Sunday, June 25, 2023

the silence that surrounds

acrylic on canvas


I had learned what I knew, 

the bare outline of the event, 

without asking questions,

 both fearing the pain that I knew surrounded the story 

and honoring the silence that surrounded the pain.


-Wendell Berry, That distant Land

Saturday, June 24, 2023

...waiting...

acrylic on canvas

This waiting is messy, but one thing is clear: 

This waiting is not passive. 

This waiting invites us to hold the painful present 

and calibrate it with future hope. 

The waiting actively affirms the importance of life’s sorrows a

the Man of Sorrows guides us through.


-Mike Ahn

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

...and to be loved anyhow...

acrylic on canvas

“To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow - 
this is a human offering that can border on miraculous.” 

― Elizabeth Gilbert 
Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

Monday, June 19, 2023

...see...

acrylic on canvas

In a dark time,
The eye begins to see.
- Theodore Roethke

Sunday, June 18, 2023

wrung...and possibly broken

acrylic on canvas

 To love at all is to be vulnerable. 
Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken.
 If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give it to no one, not even an animal. 
Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; 
avoid all entanglements. 
Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. 
But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. 
It will not be broken;
 it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. 
To love is to be vulnerable.

C.S.Lewis



Monday, September 5, 2022

connection

watercolor

Connection [is] the energy that exists between people
when they feel seen, heard, and valued;
when they can give and receive without judgement,
and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.

-Brené Brown

Thursday, August 18, 2022

the silent scream

fabric and gel medium on layered wood panel

“Trauma is personal. 
It does not disappear if it is not validated.
When it is ignored or invalidated 
the silent screams continue internally 
heard only by the one held captive.” 

 Danielle Bernock 
Emerging With Wings: A True Story of Lies, Pain, And The LOVE that Heals

Friday, August 12, 2022

because sometimes you must...


Acrylic on canvas

When you're drowning, 
you don't say
 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight 
to notice me drowning and come and help me,' 
you just scream.

-John Lennon

Monday, July 11, 2022

and that’s that…

watercolor  

We can’t all, and some of us don’t. 
That’s all there is to it.

 -Eeyore
"Winnie-the-Pooh

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

the comfort of a friend

watercolor

You and I can share the silence 
 Finding comfort together 
 The way old friends do

— 
Abba
"The Way Old Friends Do" (1980)

we all have it

watercolor

We all have pain 
 We all have sorrow 
 But if we are wise 
 We know that there's always tomorrow

— Bill Withers
"Lean on Me”  

Saturday, May 7, 2022

listen close...

watercolor

Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child
Listen to the DON’TS
Listen to the Shouldn'ts
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WONT’S
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
then listen close to me —
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.

  Shell Silerstein 
“Listen to the Mustn'ts”
from "Where the Sidewalk Ends"

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

each friend shapes our world...

watercolor

Each friend represents a world in us,
a world possibly not born until they arrive.

-Anaïs Nin
 

what is 'normal' anyway?

watercolor, pen and ink

If you always try to be normal, 
You will never know how amazing you can be.

-Maya Angelo

aged pleasure...


watercolor

 One does not get better
but different and older
and that
is always a pleasure.

-Gertrude Stein

be...patient...


watercolor

Patience is also a form of action.

-Augusta Rodin

questions matter...

watercolor

It is better to know some of the questions 
than to have all of the answers.

James Thurber

 

it makes a difference...

watercolor, pen and ink

The difference between 
misery and happiness 
depends on what we do 
with our attention.

-Sharon Salzburg

dare...

gouache and watercolor on black cotton paper

Dare
 to be naïve.

- Buckminster Fuller

 

just be...

torn paper collage on index card

No need to hurry.
No need to sparkle.
No need to be anybody but oneself.

- Virginia Woolf

We relate… therefore we are

torn paper collage, pen and ink on index card

“I suppose that since most of our hurts come through relationships 
so will our healing, 
and I know that grace rarely makes sense 
for those looking in from the outside.” 

― William Paul Young, The Shack

 

destination unknown…

torn paper collage on index card

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.

- Martin Buber




 

don’t make up your mind yet...

Watercolor

 The time to make up your mind about people, 
is never.

~Philip Barry

misunderstood...

watercolor, pen and ink

Perhaps one did not want to be loved
so much as to be understood.
- George Orwell



 

simplify...

watercolor

It is not a daily increase,
but a daily decrease.
Hack away at the 
inessentials.

-Bruce Lee

free to do right...

watercolor

Freedom consists not in doing what we like,
But in having the right to do what we ought.
- Pope John Paul II

Friday, February 4, 2022

Broken places

Watercolor

 The world breaks everyone, and afterward,

some are strong at the broken places

—Ernest Hemingway 


sharing at PaintPartyFriday 

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Dark defines Light

Watercolor

The dark does not destroy the light; 
it defines it. 
It's our fear of the dark that casts our joy 
into the shadows.
Sharing at PaintPartyFriday



 

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

…but some are more equal…

Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer 
without making the animals themselves any richer 
– except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs. 

Watercolor

ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL 
BUT SOME ANIMALS 
ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

-George Orwell, Animal Farm

 

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

...for always and always

(study in DS shadow violet)

“When the Man waked up he said, ‘What is Wild Dog doing here?’
And the Woman said, 
‘His name is not Wild Dog any more,
but the First Friend,
because 
he will be our friend 
for always 
and always 
and always.'”
Rudyard Kipling 

Saturday, April 10, 2021

say whaaaaat???

Daniel Smith Watercolor on Fabriano paper

The only thing that should surprise us 

is that there are still some things that can surprise us.

~Francois de La Rochefoucauld


Sharing at PaintPartyFriday

Thursday, March 18, 2021

it’s not about the fish...

Daniel Smith Watercolor on Fabriano paper

"Many men go fishing all of their lives 
without knowing that it is not fish they are after."  
-Henry David Thoreau

Friday, February 19, 2021

you cannot ever leave completely... nor do you want to...


watercolor

'You cannot leave Africa, Africa said. 
It is always with you, there inside your head. 
Our rivers run in currents in the swirl of your thumbprints; 
our drumbeats counting out your pulse; 
our coastline the silhouette of your soul.' 

-Bridget Dore
from the poem Africa Smiled 


 

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

bow to the King

watercolor on fabriano paper

The wise men’s hearts
We’re filled with joy
As they bowed down
Before the boy!
They gave their treasures 
To the king
And went back home
Still worshipping.

~ The Rhyme Bible Storybook, ZondervanKidsz



 

Saturday, December 26, 2020

the poor and dismissed... they heard it first


repurposed fabric, gel medium and acrylic on wood panel
  • Yet as I read the birth stories about Jesus
  •  I cannot help but conclude 
  • that though the world may be tilted 
  • toward the rich and powerful,
  •  God is tilted toward the underdog. 

  • -Philip Yancey
  • The Jesus I Never Knew