some of life's hard lessons

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

Buddha

The past few days brought on a few heavy reminders for me...

That...

I cannot save the world.

Life is not fair - but it is sacred.

Some things don't have a solution.

Caring for myself is as important as caring for others.

We all have our own crosses to bear.

The questions are as important as the answers.

I can be sensitive to another persons' pain without
letting myself by swallowed by it.

(pastel on paper)

Sometimes, i just need to pull back and get a little perspective...

There is hope for me yet... ;-)

Remember this?

and this...

and this...

ta daaaaaa....
Kurt Cobain - boom. Done.

I bit of fine tuning with black and yellow, 
and there you have it.
I do like it, although his right eye is too big.
Or maybe his left eye is too small... ;-)

Painting and writing always help me
find my way back to myself.

You all know what i mean, right?

Even if this painting ends up sitting on my studio floor
for 5 years...

Or my journal pages end up stacked on the shelf
for the next 20 years...

the process of having given my thoughts a voice
is what matters.

I care very little what happens to it after it's painted,
or after it's written,
because for me, the purpose was simply to paint it.

To write it.

What happens to it afterwards
is up to the moon and the stars. :-)

Happy weekend everyone.
xox

yellow head and spirit man

hi everyone!

Finally - a night of painting last night.

a few blotches of color...

(purple, blue, beige)

spreading the color and adding a bit of texture

in white and black...

I use anything at hand... in this case,

an old credit card (for the lines)

bubble wrap for the black circles,

and a sponge for the white texture. 

Some added red and detail,

like dots, of course!

 ;-)

Then just for the fun of it,

i flipped the book upside down,

and saw something totally different.

Do you do this sometimes?

It only works with semi abstract paintings, of course

but it's fun to be surprised

by what we find when we look at it

from another angle.

In this case, i saw a giant yellow head

eating a purple germ.

I'm sure a shrink would have a far better description

of what this actually represents, but for now,

let's go with the giant head and purple germ,

shall we?

;-)

So after this fun, colorful little abstract piece,

i still felt like painting, but this time,

something more quiet. 

I bought this book

at a second hand book store

a few weeks ago (for $3)

filled with wonderful black and white photographs

and beautiful stories.

a great title, i thought...

And so i chose this photograph,

taken in India.

Something very spiritual about this.

When i looked at this photo initially,

my first thought was:

I wish i was this spiritual.

There's a big difference

between being spiritual and being religious.

i am not religious.

I had a little piece of left over watercolor paper.

A few lines with Micron pens...

added watercolor, and then (brace yourselves...)

without even thinking about it

i was inspired to add these words -

misspelling and all.

(heroes)

Don't ask me why.

Other than the fact that

I was listening to music at the time (Pink Floyd)

and these are some of the lyrics

in the song "Wish you were here".

I love the lyrics of that song,

i'm just not sure they belong here.

But thanks to Photoshop,

I'll have them removed by the end of the day. 

;-)

Wishing you all a great day

in your little corner of the world.

Make time for the things

and the people

you love.

xoxo

flower child...

Courage doesn’t always roar.

Sometimes courage is the quiet voice

at the end of the day saying,

“I will try again tomorrow”.

- Mary Anne Radmacher

Courage comes in all shapes and sizes,

doesn't it?

For some, getting out of bed in the morning

feels like an act of courage.

For others who face debilitating obstacles

 on a daily basis,

and who do so with a peaceful heart,

a strong determination

and without resentment -

courage is simply a way of being

in the world.

Their way of being.

Surely, they have dark days or moments,

but they choose to move ahead

and face the day as if it were their last.

I believe certain circumstances

give birth to courage.

My own mother has become

far more courageous 

through her journey with cancer.

We all know people who have faced

unsurmountable situations

and have surmounted them

with tremendous courage.

One of my favorite books is Viktor Frankl's

Man's search for meaning.

If you want to learn about courage,

read this book.

Sometimes, courage means

wearing flowers in your hair

when what you really want to do

is throw in the towel.

It's not about being in denial,

it's about choosing to create

 your own circumstances

whenever and however

you can.

I had fun doing this one last night...

Acrylic, collage, and oil pastels on paper.

I believe being an artist

takes courage.

Yes, I do. 

Sharing art takes courage.

Like being naked in front of a crowd.

Well, ok, some of us may be 

totally ok with this... ;-)

Go out and practice courage today.

Apply for that job.

Quit that job.

Tell someone how you really feel.

Take that walk.

Take that nap.

Express gratitude.

Move to the ocean.

Make a decision.

Volunteer.

Paint that masterpiece.

Wear flowers in your hair.

xoxo

europe and standing tall

I started this painting yesterday.

It's for the sister of a friend who travelled across Europe

on her bicycle.

The grey-ish blue-ish purple path you see on the left

will eventually look like a bike path,

and she'll be on it with her bike. :-)

And the middle part will eventually look like water.

It's nowhere near done

but i'll post more pics when i have it finished.

