“Enthusiasm means everything. Not just a little. Everything. If you are involved in some kind of project right now, or launching any personal endeavor, your enthusiasm (or lack of it) will directly determine how successful this undertaking will be. If you are not excited at the core of your being by it, drop it right now. If you are excited at the core of your being, demonstrate that in everything you think and say and do.”
Lively.
Acrylic paint on vintage paper.
12” by 9.25” (30.5 by 23.5 cm).
“If you see the world as beautiful, thrilling and mysterious, as I think I do, then you feel quite alive.”
Glow.
Acrylic on vintage paper.
12” by 9.25” (30.5 by 23.5 cm).
“Life is beautiful if you are on the road to somewhere”
Direction.
Acrylic on vintage paper.
12” by 9.25” (30.5 by 23.5 cm).
I will add my new acrylic paintings on vintage paper to my Etsy shop this Wednesday at 1 pm (CT).
Each one is hand painted with acrylic paint on vintage paper, and measures 7.87" by 10.43" (20 cm by 26.5 cm).
“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart”
Imprint.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
Awe.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
The hardest thing for me is to make sure the wounds of my past don’t wound people in my present.
Vigil.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
When Maya (my friend’s daughter) was a little, someone asked her: do you believe in God? She replied: which God?
Formless.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
Life advice I give to others to cheer them up, and will now apply to myself:
Be kind and gentle with yourself
There is a deeper reason why you do what you do
Don’t add mental pain to a difficult situation
Take a little step to make it easy to start
Lower expectations for yourself to a minimum
Remove stress
You are doing great!
Elemental.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
This week’s lesson: if I surrender (stop trying to make things work), what needs to be will happen.
Yield.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
My Art is a safe space for me to be who I am, no masks, no pressure to leave my body.
I can relax into being.
Witness.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
“Beauty is looking like myself”
Behold.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
A how-to guide to remove the numbing shell from childhood (for Kat):
Removing the shell is a long and winding road.
Say yes to everything that scares you, love, listen and befriend all parts of your self, no matter how unacceptable they feel.
Put yourself in new environments with different people, they will show you who you are and who you no longer are.
Listen to your body: if it needs to cry for 5 years, let it. If it needs to dance like a maniac, do it. If isolation is the balm, trust it.
If you need to end relationships that seem right but feel wrong, let them go. This will be terrifying, but eventually other people will come and change will happen.
Inner growth may seem stagnant at times, but if you pay attention and honor your inner longings, you will move forward and mature. None of this can be rushed. No part can be skipped.
Lean into feeing everything you feel: feelings that are felt and acknowledged will pass.
Don’t avoid yourself, in you is your greatest teacher. She is your own unique life force moving you forward.
Breaking away from your culture, and from the person you thought you were is painful and frightening. Most of the time, your mind will tell you you are insane, but the impulse to be you and to be free is always stronger. Trust it, even if it disrupts everything in your known world.
The gift of removing the shell is that you can now feel life and you are now connected to who you are (life force itself).
At first, living exposed feels raw, as if you’ve walked out mid-heart surgery, chest open, bloody. The light is too bright. Tears flow too freely, anger (a stranger, you forgot lived inside you) rears up often and deep love (for people, plants, cats, books and walks) overwhelms you. But slowly, as your breath deepens, your eyes adjust to bright light, and you learn to inhabit your feeling body, a newborn dance begins.
Flight.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
The best advice I’ve ever received:
Be kind to yourself and to others.
Mercy.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
I wonder if the hot flashes of menopause are year-loads of accumulated shame for being too human, or for not being human enough.
Pride.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
Stillness
Silence
Space
Three words that take me home.
Refuge.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
What a relief to know I can be boring.
Composure.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
Openness. My new mantra.
Open.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
Let’s help everyone come out of their shell.
Unfold.
Acrylic on paper.
7.99” by 10.43” (20.3 cm by 26.5 cm).
