolyard where I could gather

with one or two friends

and just giggle together about boys. ;)

But that was always frowned upon in school

(and it's still frowned upon in the workplace).

If you were alone,

something must be wrong.

And if you preferred being alone,

something was definitely wrong.

You were not a team player.

You were selfish.

You were too quiet and shy.

You needed to be "brought out of your shell".

Well folks, if you are an introvert,

I'm here to tell you one thing:

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU!

Don't change who you are,

or HOW you are.

The world needs more introverts.

It is the introverts who write the great books

and the plays and the symphonies...

Dr. Seuss was an introvert.

So was Einstein.

Chopin.

George Orwell.

Rosa Parks.

Steven Spielberg.

Mahatma Gandhi.

Charles Schultz and Charlie Brown ;)

Eleanor Roosevelt.

J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter... 

I understand now

why time alone is so important

for an introvert.

I understand why I dislike corporations so much.

I understand why I love

one on one conversations

and have no patience for gossip or small talk.

I understand why certain people

make me feel agitated,

and other people make me feel calm.

I understand my solitary hobbies.

I understand my sensitivity.

I don't need to be doing something

every single minute of the day

to feel good about myself

or to feel productive.

I don't need to travel the globe

to feel like I'm living fully

(although i do love to travel). ;)

And i certainly don't need

to make a lot of money

nor to have some fancy title

to feel like I have "made it".

I believe we ALL have something to offer

to make the world a better place.

Some of us just offer

in a more quiet way

and there's absolutely

nothing wrong with that.

xx