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On The Bounce Back

March 9, 2010 · 12 comments

faithan oldie but a goodie

cartoon © 2009 Jean Burman

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!

port road 3ahhh… 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.

port bookshopOne last coffee – for now – at the Port Bookshop

[but I'll be back]


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For Auld Lang Syne

January 4, 2010 · 2 comments


New Leaf 2Cartoon Pen & Watercolour

Copyright © 2010 Jean Burman

Click here to see “Turning over a New Leaf 1 – Jan 08″

Another year has come and gone… and for me… the one just past enjoys an especial significance.  In many ways it was the year of learning lessons the hard way.  And those lessons continued right up until [and beyond] the stroke of midnight on New Year Eve.

The last lesson of the year was a hard but necessary one. I won’t go into detail… but I can now honestly say I have emerged into the new year with newfound wisdom and understanding… and a deeply profound respect for myself.  Nothing is ever for nothing as they say.

For me there is now no looking back… except to acknowledge the life journey that has brought me to here and has made me [so far] who I am… and to express my deep appreciation for the people who have walked the path with me and encouraged throughout… especially over the past few months as I have struggled to gain equilibrium in all things.  They have helped to weave the rich blanket of love joy wisdom and optimism that now surrounds and fortifies me… and I shall be ever grateful to them for that.  I am so very blessed.

I found this version of Auld Lang Syne and instantly loved it.  It brought back so many enchanted memories of my strong Celtic upbringing under the influence of my Mother’s large extended family.  My grandfather… a lovingly belligerent Scotsman [who danced the highland fling, poured whisky and butter into his bagpipes to prime the bag and who year after year swallowed the threepences my Grandmother lovingly mixed into the Christmas pudding] would regale the family with copious long winded recitations of Robbie Burns.

My Grandmother for her part had just enough of the Irish in her to make her a truly unique remarkable and entirely lovable human being.  She had a saying for everything.

One of her particular favourites… brought out when our friends may have let us down… was

“May your real friends have champagne and your sham friends have real pain”

although just secretly between you and me… I doubt she would have been capable of inflicting pain on anyone… save for the pain of too many helpings of her homemade strawberry icecream… or too many servings of mulberry pie… the berries for which my uncle would be dispatched to scale the backyard tree.

One day my Grandfather…noticing the ruckus high up in the tree… came out firing his 22 into the branches expecting a snake to drop out.  Alas…my Uncle… who survived the assault shaken but unscathed… did not entirely escape the wrath of my Grandfather for hurling expletives from the tree followed by “It’s ME you silly old buggar… it’s ME!”

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE … let’s make it a great one!

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The Creative Dilemma

November 30, 2009 · 24 comments

JB for the blog 2Join me on You Tube (see below for the link) but read this first!

Well it’s been a crazy week of revolving doors for me as new doors swing open and old doors slam shut . Generally speaking though that’s great news… and a sign that things in my Universe are starting to shake out!

You know… it’s kind of fun to stand back and watch from a distance all the action happening in your own life. Letting go of outcomes and allowing things to just be can be a bit scary at times… but it’s fun nonetheless. And I could get used to it. [Grin]

The global economic climate (not to be confused with climate change per se- grin) has given everyone quite a bit to think about. But for creative artists of all persuasions (be they painters potters or musicians) the struggle to do well at what we do well… has always been pretty difficult. And historically nothing has changed.

VincentCartoon Pen & Watercolour

Copyright © 2007-09 Jean Burman

Vincent Van Gogh was creatively and financially supported throughout his entire career by his brother Theo.  He never sold a painting. We may well laugh now at how wealthy he might have been in his own lifetime. But he wasn’t. He was a man ahead of his time. But no-one really got that. Not even his fellow artists. Especially not his fellow artists. Consequently without the creative endorsement he craved… he was condemned to continually question his own worth as an artist.

Sound familiar?

The upshot of course was that Vincent finally sliced off an ear and died in a garret with two bullet holes in his stomach partly because he couldn’t handle it anymore. He gave up. And it’s easy to give up on a world that doesn’t know that stars are blobs of swirling bright light circling the evening sky… [grin]

Vincent 2Cartoon Pen & Watercolour

Copyright © 2007-09 Jean Burman

Creative spirits live in a world of their own. There is no clear direction forward for us… not to mention… very little endorsement or feedback for what we’ve already done.

