i think it's time to go facebook free...

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

There is society, where none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in its roar:

I love not man the less, but Nature more.

- George Gordon Byron

hello everyone...

This quote speaks to me these days.

I've been feeling the need to detach myself from
all of this social media stuff lately.

I had a wonderful conversation with a friend over the weekend
and i was reminded of how easy it is
to lose focus of what really matters.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
hashtag this and that...
these things so don't matter to me.

Some may feel more connected to the world
when they use social media - but i don't
so i'm bailing out completely for a while.

I will still be blogging though - just very little of anything else.

Life is calling me. :-)

Solitary walks in the woods matter to me.

A good coffee with a good book.

An hour of painting or writing.

Listening to music with my son.

Face to face conversation with a good friend,
like the one i had over the weekend...

(watercolour on a tag)

I think it's so easy to get caught up

in someone else's wave

and to begin comparing ourselves to others.

Amy Winehouse... gel pen on paper (in my journal)

Comparing ourselves to others is never good.

we all have our own way of being in the world...

Those of you who are not social media fanatics

are still worthy of being heard...

Your stories still matter.

And if you're not driving the best car

or wearing the best jeans

or connected to the right people

or carrying the best purse...

you are still ok

and part of the whole.

One life is worth as much as the other.

 (pen on paper)

This drawing was inspired by something i saw on-line

a few weeks ago, 

and i don't remember where i saw it or who the illustrator was...

drawings like these are so much fun to sketch...

I sent out these 2 prints this morning,

to a lovely soul who purchased them on Etsy.

Makes me happy to know my art

makes someone else happy. :-)

wishing you a day

filled with awesomeness.

xox

IF - wool

I'm squeezing this one in (!!) for Illustration Friday.

Word of the week: WOOL.

A digital illustration i did for a children's book about a sheep

who had different wool than the rest of the sheep

and he got himself a perm -

to make his wool more *poofy*.

Ended up being just a bit more *poofy* than expected.

:-)

How one book can change the world...

hello everyone.

This is Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

She's an american author who is most well known
for her book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin", 
a book about slavery and the desire for change.

A great book, although it was at times hard to read.
Too much suffering.

So many books to read...
so many things to learn.

I think women like this were so brave...

at a time where it was certainly uncool
to speak out against slavery (in the 1800's)
and where it was definitely uncool
to speak out at all, if you were a woman.

...and yet, she wrote.

It is said that when she met Abraham Lincoln,
he referred to her as
"the little woman who made this great war"
(the American civil war)

She may not be responsible for having started the war,
but one thing is certain:
she got people thinking
about why certain things were still accepted.

Why some things were still left unquestioned.

Thought is the seed that breeds action and change.

A quick tint in photoshop, and it feels more like the 1800's... :-)

And this was taken yesterday... 

today is a different picture. Another snow storm.

Another day of from school for the kids.

Another day inside for me,

drinking coffee and staying out of trouble. (giggle)

thank you all for your kind comments and emails

re: yesterday's post.

I knew most of you were kind souls

and truth seekers.

xox