Each person’s life is like a mandala – a vast, limitless circle. We stand in the center of our own circle, and everything we see, hear and think forms the mandala of our life.
~ Saraha
Month: November 2021
Should I Have Said Anything?
Through the years I’ve been told I share T.M.I. Too much information. That I have a tendency to tell too much. Spill the beans. Tell more than the whole story.
I ‘d like to think that’s more of an honest trait than a talk-too-much thing.
But the other day at a major retailer I had a moment I wondered if I should curb my sharing or say something “constructive.” (Constructive being relative, I know.)
I had ordered a laptop online on Black Friday, and was able to pick it up the next day at said major retailer. Showing up at the customer service counter, the young girl told me to pull up my order on the kiosk. Since no one was around she helped me out. I was digging through my emails on my phone, looking for my order claim number, and she said all I needed to do was put my name in the computer. So I did. The order popped up and I waited for someone to bring the computer up to the desk. I waited and waited some more.
Customer Service started to get busy, and before I knew it there were six people in line. I asked about my computer, and the girl quickly put her head in the back room and told someone I was waiting. Just like that they brought out my computer. Wonderful. Did I need to sign anything? No — all was good.
As I stood adjusting my sweater and purse, I realized how easy it would have been to walk out with someone else’s computer. I mean, I could have hung around the service area, overhear someone put their name in the computer, then, perhaps, since they were waiting around that long anyway, tell the customer service person they were going to run into the store and buy a few things and be right back. Customer Service would get busy, a different employee would bring out the goods, not ask for an ID or a order number, and just hand the computer to the wrong person.
No one double checked my ID, my receipt, even my phone number.
I wondered if I should tell someone. If I would have been considered a tattle tale. I had my goods, no one was hurt, so why not take it and go home.
Well, jabberjaw me thought I should tell someone. Maybe someone in management.
So I walked over to the kiosks where people were self checking out and told one of the employees. I was really nice; I said I didn’t want to complain or get anyone in trouble, but I was a little concerned that no one asked me for any identification. I went through the scenario I just told you and noted how easily it would have been for me to walk off with someone else’s goods. The girl was very nice and said they would mention this to electronics. I was very nice and walked out with my computer under my arm.
Yet I wondered.
Did I get the Customer Service girl in trouble? Did I make up this scenario that didn’t happen just to cause trouble? I mean, no one was hurt. Everyone had gone merrily on their way, no less for the wear.
Why did I have to open my big mouth?
I have not suffered any repercussions from my moment of honesty. But I realize that, with my luck, that could have happened and I could have come back from picking up a few things and someone could have walked off with my computer.
But no one did.
I’d like to think that in some big cosmic way I helped the world of commerce run smoother that day. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and all that.
But most likely it’s just that I have a big mouth.
Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Arnold Böcklin
Arnold Böcklin (16 October 1827 – 16 January 1901) was a symbolist Swiss painter.
Children Carving May Flutes
Considered one of the most important visual artists of the 19th century in Europe, Böcklin was one of the main representatives of German Symbolism, which broke with the dominant academic painting and the prevailing naturalism of the second half of the 19th century.
Fight on a Bridge
Influenced by Romanticism, Böcklin’s use of imagery derived from mythology and legend and often overlapped with the aesthetic of the Pre-Raphaelites.
Idyll
Many of his paintings are imaginative interpretations of the classical world.
Centaur in the Village Blacksmith’s Shop
Böcklin was one of the most successful modern artists of the late nineteenth century in terms of his popularity with the general public, taking advantage of a new market for prints and reproductions of paintings in Germany around that time.
His art often portrays mythological subjects in settings involving classical architecture, often allegorically exploring death and mortality in the context of a strange fantasy world.
Faun Whistling to a Blackbird
While other painters of his era experimented with ever more pronounced forms of abstraction and stylistic experiment, Böcklin immersed himself in the history of painting from the Renaissance onwards, drawn to all that was dramatic and extravagant.
Meerestille Calm Sea
His paintings certainly had the mass popular appeal. but they also became a touchstone for many modern artists, particularly those interested in combining naturalistic representation with bizarre subject matter.
