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Find Contentment

Surely, art supplies do not fall into this category or do they? Need/want....tomato/tomatoe....lol

http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/455?utm_source=DailyInsight&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=DailyInsight

Yoga is much more than a physical practice. It is also a philosophy about the way we should live. According to yogic philosophy, we cause ourselves pain by desiring things we don't have, but think that we need. In other words, we hurt ourselves by yearning after what's out of reach.

Santosa is a niyama, or guiding principle of yoga. This principle encourages us to develop contentment. It prescribes the merit of striving to be grateful for what we have rather than yearning for new and different things. The word "santosa" is also sometimes translated as happiness, because, by finding contentment with what we have, we also find joy, relaxation, and peace.

You can practice santosa in all aspects of your life-toward your family, friends, and your career.

 

 

Where Did The Four Years Go?

Eighteen years ago, I held this little girl.   

Sunday, May 20th, she graduated from Carondalet High School in Concord.    In a few months, she'll be off to college.

How could 4 years have passed so quickly, let alone 18. At this rate, Isabel aka my Mucha Lucha will be older than me!!

I am so proud of her and love her and her brother SO MUCH!!

And in continuing with our 'tradition', yes, I'll be taking her on a shopping spree before she leaves for college. Guess I better blow the dust off the credit card.

 The clan   Isabel and Gino  

 Evan and Taide    Brother and Sister

    Silly Girls






  

One Moment In Time

As the Buddha said, impermanence is the nature of the human condition. This is a truth we know in our minds but tend to resist in our hearts. Change happens all around us, all the time, yet we long for the predictable, the consistent. We want the reassurance that comes from things remaining the same. Yoga philosophy offers an alternative to these tendencies. It is to embrace the powerful truth: the power of living in the unchanging, eternal present.

We can even look to our yoga mat to watch the attachment pattern play itself out. We often find ourselves attached to a never-ending process of "improvement" in our asanas. They do improve quickly at first—in the beginning, we are on a honeymoon of discovery; we grow by leaps and bounds in ability and understanding. After a couple of decades, however, our poses change much less. Oftentimes, we can no longer practice certain poses because of age or injury, yet we feel agitated because we assume that the poses of our youth should be the poses of our middle and old age.

What gives life its juice is the ability to mourn anything fully and simultaneously know it doesn't ultimately matter. In other words, we can live to the fullest when we recognize that our suffering is based not on the fact of impermanence but rather on our reaction to that impermanence.

http://www.yogajournal.com/

Call it karma, fate, etc. This article has come into my mailbox at a time when I have decided to make some changes.

Another Face

Still practicing my drawn faces. Does she look like me (without glasses)?

   

Chest of Drawers

I picked up this unfinished unassembled chest of drawers from Freecycle. Since I was having a difficult week and I needed to do some hammering and pounding, I figured this was the perfect project to work on. After sanding all the pieces and then assembling them, I laid down a coat of gesso. 

My plan is the paint the cabinet purple with, maybe, clear varnished sides. I really like the wood grain on the sides and haven't quite decided if I want to paint the entire cabinet purple or just the top and front. I painted the drawers pink and will be adding 9 mostly vintage knobs to the front.

The cabinet is 28" X 23" X 14". There are 3 drawers with removable dividers so I can break them down into 9 sections. 

I can't decide if I want to leave the drawers a solid pink or embellish them. What do you think?

     

Online Class: Life Book

Jane Davenport provided us with a mini lesson on prismacolor pencils and solvents. I bought a few solvents (Chartpak Marker, Dove Blender, and Gamsol) years ago but haven't used them until this lesson. First we laid down a layer of cheap matte acrylic paint. Jane used Ceramcoat. Out of all the paints I have, this brand wasn't one of them. So I used Apple Barrel, Folk Art, and Liquitex. I was having fun making a colorful face.

Then it was time to start coloring with the pencils. In spots, the paints I used wouldn't take the pencils and it was frustrating to say the least. Over the 'face' I painted a layer of clear gesso. Ah, that worked nicely.

Then came the solvents. The Dove Blender and Chartpak didn't work as nicely as the Gamsol. I used one of those double ended cotton swabs and paper stumbs to blend the colors. As I was working on her face, I decided her head was too large for my liking so I performed some cosmetic surgery and gave her a smaller head.

More pencils, more solvents and she was coming around nicely. I also added some Derwent Inktense pencils (love them!) and the last bit of paint was for the background. Once I added my little dog in the corner, she was done. The dog was a stamp that I carved and decided he would be my 'signature' on each piece of art. He's going to be like Where's Waldo and will appear somewhere on the piece.

 

Online Class: Life Book

Week 14's assignment (btw, I can't believe how fast the weeks are flying by) was taught by Tam. Our lesson gave us practice on drawing front-facing-portraits and the theme was honoring our past (events). We listed 3 events from our past which were incorporated into our work. My events are divorce, criticism, and retirement.

We sketched our portraits, on watercolor paper, and worked on the backgrounds. I found the saying "use the past as a springboard and not as a sofa" from my book on quotes. As I am getting older, I have been trying to make a conscious effort not to dwell on the past but every once in awhile, an event will creep into my head and I have to push it away.

This image shows the flap we added to our base piece. The flap's 'hinge' is orange duct tape which matches the background colors. I wrote, on the back of the flap, what I have learned from the three events above.  The second image is with the flap open and my portrait visible. 

Spring Birds

I joined a Spring Bird Swap and these two guys were sent to my partner. 

Online Class: Life Book

In a previous post, I shared my assignment from class on Paint Over Collage. The technique fascinated me and I had to make one on my own separate from the class. I'll be including this page as part of my Life Book at the end of the year.

I took pictures as I was working on the piece so I can remember what I did. I love how it transformed after each step. This was a fun technique!

                     Final   The saying says "Happiness Depends on Ourselves" by Aristotle