direction

I read this morning that without a clear direction set in your mind so deep that you don't have to think about it , you will wander away from whatever you really want.

This was eye opening for me. I have a mission statement but it is not ingrained in my mind so much that I don't have to refer back to it.

And yes, I do get way layed.

How do you ingrain something in your brain???

I came up with 3 things I am going to do starting right now that will do that. First I am going to write it down on the computer screen. Where do I spend a lot of time, right here so that is where it will be. I will make it a wall paper so I can see it every time I walk over here. Good double use of computer.

Second I am going to illustrate it. the more ways I see it the better.

Third I am going to give myself a reward for every time I read it. That might sound silly but we berate ourselves when we don't stay on track so why not reward yourself when you do. It will make the mind path deeper to look forward to getting a little encouragement. I am going to say Good Girl every time I read it, think about it or do it.

If I had a gallery

If I had a gallery I would devote it to work done by children.

Children that are unspoiled by thinking that art must be done a certain way. Children that have found their voice at an early age.

the voices of children are wonderfully free of all the self imposed restrictions that we have over time.

Most art schools and creativity groups are trying to get back to that time where you did not stop yourself from being unique.

Why not just start before all that happens.

Maturity in art usually reverts back to when you first started. Look at Bonnard and Matisse and even Picasso.

Trust

I am reading a book on trust. One thing jumped out at me that shook me to the core. If you don't trust yourself to do what you say you are going to do, then you won't trust anyone else either and everyone will actually sense that in you. This is so true.

Did you ever meet someone and did not trust them and you did not know why?? Well their eyes must be betraying them.

I did not know that if I say I am going to do something like get up early and exercise and then I don't , I am not able to trust myself to do what I said I would do and that will undermine everything else connected with my interactions with everyone.

What a shocking thought. small things maybe but big consequences. The biggest consequences.

my granddaughter

I have one granddaughter and she is the most wonderful creature ever to walk on this earth.

Every word out of her little mouth is full of delight and joy. Even when she cries , it is only for a few seconds (I think she feels obligated to do the baby thing every so often)

I love to stare at her face when she is asleep and try to vibe all the good things in this life for her that I can. I try and squeeze a billion tons of love into her soul so she will be strong and brave.

I do believe the more you encourage and bless your children and grandchildren they will grow up knowing how to trust . If you trust yourself and your parents then you will develop a healthy trust for God.

I was fortunate to have parents that made me eventually do that so I am grateful.

If you did not have such an easy time of it then you have to find people who will be like that and you have to be like that for the sake of your kids.

The great thing about this world is that there are lots of people to pick from. Lots and lots to pick from.

May I help you

Did anyone ever ask you that?? Of course. and I am sure you said that to someone too. I have a new motto. Always say yes to that question.

Who knows what they know and you might need an extra pair of hands and you might actually bless them in the process.

I know sometimes I say Oh no I can do it, like I am some sort of independent super person that never needs anyone.

Next time somebody offers, I am saying yes, even to that grocery store guy who will carry your groceries. Maybe he needs a break and wants to go outside and get some fresh air. Maybe he will talk to you and you can share some amazing bit of wisdom with him in the two minutes you have.

You might have a chance to give more than get in an unexpected place.

I believe there are no coincidences, so everything counts.

new Show

Let me tell you show for Soap Lake. I did these paintings with the total freedom of doing exactly what I wanted to paint. If there were no "what will sell" idea going on in my brain. Just what do I need now.

I like simple and clean and fresh lines. one idea , full of energy and life and color that is a little muddy.

that is what I let them be.

I am rolling in the muddy colors right now because it is a nice foil for the clean crisp expressive lines.

I want someone looking back at me that inspires me to beauty and freedom and aliveness. That is what I need now and that is what I painted.

Every morning

Every step of the way to going somewhere can be more important than actually getting there.

Getting there is just the end of the road

Every time I have a show and it goes well, the next day I am very depressed.

