I became a painter because I wanted to raise painting to the level of poignancy of music and poetry. Mark Rothko I don’t want to be struck by lightning and don’t need certain slants of light in order to write. Toni Morrison The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: The bad [...]
Seeing the Big Picture 2:4 …continued from Reaching Out When I was a child I happily went to church and Sunday School every week, said my prayers nightly, and had many conversations with my friends about God as we tried to grasp the idea that God was not born, He just was; a concept I [...]
The effort that many of us put into not doing something or the time we spend thinking about doing something can be extremely stressful and anxiety producing. If you procrastinate, you probably worry about all the time you’re wasting as you think about getting started. You probably don’t waste as much time as you think [...]
I’ve been doing some drawing and painting lately for the first time ever, and really trying to bring my Beginner’s Mind to all of it. The quotes this month are all from Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, which has been sitting on my bookshelf unread since it was published in 1989. Until [...]
Discovery 1:9 – The First Step: Understanding & Acceptance …continued from 7 Steps to Loving What You Do – Discovery 1:8 – Security in Being the Victim We can be happy, even at work. But first we have to come to a truthful, non-judgmental understanding of why we’re unhappy. It’s easy enough to recognize our [...]
“The proper response to a work of art is joy, even hilarity.” When I read this on page thirteen of Ted Kooser’s The Poetry Home Repair Manual, and saw that there was a chapter called Don’t Worry About the Rules, I knew I could not only read this book, I could write a poem or [...]
Lately I have been playing with drawing and painting, and it’s all I want to do now. I don’t know what I’m doing and I rather like it that way. I hope I don’t “learn” too much and can continue to have fun. I love what Dievenkorn said about painting; I think his words can [...]
The end of each year is an auspicious time to pause, reflect and renew. Which is exactly what I will be doing for the next couple weeks. I hope you are able to take some time to be with family, friends and loved ones. And to take some quiet time for yourself during the transition [...]
My heart is heavy with sadness today about what we humans do to each other. Here is some ancient wisdom from Buddha that I hope will inspire all of us to be kinder. TWIN VERSES Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels [...]
Find the Time Desire is the only requirement necessary to find the time. But find the time we must. Otherwise, all intention of finding a quiet corner will remain in our heads as just another good idea. Probably one-quarter of my memory bank was filled with such notions—creative ideas that sat idly by waiting for [...]
