O my soul…

unfinished & untitled – 12″ x 12″ x 1″ – acrylic on wood panel
A noiseless patient spider

A noiseless patient spider,
I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul

– Walt Whitman (1819 – 1892)

Time to let go…

Detach from…
outcomes,
expectations,
fears,
misunderstandings,
preconceived notions,
stale practices,
negative energy,
the inner critic…

Time to fly.

Back in the Day

Although I have nothing new to share, this week’s Inspire Me Thursday prompt reminded me of two very, very old journal drawings that feature period-correct clothing styles (and bad habits…). Can you guess the year of these drawings?

Burning Through the Fog

digital manipulation of a painting
Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and follow where they lead. – Louisa May Alcott (1832 – 1888)

This week’s Illustration Friday and Inspire Me Thursday topics are quite appropriate. I’ve not done any new art nor posted anything at all in over a month, and it makes the artist in me feel foggy and distant. That’s when my spirits start to fall a bit, but I lift them with the healing power of my dreams and my goals.  It’s all about putting one foot in front of the other and understanding that the priorities of now will make the dreams of tomorrow come true.

So what have I been doing?  Well…

• I was away at an intensive life coach training program and am still doing coursework… lots of reading and writing!

 

• I’m building a new website for Wings 4 You Coaching – my creative life coaching business.  I should be going live with it in a few days.

 

 

• I’m writing a group coaching tele-workshop that I will be offering in the fall.

 

 

• I’m in the process of moving my studio to another building on our property so I will have dedicated space for art and a dedicated office for coaching… and yes, that means more art again, real soon!

 

 

• And I am getting ready to go away on vacation (whew) to Northern California.  Ahhhh… I can’t wait!

 

What do you do when things seem a bit overwhelming and future goals look foggy?  How do you get your spirits back into positive energy mode?

Living Like the Lilies

digital collage created from two older paintings
Lilies

I have been thinking
about living
like the lilies
that blow in the fields.

They rise and fall
in the edge of the wind,
and have no shelter
from the tongues of the cattle,

and have no closets or cupboards,
and have no legs.
Still I would like to be
as wonderful

as the old idea.
But if I were a lily
I think I would wait all day
for the green face

of the hummingbird
to touch me.
What I mean is,
could I forget myself

even in those feathery fields?
When Van Gogh
preached to the poor
of course he wanted to save someone–

most of all himself.
He wasn’t a lily,
and wandering through the bright fields
only gave him more ideas

it would take his life to solve.
I think I will always be lonely
in this world, where the cattle
graze like a black and white river–

where the vanishing lilies
melt, without protest, on their tongues–
where the hummingbird, whenever there is a fuss,
just rises and floats away.

– Mary Oliver (1935 – )