Darwin and Parkinson's disease

But in every walk with nature,

one receives far more than he seeks.

- John Muir

So this is what I've been busy with lately.

Or who I've been bus with. :)

Since dad's diagnosis with Parkinson's

only a few months ago,

he's had a few falls.

A few weeks ago, he had a bad fall

on his bathroom floor

and broke 5 ribs, cut his arm and 

bruised his face like a prize fighter. 

So he has to use a walker for a while,

at least until his ribs heal.

(I wish he would come to terms with using it

all the time for balance, but i know he won't.)

It's hard to pull back and not tell him what to do.
I read somewhere that the cause for
much of the unhappiness we feel
is because we don't accept reality as it is.
We want to change things
or control things.

I wish my dad would use a walker all the time,
so that he wouldn't fall again,
but I know he won't.
And I can't force him.
He wouldn't listen to me anyway.

Dad's always been fiercely independent (like moi)
so I know he'll end up doing what he wants to do
and I have to accept that whatever happens - happens.
There are times in life that are joyful
and other times that are not so joyful.
This is a somewhat "not so joyful" time.

So when dad went back home

and I knew he was on the mend

and I could breathe again,

I went into my blue room

and "binge painted" for like 6 hours. :)

The painting above is the 1st one I did

called "banana & grape". :)

A little sketch I did while I waited for my car to be fixed...

And a few days ago,
when I had more time on my hands
and I knew dad was ok,
I did another "sheet music" portrait.

Charles Darwin.

King of Evolution. :)

I love old black & white photos

(even if i decided to add color here)

I began wanting to use only sepia tones,
but I ended up adding some dark blue
and then some white.

 It's acrylic on paper...

 I love his serious look.

My aunt gave me a bunch of canvases
she had started painting on,
but no longer wanted. (Merci Angèle!!)
This (top) was a painting she had begun...

I just wanted to do something fun
while keeping some of her background...

 I played with the whites, and dots

and then filled in a few blocks of color...

I'm trying to let go of the whole "I like it"

or "I don't like it" judgement of my own paintings - 

but I like this.

(giggle)...

On another note,
I bought artwork from Yocopio a few weeks ago.
I've been following him on Instagram for a while now
and i love his stuff.
Makes me smile whenever I see them.
I get original artwork.
He gets my support ($)
The illustrations make me smile.
It's win-win for everyone. :)
And the Frieda you see there on the left,
and the beautiful print/painting on the right...
That's from my lovely friend, Stéphanie Guimond
a card with a hand written note in it.
Is there anything more precious than receiving snail mail?
In today's "automated everything" world,
i love anything handwritten.
Gifts that came in the mail
when I needed them most.

Currently reading this...
(Felix Scheinberger was one of the teachers on the
Sketchbook Skool course I took this past summer) 
I LOVE HIM and his artwork.
Amazing what you can learn in 6 short weeks.

And reading this...
I've always loved the words of Julia Cameron.

I am writing this post rather quickly,
so i fear I may have shared some of this artwork before,
or said some of these things before...
but hey. Not a big deal if I did.
Just pretend you're hearing it for the first time. :)
Thank you all for being here.
xx

let's take a little trip

 In 1977, when I was almost 15 years old, 

my parents sold our house in eastern Canada,

filled a U-Haul with our furniture,

and drove the five of us

across Canada to move to Calgary, Alberta.

We had moved before, several times -

but never this far (4,600 km)

and never to such an unknown place.

We left on May 17th

and I decided to keep a journal along the way.

I have 10 pages of handwritten notes,

detailing everything from the weather

to the cost of food and gas in each province.

Why a 14 year old girl

would be interested in the price of gas

is a mystery to me,

but i'm guessing I was doing it for dad.

I know one thing.

I LOVED writing, even then.

And i especially loved handwriting.

I still do.

When I found these notes the other day,

i typed them all up, printed the pages

and gave them to my dad, 

for him to read.

When I called him later 

to ask if he had read it,

he replied:

I read it 3 times.

He loved reading it

and remembered the trip in his own way.

We had taken something like

6 days to drive there.

He said he had forgotten

so many things about that trip

but that my words had reminded him. :)

That's the joy of stories and words, isn't it?

