Another year gone

It seems impossible that another year has gone by. Yet, as time will, so it has.

I want to thank everyone who has sent me reiki over the last several months. I was not supposed to bounce back after my illness, yet I have to some extent. Thanks to reiki, prayers, good wishes and good medicine.

I still have a way to go to be healed. I have a new favourite saying. It come from of all things, a song recorded by Big & Rich. I'll live this life until this life won't let me live it anymore. Any rrors and omissions in this quote are due to my damaged hearing.

I have passed some of the time getting back into artist mode. My unbalanced lifestyle left no time for creativity. I manage by asking my family to tell me where things need to be changed. I kind of think that my fuzzy eyesight makes for improvement - it turns off the visual editor in my head. The one that constantly harps about the drawing not being 'right'.

Here's hoping the new year will be a bright and shining one for us all.

From the Drawing Board This Week

Well I've been trying out coloured (colored) pencils a bit more this week and the results have been somewhat frustrating. For years I have painted on silk, which is very similar to watercolours but freer, looser in technique. The dyes flow freely and the biggest disadvantage is lack of control of where the dye flows to. Watercolour is a similar medium and I've completed about 14 projects in this medium over the last few months. (I'm waiting for the scanner to be hooked up before I can post images. The camera we purchased didn't have any way for images to be downloaded to the printer or the pc (guess what is going back to the shop???).

Anyway, I have used cp with the watercolours and enjoyed the effects achieved. I also really enjoy watercolour pencils. Do they count as cp?

I completed a cp portrait of my mother as a toddler. I gave this to my sister for her birthday. The portrait was done on drafting film. I put a cream coloured background sheet into the frame with it.

One of my main subject areas is animal portraits. I've been working on a couple of cat portraits in cp and found it very frustrating to say the least. These turn out wonderfully well in graphite. I'm beginning to feel as if I'll never get the effects I want from other mediums.

Why don't I work in silk?

Currently I just don't have the space to set up my equipment and no fan or ventilation area to pull the fumes of steaming the finished pieces when steaming them to set the dyes.

I won't give up though. I'll keep trying until I GET IT. :o)

Cheers,

Mau

PS: I've now added the coloured pencil drawing of a varigated tulip.

Temptation

I'm trying very hard to keep from being lured away from my current works in progress by the tantalizing techniques of new media. Focus! Focus! Focus!



I'm currently working in watercolour, watercolour pencils and coloured pencils. I've also started working more in graphite too.



I used to work in oils a long time ago. The fumes and cleaners were too much for me and had to give it up or give up breathing! My daughter brought me the news that there are now a few companies making water based oil paints. Oh-h YES! Unfortunately it is too late to start trying them right now. They'll have to sit on the back burner until my current w.i.p.s are completed.

It seems there is always something more alluring than the current canvas in front of you, isn't there?

Well, back to the drawing board.

Tomorrow isn't promised us

This has been circulating for just about forever. It's a really old chestnut but I have to admit it is one of my favourites. And maybe it still has something to say...

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, they serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson or help figure out who you are and who you want to become.
You never know who these people may be: your neighbor, child, long lost friend, lover, or even a complete stranger who, when you lock eyes with them, you know at that very moment that they will affect your life in some profound way.

And sometimes things happen to you and at the time they seem painful and unfair, but in reflection you realize that without overcoming those obstacles you would have never realized your potential strength, will power, or heart.

Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by chance or by means of good or bad luck. Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul.
Without these small tests, whether they be events, illnesses or relationships, life would be like a smoothly paved straight flat road to nowhere, safe and comfortable, but dull and utterly pointless.

The people you meet who affect your life and the successes and downfalls you experience create who you are, and even the bad experiences can be learned from. In fact, they are probably the poignant and important ones.

If someone hurts you, betrays you or breaks your heart, forgive them, for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to whom you open your heart...

If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you, but because they are teaching you to love and opening your heart and eyes to things you would have never seen or felt without them.

Make every day count. Appreciate every moment and take from it everything that you possibly can, for you many never be able to experience it again...

Talk to people you have never talked to before, and actually listen, let yourself fall in love, break free and set your sights high...

Hold your head up because you have every right too. Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself...for if you don't believe in yourself, no one else will believe in you either. You can make of your life anything you wish.

Create your own life and then go out and live in it! "Live Each Day As If It Were Your Last...Tomorrow is Not Promised"

--Author Unknown

Reiki for the heart

February is the month many states and provinces designate as heart month. Please take a moment and consider those who suffer from some type of heart disease. If you are lucky enough to be free of this type of ailment, don't forget to show the Universe your gratitude!

If you are a practitioner of an energy or alternative health system like Reiki please take a few minutes this month to send healing to all those, animal and human, suffering from the various stages of heart disease. If you are not, then please send your prayers and warm thoughts.

If you are suffering from any form of heart disease, take a moment now, relax, sit comfortably and take 3 slow deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth. Take as long as you like to view the attached photograph (from my cousin's resort). It has been charged with Reiki. Let the universal ki energies flow over you.

May you know love and laughter and walk with strength in the light.

Milestones

Milestones are markers placed alongside roads and highways. Life is often spoken of as a journey. Each of us travels our own uniquely individual path dotted with milestones meaningful to our own journey. But sometimes we meet fellow travelers on the road and sometimes we share a milestone or two with them.

In December, my family and I attended a ceremony held at the funeral home that hosted the services for my mother. We were welcomed to "a place where grief and Christmas could come together, safely and appropriately". It was a lovely service - not overly sentimental yet warm and meaningful. And yes, I cried but I also laughed and yes, that really was okay.

It felt good to be in a place, where for a few hours, tears and joy were acceptable, were the norm, a place where you didn't have to worry about upsetting someone else or ruining their good time - because all of us were in the same boat.

There were tips and suggestions of ways to cope and make it through what is often one of the most difficult times of the year - it isn't just one day but a whole season. I took some of the pamphlets "I can't face the holidays!" to leave a couple in the lunchroom at work.

Friends and acquaintances, coworkers and even relatives often don't know what to say. Often we respond to "how are you" with "I'm okay". And there it ends, but what we might say instead is, "I'm doing okay but it is really difficult right now". To "If there is anything I can do, let me know", we might take them up on that. If you really want to have home baked goodies for example maybe invite the person over to help you bake one afternoon. Or let them take you out to the mall, go for coffee.

Grief saps our energies, our minds, our bodies and spirits. It's a time when we need to give ourselves permission to accept the gifts others offer us, to give ourselves permission to be happy and sad at the same time.

Many of us are going through that kind of time, grief is about loss after all. December is the time many of us, no matter what our faith, face the pressures and dilemas of celebration and feasting, to be seen going about life as if nothing has happened.

When we grieve, we need to remove as much of this pressure as we can. Change things if that makes it easier for us, change a lot, or a little or do things the same way. But talk it over with your family. Do whatever brings you ease and comfort.

It's okay to be sad and happy at the same time. You are not losing your mind. It is the season and the time. You will get through it.

I'm going to close this entry with one of the readings from that evening:

• In the rising of the sun and in its going down, we will remember them.
• In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter, we will remember them.
• In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer, we will remember them.
• In the rustling of leaves and in the beauty of autumn, we will remember them.
• In the beginning of the year and in its end, we will remember them.
• When we are weary and in need of strength, we will remember them.
• When we are lost and sick at heart, we will remember them.
• So long as we live, they shall live, for they are now a part of us, as we remember them.

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