The Isle of the Dead
More of Arnold Böcklin‘s mythological paintings can be found at https://www.arnoldbocklin.org.
No Regrets — Kinda
Having just posted my Sunday Evening blog on Pianos, a wave of nostalgia passed through me.
Piano lessons.
As I’ve said many times, I have no regrets about my choices in life. I’ve learned from every one of them. They’ve made me who I am today.
But I could have continued my piano lessons.
I should have continued my piano lessons.
Being a kid is hard. No one likes you, or everybody likes you, and you are too busy building Lego buildings and playing records and fantasizing about (for me) dating Paul McCartney or Davey Jones to do something as boring — and important — as piano lessons.
I don’t remember how many years I took lessons, but it wasn’t very many, but it was a long time ago and I wasn’t very good. My parents even bought me a piano, which I lugged around with me until my husband and I sold our first house in the suburbs. By then I hadn’t played it in years and the new owners had a child who was taking lessons.
But I digress.
How wonderful it would be today if I could slide along the piano bench and let my fingers do the talking and walking of even the simplest of tunes. I wouldn’t have to have been Liberace — a simple completion of Beethoven’s Für Elise would have been a crowning achievement in the art of piano.
Or should I say 
.
Yet another crown of sparkle in the world of Creativity.
I am in love with piano music. I am amazed that ten fingers can play such intricate music without getting tangled with each other. Or miss the correct keys.
I suppose my fascination with the diligence and hard work put into an art such as playing a musical instrument goes hand in hand with those who can create perfect miniatures, sew quilts, blow glass, or any of a thousand other crafts just waiting to be explored.
I’m too old for piano lessons now. I don’t have a piano and sheet music looks like Chinese to me now. But my love for the creations that come from others in any form still brings a whiff of “if only.” A soft, easy nudge that says it’s okay that I didn’t, but still …
Wait — I still remember how to play chopsticks ….
Thank You For Being You
Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Pianos
The piano keys are black and white but they sound like a million colors in your mind.
– Maria Cristina Mena
Faerie Paths — Wine
Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath, and a glass of wine
―
Creativity Never Takes A Break
The cold weather is starting to find its way to and through my doors and windows.
No, it’s not that my windows and doors leak. I’d like to think of the sentence above as more of a metaphor for the thoughts and feelings of mid-November in the Midwest. It’s the time of year that squirrels scurry to the warmer underbrush and bluejays boldly take over the bird feeders and sitting on the sofa evenings offers the added pleasure of an additional blanket across the lap.
Curiously, at this time of year I find my interest in arts and crafts and creativity waning as well.
This bothers me a little.
I would hate for my imagination to disappear, never to appear again in the future. Such a drastic thought, I know.
But wouldn’t you be worried, nay, bothered, nay, concerned if your creativity suddenly waned out of existence?
What would you do with all the yarn, paper, research files, beads, crystals, frames, photos, ribbons, wires, feathers, oil and acrylic paints, brushes, bottles, ink pens, sketch books, colored pencils, molds, canvases, thread, yarns, clay, wood, and a dozen other supplies you have accumulated through the years?
Michaels or Hobby Lobby (craft stores in my area) might go out of business if you stopped collecting and organizing your creativity.
The one fact that keeps me hopeful is that for every waning mood there is a waxing mood along with a full mood. What goes up must come down and vice versa.
Changing weather connotates changing moods. With “the holidays” looming ahead of us, there are a lot more things to think about and carry out than what our next painting or sculpture should be.
There are food banks to contribute to, kids and grandkids and family members to connect — or reconnect — with, breads to bake and traditions to carry out.
Don’t have holiday traditions? Start some! If you don’t believe in celebrating the holidays, make Thanksgiving Day (or whatever day you choose) a day of celebration in your own way. Bring dog treats to the shelter. Buy a Christmas present and put it into the big empty box at the front of every retail store. Call your sister or grandmother and actually have a conversation with them. Watch football and make homemade kabobs or pierogis or chutney and send the recipe to a dozen of your friends.