Whether it was created from imagination

or memory,

it's such a fabulous way

to transport us back to a specific time.

To a specific place.

To a specific feeling,

good or bad.

Sometimes, is allows us to see

how much we've changed.

How much we've grown.

I've kept so many things from my past,

i'm afraid if there ever was a fire in here

the whole place would go up in smoke in minutes

because of all the damn paper in here. ;)

I keep things like this.

Yes, i do.

Because you never know

when i'll feel like being hypnotized

by pink & blue & orange rectangles

with a tiny ladder in the center. ;)

I don't keep EVERYTHING though.

I'm not a hoarder.

I only keep the art stuff.

Which is basically everything. 

(never mind). ;)

I got a bit of art done this week,

but more reading & watching movies than art.

 Still, a few sketches that were fun to do.

I also spent some quality time with friends,

which is always worth so much to me.

Another little note i found, 

from when i was doing some soul searching

a few years ago.

These were some of the things

I wanted to do in the coming years.

I've done or I AM doing most of them,

except attend Burning Man -

which is something i'd still like to do

at some point in my life. ;)

When I found this,

I was amazed at how many of these things

became reality for me.

I bought a kayak just last year

and used it regularly in the summer.

I've recently started yoga 

and i love it.

It does the body & mind so much good...

I do it at home, 

in the comfort of my living room,

because i'm not a gym kinda gal,

and there's a slim chance

exercise is gonna happen for me

if it means "going out" in the dead of winter.

I go for occasional walks outside

when the weather permits as well.

I still need to work on the "go on more excursions" 

and the "become mindful of what i eat" one too.

I'm not sure i'm too mindful

when i'm stuffing my face with a bag of chips. ;)

Thanks for being here, folks.

ENJOY the weekend!

xox

life on other planets, the crazies and art.

hello friends.

It's been a strange couple of weeks

although if you ask me why

i can't give you an answer.

Maybe because it's that time of year,

maybe because of the way of the world,

maybe because I've not painted much lately.

Maybe because I'm writing more,

and because I'm watching

great documentaries

and reading great books

that remind me that

life is not the same for everyone

and we don't all see

through the same eyes.

Getting up in the morning

is easy for me.

It's hell for someone else.

I wake up to the sound of silence.

Others wake up to the sound of bombs,

or in incredible pain,

or hungry, 

or unloved.

I eat when I want.

Others don't.

This is a huge privilege

and it shouldn't be.

Governments are spending

billions on wars they create,

on defence budgets,

on space programs,

and there are still people on this planet

who don't eat.

That is a fucking BASIC need.

Food.

Clothing.

Shelter.

We send people in space

but we've yet to figure out a way

to feed the world.

I love science

but why are we concerning ourselves

with finding life on other planets

when we are not taking care

of the lives we have here,

on this planet?

Makes me crazy.
(hence, the crazy doodle) ;)
This makes as much sense to me
as those who sacrifice this life
for an eternal life after death.
And they usually kill others
in the process. 
I believe in life before death.
Not life after.
I guess i'm still trying to make sense
of something that will forever be
senseless.

And then, there's this...
We got our first snowfall last week. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Time to take out the music.

I just bought this one, and I love it.

But this one is still

my favorite of all time. :)

It's not Christmas until the Charlie Brown music comes on.

And then this happened. ;)
I may have shared this already
but it's cute, so I get to share it again.

Dad made Fluffy this little bed.

She totally loves being a princess.

She can do no wrong.

A few doodles from my 'draw your life' book.
A left handed drawing.

A few weeks ago,

I ordered this watercolor print from Prashant Miranda,

one of the great Sketchbook Skool teachers.

(They're all SO good)

Prash makes his home

between Canada and India.

Isn't it beautiful!?

I love it.

Love the bold colours.
He was so much fun as a teacher.
If you want your own print,
you can get it here.

And last, but not least...

If you purchase a copy of Color for Clarity by Jan 1st 2016,

you’ll receive a free e-book as our gift to you in thanks

for your support. Inside, you’ll find bonus colouring pages

and some great resources (several of which are free!)

to continue exploring your own creativity.

To claim your free e-book, forward your receipt

(or send a photo of Color for Clarity or other proof of purchase)

to me at:

paulinel@nb.sympatico.ca

and I'll send you your free e-book within a day or two.

