Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Little notes from the Universe.....

 I believe that guardian angels take many shapes and forms.
I've always known that mine come to me as birds...
From as far back as I can remember I have always been
surrounded by birds... and gifted with their feathers...
little notes from the Universe
just to let me know...
I'm being watched over...
and to remind me to celebrate life...
 

The Judgement of the Birds ~ Loren Eiseley

"The sun was warm there...and the murmurs of forest life blurred softly away into my sleep.
When I awoke...dimly aware of some commotion and outcry in the clearing...the light was
slanting down through the pines in such a way that the glade was lit like some vast cathedral.
I could see the dust motes of wood pollen in the long shaft of light...and there on the extended
branch sat an enormous raven with a red and squirming nestling in his beak.

The sound that awoke me was the outraged cries of the nestlings parents...who flew helplessly
in circles about the clearing. The sleek black monster was indifferent to them. He gulped...
whetted his beak on the dead branch a moment and sat still. Up to that point the little
tragedy had followed the usual pattern. But suddenly...out of all the area of woodland...
a soft sound of complaint began to rise. Into the glade fluttered small birds of half a
dozen varieties drawn by the anguished outcries of the tiny parents.

No one dared to attack the raven. But they cried there in some instinctive common
misery...the bereaved and the unbereaved. The glade filled with their soft rustling
and their cries. They fluttered as though to point their wings at the murderer.
There was a dim intangible ethic he had violated...that they knew. He was the bird
of death.

And he...the murderer...the black bird at the heart of life...sat on there...glistening
in the common light...formidable...unmoving...unperturbed...untouchable.

The sighing died. It was then I saw the judgement. It was the judgement of
life against death. I will never see it again so forcefully presented. I will never
hear it again in notes so tragically prolonged. For in the midst of protest...they
forgot the violence. There...in that clearing...the crystal note of a song sparrow
lifted hesitantly in the hush. And finally...after painful fluttering...another took the
song...and then another...the song passing from one bird to another...doubtfully
at first...as though some evil thing were being slowly forgotten. Till suddenly
they took heart and sang from many throats joyously together as birds are
known to sing. They sang because life is sweet and sunlight is beautiful. They
sang under the brooding shadow of the raven. In simple truth they had forgotten
the raven...for they were the singers of life...and not death." 


When Women Were Birds ~ Terry Tempest Williams

"Once upon a time when women were birds...there was the simple
understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal
the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten...
that the world is meant to be celebrated."



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

little acts of kindness.........



I saw something like this on Pinterest and loved
the idea! These were set up in Photoshop then I printed
the "need" on blue paper and the "smile" on yellow.
I've got a stack of them to hang in random spots around
my little town.





The ones below are saved as jpgs if you're interested
in your own little acts of kindness......







Monday, September 17, 2012

Listen to the Water Spirits......

Do you have a favorite place to unwind?
When I need to center myself I park in the creek
at the farm and listen to the water spirits....

See for yourself...
Be sure to turn your speakers up...


My beautiful....magical....place!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Remember happiness.....





My dear friend is going through a heart breaking family ordeal...
as we are miles from each other I can only comfort
her with emails...phone conversations...and texts...
My hope is that she will remember happiness...




"It is difficult to know what to do
with so much happiness.
With sadness there is something
to rub against...
a wound to tend with lotion and cloth.
When the world falls in around you...
you have pieces to pick up...
something to hold in your hands...
like ticket stubs or change.
But happiness floats.
It doesn't need you to hold it down.
It doesn't need anything.
Happiness lands on the roof
of the next house... singing...
and disappears when it wants to.
You are happy either way.
Even the fact that you once lived
in a peaceful tree house
and now live over a quarry of noise
and dust cannot make you unhappy.
Everything has a life of its own...
it too could wake up filled with possibilities
of coffee cake and ripe peaches...
and love even the floor
which needs to be swept...
the soiled linens and scratched records.
Since there is no place large enough
to contain so much happiness...
you shrug... you raise your hands...
and it flows out of you...
into everything you touch.
You are not responsible.
You take no credit...
as the night sky takes no credit
for the moon... but continues to hold it...
and to share it...
and in that way...
be known."

~ Naomi Shihab Nye
(art card made with deviant scrap nbc love the world digital kit)

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Chocolate and Zucchini Cake.....


Want a beautiful visual experience?
The food on Lakshmis blog.. looks exquisite!
This chocolate and zucchini cake looks wonderful
but....chocolate and pumpkin....oh my!


Thursday, September 6, 2012

Sharpies and alcohol.....




Sharpies and alcohol...
pretty cool stuff.....
I'm gonna try this on jersey knit
for a 'no sew' scarf.
maybe scan some results in
to use as backgrounds for my digital art....
hmmm.....


Monday, September 3, 2012

The Ancients.....


I've been working on this piece for about a week now.
It's a mixed media piece with encaustic over plaster and
acrylic.....my first attempt at wax over plaster. I LOVE the
texture of the plaster but it made applying the wax a little 
hard. It ended up way too thick in places and I had to scrape
back and fuse again....so... I made a trip to Charlotte today and
picked up some Dorlands "cold wax". 

I'm really excited about learning this whole cold wax process.
You mix cold wax with oil paint and basically build up your 
picture just like encaustic....then do any "excavating" you'd
like.....no heat needed and less fumes...although with the
oils you do still need good ventilation. 

I do love living in the sticks but often wish I lived somewhere
that I could actually take classes instead of always having to
 teach myself.....thank goodness for the internet and youtube!