What feeds my soul

Georgia O'Keeffe's words summarize my feelings best these days, I think.

"I found I could say things with color

and shape

that I couldn't say any other way

- things I had no words for."

~ Georgia O'Keeffe

I understand this quote, and this profound feeling about certain colors and shapes, completely.  Reading this quote again this year, I can see that what I expect from myself artistically has evolved a great deal over the last year.  I'm expecting much more of myself now, and I know I'm capable of much more than I ever thought possible.

There is nothing that pleases my eye and feeds my soul as much as certain combinations of color, shape and texture.

And I would never limit myself to paint on canvas.  Art comes in so many more forms!  The architecture and mosaics of Antoni Gaudi are a terrific example of what I mean.  I simply can't get enough of his functional art, much of which is found in Barcelona, Spain.

And then there's Friedensreich Hundertwasser, one of my absolute favorites.

 His artistic influences went beyond paint to architecture, as well.

Many of his creations also reflected his strong feeling toward respecting and embracing the natural world, too.  He was famous for his environmental posters, inventing an evironmentally-friendly humus toilet, and incorporating gardens and green spaces into urban mixed-use buildings.

"Anyone who says 

you can't see a thought 

simply doesn't know art."

~ Wynetka Ann Reynolds

Knowing that people like this have lived, and being able to see what they have created - these are the things that feed my soul.

Knowing that I have the opportunity to create something that pleases my eyes and makes me feel something, as well - that's what feeds my soul.

"Life beats down

and crushes the soul

and art reminds you

that you have one."

~ Stella Adler

"Art washes away from the soul

the dust of everyday living."

~Pablo Picasso

"All art

requires courage."

~ Anne Tucker

Right now I'm working on several canvases, but family responsibilities are taking up so much of my free time.  One canvas, in particular, seems to have a personality of its own, and I can almost hear it arguing with me whenever I start to think about what colors I should play with.  I'm putting it aside until I can create from my heart, not my head.

"Every creator painfully experiences

the chasm 

between his inner vision 

and its ultimate expression."

~ Isaac Beshevis Singer

The more I know about art and various techniques, the more I realize I don't know.

"Painting is easy

when you don't know how, 

but very difficult when you do."

~  Edgar Degas

Thanks to my love of art, everything I do and see and hear is opening new doors for me.  I'm seeing things I've never seen before and never even imagined existed.  And I'm seeing familiar things in a new way.

I'll be back soon, but first I'll need to nurse my *baby* boy (just short of 19, and 6'4" tall) one last time. He's going to have all four of his wisdom teeth pulled next week.

Doing loving things for those I love - that feeds my soul, too.

Contact?

Thank you, everyone, for your comments yesterday.

The AT&T repair man finally came late yesterday afternoon, so a Tuesday morning appointment for service really meant a late Wednesday afternoon appointment.  That's terrific customer service, wouldn't you say?  What if I had been in a position where I'd have had to take time off from work for two days, waiting?

I would have been even more annoyed, and vocal about it.  That I know.

Since I spent so much time waiting much of Tuesday and Wednesday, I had more than enough time to think about technology, communications and customer service.  I was thinking about how much the world has changed in the 21 years we've lived in this house.  In this house 21 years ago, we had no cable TV, no cell phones, no computer, no internet.  No air conditioning, either, but that's a different story.

Then I couldn't help but wonder what the world, technology, communications and customer service will be like 20 years from now.

Will we have even more unreliable and confusing ways to communicate with each other poorly? Will more and more people become marginalized, because they won't have access to ever-newer, more advanced and costly technology?  Will people become even angrier and more lackadaisical about their work, specifically those in service industries?

I don't even want to think about it.

I think I'll probably look back fondly on the good old days when I blogged and met the most wonderful people.

It's always something . . .

Another self-portrait

:0)

I've been waiting around here for two days, unable to really start any major project.  I've been waiting for someone from AT&T to come and repair our phone line.  Waiting isn't something I do very well.  I'd much rather keep busy.

We've been having internet problems for a while, but I found out last week that this time it was the phone line which was causing our problems. We hardly ever use the land-line phone anymore, so it took a while to realize this. Last Friday it was very windy, and neither our land-line phone nor our DSL for the computer was working properly.  With every gust of wind - poof! - we were cut off from the outside world. 