... and this was last nights' fun.

mixed media collage.

I'm just noticing how crappy the hair looks right now  :-(

I may add a bit to it before the end of the day.

I saw a poster the other day that made me smile.

Carpe the hell out of this diem.

Don't you love it?

So yeah, that's what i wish for all of you today. 

To seize the hell outa this day,

wherever you may be on this big blue ball in the sky.

xoxo

pink flowers & freedom's children

Sometimes, when i sit myself down to paint, i have no idea what i feel like painting.

Sometimes i work from a photo, sometimes not.

Sometimes certain colours call out to me

and others don't.

Since i'm not a hopeless romantic, and not particularly fond of pink flowers,

this little baby came out of nowhere...

Flowers?

Love?

REALLY? Pink flowers on turquoise?!?

(insert rolling eyes here)

After the pink flowers, the night was still young,

and as I glanced at one of the books on my shelf

I knew exactly what i wanted to paint.

I've always loved this book cover.

From a book called "Freedom's children", by Velma Maia Thomas.

There's something so gentle 

and hopeful

and kind

about these two women,

reading together.

I think an image like this one needs little detail.

This is done on a cream 5" x 7" cardboard, normally used for mats.

I may put this in my ETSY shop. We'll see.

I wondered, if i hadn't continued painting my pink flowers,

if i had questioned the pink

and the turquoise,

and trashed it before it was done,

would i have felt inspired to paint this?

Maybe sometimes,

we need to get certain things out of our systems

to make room for new inspiration.

The key is to avoid judgement,

be patient

and trust the process.

Wishing you all new inspiration this week

and a peaceful process. :-)

xoxo

sketchbook project + tidbits on life

I started out not really knowing where i was going with this...

before i knew it, i was halfway done & had forgotten to take pics...

I guess art really does laugh in the face of "time".

:-)

So I may add a few little things to this, but you get the idea.

She has very thick hair & it's very windy :-)

*****

On another note, i read something this morning

that I want to share with you all.

It was written by a woman who's worked in palliative care 

for most of her life.

She cares for people who only have a few days or weeks left to live.

Here are the 5 most common regrets of the dying:

1. I wish i'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish i didn't work so hard.

3. I wish i'd had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish i had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish i had let myself be happier.

*****

No one said:

I wish i had made more money.

I wish i had won the argument.

i wish i had travelled less.

I wish i had been more perfect.

Think on these things today,

and live YOUR life. 

xoxo

(my mom and I)

reach for the moon

my pencil sketch wasn't worth much - after i spread the paint on the canvas,

it totally covered my pencil lines... :-)

a bit of colour & texture (sponge & paper towel!)

a bit more colour & detail

... me & the swirly swirls... :-)

a few little words & voilà.

This was done last night on a small canvas (i think it's 8" x 8"). 

I think back sometimes at how i became an artist and inevitably, it takes me back to childhood.

When my friends were playing with Barbies & dolls, i was painting their faces with magic markers. :-) I'd spend hours with colouring books & crayons & paper & scissors. Whenever it would thunder, mom would take out her ingredients & make us home made play dough with food colouring & all.

To this day, i love thunder.

When i was 10 or 11, a family friend came back from Japan & brought me a few magazines & books - all written in Japanese. I thought the lettering was the most beautiful thing i had ever seen. So I grabbed some paper & copied about 10 pages of text - only because i loved the look of all those little lines & squares & symbols. 

Were you always creative, or was it something you developed with time?

What kind of things did you love doing as a child? 

Carpe Diem folks...

xoxo

elie wiesel

A quick Sharpie sketch of a man i admire, Elie Wiesel.

Elie Wiesel lost is entire family during the holocaust and witnessed the beating death of his father.

His mouth smiles but his eyes to me, are suffering eyes.

His favourite 2 words in the english vocabulary are: AND YET...

Maybe because he finds hope in these words, or the possibility of change.

I haven't had much time for art these past few days, but i'll be back.

Wishing you all a wonderful week. 

xoxo

Einstein - AEDM day 29

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

- Albert Einstein

a quick outline in orange marker

 

initially, i try to look at "blocks" of values... where are the darks vs the lights?

(purple & baby blue as colours)

added a bit more detail and yes, black. (Monet would not be impressed)... 

a bit of writing... and voilà.

i sometimes think of people like Einstein, or Gandhi, or Emily Carr, and i wonder what made their hearts sing, and did they follow their dreams or did they ever wish their lives were different?

Did Einstein find peace when he played the violin?

I like to think so...

OMG!!

I'm so friggin' excited about this, i'm not even waiting till tomorrow to post.

A few weeks ago, i bought this mini poster on ETSY (this 8x10 was $20),

by artist extraordinaire Mae Chevrette. I think it's important to support one another as artists, and

I love how she combines photography, typography and painting to make these fabulous posters.

It came in the mail today, and it's going on my wall tomorrow. :-)

Another great quote by Steve Jobs.

Don't you love it?!?