Thought for The Day - What Lies Beneath

It's a line, a stretch of land or fabric; who knows "what" it really is. But it hides something underneath...

Fantasy

Imagination

Peeling back the layers of what we normally perceive, to allow our minds to see another reality...

Thought for The Day - Be Encouraged

Shaken Up! 8 x 11 pencils

I woke with this song playing in my mind and it seemed somehow, appropriate for this morning's entry. Not sure where this will take you and I, but here it goes!

These words "be encouraged," said when we know someone is going through a time of difficulty; the power of these words is the intent behind them. Literally saying to someone, with a desire that their life is turned from tragedy or calamity to joy; that desire seems to lift that person's sense of hope. And seeing that "shift" in the individual, gives us hope.

Paramount to my existence is giving individuals hope and encouragement. For me, it is like igniting or giving additional energy to the light inside us all. It is the human/divine connect that awakes in us our purpose for living. And for some, the igniting is more than a matter of "lifting up the bowed down head," for some, it's a matter of taking destructive energy and turning it to life affirming, life building energy! And just as uttering words of encouragement reflects on the listener as well as the one who says it, so we are a community, designed to bring us all into our divine purpose.

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 - Launching Out into the Deep

You never know what will move you out there or what you will experience when you get out into the "open seas," but you can trust you will discover as much about you as you do about the world!

There are many things I'm reluctant to do; some things don't fit my identity and aren't part of my make up . I don't need to feel get high from liquor and certainly not drugs; good conversation and good music do the trick for me. But there are some things I know I want to do and places I want to go and situations I want to experience. And quite honestly, not everything can be learned through YouTube!

I find that this journey has strange twists and turns and yesterday's failures become tomorrow's epiphany. I began "blogging" years ago, though I wasn't sure what I wanted to say. I was told by the experts that an artist should blog about his art and so I did. But I didn't always have something to say about it. I could blog about my relationship with God, my aspirations and my philosophies about life, but not art - at least not all the time. I wrote about what was on my mind. But "it" wasn't working; I wasn't feeling the need to do so.

"Back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now..." I went back to the corporate jungle, back to the places where income is the main thing and back to my old role. Oh how I hated the notion of doing so! I met a coworker who seemed to be the epitome of class and professionalism and with a wonderful smile. But the strangest thing: without warning, I would have this sense that everything wasn't right. I didn't know her well enough to ask and yet this feeling wouldn't go away. One day, on a whim, I sent an email to her, short and simple: "Whatever you're going through, no matter what the day brings, there is nothing God can't bring you through." She LOVED IT! And asked if I could send these every day - joking of course. But it stirred the idea: A thought for the day, with a theme. I mulled it over for a while and found there really was a theme for each day. Lord knows I write enough on my own without sharing it so with a little practice and development, and here we are!

I have found through this process, I am peeling back layers of my own frustrations and finding someone beneath the surface I forgot existed. I find that I am far more sensitive, meaning I am both spiritually and emotionally aware of other's feelings as well as hypertuned to my own. This 240 pound guy isn't afraid to admit he cries! Wow! Admitting that now puts me out further in the deep!

There are days I am certain I have so far to go; my goals are stretched out to the other end of the universe! And there days I don't think I have the strength or cunning to make it another inch. But each day, without fail, I am further along this journey. And everyday, there is another part of me peeled away and more of me revealed.

Thought for The Day - Mission Impossible

Sleeping Beauty 8 x 11 pencil drawing

Shooting from the Hip...

Life long journey, at it for more days than my conscious mind could reason. Fighting each day to make this life have meaning. I've done what everyone else does, I put books in my hand and words in my head, trying to make sense of the life I've been given. Some days, I'm not sure if I got the logic down.

So I put brush in oil-based pigments and touched canvas: energy and light! Except there aren't enough hours in the day or a return to the tune of giving up the day job. My expression of love gets pushed to the side and gets hobby level hours. What's in me? What light dwells beneath these brown eyes? My daily words try to express it, write and post on Google to record my time here. Sharing a good word, or a gut wrenching truthful word, all the while, more words spill out everywhere else.

