Sleep, Dream

Reality is okay, but the blend of waking ideals is full of conflict and disillusion. Certainly, there are those who are living their lives, fulfilling their dreams. But for the most part there are as many, if not far more, who are in despair. For them, dreams are no longer pleasant, but sour, dried up and lifeless cancer cells in their body, slowly draining the life out of them. Dreams have become reasons to be easily agitated and on always on edge. And unknown to them, it isn't that they have given up on their dreams as it is, they have surrendered hope and courage to act.

So go back to sleep my friend. Crawl back in bed and sleep until dreaming becomes your reality. You came out of the cocoon too early, helped out by a well meaning, sleepless dreamer who was also "rescued" before their time. Allow your dream life to regain its life giving energy and to feed your will and your mind. Allow your reason to be influenced by the same energy that formed the universe and fuels exploration, discovery and innovation. That energy that allows a child to play for hours, to build "imaginary" castles and be doctors, dancers and warriors, that "stuff" still resides in the very marrow of your bones! It's in your Deoxyribonucleic acid - your DNA! And though it may seem like "the devil" holds the deed to your soul, he could no more "rent it," than hold you down! No, what has occurred is you have forgotten that dreams are meant to be lived! And that dreams are the very stuff of life!

Go back to bed; sleep a little longer. Lie in the comfort of possibility! And stay there until you are truly alive again!

Nugget and Root

Triplicate

Searching

That _____

The umph and ahhh

The something-something that changes and unravels the mystery of one's life

Searching

Digging

Breaking up

Giving up

Surrendering

And trying again and again and again

Searching

Seeking

Getting advice

And venting one's soul

Replacing

Substituting

Hoping 'this' will be a reasonable replacement for 'that'

Looking in eyes

Examining hair and expressions

Hoping "he" or "she"

Will be the solution for the ache

Giving up

Settling

Disillusion becoming dis-ease in your mind body and soul

Holding a glimmer of hope

An ember buried in the dust of years of trying

Waiting for someone, something somewhere

To BE

Thought for The Day - A Measure

Birds of a feather 18 x 24 pastels

I'm Listening 24 x 36 oils

A dip in the container, the amount available surpasses what's needed. But from time to time, we look at the container and the scoop (what's inside us) as if we needed to dole it out in small portions. We measure, we calculate and somehow our calculations don't include the supply. And yet, this supply, the place where we draw from, never runs dry.

Lavish living; not spending every penny earned, but finding joy in what cannot be purchased. Or what is purchased is cherished, valued and enjoyed!

Thought for The Day - In Mid-Sentence

Interrupted,
Cut-off
Thought separated by an interjection of other thought
Crossing an intersection and t-boned by another vehicle-interruption

You are flowing, mind and body progressing and suddenly, you're brought to an abrupt HALT! Couldn't continue if you tried. Words pile on top of one another like a stack of matchbox cars. Body, spasming, nerve endings firing like a bag full of firecrackers going off.

...And that's life

Events occur - we don't consider to be "natural changes," but sometimes they are - and your course of action and thought have to change. It's been said life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react. I believe it's true, but there are certain events that we give a "governing vote" in the direction of our live from here on out.

Funny how these thoughts come randomly and find their way into this space.

We live our lives in light of what has happened and though we aren't completely at the mercy of circumstances and occurrences, they influence our thoughts and therefore our actions, henceforth and forever. Believe me, we can change, we don't have to remain stuck at the accident scene and the remainder of our life playing like a scratched LP (that's a vinyl record, for those born after 1990). Two analogies are my personal reminders, my tools to get passed the "stuck places" in my life. Both involve prayer:

1. Pray yourself out of yourself
2. Pray until you pray

Both suggest that "we," or "I" can be my impediment when it comes to seeking guidance/change/the will of God in our lives. Both imply greater effort, focused on removing the block and allowing our soul to soar to the very heavens for help. I'm feeling this myself this morning, even as the words leave my hand and land in this space. There is a need, a request, stuck mid-expression in my throat and I'm certain I have the power to utter it, but "I've" got tot be removed from the equation. I hope you're feeling me!

Thought for The Day - Originality

Running the Sky 12 x 18 pastels

"Sometimes, you gotta get in the basket and see where the wind takes you!"

"C'mon, we're going for a ride!"

