If ever verification was needed for the power of positive thinking… positive action… and the extreme benefits of taking the leaps of faith I have had to take over the past 14 months… I now have it.
Just climbing through 19,000 feet… [okay my love of flying is officially now legendary - say no more] I have been away for nearly four weeks. How did a week turn into four I wonder? I am now winging my way home to pack up and move south. I know I know… I said I wasn’t going anywhere for now… but the Universe apparently has other plans for me!
Funny how things happen when you let go… and say yes to pretty much everything [within reason of course]. I can’t begin to tell you how much my life has changed over the past year… and how many opportunities have come my way since I began saying yes to the Universe instead of fighting it every step of the way… which I’ve now realised is something I have pretty much done all of my life! [Grin]
And this especially includes saying yes to a whole range of opportunities and experiences that I might otherwise have thought were not for me. I’ve now learned not to do that… for things are rarely as they seem at first glance.
We all have limitless potential but first we have to get over our limiting beliefs to realise it. All I can say is…
TAKE THAT LEAP!
The only downside to this move [if ever there could be one] will be that I shall have to relinquish… for now… my beautiful tropical northern Australian location… my good friends [if they don't come visit! grin]… and life as I had re-invented it. But that’s okay for now.
Nothing is ever for nothing… and nothing is ever forever!
ahhh… I love this place… [insanely hot here at the moment tho]
What it does mean though is that for the time being I shall have a home on my own terms… and a definitive place from which to go forward. And the very best thing of all is that…for the first time in over a year … I shall have a dedicated creative space from which to work!
Oddly enough this one requirement has become more essential to me than breath… so urgent is my need to simply get on with the work at hand. My creative process has been the one sure thing that has sustained me throughout this transformational period of my life. And it’s this process that shall finally have my utmost priority over the next few months as I adjust to my new home.
At last I shall have somewhere to do what I love to do more than anything else in the whole wide world… when… where and however I want to do it.
Write. Paint. Create. Plan. Dream. Go forward… and move on.
It’s a sensational feeling… almost as exhilarating as those first few moments of flight! (((chuckles)))
With the stars aligned… and God willing… I may [at last] be the master of my own destiny and the architect of my own dreams.
I would have once said “I can’t wait”… but of course… I now know that I CAN [wait] and that now anything… absolutely anything… is possible.
The sky might be the limit.
But the Universe knows no such bounds!
Hope to see you all on the other side… watch this space for updates on my new space! Coming soon.
I drove up to Brisbane this morning from the coast to do a couple of things. One of them was to go to Eckersley’s Art Store to buy some art supplies… you know… paper paint charcoal etc. Can’t seem to go away for long without my art supplies. And if I find myself away from them for too long… I simply have to smoke out an art supply store and get my fix along the way!
I’m writing this from a little place called the Room With Roses. It’s a beautiful room in the middle of the city. A haven from the madness out in the street… and a quiet place to put down some thoughts.
[water not wine... remember it's lunchtime! grin]
I was just sitting here sipping my jasmine green tea and enjoying a yummy piece of passionfruit strawberry cream sponge cake and got to thinking about cake and life… and this is what I came up with.
PS I know… give me a piece of cake and I go and get all philosophical. Can’t help myself [chuckles]
PPS And yes… I know… it’s lunchtime… but hey… life is short… we eat cake first!
LIFE IS A PIECE OF CAKE
If life would be a piece of cake
with heart and soul and such to bake
the choice would be a simple one
We’d make it light and full of fun!
Strawberries cream and fruit of passion
pinkie poised… the height of fashion
we’d lift our teacup to our lips
and savour life in giant sips
If life would be a slice of pie
with pastry crisp and never dry
we’d slice it into giant bits
and let it go right to our hips!
Cherry pear or chocolate flute tin
No matter what the pie is baked in
We’d scratch our head in times to come
And wonder why we’d chosen… plum?
Just think…
If life would be a pie or cake
Oh what fun to negotiate
Imagine life upon a platter
Nothing else would really matter
So bake your cake and please don’t wait
there is no time to hesitate
then grab yourself a large cake knife
and enjoy right now your slice of life!
I fell in love with Sweet Addiction the first time I heard it.
