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change is in the air
"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." ~William Morris This struck a cord in me when I read it almost a week ago. Since then I have been very busy at cleaning our home and really asking myself when I look at an object "is this a definite yes?". I've been "releasing" (not organizing) things to help us live a simpler and beautiful life. I chose the word, release, for my word instead of a new year's resolution as suggested by Christine Kane. Besides avoiding painting the kitchen cabinets, many new things have happened and new projects were started this past week. I let Tylor and Samantha start painting the back porch yesterday and they are so proud of this. Oh, and I've been battling a slight but annoying case of poison ivy that I picked up during gardening! I've never in my life had poison ivy until now. It isn't fun. I've also been working on getting some of my art in small prints and will be able to offer them soon - if the printing looks good. That's really exciting to me! I'll order a few samples next week. Here is a crop of a hot air balloon piece I've been working on lately. I had tested it at the top of my blog yesterday but took it down because it didn't match the whole blog. If I put it back I'll change the colors to match. I like it though, it represents how I feel at the moment. The art is a bit different from what I usually create and I like that! It feels free and adventurous. The colors are soothing and speak to me of cleansing. I'm really in need of good changes in my life, but I know that it takes more than wanting something to get something I want, I also have to start acting too - kind of like the butterfly effect.
imperfection = freedom to bee :) I gave up a couple of years ago at trying to be perfect. It hindered everything about my art. Sometimes it made me not make art at all, I'd give up before even trying. I decided that it is time for me to discover truly what I would create if I stop limiting myself, and just create, and do it freely. This has been a life changing decision in my drawing and I know it will be a continued journey, but I am finally having fun creating. I drew this little bee in my journal. I know the little guy isn't perfect and that is what makes me smile when I look at it. He reminds me that I am not perfect and that in embracing that I learn to love my creative spirit. It is from this moment that I continue to unveil the art that I will eventually create. Before I go back to decluttering my life, I want to share these quotes that moved me today. "The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing." ~Eugene Delacroix "Once you accept the fact that you're not perfect, then you develop some confidence." ~Rosalynn Carter "... perfection does not exist - you can always do better and you can always grow." ~Les Brown "Perfectionism is slow death." ~Hugh Prather
So many good things There are sooo many good things that happened in the last seven days!
- celebrating Fourth of July with my family
- baking chocolate cupcakes
- picking blackberries and tomatoes
- enjoying our almost finished kitchen
- spending time with Ewo, another sweet kitty we will keep
- finding treasures to decorate new journals
- working on our journals about our mini vacation with my dad
- walking outside after a refreshing rain
- picking wildflowers and placing them in a vase for dinner
- putting the swing together with my dad
- watching a perfect sunset
- watching Samantha crochet
- receiving the pendant I won from Lisa :)
- getting an award twice! from Lisa Rivas and
Karen Mowrey Thank you! Rules are to show the award, link to the giver, pass it along to 7 others, and let them know it by commenting on their blogs.
Our Garden
Remember our first plant we planted
Photos and A Video We're almost finished with the kitchen. I was able to hang up the curtains on one window. I went ahead and put back all the decorations to entice us to finish faster (I also promised everyone a Fudge Brownie Temptation from Dairy Queen).
I will be working on some new art soon - once I get things settled more around the house. In the mean time, taking pictures and playing on photobucket has helped tame my creative craving. Making videos is so much fun :) Although I need to be painting the kitchen instead of playing on the computer, I finally made a video of me playing the guitar. I've been working on this song lately...
Tomorrow we will paint some more and I hope we get to hang up some more cabinets. And I also have another kitten video that I want to share of "Blackie". We will definitely be keeping her.
Before The Sun Fell We went outside just before the sun fell last night and enjoyed a quiet stroll around the backyard. The breeze was unusually light and cool for Georgia.
The sun set behind the tall trees as we finished our stroll. The light in the sky was gray-blue and I watched Tylor and Samantha laughing as they raced back to the gate. A calming peace swept over me as I met up with them. An hour later Jay came home with the ingredients to make spaghetti and cheesy garlic bread. He and I cooked together and then he played the guitar as we waited for the sauce to simmer. After dinner we brought in some of the kittens. They are so sweet and silly :)
“Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal.”
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