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Theory of Positivity

March 11, 2009 · 23 comments

As I reach the last page in my block of 15 Arches Watercolour Sheets… I know that I must come up with something “timely” to paint on this humble last sheet.  It is by no random coincidence that the last sheet is the most paint splattered of them all… being as it is… well… at the back of the book!  (grin)  

Maybe it’s nothing very special really… but that last blank sheet with it’s colourful clash of paint seeping along the edges and around the back… sure does have “character”.  True grit even.  For it has survived relatively unscathed to the end of the block. And with the prior experience of the 14 pictures that have gone before it… that’s got to have made it something kind of wonderful right?   (I just know there’s a metaphor in there somewhere…)  (((chuckles)))

Cartoon Pen & Watercolour 8″ x 12″

Artwork and content Copyright 2009 Jean Burman

(unauthorised use prohibited)

I decided with all the gloom and doom around on the tellie and in the news… I would try to make a small positive contribution to the betterment of the Universe by staging a virtual positivity “rain dance” (if you will).  It’s my way of striking back.  So now… if we can all join hands… (((chuckles)))  

I have a theory.  If everyone across the world were to switch off their television sets and stop reading the doom and gloom peddled by the newspapers for one whole month… the world might spontaneously come out of recession.  I say “might”… because the theory is untested.  But what if it worked?           

Let’s face it… things aren’t really all that bad.  Well okay… they might be kind of bad… and for some they might be truly terrible… but the world as we know it isn’t going to end.  It might change… but maybe it needs to?  

Truth is… things can only be as bad as we believe them to be.  Life is a confidence trick. If we keep a positive attitude… and refuse to listen to the doomsayers expounding their pontifications at every opportunity on the little bright box in the corner of the living room… we are half way toward being in a better place already. 

And in reality… we can be anywhere or any way we want.

We can be happy.  

We can be sad.  

We can worry.  

Or complain.

The choices are endless.

In the end… it’s what’s going on inside our head (and our heart) that will ultimately determine our own personal experience of the world.  And who knows what sort of influence a few positive thoughts… all put together… might collectively have on the world at large?

Okay… it’s just a theory.  But from what I’ve seen and read… no so-called expert out there has so far come up with anything better!  (((chuckles))) 

As for me… I’m on top of the world (as you can see)

Last weekend my son Andrew dragged me kicking and screaming (okay not kicking and not actually screaming) into the lift and up to the 77th floor observation deck of the world’s tallest residential tower (the Q1 Tower on the Gold Coast)  No… not scared of heights at all! The lift?  Well… yes… maybe just a bit.  But it only took 45 seconds and I can shut my eyes and hold my breath for at least that long… (grin) 

Awesome view eh? 

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Modi’s Girl

September 24, 2008 · 10 comments

Modi’s Girl

Watercolour 22″ x 30″

Copyright 2008 Jean Burman

I am writing this in the early hours of the morning from the Q1 tower on the Gold Coast. The sun gets up so early here as summer approaches… situated as it is near the eastern seabord’s most easterly point. So it’s impossible to sleep past 5.30am. By summer the sun will rise an hour earlier even than that. I would definitely need black out blinds if I should ever live here!

Last week was a busy one for me. The builders moved in to do some repairs on the house before the painters come sometime next week. Zoned out on Mozart and in and out between the hammering and crashing however… I was able to get some painting done. Sadly no writing though… but hey… who can have it all? LOL

Modi’s Girl was born out of a wish (on my part) to give Jeanne Hebuterne… Modigliani’s sweet wife and muse… the eyes Modigliani had omitted in his famous portrait “Jeanne Hebuterne avec un grand chapeau”.

A little arrogant perhaps… but heartfelt nonetheless. And I’m pleased I did it. I think Jeanne wouldn’t mind so much… and I feel now as though I know her (even if only just a little).

Jeanne was an artist in her own right who lived and painted in the shadow of Modigliani’s greatness. How great she herself may have ultimately become will never be known for Jeanne threw herself from an upstairs window… taking her life and the life of their unborn child… one day after Modigliani’s untimely death in 1920 from tuberculosis and substance abuse.

She died for love.

That kind of thing doesn’t happen all that often any more. Passion it would seem… is passe. Replacing it… a kind of generalised emotional malaise in the modern way of life.

I wanted to recapture some of the magic of that past… albeit in my own way… adding my own contemporary spin! Whether I was successful or not I shall leave to the critics whom I feel sure will be swift to have me answer for it! (grin)

Either way… it was fun… and I’m glad I did it. :-)


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