Creativity never leaves a person. It may change like the seasons, change physical states from gas to solids to liquid and back again, turn into a sprite or a wolf or bubble or piece of steel.
But it never really goes away.
For which I am totally thankful. For I have way too many rhinestones and crystals downstairs to get rid of at the moment.
Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Mark Gee
Mark Gee is an award winning photographer, time-lapse filmmaker and digital visual effects supervisor based in Wellington, New Zealand.
His love of the New Zealand landscape is a big part of the inspiration for his photography.
Gee has always been interested in the night sky from very early on in life, but never experienced its full effect until he moved to New Zealand in 2003.
He often ventures out to the darkest, most remote skies all around the country, enjoying the challenge of combining New Zealand’s striking landscapes with the ethereal beauty of the night sky in new, creative ways.
“Planning, patience and persistence is the name of the game,” Gee says.
“Believe me, some of my planned shots have taken me over a year to get right.”
“Constant obstacles from bad weather and bad timing to landslides and equipment failures all make it a very frustrating pursuit.”
“But in the end, after all the failures when you finally do nail the shot, astrophotography then becomes one of the most rewarding forms of photography there is.”
More of Mark Gee‘s amazing photographs can be found at https://theartofnight.com.
Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Thrones
Call it a Throne
Call it a Chair
Whomever holds the power
Will always sit there
Throne of Napoleon I at the Tuileries
Golden Throne of King Tutankhamen
The Silver Throne, Stockholm
Throne of Charlemagne
The Dragon Throne of China
King Edward’s Chair (the Coronation Chair), England
Roman Throne 1st century CE
The Peacock Throne of Iranian Qajar King Fath Ali Shah
Lion Throne of Burma
The Throne of St. Peter Rome
The Iron Throne, Kings Landing
I want to age like sea glass — Purplerays
– . I want to age like sea glass. Smoothed by tides, not broken.I want the currents of life to toss me around, shake me up and leave me feeling washed clean.I want my hard edges to soften as the years pass—made not weak but supple.I want to ride the waves, go with the flow, […]
I want to age like sea glass. — Purplerays
Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Alex Chinneck
British sculptor Alex Chinneck creates temporary surreal architectural sculptures that show social awareness, humor, and an interest in regeneration.
The artist is a Chelsea College of Art alumnus and is a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors.
His work animates the surrounding urban landscape in an ingenious combination of engineering, architecture, and art.
Chinneck’s pieces merge sculpture with architecture to create masterpieces that play with both our visual and social expectations.
“I like to make work that blends in with its surroundings, but which at the same time stands out,” Chinneck says. 
“Illusions are visually engaging, mesmerizing and accessible – everyone can understand and enjoy them.”
More of Alex Chinneck‘s sculptural creations can be found at https://www.alexchinneck.com/.
What’s Important to YOU Today?
Happy Monday! Or is it?
We all try and start the “week” off on a positive note. As the jokes/memes say, it’s only downhill from here.
I tend to disagree.
Sometimes it can go uphill from here.
I suppose, barring unexpected occurrences, most of us can expect a normal UP and DOWN kind of week. It depends on what we’ve planned for ourselves.
I hope you have planned some positive experiences.
I know I know — you can’t plan gifts from God or sparkling experiences from Gaia. They just come when they come.
But you can plan activities that bring you extra pleasure.
Of course, you know I’m referring to Art. Crafts. Writing. Piano lessons. Painting a mural on your garage door. Anything that makes you happy.
There is something about starting fresh on a project/projects you love that plants that sparkle in your heart that eventually flows all through your body. Even if you aren’t over-the-top in getting back to your Art, once you get there, the world changes.
Your flops aren’t really flops. They’re lessons. Your completions aren’t really the end, but just the beginning.
If you can stop listening to that little demon who whispers that you’ll never be any good, you will be amazed at how finishing the book you are reading or sewing that last piece together can make you feel.
Give yourself a chance.
I have lots of demons dancing in and out throughout the day. I’ve learned to either ignore them or, if need be, let them scream their garbage and then kick them out the door. I am who I am, and all that hoo hah. But I’m always working on improving “who I am.”
