Believe in Tomorrow

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.

~Audrey Hepburn

I have been thinking a lot about optimism and hope lately.  It is interesting for people to say they are not optimistic- we automatically think they must be a pessimist.  But really, you can be an observer of life, a realist, and or someone who doesn't want to spend too much of their lives mooning over the future, wanting to remain in the present moment.  I still have a lot to reflect on this topic, since it is all still a bit muddy to me, but it is very intriguing...

I like this quote because it is full of hope, while also full of taking action right now.  Your now is to plant or tend a garden and the hope is the fact that you want to do this, even though so much could go wrong, or could not work out.  In this case, here is our new raspberry vine, one which has been a long time coming, since my husband loves berries, and I grew up eating them off the vine in my grandmother's yard, and my Mum's.  Will our tiny balcony garden foster such an ambitious hope?  Who knows.  Previously, I often suggested we didn't get this plant since it might not work in a pot and we are usually gone during the summer when it's most likely the berries will be ripe... But, my husband's hope and willingness to risk was contagious and I can't wait to see how it turns out!

This piece:  Photo taken on the very tiny balcony garden on a moody day.  That is apropos, maybe, since even though the day is grey, the future is bright and shiny like a plump raspberry.  I am practicing various forms of hand lettering and here is another simple and fun example.  This week is spring break so I will be gardening, doing yoga and practicing various art forms all week- can't wait!

Wish you a beautiful week, even if it is grey and all the hope is in your heart, rather than blazing across the sky.

Relaxing Into An Eternal Spring

Life stands before me like an eternal spring with new and brilliant clothes.

~Carl Friedrich Gauss

 I was inspired by the Vernal Equinox and had so much fun looking up quotes that referenced spring. I love how spring can remind us of new beginnings and starting afresh in our own lives.

  Nature can be a great reminder for so many things, eh?

I hope to look to each day, each moment, really, with this attitude:  We have an eternal spring ahead of us, full of possibility and beauty, if we want to see it.  Maybe the hard part is keeping this outlook when life brings on winter.

Here are a few bonus quotes today, since I had a tough time deciding this week...

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.

~Henri Matisse

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant. 

~Anne Bradstreet

This week's creative image- I had so much fun staging this and our balcony table was the perfect armature for hanging the flowers through so that I could still put them in a vase after.  Now our apartment is full of spring, since I spread the blossoms around our home.  The stones are just a small amount of the growing collection that I have created.  They are just so fun to make.  If you want to see more of my stones, go to the tab at the top, and click to see a history of stones past and present!  Or go to my Etsy shop (link at the top right) if you want one delivered to your home!  :)

Happy Spring!

Keep Watering The Seeds

If you want happiness to bloom within you, simply water the seeds.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Today's quote has come from many places- the concept of what belongs in my daily practice has been something I have been seeking and refining for myself.  And what does not belong.  I continue to take more creative moments, while working full time.  This means catching myself when I am dawdling on the computer.  Is what I am reading, looking at, clicking to next really fostering the life I seek?  Or is my time getting sucked away and I will be sad to have to go to bed, realizing at the end of the day that I wasted my time on things that are not truly part of my goal lifestyle... Tricky!

I love the wording for this quote- simply!  Many of us would scoff at  that "simply"- is it really that easy just to choose to foster happiness?  It seems not , but I also appreciate that it can be.  It can be that simple- just choose to fan the flames of what you most love, what makes you sing, what gets you moving.  And let the rest politely out the door.

Here's another of his quotes that I felt went hand in hand with this one:

"The seeds that are watered frequently are the seeds that will grow strong."

This painting-  I have been so enamored with the idea of layered textures and subtle patterns that catch your eye in a background.  This week it took some happy accidents of too much paint to realize that there are many ways to get around to an end result.  This is from a series I am working on right now.  I love this colour scheme and really got into the subtle blossom/leaf-type hearts.  That may not be the last of those shapes.  They may be popping up in other paintings, since they take me back years when I used the brush's shape placed on the paper, lifted and then left to dry to create dot art.  Life is full of spirals of things, ideas, inspirations that leave for a bit and return to us.

Continuously Flowering

It does not matter if you are a rose or a lotus or a marigold.  What matters is that you are flowering.

~Osho

I am a big fan of being a life long learner.  We teachers talk about fostering this in class in hopes that the future generation may become thie type of person who seeks new ideas, knowledge and creative outlets.  

With all my personal creative challenges, I am flowering this year, for sure!  It is exciting, and sometimes exhausting, to be blooming and changing and "in process".  Such is the beauty of life, though! 

I saw this quote this week and it goes with something I have had in my head lately- a slash of paint and a single flower, combined with geometric shapes of a pop of colour. I want to keep playing with this concept- I already have tried this in my art journal, too.  I was looking for simplicity in this week's piece.  Have a beautiful week.

Go buy yourself a little laughter today- you deserve it!

The earth laughs in flowers.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This quote always makes me smile, as do flowers. If you walk anywhere that there are plants you can see the physical form of chuckles all along your path.  Some are riotous, some are less audacious.  But each can bring you up, if you look.

Have you ever been to a dinner party and just sat back for a moment to listen to all the kinds of laughs everyone has?  Now I think I ought to label them by their flower counterpart...

I had fun with this painting, it is messy, bright, and in places, dark.  It uses colours I use less often, but I still like the effect here.  Once it started to come together, I realized this was the piece for these words, even though I had begun another more planned painting for this quote.  The layering, colours and organicness is just what I was looking for today.

I hope you find a moment to let the laughter of flowers add to your week!

Our inner moonlight

Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness. 

~Allen Ginsberg

This painting was almost finished when I found this quote, and then I realized they were meant for each other.  I began by spraying with fun inks, which is always a bit of uncertain madness.  Then I just felt like a rounded brush stroke and it felt like a moon, but I thought, why a green moon?  But often we don't need to think or ask why.  The rest just felt right as I created, which I suppose was me standing in the moonlight, letting free my own unpolished madness onto the paper.

I think it's apropos that this quote refers to moonlight, rather than sunlight, as sometimes it's less brilliant and you have to listen a little more closely to find your inner moonlight.  I am working on quieting myself and making the space so that my moonlit path is clear.

Here's wishing you a week basking in your own inner moonlight.

Pursue it...

If it's both terrifying and amazing then you should definitely pursue it.

~erada

This has been something I am familiar with lately.  But often a dream can be too terrifying, and then paralyzing and then you don't get to the amazing part...

This reminds me of another quote, by Rumi, "Leap and the net will appear".  My husband is always good for me- reminding me that you do need to root in the posts so that there is a foundation for the net to "appear" on.  Otherwise you can be so positive and excited, but broke and unable to move forward.  This year I am planting my posts, getting ready to leap.

And the terrifying and amazing dreams are growing.