An article from Paulo Coelho‘s blog – Solitude is not the absence of love.
Things I need to be reminded of on a fairly frequent basis … nicely done Belle Jar.
1. Assume that you are loved.
2. Assume that those who love you find some kind of value in you and the things you do.
3. Assume, however, that you don’t need to be valuable in order to be worthy of love.
4. Assume that there is no one out there keeping a tally of all of your failings, ready to throw it in your face when you’re either feeling too good or too awful about yourself.
5. Assume that if anyone actually is keeping a tally of all your failings, that act says more about them than it does about you.
6. Assume that you can’t make all of the people happy all of the time; maybe not even some of the people some of the time.
7. Assume that you will, over the course of your life, sometimes anger or disappoint the people you love.
8. Assume that…
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Mad March begins…
March Theta 1
10cm x 15cm (approx. 4″ x 6″). Uni-Pin pens and graphite pencil on acid-free cartridge paper.
The product of a couple of evenings work here.
Imagination
10cm x 10cm (approx. 4″ x 4″). UniPin pens, Inktense pencils with wash and UniBall Sparkle gel pen in gold.
Just an experiment with a quote. I’m not entirely sure that it works.
Crazy Time
Work has been manic and very stressful at times. You’d think that after a full school inspection some of the pressure would ease off. Not a chance. Or maybe it has a little, but the staff, including myself, are exhausted mentally and emotionally and are struggling on.
I was away for the best part of a week with some kind of stomach ‘flu or bug. Usually, I’d bounce back in a couple of days, but this one had me laid low. On my return I was faced with staff friends stressed out about one thing or another, complaining about the behaviour and attitude of pupils and telling me about the incidents I’d missed while I’d been away. Incidents that shocked me. I had issues to deal with nearly every lesson; one of my tutor group arrived in my room in floods of tears stressed about school work and other things, another sensitive boy lost it in another lesson as the boys wouldn’t leave him alone when he was feeling a bit overwhelmed, another pupil had left a class because the boys were picking on her because her gran had died the night before. All in two hours or so of arriving there.
The NHS
I’ve been getting on my high horse about the UK’s government’s plans to privatise the NHS through the back door.
I’m appalled at our present society. The NHS, and the welfare state, are paid for by the British tax and National Insurance payers. They are not owned by the government; the government is merely the administrator. We, the tax payers own the NHS, as well as everything our taxes have paid for. They have absolutely no right to sell them off without balloting the people.
It is not our fault the government and country is in dire financial straits. It is wrong that our taxes are used to bail out the banks and other organisations. It is wrong that the common people are hit by rising taxes, while the rich are given tax breaks when those who are most in need have to sell their homes, possessions in order to receive the care they need; this will only get worse if we end up having to pay for health care. I’m sure our nation’s dental health has suffered as a result of the changes made in charges for dental care over the years.
We’re supposed to be a civilised, caring society where all have access to the care they need, regardless of their ability to pay. Health care isn’t a business, it’s a basic human right, same as education, which has become a factory production line.
I signed a petition about the changes to the NHS and contacted my local MP.
If you’re in the UK and are reading this, you too can sign the petition at the 38degrees website. In fact, please, please, please sign it.
It’s time the people realise that the government is answerable to us, the voters, that we expect them to manage things to take care of the society that contributes to the running of the country not the people who foul up financially, such as the banks, or to look after those who don’t need looking after as they are obscenely rich.
It seems that the government is stealing from the poorer echelons of society (and that includes the middle classes and professional people) in order to make sure the rich become richer.
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Monograms
I’ve been a little busy with some monograms. They’re either 7.5cm x 12cm or 10cm x 10cm in size. The rectangular ones are on watercolour paper, the square on bristol board.
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Yet another one …
Approx 16cm square. Unipin pens, Zig Art and graphic pens and water wash, Gold Stickles and silver and gold UniBall metallic gel pens.
As always, this work belongs to me and no copying, distributing, altering or use in any way without written permission from myself.
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Theta Mandala 3
Approx 19cm in diameter.
Worked on smooth, heavy cartridge paper using UniBall UniPin pens, Zig Art and Graphic Markers with a wash and tiny spots of a gold UniBall glitter pen (the inner raven has to have a little sparkle in every piece I create it seems … )
As always, this artwork was created by me and so the copyright is owned by me. No copying, sharing, using or altering in any way without my written permission.
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Theta Mandala 1
This is approx. 7″ in diameter. It’s worked using UniBall Unipin pens, Caran D’Ache watersoluble coloured pencils and tiny amounts of gold paint and ink on heavy cartridge paper.
