The Dream Catcher

 

~ "Dream Catcher" Acrylic on Canvas 12" x 12" ~     

I painted The Dream Catcher for my friend who had recorded his own CD....the lyrics to his songs were vivid with symbolism, and within them I found these images unfold. My friend Scott studied the painting and seems to have brought my dream and vision to expression this way:

"The All-Seeing-Eye ("Novus Ordo Seclorum", the "New Order of Ages") watches on as the Angel falling to Earth offers the gift of a feather to Raven (the Trickster); meanwhile, Dragon (representing good fortune, prosperity, and bounty in the East; fire and destruction in the West) rises from the sea and the Dove of Peace flees Earth toward a crescent moon. East collides with West (the split personality of Dragon) and we must find a way to trick the Trickster (Raven) and coax the Dove back down to Earth to be united with the olive branch held by the Angel in order to achieve unity and lasting peace. This is the dream and it is why the Dream Catcher hangs from the stars to the right of the drama unfolding."

I love this little painting very much and I'm so grateful it now belongs to the friend who inspired its creation. 

The Blue Horse

The other day I finished painting The Blue Horse. (There is a small chance I may still touch up with some more gold flecks and fine detail sweeps, but otherwise, it is finished.)

The Blue Horse is a phrase derived from the inner mind of my childhood. There is a blurry memory or true dream behind its meaning. When I was about seven, my friend let me take her little toy blue horse home. Holding it through the night, I became attached to it and wanted to keep it. I thought if my friend didn't ask for it back, I wouldn't say anything, and hopefully the blue horse could remain mine. But my mother told me one night before bed as I held it tightly: "You know that belongs to your friend, and you must return it tomorrow" All night I dreamed of some way I could keep my Blue Horse without really having it anymore. And then I did.... I still can see it in my mind today.

Anytime in my life I have wanted something beyond my reach, if it was not to be, I called it a Blue Horse. The Blue Horse is a symbol for wanting what we don't have as well as what we hold on to but cannot keep. There is a comfort and a joy to be had from what remains with us always, the vivid imprint on our soul, and the peace of mind of acceptance and non-attachment. 

~ BLUE HORSE - Acrylic on Canvas 36" x 24"  ~

On Resolutions ~ There is No Such Thing as Quitting

 Is quitting an act of strength, or of weakness?

The only kind of quitting that seems to be quick and easy is the kind done in a fit of determined bravado,

by drunken announcement, or in the throes of a livid white rage. And in these cases the adrenalin of the impulsive moment is too soon replaced with regret, guilt, craving or caving. And wait, what are we quitting anyway? Well, either something that we love, that is bad for us, and we know it, or something that we detest, and we just can't stand any longer, or it's a dropping out, a complete giving up, on something we once embarked upon with an illusion of success...we want out of a poorly executed process before it spirals. When you decidedly quit something, you halt, you stop it, you end it, there is no going back...you cut the ties. And depending on what you just quit, you may feel elation, freedom, terror, humiliation, sweaty-palm withdrawal symptoms or worst of all worsts, entirely lost in a panic attack. Whether quitting is sudden, or well-thought out, it is done. And once done, the choice has been made. Once you know something, you can't unknow it. At this moment you need to take a deep breath, and remember that Eckhart Tolle said that enlightenment is not something to work towards, it is an immediate choice, it can occur this very moment. You can choose to be enlightened and positive and know that the change you have made is the right one, because you inevitably came to it, you arrived, and what lies ahead is limitless as opposed to the constraint you have broken free of. You are not a loser for quitting anything. You are a beginner. We only truly ever quit because we have higher standards for ourselves. You will never truly give up or quit on what you really want or what you are meant to do. So actually, there is no such thing as quitting, there is only moving in the right direction, always, if we respect ourselves, follow our hearts deeply and to the core. Look back on every time you quit anything, and see if the following doesn't apply:

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." ~Anais Nin

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”~ Albert Einstein

"You may take time to crystallize, for crystallization is a slow process, but when you finally do, you will be crystal clear" ~ my father, David Clark

Buffy Sainte~Marie's "Piney Wood Hills"

I'm a rambler and a rover and a wanderer it seems
I've travelled all over chasing after my dreams
But a dream should come true and a heart should be filled
And a life should be lived in the Piney Wood Hills

I'll return to the woodlands, I'll return to the snow
I'll return to the hills, and the valley below
I'll return as a poor man or a king if God wills
But I'm on my way home to the Piney Wood Hills

I was raised on a song there
I done right, I done wrong there
And it's true I belong there
And it's true it's my home

From ocean to ocean I've rambled and roamed
And soon I'll return to my Piney Wood home
Maybe someday I'll find someone who will
Love as I love my Piney Wood Hills

~ Today is My Birthday ~

 

Today is my birthday. My sister posted me this video which captures my sentiments today. I've been sung a new song, sent a poem, greeted with red wine and chocolates, called by old friends. Now I'm gonna retire with my overdue library book, The Yellow House, and think on painting. The author is marvelous at describing the details of method applied by Van Gogh and Gauguin, and I haven't found a review on the book yet that mentions this as the main joy of the read. Truly it is, the only disappointment being I've sent myself running to other books on my shelf that include colour images of the numerous works that appear only in black & white among the chapters of this novel, despite Martin Gayford's lucid descriptions. Again, nothing tells it like the real painting; but a great writer can at least entice you to yearn to taste the fruit itself.

Mantra for the Coming New Year

World, we can do much better than this, having pure hearts, strong bodies, able minds. We need to use our own talents wisely, ethically, and the universe will provide. To be self-sufficient and also to serve, but to do so with self-respect and dignity. This is how you discover the best way to feed yourself and keep a roof over your head, and to have enough, rather than allow yourself to be a have or a have not, for that is not the way the world should be divided. From the true self comes the healthy whole. It takes guts to be true ~ Ranza

By The Light of The Full Moon

Well, here we go then. It's winter, the fir is in the wood stove, the fur is on my unshaved legs. 

The night before last I went for a walk under the almost full moon, and was entranced beneath the silver grey spotlight that lit up the dirt road at the top of our drive...serene, sparkling slate silence. The house we rent sits in a dell-like clearing at the bottom of a steep driveway. Standing at the top of the drive, one can look across this dell at a dozen-filled row of poplar trees reaching up their stiff tendril branches. In the evening light these branches were like white ash veins knotted through long skinny fingers clawing toward a charcoal glinted sky, gently tickling the rolling bellies of the tumbling night clouds.And I thought what past master would have managed to capture this scene on canvas? Van Gogh perhaps. I can often see the painting, I know whose style or talent might portray it, but rarely can I convey it, except to use too many adjectives in a struggle for verbal description so you too can see what I saw.

I love to paint, but don't very often finish anything. Even so, paintings burn in me all the time.  Maybe I'll start to paint this nature around me. Until now, it's been whatever comes into my head...faces, patterns, still lifes. But here on Gabriola, this is where I will start to make my tracks, like the deer who wink at me and encourage me not to care how I go about anything. And my life is yours too of course.