More than ever before, I find myself wanting to be like the trees I am drawing. They stand tall, firmly rooted no matter the ever-changing weather, bending however needed to the passing winds and storms, yet always growing, even blooming, despite their losses. Yes. I’d like to be a tree. But my inner life belies … Continue reading Be A Tree
Tag: encouragement
Revolution
It takes 365 days for the earth to make one full trip around the sun. That’s 8,760 hours. Or 525,600 minutes. Or 31,536,000 seconds. Small increments, tiny moments, so many ordinary events which create one revolution. Birthdays remind me of this. One more turning of the years has been made up of many days and … Continue reading Revolution
A Week of Blind Sight
“Art does not reproduce what we see. It makes us see.” ~ Paul Klee Seven days. One week. The length of a nice vacation or a hike on the Appalachian Trail. Each and every day of creating marks on 10" x 10" Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper, felt like a blind endeavor. I am not trained … Continue reading A Week of Blind Sight
An Everyday Outlet
For Day 6 of #drawtheordinary through Lent, I'm to draw a "wall plug". I should've thought about that wording a bit more because what I meant was "an outlet". No matter, plug or outlet, they are both ordinary things. (At least they are to those of us fortunate enough to live in parts of the … Continue reading An Everyday Outlet
Discover Your Life Beautiful…One Drawing At A Time
Do you long to find meaning in your life, just as it is? Would you like to be able to sketch and draw more freely? Are you looking for a way to focus on the good things in your life and even help you deal with the challenges? Years ago, I wrote a lesson a … Continue reading Discover Your Life Beautiful…One Drawing At A Time
Drawn To Iron
I do not like to iron. At all. I seem to be in a place where my heart needs re-orienting. Something is in need of being smoothed out. Yet I tell myself I like the chaotic wrinkles, the jumble of piles of laundry. I'm well aware that I'm speaking in veiled terms here. You'll just … Continue reading Drawn To Iron
The Verge of Chaos
I sat there in front of a photograph on the wall. Straddling a cushioned cube at a local hangout spot, I was drawn to draw him. Ruffly shirt, dark eye peering out of stark value shifts. My own eyes tracing the shapes, the connections between shapes, the value shifts, squinting in order to see better. … Continue reading The Verge of Chaos
Curbed Beauty
For weeks on end I marvel and enjoy in my living room a gazillion branches shooting out in a most pleasing shape, draped with twinkly lights and sparkly ornaments. I never once consider the base, the foundation, the structure from which all these balsam branches emanate. Well, maybe once, as my son lifted the tree … Continue reading Curbed Beauty
Oh No… I think I’ve ruined it!
This is such a regular thought that goes marching through my head as I create, that I am used to it now, and I've even grown to expect it. It wasn't always so. There were years that a fair panic would nearly shut me down completely when this thought would blaze its way into my … Continue reading Oh No… I think I’ve ruined it!
Roadside Word Picking
New Year's Eve...I love Eve's. They feel like that timeless space of hovering right before warp speed takes over. The eve of something begs for preparation, anticipation, reflection... a mindfulness about the next day and all that it will usher in. Christmas Eve feels like that, and so does New Year's Eve. The living room … Continue reading Roadside Word Picking