In Process

(In Process) A Tea Rose for Monique 12 x 16 acrylic

Always

On my way

Arriving only to find I should go further

Or over there

Stay a while

I can't

There's someone/where/when

Just over the horizon

Yesterday is so fa away

Though I remember parts

Like it was 3 minutes ago

Today I woke before dawn

And before I knew it

The day was gone

So is it any wonder that I should move like that "Lucky Old Sun"

I'll be here for a while

But I'm leaving as soon as the wind picks up

And the chariot of fire swings my way

I'll be bigger then

Or I'll be smaller

In that next place

That arriving destination

I'll be something else

Thought for The Day - Weather Conditions

You never know where the factors that spell your change will appear. Sitting in the office, in the cubicle you've occupied for 8 years, on the sofa, a familiar setting you could predict from your dreams; the conditions of our lives, like a "Groundhog Day." But...unexpectedly, a thought - no, not even that. An hunch or fleeting feeling, more like a sensation of a nerve ending firing a quick spasm. Months and years from now, you might be more aware of the next few minutes, than that sensation.

It's time for a change; you've known it for years. You might have settled into the status quo, the day-to-day activities where the only difference between you and the next guy is your house, your spouse and your skin. While your clothes are similar to your neighbor and friends, your soul sings a different tune.

Like an unpredictable rain storm, or in the case of Chicago, a surprise snow shower, your "change" shocks everyone; even family members didn't and wouldn't expect such a dramatic change! But change you must; it's in your blood and the only step you can take is forward.

But...

Don't wait for a twitching nerve ending. Don't look for a sign in the clouds or a message "from God." When you know, when it rides your every thought, make the change in you!

Thought for The Day - Prep Work

"As it is heaven, so it is on earth..."

Each morning, an alarm goes off on an old digital watch, kept on my desk. It goes off at 4:57 each day. At this point, it signals that it's time to wrap up my prep work, work on the blog and mentally prepare to hit the gym. When I set the alarm, years ago, it was to get up early enough for devotional time, exercise a bit at home and prepare for work. I haven't silenced the alarm in years, when I lay in the bed, my wife complaining that I should turn it off since I wasn't getting up. She doesn't know it goes off now because it's in my space and I'm up long before it goes off.

I've noticed that in my work, there are many keys from reality. Certainly, abstract work tends to trigger emotions, thoughts, providing us glimpses of our unconscious and what facts wind their way through our mind. So rendering in this way, I find cues from my past, present and the hoped for future. Patterns, shapes, colors and impressions occur with each stroke and sometimes, I'm certain I can see what lies off in a far away place...

Thought for The Day - Try

I am as incomplete a human being as one could be! I have not exercised my potential, haven't reached the people who await my "listening ear" and sympathetic words and I have yet to render the "glorious work." But I keep trying.

There are days I sit and look at the painting on the easel. I study, analyze and evaluate the dilemmas runny paint have created. There are times, as I go through my morning routine of writing; I look at the globs of paint drying on the palette and kick myself for not "redeeming the time" wisely. There are times, I'm riding the train, walking the block to the office or standing in the elevator and I consider those who read these words, and I wonder "am I getting through?" Are the words, as they filter through me, are they making a difference in the lives of people? ALL. I. CAN. DO. IS. TRY!

It takes effort to get out of the place where you know you don't belong. It takes effort to bring change to your life, especially the type of change you've known you were born to be. But nothing happens until you try. And sometimes, when no one else sees, in the privacy of your thoughts and heart, you are doing just that. But keep trying! Never give up! Try!

Thought for The Day - Progression!

Pre-dawn Light 18 x 24 charcoal

Snail's pace...

Can you see the slow moving trail of your steps? Can you picture the pace you would prefer to move and the many encumbrances along the way? And does it make you want to lose your mind that the "sleepy town" where you are, bars your way? Seems that way for me as well my friend! So very often!

I have wanted to "see the world" for many years, one of my favorite ways of imagining it is seeing the fields and small farms where people live and work. I've wanted to spend time with artists and writers, musicians and composers; I want to understand their creative processes, the times where they feel like their feet are set in concrete and the times when they feel like they're soaring high above.

And yet, moving forward remains at a snail's pace. But small steps count as progression as well! And please remember the greatest effort of launching a rocket into outer space occurs before the rocket reaches the upper atmosphere! Keep at it, my friend!

Thought for The Day - Fall and River

Fall and River 12 x 18 pastels

Colors, dulling as the days shrink, the water still flows to the ocean...

It is all miraculous and yet so commonplace, we treat it as common. We have our moments, those isolated fragments of time when we put aside anxiety and see with the eyes of a child, sunlight twinkling through the mesh of leaves and tree limbs. We gaze, every now and then, at a night sky, where the moon shines its halogen glow, a few stars spot the indigo, drowned out by the glow of cities too afraid to sleep.

The river still flows...

There are parts of our life that won't stop 'cause I'm stressing! Farmers are out at 5:00 am, working their land, trying to get that paper, while someone's mom stands on a bus stop to get to that job, with a limited return. Her life is the neighborhood, this bus, her kids and the old storefront church where she's been on the nurse's board for 25 years. The river flows from one generation to another.

Leaves holding summer's warmth in it's fading colors...

The cool weather lasts longer than the dawn, insulating your thoughts, slowing down the pace of life way past getting to work or school. It's like someone stole heat and sunny days; we forget summer's warmth and try to get it in chicken noodle soup or a bowl of chili, the lure of bright colored Halloween personalities, before we settle at the table for Thanksgiving turkey. Passing from one mile marker to the next, brown and black hair replaced by silver, white and grey. A swagger becomes a slurred shuffle, limbs growing tired from carrying dreams that never seem to hatch. Life goes on, but it goes on without us...sometimes...