For me, that’s perfecting my crafts. Always writing something, always fooling around with Angel Tears. I have a boatload of projects just waiting for me to open the door, but I promised myself I’d stick to just a couple for the time being.
Give Monday a chance. Let it be the beginning of new chances, new worlds, new universes. Well, universes is quite a big quest …. maybe start with something smaller …. like solar systems.
Go for it!
Tell me what your creative plans are for the week!
Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi
Historian, Curator, Author, Lecturer, Artist, Mentor, Founder, and Facilitator — the remarkable and tireless Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi has left her mark on many lives.
Trained as an aerospace engineer, Mazloomi turned her sites and tireless efforts in the 1980s to bring the many unrecognized contributions of African American quilt artists to the attention of the American people as well as international art communities.
From the founding of the African-American Quilt Guild of Los Angles in 1981 to the 1985 founding of the Women of Color Quilters Network (WCQN), Mazloomi has been at the forefront of educating the public about the diversity of interpretation, styles and techniques among African American quilters as well as educating a younger generation of African Americans about their own history through the quilts the WCQN members create.
Her pictorial narrative quilts make plain her personal themes: family life, women’s rights, political freedom, and musical legacy.
Mazloomi’s quilts have been included in over 74 exhibits and she herself has curated 21 extensive exhibits of quilts made by members of the Women of Color Quilters Network, many of them traveling exhibits.
“I look at the quilt makers as culture bearers because there’s a long history of quilt making in this country and I want to see it carried forth to the next generation,” Mazloomi explains.
“And because most of the stories within the African-American quilt community are narratives and tell the story of our culture, what would be more important than people seeing these quilts and noting history?
“It’s important because we as a people have our footprint noted on this canvas called American history, so people have to know the role that we played and that we were here and that we contributed positively to history in this country, so it’s important for that aspect.”
More of Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi‘s amazing life and quilts can be found at https://carolynlmazloomi.com/.
Saturday Morning in the Gallery
Saturdays are filled with good feelings.
A chance to sleep in a little longer, add a little more to your walk, plan for the weekend.
I realize the world of reality and experience are different for everyone, but most have memories of routines that brought order and pleasure to young and old.
I’ve written blogs and shared Faerie Path quotes about Saturdays — Saturday mornings, Saturday musings, Saturday cartoons, and Happy Saturdays.
I came across a blog about Saturday Morning Gallery Tour and thought this morning was a perfect time to show off some past Sunday Evening Art Galleries for your perusal! The diversity is endless ….
There are more — so many more. The diversity is amazing. I had to stop sharing. But you would love wandering through any of my Galleries. Come stroll through. Any Day. Any Time. Even on Saturdays.
http://www.sundayeveningartgallery.com
Faerie Paths — Galaxies
I promise you that the same stuff galaxies are made of, you are. The same energy that swings planets around stars makes electrons dance in your heart. It is in you, outside you, you are it. It is beautiful. Trust in this. And you your life will be grand.
— Kamal Ravikant
Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Salman Khoshroo
Iranian painter Salman Khoshroo uses a palette knife and sizable layers of paint to create the emotive portraits in his recent series, “White on White.”
In contrast to his previous work that relied on swirling reds, blues, and yellows, Khoshroo’s latest impasto pieces are monochromatic.
Starting with a hunk of paint, the artist then forms the portrait’s outline before shaping the rest of the face that lacks distinct physical features.
Viewers can follow his creative process step-by-step by looking at the edges of each stroke.
Khoshroo hopes to capture a human spark with minimal intervention and create portraits of people that make you feel something, people you didn’t even know you were looking for.
Painted with a single pigment in a sandbox method, these faces are the result of taking a chunk of paint and molding it.
It is amazing that one can see so many features in such few movements.
More of Salman Khoshroo‘s diverse art can be found at http://salmankhoshroo.com/ and https://www.ignant.com/2019/12/30/a-portrait-of-anonymity-salman-khoshroo-molds-emotive-faces-from-smeared-paint/
Faerie Paths — Milky Way
The stars were thinning out; the glare of the Milky Way was dimming into a pale ghost of the glory he had known — and, when he was ready, would know again. He was back, precisely where he wished to be, in the space that men called real.
