It's Alright

It's okay, really, it is. If you don't have every detail of the future you like, worked out in your head. It's okay if, in your past, you've been prone to fits of anger and sullenness, withdrawing from family when it seems they need you most. It's okay that your goals haven't materialized yet.

In the quiet of imagining the life you want, find the peace and sense of being whole and happy...stay there for just a bit. Now allow that same sense of being a whole person to guide you toward your dreams. And when things get rough as they often will, remember that peace. Seek peace and well-being.

Now...Remains Calm

Remains Calm (in process) 30 x 40 oils

The question that immediately comes to mind: "what do I do now?" Turmoil about the future - can't change what has not occurred. Concern about the past - it's gone, move on! The present...it's quiet in my world, no clear and present danger. Remain calm with the quiet. The outside is cold, but I am inside. I am safe...Remain Calm.

Thought for The Day - Under

Remains Calm (in progress) 30 x 40 oils

The Phoenix 18 x 24 pastels

The surface placid
Reflection covers the surface,
But makes the surroundings look the same
No movement except small waves
Like a gentle breeze

Beneath it all
Life
Movement
and disturbance
Life isn't calm
Remains volatile
And on a constant cycle of change
The circle of life
Volatility of birth, maturity and death
Endless shifts
And a constant movement

For now
The surface
Cool and trouble free
But beneath
You know there is LIFE

Thought for The Day - Remaining Calm

Linen, Remaining Calm 30 x 40 oil (in process!)

The best laid plans of mice and men...

I can start a piece, intent on going "this way." But subtle changes crop up, appear dazzling and grand and I'm off in a different direction. The wonderful thing about it, is the entire process is a lesson in planning and trusting God to guide me along the way. A coworker had a saying up years ago: "Man plans, G__ laughs." I prefer to think of it as it's said in Proverbs 16:1: "To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue."

"Remaining Calm (working title, already changed from yesterday)" is a piece about just that: Calm, and remaining that way. Personally, I'm a big of calm, of smooth of peaceful. Even now, a recording by Pat Metheny plays in the background and in Pat's style, there is often this sense of something "epic" going on. But there's always a sense of tranquility. Creativity can be chaotic; often that's exactly what it is. The process can be full of anger, frustration and a sense of loss. But the completed product, the fully laid out message defines a start, a middle and an ending. In that sense, all messages are alike, but what is said, what is communicated through music, dance, fashion and in my case word and visually, is completion.

Peace.

Thought for The Day - Indigo

This time of day
Seen through my window
Alternating patterns of black and blue
The sunrise a distance away
I love the feeling of the velvet blue sky
Slowly giving way to the day...

My music plays as I type, a "Faraway" spotted, dotted recording by Joshua Redman. The occasional truck going by, with a sound like a rolling train. It's my morning; it is calm and peaceful. It is a GOOD DAY.