And YES! Anyone who purchased the book when it was first released gets a FREE e-book as well!

If you haven’t grabbed your copy yet (and you know you want to) ;)

you can get it at:  http://colorforclarity.com/

And if you can, please leave us a review on Amazon!

We'd love to know how you like it.

Thanks for hanging out
and listening to my rants. ;)
xx

can you make the world a better place?

Of all the paths you take in life,

make sure a few of them are dirt.

- John Muir

Hello folks!
Here's a little glimpse of my world
during the past few weeks...

Today is Black Friday
and I'll be as far away from the stores & malls
as I can possibly get.
A frenzy of crazy, desperate shoppers...
One of my worst nightmares. ;)

I'll be going for a walk here instead

later this afternoon.

A much more centered, sane place for me.

And alas,

COLOR FOR CLARITY has arrived!

November 17th was the date of mom's passing -

3 years now -

and this was what it looked like outside.

It'll always be a sad day to me.

My mind naturally goes back

to that time,

to that room,

to those last moments.

I don't spend the whole day crying,

but I just wake up with a heavy heart

and I'm always relieved when nighttime falls.

But this year was different.

There was glimpse of happiness

in this dark, snowy day

when I received the box from Amazon

filled with our lovely books!

It's a strange thing

how "living in the moment"

takes so much effort sometimes.

The whole process of collaborating

on this colouring book

was great.

Choosing our words,

doing the illustrations,

sending them off,

dreaming of holding

COLOR FOR CLARITY in our hands.

And then we get them,

and of course it's exciting,

but within the first few minutes,

I was already thinking,

"What can I do next?!"

I literally had to stop myself,

sit myself down with the book,

smell it (like I do with most books) ;)

and slowly go through it page by page,

and only then,

i began to feel gratitude.

There's always a time and a place
to consider our next dream...

but it's important to appreciate
the moment of THIS dream
while it's here.

So fall is here
and winter is just around the corner
and although last winter was long
and cold
and snowy
and fucking depressing at times...
there's still a part of me
that loves the cocooning of this cold season.

I tend to write more, paint more,

and feel more grounded, for some reason.

With everything happening in the world,

it's more important than ever

for each of us to find our own

quiet, peaceful place.

To do what we can for others,

without losing ourselves.

Everyone has an opinion about everything.

The yahoos think they can solve world problems

when they can't even find their own socks.

I've come to realize this:
I.
can't.
save.
the.
world.

I can't solve world hunger.

I can't bring peace to everyone on earth.

It's too heavy a burden for me.

All I can do is make my own little corner

as peaceful as possible.

All I can do is my own little part,

here in this corner of the globe,

and hope that others do the same

in different little corners everywhere.

And sometimes,
that little part for me
means nothing more
than smiling at someone.

Sometimes it means giving a few dollars,
or food,
or sending a card
or clothes.
Sometimes it means 
putting myself in someone else's shoes
if only for a moment
and trying to understand their fears
and their crushed hopes
and their sense of desperation.

We live in a first world country
with first world problems
so most of us have no idea
what it's like to worry about your next meal.
Or about the safety of your children.
Or about making it through another day
alive.

So I've been playing in this little book
on and off since June.

As you can see,
some of my drawings & doodles
are far less serious than others. ;)

Books like this are designed
to encourage bad drawings...
which are as important as good drawings.
I am nowhere near perfect
so why should my drawings be?

I hate even the word "perfection".
Or anyone who strives for perfection.
Perfection is not truth.
If anything,
it's farthest from the truth.
Which is probably why i dislike social media so much...
because we see a LOT of "untruths".
A lot of "pretend perfect lives".
The happy faces.
The happy wheels.
The happy meals. ;)

And on that note,
THANK YOU to everyone who bought
a COLOR FOR CLARITY colouring book
and those who helped encourage and inspire me
along the way.
It may be a small, dinky dream to some,
but small dreams are still sweet. :)
oh, and newsflash...
I'll be doing a giveaway of Color for Clarity
right HERE in the next week or so!!
Come back for a visit soon
if you want your name to be entered in the draw!
hugs to all of you.
xx

ps: Visit Amazon.com if you want to buy your own copy of Color for Clarity today!