~Arthur C. Clarke
Go With the Flow
I had a lot of cosmic thoughts and revelations over the past few weeks — weddings, renewals, coming full circle in a number of relationships. I had flashes of words about bursting hearts and life and bonds that never end. All that deep, esoteric stuff.
Yet I sit in front of the computer today and it’s all gone. The emotions, the brilliance, the meaning of it all. In trying to find the words and thoughts I wanted to share I’ve come up empty.
Sometimes getting deep and sentimental and cosmic is a lot of work. It takes a lot out of you.
I sometimes wonder if it’s all worth it. The long nights, the connecting the dots, the forgive and forget. The ulcers we’ve created changing our fate. The insomnia we suffer trying to figure out what went wrong. How we could have changed things. Made the world a better place.
Perhaps it’s that I’m getting older, but I am tired of the toll over-thinking and over-feeling has taken on me. Everybody feels, everybody emotes, everybody thinks. Many of us, though, over-think and over-feel. And that’s not good for our heads nor our hearts.
Nothing wrong with feeling good and feeling great and making a difference in someone’s life. We all should try it. We should all do it. But I don’t think we should get carried away with it.
When we think too much or feel too much it’s hard to come back to center. Your emotions play tricks on you on both ends of the scale. Think too much and your stress levels shoot through the roof. Think too little and you miss a chance to actually accomplish something.
I was all hepped up a few days ago to tell you about my highs and lows and discoveries. But after I calmed down and thought about my feelings I found my calm center again and realized I didn’t need to use this platform as a sounding board. That I could feel and understand and move forward all on my own. That I didn’t have to report every little emote.
My true calling in life these days is to encourage people to create. To let their experiences guide them to another world, another dimension, that is directly connected to this one, and to bring something back to this reality. To take their own highs and lows and super emotes and use them to create something beautiful in any art form.
Maybe what I’m trying to say is don’t over-think and over-feel everything. Let the moments just flow, and let that flow create something that is truly you.
Am I Really an Artist?
A question so many of us have. If we’re not famous, not selling, not well known, are we still what we strive to be? Judith believes we all are what we want to believe. If we only believe.
I’ll cut right to the chase here. Yes, I am an artist. I might not be a very good artist, but that’s almost irrelevant. The point is, I am indeed an artist.
Recently, though, I found myself asking that age-old question, wondering all over again if I could truly call myself an artist. When I began this blog in March 2016, I did not consider myself an artist, but finally came around to seeing myself as someone who was becoming an artist. I was learning, I was developing new skills. But I was definitely not an artist, if only because I simply could not associate that word with myself.
Being an artist, I’ve learned now, has a lot to do with choice. It’s not all a matter of talent or training. It’s partly attitude, too.
Of course, anyone who enjoys drawing, painting, or other forms of art may be…
View original post 1,071 more words
Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Sheet Music
There’s an element to songwriting that I can’t explain, that comes from somewhere else. I can’t explain that dividing line between nothing and something that happens within a song, where you have absolutely nothing, and then suddenly you have something. It’s like the origin of the universe.
~Nick Cave, Musician~
Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Igor Morski
Igor Morski is a famous Polish illustrator and graphic designer whose surreal art is as thought evoking as they are beautifully created.
Morski graduated with honors from the Interior Architecture and Industrial Design Faculty at the State Higher School of Fine Art in Poznań (now the University of Arts).
His surreal illustrations often portray the relationship between humans and nature.
Morski’s surrealism appeared a little bit by accident. For 20 years he has been a press illustrator with the Polish weekly magazine “Wprost”.
The beginning of cooperation with “Wprost” coincided with the decision by the publisher of this magazine to illustrate with only one type of illustration, based on photo manipulation.
This, he admits, made a great impression, because people were not familiar with Photoshop, and many illustrations were taken literally, as if what was shown in the illustration was really true.
The fact that since then he has worked on photographic material has caused realism to appear in his work.
Morski feels that Poles have quite specific sense of sensitivity.
