Illustration Friday: Wings

Wings...

they are beautiful...they are empowering.

They are fearless.

Whenever my heart uses hers
she becomes light.

She flies freely in the night...up amongst the stars...

gliding ever so peacefully, in curves.

She tip toes playfully
throughout the gossamer dream fields of the universe.
 Her imagination is tickled by stardust
and she giggles
with hope.

She recharges her very essence

by

just.breathing.deeply.
and
taking it all in.

When she returns home

she carries with her a newly invigorated spirit.

A spirit that is grounded...and positive... 

full of light

and full of peace.

She thrives and is full of love...
until

...totally unexpectedly...

her wings become useless...

clipped, crippled, broken, and bashed.

She becomes 

chained and tethered...unable to soar.

Buried in nightmares

of reality

her spirit depletes and allows no

revitalizing breaths in.

There is no light...there is no peace.

In the darkness she chokes and begins to smother.

Struggling,

she moves in jagged lines...

with harsh edges...leaving scars in her wake.

Her memories of flight and freedom...

the days of simplicity, innocence, and playfulness...

vanish

into an inky blackness.

Life's experiences, indeed, wax and wane between extremes.

Life is cyclical
and her lessons are oftentimes difficult.
Because of that

we must grasp daily as much revitalizing energy

as we can...
from whomever we can...

whenever we can.

To spiritually survive...
we must remember we have wings.

We must continue to use them to become light
and to fly and to soar...

no matter what the

emotional weather conditions

of the heart, the mind, and the body may be.

“Be as a bird
perched on a fragile branch
that

she feels bending beneath her,

still
she sings away all the same,

knowing she has wings.”

~Victor Hugo

"My Muse..."

...has been busy, lately, dancing like no one is watching

and

cultivating artistic thoughts of Spring

in her mind...:)

Illustration Friday: "Cultivate"

"Our happiness

depends on the habit of mind we cultivate.

So practice happy thinking every day.

Cultivate the merry heart,

develop the happiness habit,

and

life will become a continual feast."
~Norman Vincent Peale

"Aspirations And Intentions..."

...see both sides...

take long deep breaths...celebrate daily...

share my journey...

make simple things special...expand my soul...

greet difficulties with patience...

feed all my senses...be inspirational...cherish...

make someone laugh till they cry...

embrace change...dance with delight...be in the moment...

weave lasting memories...

color outside the lines...make a difference...

say what I need to say...linger in beautiful places...

be remarkable...face fears...

love living...♥

Illustration Friday Prompt: Resolutions

"One resolution

I have made, and try always to keep,

is this:

To rise above the little things."

~John Burroughs

"Character

is the ability to carry out a good resolution

long after

the excitement of the moment

has passed."
~Cavett Robert

"Getting That Vintage Feel ..."

...with a couple of old fashioned sunflowers

banded by

a bit of a gingham inspired border...:)

Illustration Friday: "Old Fashioned"

"As for marigolds, poppies, hollyhock,

and valorous sunflowers...

we shall never have a garden without them...

both for their own sake...

and for the sake of old-fashioned folks,

who used to love them.

~Harriet Beecher Stowe

1813-1887

"Mirrored Forces..."

...Neither side willing to budge...Stubborn and Immovable!

Illustration Friday: Immovable

"All mankind is divided into three classes:

those who are immovable,

those that are movable...and those that move."

~Arabian Proverb

"Still Catching Up...2 Late Ripples"

"Cancelled Coral Reefs..."

and
"Oily Encroachment..."
These two ATCs were made in June
as part of the art community's Ripple blogspot fundraiser
focusing on relief efforts for the Gulf region...
following the disastrous oil spill.
This my first attempt at a mixed media presentation
incorporating US postage stamps
and watercolor...and
I most thoroughly enjoyed it.
Because of a family emergency and a backlog of things
taking higher priority
they are just now posted here today for the first time.

Illustration Friday: "Ripple"

"An IF...On time...Oh! what a Feeling!!!!"

The succulent new branches curled, spiraled,

and played childlike and freely

nurtured by the magical aura surrounding the

wise ancient tree...

just like when our artistic Muses

like to dance with delight...into the wee hours of the morning

letting loose and becoming intoxicated

in the glory of a creatively aromatic atmosphere.

Oh! What a feeling!!!

Illustration Friday: "Atmosphere"

"Behave so the aroma of your actions may enhance the

general sweetness of the atmosphere."

~Henry David Thoreau

"Catching up With IF..."

...Illustration Friday prompts that is...:)

Here is my intertpretation of the "Paisley" prompt...

(the original version and the digitally flipped one, too!)

from about a month ago.

Better late than never...as "they" say...:)

ILLLUSTRATION FRIDAY: Paisley

"Ooooh...My Sore Toes...!!!"

“The toe of the star-gazer is often stubbed.”
~Russian Proverb

Illustration Friday: "Star Gazing"

Lace, Lines, Loops...