Early morning, sleep is barely out of my eyes and yet I am determined to allow whatever dreams and their cryptic, poignant messages, to carry me through the day. Each day I wake, each day is opportunity to be 'me.' Not a better me, though I strive for it, but 'me,' the guy who likes listening to music, loves the challenge of bending light into patterns on paper and drinks in the beauty of each day. I wake each day, suppressing the urge to crawl back in the bed, curled in a dreamland where whatever battle I'm about to face, is far away.

It's original, the mark I make, the blend of colors chosen, because the energy generated never stays the same. Some days I'm high in the sky, riding the waves of energy where my cousins and them can't touch. Not because I'm more, but because I'm free and I am me. The voice, the tone, the blend of words, all my own. And when I come down to earth, when I settle to the ground and my feet blend with earth, my roots run deep, sprouting in new places and new faces.

I wish you could see what I do when the colors flow. There is far more (quantity + quality) than I and you can ever fathom. But let's try to bring it up and out anyway!

Thought for The Day - The Root

Where it All Begins...

The process of creating stems from a place and a source deeper than tree roots.

I live in an sub-urban area, but not the idyllic type with large yards, manicured lawns and cookie-cutter homes. It's an older area with large older trees and yards where a child's imagination grows. Some of the older trees have roots that reach deep and spread wide. When we moved into our house 25 years ago (wow, seems like yesterday!) there were remnants of an apple tree that produced a crab apple or two per year. I would say a year or two after we moved in, we had the tree cut down and removed. Have you ever looked at the roots of a tree that's been removed? Let me give you an idea what I'm talking about: that tree has been gone for approximately 20 years and I use the location to plant a vegetable garden. Whether I turn the soil with a shovel or till it with a tiller, I still find roots, old and supposedly dead. Now that tree didn't produce enough fruit to keep around and the few branches growing from it's trunk didn't give me hope for it. Sure, everyone wants a tree in their yard, especially a fruit tree to grab fresh produce, but when it looks bare and sickly, it's got to go!

My mom gave me the impetus to be creative; her simple doodling while on the phone opened a channel for me that 46 years later, still produces 'stuff.' I thought it had died, I thought when I faced the dilemma of 'making money' and 'being an artist' at 21, I would never produce another image again (not really; it was the melodramatic side of me having it's moment). And though, for all practical purposes nothing visual came from me, images and concepts lay beneath the surface, waiting for an outlet. Good as well as bad times stirred the outlets, the cracks and crevices to allow the flow to emerge. And years later, I'm at it again. The source is no more depleted than breathable air. It is nurtured from a source that never runs dry and each day is an opportunity to produce words and images. I am forever grateful for the ability to express!

Thought for The Day - The Well

A Response 24 x 36 Oil

I wondered how deep the well ran...

As a child, for a few days of the summer, we traveled south to Mississippi and Arkansas, visiting my parents aunts and uncles. Both had a few cows, more chickens and a few horses or mules; the folks were old and spent last time working the land than used to. But on my father's land, there was a well that his aunt used as one of her sources of water. A well with a bucket attached to a rope that you lowered to get water from the bottom of it. I don't think I've been too many places since and seen a working well. Anyway, if you wanted water for cooking, cleaning and drinking, this was the best way to get it. And the water was cool and delicious! I remember thinking how could the water be so cold when it was so hot outside! But it was and we drink it often.

I remember wondering how water was below the ground; did it just sit down there? Or was it flowing here, there and...you get the point.

Makes me wonder still, when I think of sources, are they just lying there waiting to be 'tapped?' I've been trying to get to the bottom of this, quite literally, all my life. A deeper searching and understanding of this living, this life. Seeing beauty in the mysteries of life as well as the simple and common. A drop of water, coming from your eye, or as will be the case in a few minutes, water dripping in the form of sweat...from my body...really...where is the well?

The source...the necessities of life supplied...

Thought for The Day - Conduit

A Clear Chanel - 24 x 36 Oil Painting

A channel...

Who are you? Are you a pathway for learning and instruction? Do others come to your for information, advice, a shoulder to cry on?

Does inspiration flow through you? Can you be trusted to bring insight and light to nearly any situation?

It's not that we aren't capable; its that hurt, shame and fear "gum up" the conduit.