“Wars and many other horrors that have flooded our country have made it acceptable for us a kind of narrative, difficult to accept elsewhere. For people who viewed them, they were scary.”
“As an allegory, I placed a labyrinth of stairs in the human head. In Poland, people focused on the hidden meaning, and the Dutch drew attention to the fact of head “mutilation”. They were interpreting this very literally.”
More of Igor Morski‘s wonderful surrealism can be found at https://igormorski.pl/
Weight Loss Teletubby Style
Like some of you, my weight leaves a lot to be desired. My activity level, my energy level, my senility level, all feel like they’re in eternal flux.
For most of us, life’s biggest struggle is shedding pounds.
It’s not that we don’t have determination. Desire. Resolve. Motivation. It’s just that it’s so HARD. It’s hard to be healthy. Both physically and mentally. It takes work. Dedication. Discovery.
Just when you think you’re on the right path a big semi truck crashes in front of you and you have to swerve off the road and into the chocolate factory. Just when you are able to walk down the driveway the city blocks off your street and you’re forced to go inside and watch Judge Judy.
You know what I mean.
There’s always an excuse waiting to happen.
After a trip this weekend to a beautiful resort in warm, sunny Georgia for my goddaughter’s wedding, my husband is starting keto. His motivation is his company and his A1C. This is the first time I’ve seen him so dedicated to an idea, and you know men — if they are determined enough they will carry out anything.
I myself am shaking in the shadows.
This is my chance to take off at least 25 unneeded, unwelcome pounds. Yes, I’m built like a Teletubbie. Not good for my health or my mind. I could use a makeover of 50 pounds, but even 20 would help my health.
But I digress.
I want to jump on the weight loss bandwagon, but I’m old and lazy and fairly scatterbrained. It’s hard for me to focus on any one project for too long.
I want to follow in my husband’s healthy footsteps, at least for a little while. But his method seems so drastic.
Why are we always afraid to commit to change?
Why do we find excuses to blow off things we know we need?
Life and love and health all fall into that blowing off category.
So I’ve decided to follow him half way into Ketoland.
He says I can’t do it half way, which gives me the motivation to go half way and beyond. Don’t tell me I can’t do it my way.
I will be big on the proteins and the veggies he can eat. I will add my own veggies, fruits, and sugars. I will leave out the extra cheeses, oils, and butters that keto is known for. I will not give up dairy, carrots, nor bananas.
I will go on my own hodgepodge journey and see where it leads me.
Twenty pounds lighter by summer, I hope. But more than that, I want to honestly say …..
I did it myyyyyy waaaaayyyy…..
Faerie Paths — Strawberries
https://jwwinslow.com/
Strawberry sky dusted with white winter powder sugar sun. And nobody to munch on it with.
–Francesca Lia Block
Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Day of the Dead
Dia de los Muertos—the Day of the Dead—is a holiday celebrated on November 1.
The Day of the Dead is a holiday to remember loved ones by sharing a meal with them as one would when they were alive.
Dia de los Muertos honors the dead with festivals and lively celebrations, a typically Latin American custom that combines indigenous Aztec ritual with Catholicism, brought to the region by Spanish conquistadores.
Assured that the dead would be insulted by mourning or sadness, Dia de los Muertos celebrates the lives of the deceased with food, drink, parties, and activities the dead enjoyed in life.
During Dia de Los Muertos, small decorated sugar skulls are placed on the altars.
Traditional sugar skulls are made from a granulated white sugar mixture that is pressed into special skull molds. The sugar mixture is allowed to dry and then the sugar skull is decorated with icing, feathers, colored foil, and more.
There is nothing grim about these skulls; they are decorated with colorful edible paint, glitter, beads, and sport huge smiles.
Sugar Skulls are part of the Ofrenda, a collection of offerings dedicated to the person being honored.
A brightly colored oilcloth covers the table and on top of that sits a collection of photographs and personal items of the departed person. The lower portion of the altar is where the offerings are placed, from traditional Mexican cuisine to other items that represent the honored person’s particular tastes.
All in all, the Day of the Dead celebrates life — the afterlife. And our connection to those who wait on the other side.
Humoring the Goddess 