I am sad because all the work is now done and I have to sit there for awhile and not have a deadline or two more paintings to get done.

I hate that part of it.

I love the almost done but I hate the done.

It's the ride.

When I get my house decorated just the way I like it and it feels like home, time to move. Start over.

That is what is so great about failure. You get to start over really soon.

ceremonies

I spent some time doing ceremonies for different occasions like 50th birthdays and 21st birthdays. Milestone birthdays.

When I turned 50 it was so traumatic I made up my mind that nobody I was related to would have to do that with a normal birthday. 50 isn't a normal birthday. It is totally traumatic. If you think it wasn't so bad you are deluding yourself. It is.

I did four different ceremonies with people that I loved so much I could not stand for them to live through that with a normal thing.

I made something so weird it was totally fun and wild and wonderful and memorable and they were supported. I was going to write a book about them but I did not but now that I told you I have to write it down. I imagine you or someone you know must go through this and you may need this.

A ceremony is a blanket for comforting you through a great thing.

working

I am never not working. I am always thinking about what would work in a painting. I am always looking for the next one.

Some weird places I have found my girls are, in the bathtub looking at the shadow on a curtain, looking at wall with texture on it and seeing a face in it, stripping paint from an old chair and seeing a face in the remains. the scrubbed off bottom of my copper pots when I am polishing them.

I see them everywhere, any place anytime. I am always on the look out.

This is the epitome of " if you look you will find quote."

If I can see a face in a tarnished pan where can you find things you are looking for? They are everywhere at all times

breathing

I find other blogs to be like breathing to me. there is something about writing down your innermost thoughts and sharing them with anyone who wants that I find exhilarating . You can know someone in a unique way by reading their blog. Nobody can hide their true selfs in a blog. It is too hard to write everyday and hide anything. It is kind of like those reality shows. After awhile the cameras become invisible and you get the real person. nobody can fake it forever or even a medium length of time.

What I think would be REALLY FUN!!!! would be to film a blogger. wow that would be like stepping inside their soul.

What could be better than that. What you find out is everybody is the same on the inside. we are all insecure and sometimes lonely and sometimes scared. Once you know nobody has it all together, You can relax a little.

San Francisco

San Francisco is a beautiful place. I lived there for 10 years and I am sure it did make me into the creature I am today. I learned to see in San Francisco.

The very lay of the land is inspiring to any artist. The incredible hills and the ocean and the neighborhoods and the skyline.

the skyline is the thing. Coming in on a plane you see the jewel like city , sparkling in the night. It is breathtaking the first time you see it.

I have been to a lot of cities but San Francisco is in its own league.

I firmly believe that the beauty of the city is why food is fantastic there and why so many innovative ideas are born there. San Francisco.

go there

seeds

There are two kinds of seeds. Good seeds and Bad seeds. Those are the only two camps of seeds.

Bad seeds are sneaky and can look like good seeds(reason) then can quickly start growing doubt and become what they really are =bad seeds.

Examining seeds that you put into your mind each day will shock you. I know that if I really think about it, I think many bad self questioning what's the use type thoughts a day. Even though I am a basically positive person and even strive to grow that area of my mind each day, still things slip in and start growing. Oh my goodness, it only takes someone mentioning that they don't think this or that idea is very good and I start going down that well maybe they are right path.

The truth is every idea you have that is hard to do will meet all those people. Just because they couldn't do it does not mean you can't do it.

I am talking creative endeavors here.

I want desperately for the lava lamp to be built in Soap Lake just because nobody knows how to do it and it looks too hard to actually do it but well my goodness if a man can walk on the moon then someone should be able to build a lava lamp that is 60 feet tall in Soap Lake. Don't you just want them to do it. It would be a testimony to everything that is really hard but really good.

france

I want to tell you why I love french things.

