To wrinkle… or not

journal page – 4/26/08
Within Us #6

From the wrinkle between my brows
You watch till day breaks
On my face

The waxen night
Is beginning to singe
The fingers of dawn

Black bricks
Have already tiled
The whole dome of the sky

– Vasko Popa (1922 – 1991)

After a long, delightful, but sometimes stressful week, I am almost finished with a painting I started weeks and weeks ago. I took a break from the big work this afternoon to paint a bit in my journal, hoping I would end up with something I could post for this week’s Illustration Friday topic – wrinkles. I don’t have much to say about wrinkles… I have a few I call dear friends and some I wish would disappear… but like everything else I have collected along the way, they are markers of where and who I’ve been. Even so, all that came to mind was the seemingly constant warning I got from my grandmother when I was a child – don’t frown; you’ll get wrinkles! It must have made quite an (ahem) impression on me, because to this day, I really do avoid frowning as much as possible! Somehow I got it fixed in my head that if I frowned or scowled too often, my face would freeze in that expression. So, I looked for inspiration elsewhere, and went with a wrinkle-free interpretation.

How cunningly nature hides every wrinkle of her inconceivable antiquity under roses and violets and morning dew! – Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)

P.S. –  Please accept my invitation to stop by Wings 4 You Coaching and participate in my Weekly Wings challenges.  There’s a new challenge posted each Sunday.  I’d love to have you along on the journey!

Love Your Mother

journal page – 4/20/08
Earth Day is a reminder of how important it is to love our Mother Earth every day, and this very primitive little doodle from my journal is in honor of her special day. I have been working, working, and working on some large paintings for a show in June, but when I need a break, I recycle some runny paints from my palette in my journal and play a bit… and with the warm weather, sunny skies, chirping birds, and blooming spring flowers as inspiration, today this is what I got!

Next Time

Next time what I’d do is look at
the earth before saying anything. I’d stop
just before going into a house
and be an emperor for a minute
and listen better to the wind
or to the air being still.

When anyone talked to me, whether
blame or praise or just passing time,
I’d watch the face, how the mouth
has to work, and see any strain, any
sign of what lifted the voice.

And for all, I’d know more — the earth
bracing itself and soaring, the air
finding every leaf and feather over
forest and water, and for every person
the body glowing inside the clothes
like a light.

– Mary Oliver (1935 – )

P.S. –  Please accept my invitation to stop by Wings 4 You Coaching and participate in my Weekly Wings challenges.  There’s a new challenge posted each Sunday.  I’d love to have you along on the journey!

Flower Power

journal page – 4/4/08
Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people. – Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 – 1964)

When I saw the topics for Inspire Me Thursday (the peace sign) and Illustration Friday (save), the first thing that came to mind was an illustration and post about how peace can save the world. And it’s true… until we can find peace – within ourselves, our societies, and among nations – we will live in a constant state of strife and destruction. But as I started thinking about what I would write, all that came forth was that peace must originate from the individual. There are innumerable things each person can do to promote peace, starting from within… for a person who has inner peace will not make war with another.

Hug o’ War

I will not play at tug o’ war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

– Shel Silverstein (1930 – 1999)

This journal page is inspired by peace signs and flower power… and my true desire to wish all of you peace, love, and happiness!

_______________________________________________________________________P.S. –  Please accept my invitation to stop by Wings 4 You Coaching and participate in my Weekly Wings challenges.  There’s a new challenge posted each Sunday.  I’d love to have you along on the journey!