girl in water, woman and wavy hair, the beginning...

She's scary, isn't she?

She scares me and i'm the one who drew her. :-)

I'm posting her anyway because i believe

flawed art is still better than no art. 

This little wavy haired woman was done right after the girl in the water,

and it's a work in progress.

In BIC marker and acrylic paints.

These kinds of doodles are always so meditative for me.

The quote you see on the left is one that i love

by J.R.R. Tolkien...

Not all who wander are lost

I'm reading the FIRE STARTER SESSIONS

and working on some of the worksheets.

I'll tell you a little secret about myself.

i am not a goal oriented person. 

At all.

So whenever i see someone with calendars

or a strategic 5 year plan on their wall

my heart starts to palpitate.

It just all seems far too mechanical for me.

I'm just saying.

It's just not who i am.

For those of you who can fly with 5 year plans on their walls,

more power to you!

I've never been good at setting goals for myself

and yet,

i've accomplished most of what i set out to do,

through passion

and determination

and perseverance

and courage

and work.

Oh, and love is important too.

If you don't love what you're doing

chances are good you may meet the deadline

but you'll still feel empty inside

and almost always drained at the end of the day.

I know. I've been there. It's not a good feeling.

Danielle Laporte gently asks this question in her book:

how do you want to feel?

An important question, wouldn't you say?

Once i thought about this for a while,

i realized that one of the most important values for me

is freedom.

Maybe i really am a hippie at heart. :-)

I want to feel free more than anything,

which probably explains why i've always struggled 

with the 9 to 5 job.

I've done it, for years, but i never strived there.

I was trading my freedom for financial reward,

and that just wasn't cutting it for me.

There had to be another way.

There was another way.

i just had to claim it as my own. 

:-)

When i walked on the beach last weekend,

in this one spot on the sand,

there had been a bonfire there the night before.

Out of the ashes, i saw this one piece of paper...

and these 2 words made me smile.

Wishing you all a happy Wednesday.

xoxo

seashells, paintings and books

Let each man exercise the art he knows. 

Aristophanes

hello lovelies!

Yes, you. 

Including the men who join me here.

(and i know there are a few)

I hope i didn't scare you all away

with my recent "I'm not married" rant. ;-)

I may not believe in marriage

but i do believe in love.

Big difference between the two (in my eyes).

Now let's get on to some fun stuff, 

shall we?

The little yellow birds above

are paintings i used to do a lot.

I began doing them for friends

and they kinda started selling well.

A little too well.

I was faced with the age old question

most artists are faced with eventually...

"am i doing this because i love it

or because i know it'll sell?"

These little birds eventually became boring for me,

so i stopped painting them.

I still think they're cute - i just do them much less now.

I painted these two for my mother,

who's giving them as a gift.

(she still loves them...)

On my regular walk on the beach over the weekend,

I found these beauties.

I watched as a huge seagull

cracked this open with his beak

and feasted on what was inside.

Whenever i see something like this,

part of me is in awe of the whole spectacle,

and another part wants to run towards the seagull

and scare it off

so i can save this little guy.

But then i remind myself that this is nature,

the way things are supposed to be.

So i just sit and watch instead...

with my eyes half closed.

Isn't it beautiful?

As for painting, i've done a little less lately,

only because work got in the way.

i hate when that happens. ;-)

Whenever i have left over paints,

i spread them on paper, like i did here.

No particular image or idea,

 just blocks of leftover color.

Then whenever i have a bit of time -

I add more paint to it and turn it into something

a little more visually pleasing.

At least for me.

I like this free form kinda painting

where nothing needs to make much sense.

Very liberating.

A quick pencil sketch... 

may turn into a painting soon - not sure.

A while ago, i ordered these books

and they came in last week.

It's like Christmas at the house

whenever i get a box from Amazon!

Soooooo exciting!

The Fire Starter Sessions.

A. MA. ZING.

Steal like an artist...

SUCH a good little book.

So many gems in there.

And yes, there's a difference

between good stealing and bad stealing

so don't go sending me any hate emails

about how stealing is bad, ok?

I already know that.

And i don't run with scissors either. ;-)

One of his little nuggets of wisdom.

On that note, i've had a few conversations lately

about what it means to be creative.

With today's technology at our fingertips,

and everyone else's masterpiece in our face 24-7,

it's hard not to feel overwhelmed and intimidated sometimes.

There's nothing wrong with being inspired by others,

but i think we need to set limits for

inspirational time.

If you often find yourself sitting in front of your computer,

thinking things like

"I wish i would've done that"

"I wish I was that good"

"if i had the money, I would do blankety blank blank blank"...

shut off the damn computer

and go make something.

The only thing you should be concerned with is this:

what fuels me?

What do i want?

What do I love to do?

And go do it.

Let others do what they are best at,

and you wow us with what YOU are best at.

I know you're all best at something...

I've seen it.

Go do that.

"Let each man exercise the art he knows". 

xoxo

art supplies and angel charms

hi all!

No art today

although i had to share yesterday's purchases.

I'm always so excited about buying new art supplies.

I'm pretty easy to please.

A few things that make me really happy:

art supplies :-)

candles and holders - especially lime green ones

good coffee

good wine

2 hours in a book store

laughing with my son

a haircut (I'm getting one today - yay for me!)

spending time with friends

a good book

the ocean

new underwear ;-)

That's pretty much my list. 

If i had ever married,

the whole "for better or for worst" speech 

would have flown out the window.

I just would have supplied him with this list

and asked for his list.

Bam. Done. :-)

On that note, i want you all to know

that i'm not married, nor did i ever want to marry

nor will i ever marry.

Just to make things clear.

You know me. Clarity is always key. ;-)

ok, now that we have THAT out of the way,

i must also share this.

While i was running a few errands yesterday,

and buying these wonderful treats for myself,

i saw a bunch of little angel charms 

at the Hallmark store.

You know the kind...

the cute little kind,

each one with a different little look

and its own title (and super power!)

I looked at a few of the titles...

courage angel

love angel

wisdom angel

sister angel

and then...

out of the corner of my eye...

(i swear i'm not making this up)

i saw....

CASINO ANGEL.

Gentle Jesus....

Casino angel.

Are we fucking serious?

i burst out laughing and the clerk came over

to see what she was missing.

She told me she thought it was the most ridiculous thing

she had ever seen too.

And then she proceeded to tell me

it was a best seller.

Have we lost our minds?

I wanted to slit my wrists right there in the store.

ok, maybe i'm exaggerating a bit, but you get my point.

Some say this is great marketing -

and maybe it is,

but it certainly says little for our intelligence

as a species.

Good for a few laughs, i guess...

Happy Wednesday folks!

xoxo