Hope

Hope, for me, is the light that shines deep inside when I despair and feel I can not possibly go on. In the darkness it is that which gives me strength. 

Mother Nature has unleashed such fury on my beloved Australia in this past month. I watch the news in growing dismay as floods follow cyclones which follow floods - and now a bushfire raging.



















I felt I had to paint a painting to give something back to those who have lost their homes, loved ones, their lives in turmoil.

50% from the sales of 'Hope' prints and cards will purchase essential goods to donate to 'Operation Angel', an incredible non-profit organisation giving back hope and dignity to those who have lost so much. Each time someone buys a print or a card of this painting, I will post pictures of the items sent to Operation Angel. For the moment they are needing undies (underwear).
http://www.facebook.com/OperationAngel?v=info&ref=ts#!/OperationAngel?v=info 

The prints are listed in my shop on Etsy here  http://www.etsy.com/listing/67581921/hope-print
The cards are listed here  http://www.etsy.com/listing/67717321/card-of-hope


















Whilst I was painting 'Hope' I thought of friends who are touched by illness, for whom it takes huge courage every day just to get out of bed. This painting is for you also, with my love.

Handmade cards or playing with paper indulgence

Continuing my love affair with all things paper and in an act of sheer self indulgence I just simply played today and created lots of cards.

What an excuse to browse my favourite paper shops and buy oodles of delicious papers... Japanese rice paper, handmade cotton rag with petals, leaves and bits of grass poking out, papers made in Tibet with gold leaf and dreamy clouds, papers made of scrunched up recycled plastic ... yummm!

I have played with magical copper burnishing flakes - like an Aladdin's cave of golden copper flakes which have to be burnished onto the paper. They have so many delicious hues and hidden colours in them.

 

There are many more cards waiting in the studio to be photographed and listed but today was a wild and blustery day and I want to wait for the sun to come out and dance its magic on the copper flakes. For now there is a small selection of my paper frolics in my Etsy shop

http://www.etsy.com/listing/67450530/unique-handmade-valentines-day-card

New Cards with Inspirational Words

When I was doing the markets, a lovely lady asked me why I didn't have the sayings I had created for my bookmarks on my cards... so obvious!

Finally I have created them - introducing a new set of inspirational cards with poetic words.


Faith ...
"We can not know what the future holds for us once we take the first step. We must trust... and take the step anyway."















Listen ...
"Listening to the inner self requires stillness and courage ... sometimes the inner self is wilder that the outer! This is where all first steps begin."


















Fly ...
"Once we step out in a leap of faith we often realise that the imagined was much more fearful that reality could ever be."

Balance ...
"True wisdom comes in knowing when to balance the passions of the heart ... with the reason of the head."

Clarity ...
"Sometimes when we search far and wide for the 'answers',we discover that we knew them... all along."

Bookmarks for Thought

Way back before Christmas, when I was standing proudly selling my art at the markets, I created a set of bookmarks which put into words some of the thoughts and feelings behind my paintings.

I get great delight in both writing and painting, so it felt natural to take the images into a poetic form...














I have created words for 5 of my paintings

Listen ...
"Listening to the inner self requires stillness and courage ... sometimes the inner self is wilder that the outer! This is where all first steps begin"

Faith ...
"We can not know what the future holds for us once we take the first step. We must trust... and take the step anyway."

Fly ...
"Once we step out in a leap of faith we often realise that the imagined was much more fearful that reality could ever be."

Balance ...
"True wisdom comes in knowing when to balance the passions of the heart ... with the reason of the head."

Clarity ...
"Sometimes when we search far and wide for the 'answers',we discover that we knew them... all along"

Freedom!

Cycling to my studio today after days of working on my other job I felt a most delicious sense of freedom!

Like a kid let out of school early coupled with the smug satisfaction of having worked really really hard, the reward earned, the contentment of a job well done filling me up, the eager feeling of the wind on my cheeks as I fly along the canal to paint in my hideaway world.

My other job is intense, fulfilling, a different rhythm to painting, demanding all of me for the time it calls. At times I resent it for taking me away from my paints. Today I am grateful for the different sense of perspective it provides, for taking me to the outer world and allowing my imagination to soar into other realms that I would not normally touch in my studio.

And I am grateful grateful grateful for my studio, my paints, my solitude and the swirling river that flows outside my window.

I have often wondered how to define happiness. Today happiness was my every breath.