Hope

When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
~Author Unknown

Dream

Only as high as I reach can I grow,
Only as far as I seek can I go,
Only as deep as I look can I see,
Only as much as I dream can I be.
~Karen Ravn

Believe

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie
Which we ascribe to heaven.
~William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well

This painting is my entry into the Mixed Media Monday weekly challenge. The theme this week is "altered people." I have used full body acrylics, fluid acrylics, paint marker, and molding paste this week.

I am currently taking Alisa Burke's "Graffiti Chic" online painting class. This is style is a real departure from my tight, geometric style and is taking me into a new territory. This style is so different for me I find myself with much less confidence, although the entire point is to be free, loose, and accept mistakes. You'd be surprised how difficult it can be to let go of the inner art critic!

I encourage everyone to check out Alisa's site. She is amazing. A formally trained artist and daughter of two potters, Alisa has lived the art life working in galleries. She stunned everyone when she began cutting up her own paintings to make handbags and other accessories (available on Etsy.)

The Gift

Love never reasons but profusely gives; gives, like a thoughtless prodigal, its all, and trembles lest it has done too little. ~Hannah Moore

And the winner is...

Congratulations to Annie from Annie's Art for winning the drawing for the Little Bird painting posted last Sunday. Thank you to everyone for all your posts this week and look forward to more drawings in the future! Happy Sunday, everyone!

Sorrow

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. ~Kahlil Gibran

Action

Oh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts. It's what you do with what you have left. ~Hubert Humphrey

Invincible

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. ~Albert Camus

For this painting, I had no plan other to paint what I feel and knowing I wanted to work with beautiful sea green color. I had intended on pairing it with brown as the other dominant color and there is an underlayer of that beneath but blues in the frame. After losing the job that was a daily stressful struggle yet that I loved dearly, I am now working mindless,"nothing" job. I feel my spirits slowly atrophying, not being able to use the skills that I have. When I came across this quote, I identified with the winter. Painting has been my invincibility during this time, what keeps me going and heads me in to each day, allowing me to keep up a good fight. I am wondering what is the "invincible summer" others have?

Silence

Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment. ~Henry David Thoreau


This is a different color scheme for me, using more neutrals and earth tones (although I did throw a hint of blue and green in.) Very difficult to create a depiction of the absence of something as the negation of sound can only be understood in reference to the presence of it. I work in a school for very young children and am surrounded by a wall of sound throughout the day as you can imagine. I enjoy coming home each day and spending an hour or so in complete silence as I paint and prepare for my daily blog. It revives the spirit!

Faith

Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch. ~E.M. Forster

As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit. ~Emmanuel

This painting has a story. It's for my friend James who has been out of work like so many other people for such a long time. After reading his expression of frustration the other day, the word faith was bouncing around in my heart and mind. I found the above words and was surprised by the opposing images they portrayed -- one is about fortitude while the other is about flexibility.

So I set out to paint. I wanted structure, holding on to the order of things even when everything feels disorderly. I was painting my little boxes meticulously when I accidentally knocked over my cup of water all over the painting! Everything started running together! Oh, I was mad! (And said a few words I can't repeat here.) At first I was tempted to throw the darn thing away but knew I wouldn't have time to start from scratch. So I worked with it. Yesterday and today. And now I'm quite pleased. It's different than I had expected -- more gradations of color, but isn't that more interesting?

Helping Hand

A true friend reaches for your hand and touches your heart. ~Author Unknown

This is my entry in the Mixed Media Monday "Helping Hand" challenge. Check out the site for other interesting work!

Don't forget my "Little Bird" painting giveaway this week. Each time you post a comment on my site is another chance for you to win!

Little Bird Giveaway

Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them? ~Rose F. Kennedy

I'll be giving this away in a drawing next Sunday for all those who post on my site this week. Each time you post, you'll have another chance to win. (I'll also send a sweet little ACEO to anyone who mentions me on their own blog. Just email me the link.) And don't forget to check out my new Sacred Arts Studio on Art Fire for affordable original artwork! If your email is not available on your profile, please email me or leave it in your message. This is a thank you to all my new blogging friends who keep me painting each day through your kind words! Blessings to you and you and you!

Mother and Child

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh

(for the two moms in my life -- Mother and Jodi

Play

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves. --Carl Jung

Spirit

To approach the spiritual in art, one will make as little use as possible of reality, because reality is opposed to the spiritual. -Piet Mondrian

Love

There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved. It is God's finger on man's shoulder. -Charles Morgan

Sea

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
It's always our self we find in the sea.
--e.e. cummings

Feeling

I am unable to make any distinction between the feeling I get from life and the way I translate that feeling into painting.
--Henri Matisse

Light

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within. --Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Swimming

The true peace of God begins at any spot a thousand miles from the nearest land. --Joseph Conrad

Beauty

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerge

Just like the butterfly
I, too, will awaken
In my own time.