Virginia Woolf and the full moon

I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out;

and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in.

Virginia Woolf

Last night's full moon.

Well, half full moon.

:-)

Nothing like a full moon to get me in the mood

for the writings of Virginia Woolf.

This is her portrait from a book called

Women who write.

Isn't she beautiful?

And from the portrait,

i thought i'd do another one of my 

sheet music paintings.

As i painted this,

i was reminded of how important it is

to just carry on sometimes.

I wish Virginia would have done so.

Everything seemed off about this painting.

I couldn't get the form of her face right,

the proportions were off,

her chin was huge,

the nose was too high...

sometimes, there are many stages during the process

where we just don't like what we see

and that's ok.

Just carry on.

There were several stages last night

where i wondered whether or not i could save her. 

:-)

But then i just kept painting,

and adding darker colors,

and filling in the space,

and slowly "molding" her face

like a sculptor with his clay.

In art as in life

it's important to just carry on

and trust

and breathe

and be kind to ourselves

and especially non judgmental

and see where it takes us.

In the end, i liked her face a lot more...

much softer, i think...

Even in this portrait,

there is such sadness in her eyes,

don't you think?

Virginia Woolf committed suicide

at the age of 59.

These words pierced my heart when i first read them:

Nothing was  more important to Woolf than the wholeness of her perception and the integrity of her art. Her life, marked by illness, fear, and suffering, was not one of oppression. It was the life of a heroic woman who could write to her husband, before leaving him forever:  

"I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been."