Thought for The Day - Spices

It began when I was about 12 years old, one of those Saturday mornings when my mother decided to teach my sister and I how to prepare our own breakfast. Eggs, bacon and toast. That lead to eggs, bacon or sausage and french toast. And that lead to omelets, ham and eventually to pancakes, eggs and whatever breakfast meat available. The consistent part of breakfast was eggs. I had 'em scrambled, fried and the one I could never get used to: sunny side up. But the one part of eggs I loved was the variety of seasonings that could be added.

You grow up in various parts of the west side of Chicago and the western suburbs and the world is a small place. The interests and cultures may seem similar, but it is getting to know people that you find out their likes and dislikes, their habits and music preferences. Expand your circle and you find out how wonderfully complex humankind really is! Foods, music, books, religion; these can all be ways to divide us but they are ways to show how we blend together. You can live next door to a family or individual or a completely different culture and background and spend hours talking about your common interests as well what makes you unique! You can ride public transportation with a banker, nurse, street sweeper or a doctor and have extensive conversations about life and baseball. This is the spice of life!

Thought for The Day - Rearranging the Space

Clearing out space

Moving around stuff

Making room for more

Getting rid of old energy

A constant process... we aren't as wise and clever as we would like to think. But we've got to do something! After all, as much as we deny it, we crave change! It's in our DNA, our soul is this bundle of energy and constant growth. So, from one minute to the next, from day to day, we move about, we settle down, we shift and we stretch. Always moving people in and out of our lives.

Yes, people and things, coming and going; seeing this person and that one; wanting to "settle down" with someone but when we do, we aren't really settled are we? We want to grow together and somehow we don't. We make this life as difficult as it needs to be.

My words aren't cryptic, friend. You understand what I'm saying...

Thought for The Day - (in process)

Linen (in process - a snippet) 30 x 40 Oils

Nice title; usually I include in parenthetical words: "in process" when I display something I'm still working on. There are times when I display work I've completed, but the joy of having this digital format is I can capture a snippet of the image as it is being developed, and share it in this outlet. I get to share the journey of my work with you.

I'm "in process;" I woke this morning and lay in bed for another thirty minutes, my normal routine of rising early and getting to the gym, broken by "another fall." I'm recuperating and trying not to worry about the falling too much. But as part of my "processing," I have to consider what occurs in the physical, determine if there is a spiritual correlation and if so, what the "breaking, falling and pain" mean in my life. Lying there, I prayed about the significance of my life. I'm a dreamer and have always been. I've always felt like my life had a bigger purpose and praying about it, I recalled hearing clips of Dr. Martin Luther King's speeches played on a local AM radio station between segments. I remember from childhood to young adulthood, hearing those snippets and feeling like his words not only meant something for me, but were there to spur me to my own mission. But I also remembered that at some point, because "nothing was happening" I stilled the stirring emotions. I ignored the light that shines in my soul. Actually, in so many ways, I've done this and in truth, at any given moment, I could do the same again. However, I have to admit, that in so many ways, I know I'm "in process" and much closer to that larger significance than I want to believe.

Being "in process" doesn't mean that once I'm "done," that's all there is to it. No, it's actually like leaving one room and entering into another, leaving one country and passing into another. There remains more work to do and more challenges. All I can do is keep moving.

Thought for The Day - Puzzle Pieces

Sleeping Beauty (in progress) - 8 x 11 pencils

After the Dance (in progress) 18 x 24 charcoal

The subject is a recurring 'theme' in my life, from my earliest experience with jigsaw puzzles, I have loved the very complexity of them. Putting them together, finding the pieces that fit perfectly together and the hours of looking for those pieces to fit perfectly. I certainly owe it to myself to invest in a 1000 piece puzzle or more, and do it soon!

Now mind you, every moment spent with a puzzle isn't pleasure. There are times when I want to toss the whole thing in the trash! The times where you are sure a piece fits, you place it down, only to find after trying to fit another to it's complex corners, there's the tiniest gap! And you begin again, trying to find the right piece! Or the times you sit turning and twisting pieces, and after what seems to be a long time, not one piece is put in place.

I've wanted to be an artist all my life, since I saw my mom casually drawing cubes and flowers in a pot. I learned how to do the same types of drawings pretty quickly and move to "race cars" - this little boy's fascination with power and going fast! Then I moved to drawing people, one of the most complex 'designs' to tackle. Faces, arms, the intricate twist of muscles, bones and flesh and expressions are pieces I'm constantly studying and working on! The ride on public transportation or a walk at lunch is an opportunity to study these pieces and see how they fit together.

And my life is the same; my individual pieces, with my wife, children, extended family, church family, 'work family,' and on and on and on...putting it together; new parts introduced all the time. There are times it's beyond frustrating! I want to walk away from this puzzle and disappear to a place where the pieces are few and far between! But this is the complexity of my life and 'putting us together' is my excellent work.