I put them - the words - in sermons, telling the good news to congregations that heard a quarter of what I said. Every now and then someone acknowledged deeper waters. Taught in classes where the focus is on a Man who loved us so deeply, he wrote it through ghost writers over thousands of years. We still wont believe or try to hear what he says.

It seems like a mission impossible, an assignment we should just close the books on, blow this blue and green rock out of orbit and be gone. But if it's a mission with no possibility of a return, we will keep at it until every bit of light (love) is spilled on those who reject it. But it's an endless source, so the mission is not impossible. I/We will win!

Thought for The Day - Dead Weight

After the Dance 18 x 24 Charcoal

A saying that conveys carrying someone who is unable to "help you" carry them; perhaps someone knocked out, who can't adjust their body or shift to make the load easier. Or worse, literally someone who is dead. Metaphorically speaking, we often carry people, situations, emotional history that is just that: dead weight. It hampers our steps, as in you should be able to go forward with your life, the plans and desires you've had for years, but this dead weight prevents you. You should  feel freedom of movement and a joy of life, but this dead weight is like extra gravity; you can't get free!

Is it that you are bound to these people, these situations or this emotional baggage? Or is it a choice you make to carry it? Do you decide, before flying off to freedom, that "no, I can't go because 'so-and-so' won't approve." Do you recall those past hurts when you meet someone who is kind and seem to  unselfishly look out for your best interests? Do you give helpful people a side-eye glance, trying to determine "what's their angle?"

The problem with carrying around "dead weight" is eventually, you become dead, lifeless, stuck. You find the same old tune playing each time you wake and every waking moment of the day. And the larger issue, though you can't tolerate the song, you keep it on repeat!

My friend (and talking to myself), take the steps today to free yourself. If all you take are small steps, do it today and little by little you will be free to move and live.

Thought for The Day - Maybe You Need Word with Your Pictures?

Phoenix 18 x 24 pastels

Abstract images get a bad rep from the uninformed. Yes I know, calling someone uninformed is the equivalent of using the biblical analogy where Jesus said you shouldn't cast your pearls before swine. People don't hear their "name" called until they perceive an insult. But the "uninformed," those who won't look into the multiple abstract images floating in their head and perceive the message; for those people, an image on a canvas is best represented by faces, torsos and bowls of fruit! To those people, that's art! Expand your mind, friend!

I don't like seeming insulting, but honestly it's just as insulting to be told: "I don't get it!" Or the worse "my five year old niece/nephew/grandchild could do that!" Honestly, they couldn't! Unless they reached into that place where souls are willing to go, first of all. And then they would have to allow that "source" to flow through them. Not many go there; and quite honestly, not many should. Every person has their unique expression and gifts. 

Admittedly, our "message" isn't readily received. I've long thought to add words, maybe a little story to make things clearer. Not sure if I'm getting the desired result, but until I hear differently, I will continue to do so. The image above is one of those images. It's entitled Phoenix and is named after the mythical bird that regenerates itself. But the story is more important how my image came to be.

Sitting down one evening, pastels and a sheet of paper, I started with a simple stroke of green. I've always liked building layers of colors and moving them about the surface. Equally pleasurable is mimicking contour, depth and form. These are objects we see every day: the surface of a car, your arm, a child in motion. With all of that flowing through my mind, but not necessarily the goal, I went at it!

I can't begin to explain the many thoughts going through my head while rendering, I can only tell you about the "middle place." At some point, I begin to make more concrete decisions as opposed to simply flowing. Judgement, correction and intention play into how an image develops. With "Phoenix," at some point I saw there was a wing to the left and this ghost-like, energetic bird in the middle. My sense was this image represented life, or the progression of life. I didn't "intentionally" place an egg in the lower right hand corner, but when I realized it was there, it made perfect sense. The images were coming together as one and as a result you have a representative of life: how it comes to be, how we find ourselves (the bird's wing) and our eventual transition into another. 

Words and Images; not sure where else I can take the idea, but for now, we will leave it at that.