Thursday Progress

Acrylic Underpainting - Melissa Mead 2012

This is a portion of something I'm in progress with....

Thursdays Progress

This is a sketch in Planning for a current project.  Pencil on Paper

Still some tweaking here and there and the fight with the hand (because I wasn't LOOKING).  I love posting here as I see mistakes more clearly.  I am really excited about seeing this in oils...

SARK TUESDAY: Willingness

On Forrestry Side of the Grabouw Country Club Dam 2012

SARK:  Willingness is the ability to move without proof.  Willingness is the cupcake for yet another FUNdraiser.

MMinP:  For this to make the most sense please read this... From Facebook:

Earth. We are one.

Sunday

There should have been a story about a professor - a mayonnaise jar, golfballs, pebbles, sand and beer.  My most FAVORITE part is that the golf balls represent your most important things like family AND YOUR PASSIONS.  Your passions aren't relegated to the pebbles or even down to the sand (these being those things that you must fit into your life like doing the grocery shopping and paying bills).  The other best thing is the reminder that there's always time for getting together with friends....

My personal story on this is that I am WILLING to keep moving forward with my art even though I have no proof it's going anywhere or that I'm creating anything...  I think about it everyday.  I make plans for it everyday in many ways.  I even get pencil to paper often.  At the moment I am willing to leave this "as is" while supporting my husband moving through his rehab and getting stronger everyday and before we know it life will be into another semblance of moving forward.  Then the paint will begin to flow again!

I'm no longer willing to do the cupcakes though....not even painted ones.

What are you willing to do for your creative dreams?

SARK Tuesday: YES and NO

Still Bay Rock Pools - Photo Melissa Mead

SARK:  With regard to your creative dreams, what would you like to say YES more often too?  What would you like to say NO to more often?

MMinP:  A friend of mine once told me the story about the big rocks and the little rocks.  (Hey.. - April Draft Idea!!)  Okay - back to YES/NO.  A few years ago I was struggling to "do it all".  So my friend gave me this story about how you've got big rocks (priorities) and little rocks (all the little stuff -like grocery shopping) and you have to put them all in a jar.  Now if you put in the little rocks first you can't fit in all the big ones.  But - if you put in all the  big rocks first, all the little ones will fit.  (This comes from a popular motivational speaker whom I do not know his name because my friend couldn't recall - please if you know leave it in the comments and I will edit this post!)

It's been a few years, like I said, but I still can't get all my rocks in even if I shake the heck out of my jar.   I've got a new policy this year.  I made a notebook of goals.  I broke the goals down into month size pieces.  I put the notebook away on a shelf I walk past a million times a day.  I look in it at the beginning/end of the month to check what's done what to push into the next month etc.  I sometimes check in the middle of the month to remind me what I can do in the small moments.

Doing this has really helped me prioritize and see just HOW full my jar is.   I think everybody wants a bigger jar or maybe we want less rocks.  Either way my goal book helps me say NO to more rocks and YES to what is important to me.  I'm the only one who can say "no" to more small rocks and "YES" to the rocks that rock my world!

How do you fit all your rocks in?   (mine fall out sometimes :D)

SARK TUESDAY: Resources

There are a few SARK cards that are about resources.  They state two for specific purposes related to the card.  I'm going to give some of my own for today...

Fooling around with coloured pencils and the kids!

1.  "Women Who Run With the Wolves"  by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D..  My husband (when we first met) sent this to me to read.  You can imagine I thought he was just too amazing for words.

2.  A quote by Bruce Lee:   "If you put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and life.  There are no limits. There are only plateaus and you must go beyond them."

3. "Daily Paintworks" this is a family run business of the Marine's.  The most important thing here for me to share is the "artbyte" page.  There you will find a FREE download if you register (for free) about Carol Marine's experience of becoming a daily painter.  Better than that - probably the best advice you've ever read.  Give your self a great big FREE present - go register and read it NOW.  Then come back so I can tell you why I missed a few posts last week.

WHY is Mr. Lee's quote standing out there like mad.  I happened to mention to my hubby that I felt I was on a plateau.  That I'm feeling like I'm not really making progress in my dream vocation.  I've realized there is only so much attention I can give to my priorities and I obviously have to many of them.  The conversation continued as my partner looked at me with increasing amusement.  He gave me much encouragement and reiterated that it was just that - a plateau.  Furthermore - moments later he recieved this quote from a friend on facebook.  You gotta love serrendipity.

If you happened on this entry - maybe you too are feeling as I am.  So the point is - THERE ARE NO LIMITS except those you put on yourself or accept from others.  Keep going forward anyway.

Now I want to explain my abscence.  Mostly because I like to know why other people miss posts.  You see....we went on holiday.  They always twist me around-but that's fine.  Change is good.  We had good internet reception however I don't know how to run internet from my phone to the laptop.  Further I don't know how to make links etc from my hubby's i-pad.  So I dropped a note to say so.

I was in the process of posting on Saturday - the day after our return - when POOF.  No internet connection at home.  For Earthday we were treated to no electricty (and no internet- and no finishing my holiday laundry fun).  Instead we made recycled plastic candle holders in preparation for a candlelit Earth Hour.  We had discussion about taking Earth Hour that little bit further.  Sunday I couldn't post because you might think it was all a joke!!  And also because I was painting and drawing, exploring and experimenting with colour and paint and lines.

My eldest son waiting his turn with the scissors.

A value study for Marks and Splashes course.

This post was updated Tuesday 2 April 2012 to include labels.