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Sailor’s Delight

 

Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.

Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning.

Mother Nature is not a force to be reckon’d with, as the old saying goes.  I had just finished a small collection of paintings named “Red Sky” right before Hurricane Harvey hit.  Then Irma was right on his tail.  Now Jose and Maria.  My heart breaks for everyone who has lost loved ones, their homes or pets.  The devastation left in the wakes of these storms is heart wrenching.  I’ve always thought Nature was the most powerful thing on this planet.  Until now.  Know what I think is the most powerful thing on this planet?

 L O V E 

Despite political opinions, differences in ethnicity and the many current challenges here in the USA, during the last few weeks we have become one.  One group of people helping another group of people.  Neighbor helping neighbor.  Stranger helping stranger.  Because when it comes right down to it, at the core of our human “being” is love and we can’t help but show it when the chips are down.  It’s in our DNA.

 

“There is one spectacle grander than the sea,  that is the sky.  

There is one spectacle grander than the sky,

that is the interior of the soul.”

~ Victor Hugo

 

As the sky turned dark, fierce and angry with the approaching hurricanes, it affirms the awe-inspiring majesty of what stands above us.  The sky above us is more than water vapor, clouds and ozone.  For centuries fishermen, farmers, sailors, even pirates, have learned to read the sky to predict on-coming weather to plan their work & navigations. Artist paint the sky on canvas in all it’s glory or darkness.. Children watch the clouds and dream. Poets & writers have looked skyward for inspiration since time began. 

 

 

Autumn brings the season of beautiful sunsets as the air along the rays of sunlight is more clear.  A;though it is a scientific explanation for a red sky, it sounds like magic to me to say that rays of sunlight split into colors as they bounce off of water vapors in the sky.  Pure magic.

 

“There is a harmony in autumn and a luster in it’s sky,

which through the summer is not heard or seen,

as if it could not be, as if it had not been.”

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

The rhyming “red sky” proverb has become known very well by sailors but it has also been used in sheep herding….’shepherd’s delight”.  A variety of references to the sailor’s proverb can be found throughout history, one as early as the Bible. Shakespeare even wrote of the warning in “Venus and Adonis” in 1593.

“Like a red morn that ever yet betokened,

Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field,

 Sorrow to the shepherds, woe unto the birds,

  Gusts and foul flaws to herdsman and to herds.”

 

I created these small artworks while thinking of that magical moment when a shimmer of golden sunlight dances across droplets of water high up towards the heavens painting golden ruby hues across the sky.  The poetry of nature is a magnificent thing to behold.  Poetry of both lightness & darkness, hope & shadows. Always larger than life.

 

My hope is that these small paintings will bring light & inspiration in to your home, bringing with it the idea of looking upward and finding the every day miracles we all have in our lives no matter how simple.  

 

“Art washes away from the soul

the dust of everyday life.”

                                                      ~ Pablo Picasso

I will be donating 20% of the sale of this collection of paintings to the hurricane relief efforts.

 

Pop over to the shop here to have a look!

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September 20, 2017 by Jamie 2 Comments

By: Jamie · Filed Under: Collections, Painting · Tagged: acrylic painting, sailing, sea

The Blessing of New Beginnings

 

Autumn has always been my New Year.  Most likely ingrained in the depths of my heart from the ending of summertime vacation and the beginning of the new school year in September.  That excitement of new books & crayons and seeing friends I missed since sharing our last secret in the schoolyard was palpable in the air.  Every year September brought a new beginning on the Autumn breeze.  This year was no different, although I didn’t have to pack a book bag.

 

 

Have you ever had the opportunity for a new beginning in your life?  A new chapter in the cliché Book of Life, a fresh start, a re-do, or a let’s start over moment? Sometimes new beginnings gently enter our lives, quietly finding a space and settling in, such as the happy times of graduations, marrying the love of your life or bringing a new life in to this world.  Sometimes our new beginnings are thrust upon us, unwanted, sometimes fiercely barging in on us, by a divorce, loss of a home or job or worse, a death of someone precious to us.

My new beginning started a few months ago.  Actually, I had been working toward a new beginning for a couple years but Life had her own plan for me and I had to put my planned new beginning on the back burner.   I became a full-time caregiver for my Mother.  Sometimes the cycle of life decides what you must do with your time despite your best laid plans.  I was very blessed to have a close relationship with my mother and to be able to care for her at the end of her very long life (95 years!). I have so many joy-filled memories and laughs to carry with me through the rest of my life.  My mother knew my plan to become a full-time artist and she was one of my biggest champions.

And now my new beginning begins…

 

I think it’s really easy to falter and stumble during new beginnings, after all it’s all new.  You have to find a new path to walk, sometimes the path isn’t actually there and you have to make one.  Sometimes you have to cut down a lot of brambles to make your way.  I’m not at all one to follow the herd (as anyone who knows me will quickly attest to), so I’ve had to cut my own path as I walk along dreaming and planning the next chapter in my life.  There have been insecurities along the way, lots of questions I ask myself, of course the self-doubt creeps in and I take two steps forward then four back.

My journey took a very different path for many years (you can read about that on my hello page) but I always knew in my heart & soul that I was meant to be an artist in this one life I have been gifted.  It has taken me a very long time to realize that all of my life experiences have worked together to bring me where I am today to be the artist I am meant to be.  Every personal experience, every professional experience, every friendship, every adventure…they all add a nuance to my work.

 

 

New beginnings are exciting, exhilarating, exhausting and sometimes scary.  Finding the trust in my heart to follow the process has been the easy part, believing it has been much harder.  Along the way there have been tests put in front of me to strengthen my belief in that trust.  And just as I am beginning to falter in trusting the process, I am given a firm reminder to have faith.  Faith in the beautiful, and sometimes messy, process of a new beginning and faith in myself that I am capable. Embracing that faith each and every day brings me closer to achieving the dreams I have in my heart.

The beauty of  trusting the process of a new beginning adds rich layers to our lives. And it enriches our Soul to believe in ourselves in ways we may not have done so before.  I’m an eternal optimist, so even though my new beginning came out of the heartbreaking sadness of losing my beloved Mother, I know that her season ending as mine was beginning is all part of this big, sometimes crazy, cycle we call Life, “To everything there is a season…”.

For me picking up the brush to paint, whether I am swirling watery pigment on paper or brushing buttery oil paints on canvas, brings me to a place of peace and joy.  A place I can dream, a place I can call my own, a place where I can shine a light on my corner of the world.  A place where the magic of new beginnings happens.  I can’t imagine a better time of year than the Autumn New Year to begin.

 

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September 14, 2017 by Jamie 6 Comments

By: Jamie · Filed Under: Faith, Inspiration · Tagged: artist life, faith

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