Unending Joy? Yes, Please.

Tight budgets (personal and professional), papers that need grades, tests and lessons that need creating, AP tests, meetings, curriculum, and on and on it goes, where it stops....JUNE!!!  (Okay, the personal budget actually gets a bit tighter, but hey...). In the midst of stress and things beyond my control, I am blessed to remember that all is good and not just because June is on the horizon.

The world spins wildly out of control, but I've read the Book; I know how it ends; therefore, I can breathe deep and exhale all that negative energy; simply bask in the comfort that my God is in control. Finding rest in that, I realize, should be continuous, but I must be honest. I, in all the melee of life, can forget that little, life-altering, life-affirming fact. Ever-so-gently, however, God is blanketing me in that reassurance.

So today, as people cut you off, bosses breathe down your neck, kids demand all your attention (and perhaps patience), remember that you are a child of the Most High God. Remember that if he knows when a little, itty, bitty sparrow falls, he knows and (more importantly) cares about you, down to the minutia of your day.

And so, in the profound words of a friend: Stay Positive Folks.

Play on...(My Guitar Painting)

Well, I have written about my painting, but I've never actually put one on this little blog of mine....until now (I'm sure you didn't see that one coming). 

Probably a couple of months ago now, I painted a little something for a friend. This friend is a musician, so I began by listening to his songs again and jotting down notes, you know, to somehow incorporate images from his songs into the painting. Turns out this was not useful because though there were a couple lyrical images, trying to put that onto canvas would not have come together right.

Thankfully, after listening to all that music, I was inspired beyond the literal words of the songs. But I still wanted to revolve around music, so I decided to try my hand at a little mixed media. I do not have a picture of the blank canvas because, well, who does that?  But this is the first step I took:

I stamped a bunch of tissue paper and mod podged them all to the canvas.



I forgot to take a picture of just the background color. I used three different shades and tried to blend them out before I began the guitar on top. (This was taken in my apartment at night, please forgive the color a bit).

 

I really got my hands dirty with this one. You know, I really liked it.

Anyway, here is the finished product, after all the fine tuning (no pun intended) and a clear varnish.

This picture was taken outside, in the shade, so the colors are a little more true to life.

Well, there it is "Play On" from start to finish...hope you like it. As for me, this was one of the more satisfying projects I've done. (I was a little sad to see it go, actually).

Make Believe...a musing

In a waiting room, I saw a boy of five or so playing with his dinosaurs – he explains to his dad who each one is and why two are fighting. He explains that, “this one Dad, this one is Manny” (perhaps he is a fan of the melancholy wooly mammoth from Ice Age). The dad, distracted, must have forgotten this tidbit because as the boy was puppeteering a duel between the two enemies, he calls for help from Manny. Manny, however, stays firmly in the grip of Dad, completely oblivious that his ally is in peril.

“Dad, Manny needs to help” brought Dad back to the imagined battle.

The boy’s fervor in his imagined endeavors far outweighed the enthusiasm of his dad, and it was quite clear as to why: Dad was simply moving plastic; whereas, the kid was the dino. This kid is in a jungle, the dinosaurs are in life and death stand-offs. You can just see it in his eyes. He. Is. There. And, though his dad plays along, he is still in a waiting room.

A simple scene that illustrates how, somewhere along the way, we lose our ability to completely engulf ourselves in make believe. Well, most of us anyway. (Some may “make believe” in that they delude themselves about, well, themselves.) This is not to say we do not dream. Dreaming is vital to being a healthy individual, in fact. But as essential as dreaming is, it is not the same kind of magic as make believe, is it?

When do we lose our “make believe,” and where, exactly, does it go?

Who Knew?

I spent most of the day painting, and I have to say, I like this me. This is not to say that I dislike the me who grades, plans, teaches, etc, but I really like the me who writes, paints, takes photos. I get out of my overly analytic head and into the mindset of enjoying the processes.

I am not so delusional as to think that owning a good camera makes me a photographer. But I have captured images and moments that are quite beautiful. Nor does having a blog make me a writer, although having something to say does. Owning a few paintbrushes doesn’t make me an artist; having an idea come to fruition on canvas…well, I’m getting there.

I do not do these things to one day carry a label. (I would be lying, however, if I said I don’t enjoy it when someone compliments something I’ve created.) For quite a while I abstained from doing “creative” things because I was so caught up with the end result. Not being trained, I knew my end product would not be like those photos, paintings, stories that I so admired. Fortunately though, one day I got out of my own way. I picked up a little watercolor kit and had a grand time. My mom came by and saw me hunched over my table, dabbing away at a 3x5 card. She gave me an easel and art supplies at Christmas: I was off.

I now find that even though I can get frustrated with my learning curve, the positives far outweigh any negative. Much like my goal to enjoy life as much as possible, I have learned to enjoy the process of my little creative outlets. Again, I do love when others like what I create, perhaps because so much of me is in the process. Turns out, aside from the whole moral relativity thing, I’m quite the post-modernist.