Yes… we know what we want. But what the rest of the world wants is an entirely different matter. Complicate that further by saying that much of the rest of the world doesn’t actually know what they want… or what they like [without being told]… and we have one very perplexing problem!

In the end… fame and fortune pretty much comes down to the “hype” around the product… and not necessarily the product itself. The people who eventually gain recognition… are not necessarily those with the most talent… but those who are best able to bring their product to the marketplace via the best most expedient method.

But this is all terribly left brain stuff. And most artists (well the creative ones anyway) are incredibly right brain orientated. That’s what makes them… surprise surprise… so darned creative!

For my part… well… I don’t want to be famous but I do want to get my stuff out there. So that means I have to spend at least some of my time in the left brained world. It’s a funny nuts and bolts place to be… but it can be a whole lot of fun as well.

Check out my new You Tube clip here.

It was a challenge to put this together and the best fun you can ever have all by yourself in iPhoto and on YouTube. Would also like to thank Paul Simon [the voice and lyrics of my childhood] for the use of Punkey’s Dilemma… the cornflake song… what a great little song it still is!

For my part… I just want to paint and write… live… laugh and love. Whatever comes after [in/around and between] all that… who knows and who even cares? It’s my life. And I’m only going to get one chance at it. I make mistakes like everyone else. And have suffered probably more than my fair share of sadness. But I am also blessed in so many ways.

And the great thing is I am finally beginning to realise that absolutely nothing is ever set in stone. Doors open and close all the time with intermittent regularity. And all that’s required of us is a willingness to step through the next open door to see what’s on the other side. It’s as easy as that! *wink*

The real prizes in life go to whoever opens the most doors… and investigates as fully as possible their own individual potential. There are no guarantees we will survive this life… in fact… it’s a pretty sure thing that we’re not going to make it out alive!

So heck… while we’re here we may as well give it our best shot. With or without any thanks… or claps… and regardless of the heckles… [or the people who would persist in placing obstacles in our way]

Doing our creative thing… whatever that may be… is our gift to the world as much as ourselves. And you never know… maybe someday… someone… somewhere…. might just get it and go WOW!

If not… well… we had a whole heck of a lot of fun doing whatever it was we got to do!

Didn’t we?

Would love to hear your comments about YOUR creative life and experience.  Drop me a line here!

Oh… and before I forget… the 2010 Universal Artist Calendar is now available for immediate shipping over at RED BUBBLE [in case you didn't get that already LOL]  Okay… that’s enough shameless self promotion for me… back to painting… writing… more dreaming *sigh*  :-)

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Full Tilt

August 7, 2009 · 10 comments

full-tilt“Full Tilt”

Cartoon Pen & Watercolour 9″ x 12″

Copyright 2009 Jean Burman 

Here is my entry in the 21st Rotary Cartoon Awards… a national/international competition hosted once again at the Bunker Gallery in Coffs Harbour.  The Awards are a bit of a big deal in the cartoon world with entries accepted from both amateur and professional cartoonists worldwide.  

I had two entries ready… but upon (erroneous) advice that captions were disallowed… I didn’t send the second one.  Foul play?  No I don’t think so (grin)  I should have read deeper into the fine print of the entry form to learn that captions were disallowed in the International section only.  So I could have sent the other one as well.   Ha!  Oh well.. c’est la vie.

Originally this was going to be “Climate Change – Full Tilt” (avec captions)  but turned out being plain old “Full Tilt” because that’s all I could fit into the toon after the fact!  Never mind… I think the gag stands quite well on it’s own two feet as a humorous ‘take’ on the irony of weather in this Great South Land over the past year.  I hope so anyway.

Besides… I have no expectations for this entry except that… by participation… it represents my persistence to prevail despite everything.  

Keep smiling… you never know when someone’s gonna smile back!  (((chuckles)))  :-)

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People Are Funnier

May 22, 2009 Read the full article →