The French people as not afraid of doing unusual even bizarre ideas in unusual places. For example there is a street named Synonym in Puy L'eveque. What a delight to walk down the street and see that street sign. Joy and laughter at something anyone could have done if they thought of it. Why do we name streets after people or flowers or numbers. How many Main streets are there. Billions . You can be creative in every area of life and when that happens joy and positive energy will be there. We love to be surprised by joy. We love it so why not look for lots of different ways to make the mundane joyful.

deadlines

Deadlines are not really deadlines. They should be called alivelines because they make you move. Everything to get to the aliveline is living and growing and developing yourself to get there.

Once you get there here is what is always there. always always always there is more.

My show is a hit and I sell a lot of paintings, I should be able to sit back and relax but no that is when we start pumping up the volume on new ones. People always want more. One thing leads to two more things not just another thing. It always gets bigger. We are made to always want to do more.

With that in mind the only deadline is when you are dead. And then that is only changing from one body to another so really there is no deadline. Once you are alive you are always somewhere alive.

Tomorrow

I have found that the biggest obstacle to getting a project done is to start it tomorrow. Never do anything tomorrow. There are three reasons for that. You don't know what will happen tomorrow to block your good intentions today.

Saying you will do it tomorrow to yourself will start the ball rolling for it not happening tomorrow. Bad momentum .

And the third reason is the most deadly . Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

Every idea you have needs to be started when you get the idea. Write down the idea and do the first step. You want to run a marathon. write down what you need to do first and immediately do it. then you get going.

I am a big believer in rewards for taking the first step. The first step is the hardest and the most crucial.

great things

Great things are never done in a practical way. They always are risky business. They are always not the easy , safe , or convenient , timely, wisest, most thought out, makes sense , good to go, get all your eggs in order way of life.

Great things are dangerous, uncomfortable, scary, unpredictable, tortuous , mind numbing, terrifying things to even start.

The best way to attempt great things is to be totally unprepared, unqualified, ignorant of the potential disasters and kind of stupid.

Who in their right mind would do this.

Everyone who has done something new.

The mistakes you make on the way can be fixed when you get there. You learn as you go, and you will constantly learn .

This is a way of life and if you do one thing like this they pay off is so great that it will dwarf everything else you ever did as ho hum. This is the place where true life exists on the deepest level. Ask anyone who skydives. What a stupid dangerous thing to do. No it is glorious because you are casting your very life into a bigger hand.

everything relates to everything

I was thinking how everything in life relates to everything else in your life.

The consequences of any action produce an opposite and equal reaction.

One example is moving furniture.

Changing the arrangement of furniture in a room will immediately make you feel better. Even if the new arrangement is awful it is healthy to do it for awhile. Face your bed in a different direction. You will have a new perspective not only in the room but also in your life. You will feel different for awhile. The air will be fresher and you will get new ideas that you would not get unless you moved the bed.

this is because you have done something different and that sets in motion and entirely new course of action for your life. Think I am being crazy here.

This simply is how our minds work. Your brain detects new information and adds that to your old information and proceeds to make sense of it. YOU will look for new and relevant information to make it fit in your head. That process alone will stimulate new areas in your mind that might have not been stimulated recently. Voila! new perspective. Try this and you will see it works.

one way

There are a lot of ways to get to the same answer in Math. I was reading a math book as part of an exercise to confront something you are weak in. They said it right there in black and white. Lots of ways to get to the same answer.

If that is true about Math it is even more true with creative ideas.

The best thing in the world is to do what you love as a job. That is what everyone wants and needs to do. Good news is that there are a myriad of ways to get to the same place you want to go.

The only two ingredients you need are desire and a plan.

You don't even need a great plan. You just need to do the plan make adjustments , and do it again. You do that over and over till you are there.

Most people have the desire but think they need everything spelled out before they jump.

You don't need to know everything. You only need to know one piece of one thing and build on that. The rest will fall into place.

there are loads of books that say that but nobody believes them.

My husband needs to know what will happen next even though he is married to me and has seen me do things that I totally do not know exactly how to do. He has seen it right in front of his eyes and yet he does not believe it. He thinks I am unique.

I am not any more unique than he is.