why words matter...

hello peeps!

I'm back from a few days away 
and looking forward to getting my work done so i can get back
to some serious painting and journaling and blogging again. :-)

My weekend was not as relaxing as i was planning it would be, but still...
family time, book shopping, an outdoor concert, swimming... 
So all in all, it was good for the soul.

A few years back, a good friend of mine gave me this journal book.
Actually, I feel like a teeny bopper when i say this,
but she's my best friend... * hallo Lucille!!*

I wrote in a few of the pages, and then put the book aside.
As weeks passed (and months)... and i forgot about it!

I actually forgot that i had it. 

So now I have this beautiful, almost empty little journal
with quotes on every page to prompt me to CREATE every day. :-)

Feels like Christmas to me. 

The pages are thicker than regular paper, so it holds paint quite well.
So i'll be playing in this little journal for a while...

I've been thinking about this idea for a while now...

We all have that big ass dream in life, right?

We all have that ONE thing we wish we could do,
but somehow never find the time,

the energy,

the money,

the guts,

the *fill in the blank*

For me, it's writing a book.

I know, everyone and their dog has written a book these days it seems,
but still - it's one of my dreams.

ONE of my dreams. ;-)

I've met some pretty damn interesting people in my life,

and they've all taught me something, one way or another.

The girl above and her story are true.

The kind of book i'd love to write

is an illustrated book, with little tidbits of writing and painting

on each page.

Kinda like this one, only more well thought out. :-)

I did this last night as a sample on a small postcard size,

just to get a feel for what it could look like.

Whenever i write anything,

I always wonder whether others will find it interesting or not,

because it's about my life and those i've crossed paths with...

But then i remind myself of the books i've read,

and how i've loved so many that had nothing to do with me.

Shared stories.

That's what it's about, isn't it?

They remind me of how connected we all are,

regardless of where we live in the world.

How universal so many things are...

like love.

xox

words, words, words...

Good morning peeps!

I went for a walk last night

and as i walked,

this idea came to me.

Nothing genius, but isn't it funny how inspiration works?

I'm walking alone in the quietness of the evening,

admiring the moon & stars

and all of a sudden, in my head,

i see lines of words

coming out of a mouth...

Most of the ideas i get 

for paintings or journaling

come to me when i'm walking.

I rarely sit in front of a blank journal page,

wondering what i'll do next.

i do however, have times where i feel

less inspired.

Like everyone, i suppose...

so a few random sentences from magazines...

deformed lips, yapping at one another... ;-)

a bit of contouring with charcoal, black marker & white pen...

 

more contouring and there you have it.

Not exactly as i pictured it in my head,

but close enough.

On another note,

i read something the other day

on Lisa Baldwin's ZEN AT PLAY

that i want to share with all of you.

So refreshing...

I refuse to profit from the idea that you are broken.

You are not broken.

You are exquisite. Even in the places with the shadows.

Especially in the places with the shadows.

I will speak to your brilliance, your depth, your beauty,

because that’s what I see and know to be true.

Likewise, I refuse to profit from pain.

Especially the kind of pain that is manufactured in a sales page.

Especially that.

Speaking of sales pages… I refuse to write those, too.

Of course, I will tell you when I’ve made something for you. Of course.

And yes, I would like it very much if you buy what I make. Yes.

When you buy what I make, you help hold the space for me to make more, give more, explore more. As far as I can tell, that is a good thing.

And my hope is that you will love the thing I made for you much more than you loved the dollars you paid for it. That is definitely a good thing.

Even so…

I want it to be because you’re motivated by curiosity and love, not because I shook you up with urgency-speak and fear, then pushed you to the buy button while you were still seeing stars.

starry night

Sometimes, life throws sucker punches. 

Or maybe it just tries to jolt us into becoming more aware of what's really important.

In the past two years, i've lost a good friend to cancer, my own mother was diagnosed and

is currently in chemotherapy, my father had a severe heart attack and

i've had a few health scares myself,

which i now attribute to mentalpause - (menopause my ass...)

More recently, we have close friends who are going through very difficult times...

I know it sounds so cliché, but when you lose your health, you lose everything.

Nothing else matters.

I've always found it hard to distance myself from another person's pain.

I still work hard on that one,

looking for that right balance between being there for support

and not losing myself in the process.

So whenever i begin to feel overwhelmed,

and there are too many stories of children being abused in the news,

and honour killings,
and cancer,

and acid burnings -

I pull myself out,

and find my way to the good things.

To a long walk in the cold winter air,

and a starry night sky,

and the moon,

if only to remind myself that amongst the chaos of all this "badness"

there is still "goodness" as well.

I get what Ralph Waldo Emerson was saying

when he spent so much time alone in his little cabin in the woods.

Nature is indifferent.

Where i am looking at a beautiful full moon,

someone else is drowning somewhere in the world.

Gratitude for what you have,

or where you are,

or who you are is so important.

If you can't be grateful when things are good,

you'll never make it when things get bad.

Be grateful today, ok?

Don't complain over a broken fingernail.

Think of those who have so much less than you do on this day.

xoxo

permission...

Sometimes, we need to remind ourselves that it's ok to play - that it's ok if everything isn't a masterpiece, and that sometimes (perhaps most times), it's more about the process than the end result.

When I'm old & grey, I may find myself a different person than the one I thought I would become - but does that really matter, in the end? Isn't it more about the connections I made along the way - the lessons I learned, the freedom I felt to be who I wanted to be at the time? Change is inevitable, and the fact that I am one way today, doesn't mean I will be this way tomorrow.

Be kind to yourself & give yourself permission. :o)

guitar man

play time!

I love words - made up or not. I love the differences between one font or another, and how they blend together or push each other apart. So much can be said with only a few words. Basically, this was my play time last night. Don't you just love the word "ubernormous"?? Ranks right up there with "ginormous"...:o)