...and "lotsa" swirls all drawn lead free

and

lavishly linked together...

not only in a leafy labor of (zen journaling) love

but also in
another last minute Illustration Friday prompt. :)

Illustration Friday : "LINKED"

"We begin to die as soon as we are born,

and the end

is linked to the beginning."

~Bret Harte

"Taking an Artistic Dip..."

...into the clear blue seas

for a focused and flipped...frilly and frivolous,

far fetched and funky

take on an Illustration Friday prompt.

:)

Illustration Friday: "Dip"

“When you shoot an arrow of truth,

dip its point in honey”
~ Arab Proverb

"Two Buds Left..."

...nakedly leafless...trimmed down to the very nubs

and

currently propped up in a squatty bit of a

hand made vase.

Happily rescued from the inevitable

and

terminal fate of the rest of their

droopy headed sisters...

they now enjoy a fresh new life within

the bulging pages of my red

Hand.Book. journal.

Illustration Friday: "RESCUE"

"Rescue me...

Oh take me in your arms.

Rescue me...

I want your tender charms.

'Coz I'm lonely and I'm blue...

I need you...

and

your love too...

Come on and rescue me!"

~Sung by Aretha Franklin

"Time is Running Out..."

...actually it is about to expire

as far as the Illustration Friday deadline

for last week's drawing prompt:

"Expire."

It was proving to be a rather tricky topic for me...

until I took a good long look

at our beautiful and bountiful lemon tree.

Mmm...

it's fragrance this season has been heaven like.

But, what a curious thing I found!

The lemon tree was bursting with fruit,

and

covered with new white buds

and

decorated with graceful white blossoms

heavily draped in pollen,

and

deeply skirted below by petals and stamens and all kinds of

expired flower parts which have

fallen to the ground!

ALL at the same time!!!

Whew!!

The branch I drew above was attached

to a branch with ripe fruit!

And...

on this one branch I drew there were

multiple stages of life...

from a brand new bud...to a fully blooming flower...

to an expired bloom...to flower bits...

which disintegrated upon the slightest touch...

(Ah CHOO!)

to the start of a tiny new lemon

not much more than a quarter of an inch in size...

deep green in color...

waiting to grow and bloom

next season!

Wow!

This little tree just doesn't want to give up!

Maybe we can all learn an important lesson from that...:)

Illustration Friday: "EXPIRE"

“Wisdom is perishable.

Unlike information or knowledge,

it cannot be stored in a computer or recorded in a book.

It expires

with each passing generation.”

~Author Unknown

"In The Nick Of Time..."

...I came up with an Illustration Friday sketch

and threw in a digital flip for fun!

Whew!

Illustration Friday: "Subterranean"

“Not in Utopia, subterranean fields,

or some secreted island, Heaven knows where!

But in the very world,

which is the world of all of us,

the place where in the end

we find our happiness, or not at all!”
~William Wordsworth

"A Matter of Perspective..."

Whether it be a "foggy dawn"...or...
a silent "midnight snowfall"...
mankind continues to get lost in the beautiful depth
of Mother Nature...:)

Illustration Friday : Perspective

"If you do not raise your eyes
you will think
that you are the highest point."
~Antonio Porchia

"One Thing..."

...leads to another...:)

Illustration Friday: "Propagate"

"Why don't they:

Do what they say, say what they mean

One thing leads to another...

You told me something wrong,

I know I listen too long

But then one thing leads to another.

One thing leads to another

Yeah yeah

One thing...

one one thing

leads to a...na...a...a...ther

One thing...

one one thing

leads to a...na..a...a..ther..."

~Lyrics By: Agius, Curnin, Greenall, West-Oram, Woods

"One Thing Leads to Another"

Recorded by : The Fixx

1983

"Seeing Clearly..."

"A mind at peace,
a mind centered and not focused on harming others,

is stronger

than any physical force in the universe."
~Wayne Dyer

Illustration Friday: "Focused"

"Whether it be Foggy..."

...or snowy...

"the clearest way into the Universe

is through a forest

wilderness."
~John Muir

Illustration Friday: "Wilderness"

"May Your Artistic Muse..."

Blossom...
...Sparkle... and Dance

with renewed joy, energy, and delight.
Happy 2010!!

We are now officially off and running!

WooHoo!

Illustration Friday: "Renewal"

"New Year's Day is every man's birthday."

~Charles Lamb

"The object of a new year

is not that we should have a new year.

It is that we should have

a new soul.”
~G. K. Chesterton

"Another Migraine..."

...my 3rd this week...

was totally "hatched" and in full torment by noon today.

I took some meds...

then

I slept a bit and then, in a migraine fog,

I drew this...

Feeling better now...but

was it the meds? or the nap? or the art?

that did the trick?

Go figure! :)

Illustration Friday: "Hatch"