I’m not entirely sure that it works. I think I’ll have to step away from it for a while before evaluating it with fresh eyes.
In it’s defence, I must say I lost myself in the creativity of the process and it relaxed and soothed me and has let me practice some ideas.
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This design started with the kind of infinity loop towards the top left. The loops coming from it eventually were seen as a letter ‘B’ and the word believe seemed to be the right one to put on this. Everything else grew, quite literally in some cases, from this point.
There are golden stars to wish upon and golden seeds and flowers and growth and sun and rain … and hope.
Approx. 6″ x 8″. The black lines were worked using Uni-Ball UniPin pens. Colour was applied using watercolours and gold watercolour paint. The paper is heavyweight cartridge.
As always, I am the owner of this creation and it may not be used, shared, distributed or altered in any kind of way without permission from me. Thank you.
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Theta 3
Approx. A4 in size. The main outlines were worked using a black Letraset Promarker with an ultrafine nib. The infills were completed using a Uni-Ball Unipin pen. Colours added using Derwent Graphitint pencils and a water wash. Other shading done using a B pencil.
As always, I am the owner of this work and it may not be copied, distributed, altered in any way or used in any other way without my written permission.
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Theta 2
I completed this yesterday. It’s approx. A4 in size. The major outlines were worked with an Umber Letraset Promarker with an ultrafine point. The fine details were done using a UniBall UniPin fine line permanent pen. There are gold highlights worked with a UniBall metallic gel pen. The shading was done using a Derwent Graphitint pencil, Storm shade, and a water wash. It took many hours of work…I lost count!
I’ve discovered Zentangles over the past few days. The similarities between them and my art are remarkable, though I think my art has incorporated such things for a long time now without knowing about them, though it seems the first Zentangles were names as such in 2004 by their creators, Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas.
I have also found out that NeoPopRealism was created by Nadia Russ in 1989, and she used lines and repetetive patterns as a way to heal herself and her life. This is taken from her website
“In 1989, Nadia Russ (aka Nadejda Maloletneva) invented the new art style, very unique art form of visual arts. Sensitive and emotional, Nadia was trying to get rid of her stress and frustration when things in her life were going wrong. But wrong was, then in 1989 and a few more years, almost everything. She drew with ink pen the line, turning into different shapes, figures, faces. Sections, that appeared, she filled with different repetitive patterns. Nadia never uses eraser. If she makes a “mistake”, it disappears because of the following patterns that balanced the whole composition. This drawing is meditative. Later, she was using the same concept when she created her oil and acrylic canvases. This art form called NeoPopRealism; she created this term January 4, 2003. The artworks of Nadia Russ are in different museums’ permanent art collections worldwide and in private collections all over the globe. “
Of course, doodling has been around for a very long time … and I often think of this kind of art that I do as ‘doodling’. It is also very meditative and it can be the one thing that cheers me up during one of my darker days, something I look forward to coming home to at the end of a tough day at work. It has a similar effect upon my soul and mind that the first mug of hot tea on arrival at home does – a huge inner sigh on the conscious, subconscious, physical and spiritual levels.
I am finding it interesting to look at the Zentangle patterns and how they can be constructed, and I’m even trying some of them out in a sketchbook. Ultimately, my art flows, with no conception of what the finished piece will be; that has always been the case with my art – I really do just go with the flow.
*Added Tuesday 11 Feb 2013*
I have been told that Indian Mendhi designs predate Zentangles and NeoPopRealism by a very long time thanks to 1artviewer on deviantART. These are the kind of designs that are applied using henna to the hands/feet of brides.
You can read more about these designs on Wikipedia and can see more on this website.
Of course, and I’ve mentioned this many times before, I’ve drawn inspiration from prehistoric rock art, as well as neolithic and bronze age art, early celtic and anglo-saxon art too.
*Edit ended*
Half Term at last!
3pm last Friday didn’t come around quickly enough. It’s been a short yet incredibly pressured half-term. The pressure has come from the inspection, voice problems, and another problem that has affected my sleep, stress levels and health adversely. I’m glad it’s over and I can have a week away from the madness without anything hanging over my head.
My only plans for this week are art, reading and sleeping, well apart from the other absolute necessities of life such as bathing and eating and so on.
It’s always quite tough for me to be alone to start with, but by the end of the week I’ll value my solitude. It will have allowed me the time and space to just ‘be’, to relax, to rediscover myself. Then, I will feel thrown back into the fray for another manic half-term.
Art is the Adventure 