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

Golden Lotus shoe (watercolor on paper)

I love history and when i read, i tend to gravitate towards stories of sorrow or hardship. For a while, i tried to stay away from such weighted stories, but when i look back now, i realize that reading these stories gave me a great sense of appreciation for how good my life is - for how far we've come.

There are stories of suffering in every culture. When I first read about foot binding in China, one of the first things that came to mind was how easy it is for human beings to follow - often without question - and how deeply rooted belief systems can be. I wondered about the chinese mothers, binding their daughters' feet... did they feel sad or guilty about the pain they were causing or were they proud to be grooming their daughters to become chosen ones, Golden Lotuses?

The last line of my writing isn't visible, but it reads: I don't consider myself a feminist, but whenever i read stuff like this - i could easily become one.  :-)

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