So, yesterday someone from AT&T was scheduled to stop by between 8 am and noon to repair the line - no one came, no one called.  It was windy again, so land-line phone and internet service were sporadic again at best.  Now, someone is supposed to stop by today between 8 am and noon.  I'm not holding my breath, but I'll hope for the best.

The last time we had a problem was about 15 years ago, when a squirrel had started to nibble through the phone line outside our house.  Nibble, nibble.

At least I've had an internet connection long enough to write this post.

:0)

I miss blogging and all my wonderful blogging buddies!

This waiting is beginning to eat away at my nerves.  I hate waiting for service people to show up.

Nibble, nibble.

Perfect Genius

"Every child is born a genius."

~ Richard Buckminster Fuller

image found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/selmaw/4603473937/

"We must teach our children

to dream with their eyes open."

~ Harry Edwards

"Your children will see what you're all about

by what you live

rather than what you say."

~ Wayne Dyer

"If we are to teach real peace in this world,

and if we are to carry on a real war against war, 

we shall have to begin with the children."

~ Mohandas Ghandi

"In helping others,

we shall help ourselves,

for whatever good we give out

completes the circle

and comes back to us."

~ Flora Edwards

Wordless Wednesday - Computer Frustration

(I've been trying to leave comments on various blogs, but keep getting an error signal when I try to publish them.  All my wonderfully witty and wise words of wisdom are lost somewhere out there on the worldwide web.  Oh well, I'll try again when I have some time.  I'll just have to make a spinach lasagna instead of blogging today.)
:0)

Eyes wide open

Sometimes, when I think back on my years in the corporate world, it seems I'm looking at someone else's life.  Who was that person? I changed so much when I traded in my power suit and briefcase for jeans and a diaper bag years ago. Now that my own babies are almost all grown up, I am finally claiming the time to focus more on my own life again.

Most of the time, I like what I see.  So I'm trying to go through the rest of my life with my eyes wide open.

"Open your eyes,

look within.

Are you satisfied

with the life you're living?"

~ Bob Marley

My old corporate self would not have noticed a nest of baby bunnies, for example.  I noticed the carefully mounded dead grasses, leaves and bits of rabbit hair about a week ago, tucked behind a bush in our garden.  When I took our dog out a few days ago, we scared the mother rabbit from her nest while the babies were uncovered.

There they were - a wriggling mass of furry short-eared cuteness!

I hurried our old Beau back into the house, took a closer peek at the little cuties, and went back into the house myself, so the mother rabbit could finish tending to her family.  Since I didn't have a chance to take a photo, I borrowed the photo above from the internet. 

I know I'll be cursing at least one of these little guys out in a few weeks, when they are munching on something in my garden, but for now they are just so darned cute.

It's very cold and rainy here today, but yesterday I was preparing part of the garden for the tomatoes and herbs I'll be planting soon.  As I was pulling up unwanted mint and grass, the tiniest frog I've ever seen hopped out.

photo from

 http://handlensandbinoculars.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html

I didn't have a camera handy, but I found this photo online.  It turns out this little guy was a Northern Cricket Frog, also known as a Blanchard's Cricket Frog, and it's a species which has been endangered since the 1980s.  (More info here.)

Sad.  So sad.
 

It makes me sad that so much of our natural world is changing so rapidly - much of it through the thoughtless acts of humans.  Yesterday, when I was driving around the area, I noticed so many people spraying pesticides.  Home owners with spray bottles, men with tanks of pesticides on their backs, men with hoses attached to huge tanks filled with pesticides on trucks.  The air was filled with the horrible stench of the stuff.  I rolled up my windows and held my breath as I drove by.
'

No wonder these little creatures love our little piece of property.  Here, the dandelions are plentiful, and pesticides aren't used.
'

For some information about the danger of pesticides to humans, there's an easy-to-read fact sheet here.  Reliable information is available all over the internet, if you're interested.

"Chemicals have replaced bacteria and viruses 

as the main threat to health. 

The diseases we're beginning to see 

as the major causes of death 

in the latter part of this century 

and into the 21st century 

are diseases of chemical origin." 

-- Dick Irwin, 

toxicologist at Texas A&M Universities