It was a couple of days before Christmas… andLa Belle Femme was in the early stages of conception. I had received a commission for a large nude painting in landscape format. So not being someone who does things by halves… I decided instead to paint three! [I know... I know]
As I was sketching out ideas… and deciding on how I would approach the series… this piece of music dropped into my email inbox via Facebook.I had it playing in the background on my laptop… and listened to it over and over again. I never tired of it. Before long I was completely beguiled by the sound. It was indeed a “Sweet Addiction” [grin]
The making of the Music…
Sweet Addiction was created by Daniel Marolla… a young man who is definitely going places! He created and recorded this piece of music one afternoon in mid December using [keyboard drums and base guitar] an Mbox and Garageband… then shot his video for You Tube from the built-in camera on his laptop and edited it in Final Cut Studio. If all that sounds like double dutch… well… don’t worry. Just listen to the music… it will speak for itself!
The making of the Art…
The first in this series was initially a commission. The paintings were relatively large for watercolour at 76cm x 38cm – [that's 30" x 15"] with the figures approx. 1/2 life size. It was so much fun working wet into wet in the initial stages… just allowing the paint to flow and directing it where I wanted it to go.
It’s fast… it’s fluid… it’s free and wow… you just gotta love working in watercolour!
Willow charcoal of course… adds another dimension. It’s a style I have been working on for a couple of years now especially in figure and life work.
The pics were taken on my humble little Panasonic Lumix and assembled as a slideshow in iPhoto. I purposely kept the photos edgy and a bit blurred by movement with [perhaps] some “debatable” degree of success!
And of course… iPhoto is no precise science but that’s about the extent of my techie expertise at this time. I am however willing to learn. Note to self: Get Final Cut Pro… there has GOT to be a better way! [Grin]
By the time the three paintings were done… the music had weaved it’s incredible magic into them all.
Consequently… what you hear and see here is the end product of an [unintended] creative collaboration between paint and music. It was entirely unintentional of course.
Daniel could not have known that his music would so happily “belong”to these paintings that afternoon in December when he brought this music to life! He was afterall on his own creative tangent … and the paintings did not [as yet] exist! But somehow… still… the paintings and the music seemed strangely made for each other!
Enjoy the clip! Let me know what you think… leave a comment here!
I was saying G’day to the good people over at Motto Agency yesterday and it struck me how amazing the internet really is. Yesterday was of course Australia Day… and I was discussing this fact with the innovative duo who just happen to be half a world away in South Carolina. [It was raining... and we had Bob Marley in common. Grin]
Motto Agency is a brand strategy and design firm who also happen to be reggae aficionados. [Just knew I liked these people the minute I heard Bob Marley on their homepage] As it turns out they were celebrating right along with we Aussies on our national day…
“We’re celebrating Australia Day here too… Motto style. We have our sunglasses on and the movie Australia is on loop in the conference room! Enjoy the festivities!”
To me… these are the small conversations that glue this big [cyber] world together.
Hangin’ in there
Like I said… yesterday was Australia Day… but I won’t be commenting further about that. I believe I well and truly covered our National Day way back in January 2007… leaving pretty much nothing left to be said for the rest of the decade!
Reading back over the archive… I had to laugh how I really came out swinging from that very first post three years ago today [give or take a day or two]! Ever the emphatic idealist!
So yes… it’s been THREE YEARS since this blog began and I can hardly believe it. So much water has gone under the bridge since then… so many topics hashed and re-hashed… and so much has changed.
In those early days I wondered what on earth I was going to talk about each and every week from that day forward… but you know what? So far something has always turned up. Sometimes just in the nick of time! Grin.
And I’m happy to report that life not only goes on but just keeps getting better and better.
And the best is yet to come!
So thank you for being here with me… and living it along with me. It’s been a whole lot of fun!
an oldie but a goodie
ahhh… I love this place… [insanely hot here at the moment tho]
One last coffee – for now – at the Port Bookshop
[water not wine... remember it's lunchtime! grin]
Artwork & Images © 2010 Jean Burman
Artwork & Images © 2010 Jean Burman
Hangin’ in there
Cartoon Pen & Watercolour
