Tag: art

Mindful Monday


Shades of gray.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.” Speech given at the National Cathedral, March 31, 1968.

The first photo is mine, contents of one of my boxes. Background for the above quote to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day is from a photo of my 2006 acrylic on canvas painting “Enlighten,” filtered to be gray.

The skies are gray this morning, too, as our bad weather begins to roll in. My mood’s a bit gray, as well. I have no “fear of missing out” today. My hope is to maintain limited exposure to any media, including social media and news, and find a more creative purpose for my time.

A writer’s heart


This resonated with me when I saw it today, and that’s all I’ll say about it.

I hadn’t planned this, but a doctor’s appointment I spontaneously made on Wednesday and was scheduled the same day, led me to a referral to surgery on Thursday, when I had a very minor surgical procedure that went fine, with a follow-up next week to conclude things. Probably the most challenging part to me is the antibiotic I’m on which requires a bland diet and no dairy. I’m already bored with what Debby said is the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast (dry). I have no interest in rice by itself. In the mornings, I’m eating oatmeal (I never use milk with it anyway), then for other meals I switch between apple sauce and bananas, and dry toast and saltines. No coffee or tea. Just water and occasionally for a treat, a little cranberry juice. Nurse Debby is handling my four days of dressing changes.

When Tom took his vacation between Christmas and New Year’s, he was finally able to put time into recovering files from the backup drive of a computer that died in early 2020. (We’d misplaced that drive and thought after searching other backup drives that everything was lost.) We weren’t sure that whatever hit the dead computer hadn’t also impacted the contents of the rediscovered drive, but he transferred literally thousands of documents to another external drive. Today, I began accessing some of the contents for the first time.

I feel, like the subject of a previous post, that I’m time traveling, having already sifted through hundreds of personal photos I thought were gone. It’s been surreal, because so many of those photos encompassed our sale of The Compound, our move to Houndstooth Hall, the Harvey flood, the deaths of Margot and Guinness, the new dogs that came into our lives to become Anime’s pack and our little friends–just so many dogs and people and things.

There are photos I don’t remember taking. Places I don’t remember going. For example, I found photos that I think might be from Mark Rothko: A Retrospective in the Beck Building at the Museum of Fine Arts in December 2015. I vaguely remember going to an exhibit in years past, and I have bad photos that inform me this was probably the one. We were in the middle of selling one house, moving into another, it was the holidays, and I was working crazy hours, so I’m not surprised it’s all a blur.

These were a couple of photos I found in my files, probably taken with my phone, that I think were part of that exhibit. I could probably find the first one online if I wanted to do a deep dive in image searching. The second one looks like it’s behind glass, reflecting paintings from another wall, and I’m not sure the colors are true. It could be more of a challenge. Regardless, Rothko’s art always feeds my soul and seems like the perfect way to finish my red-themed week.

Hearts and angels

I only made two little ornaments this past Christmas. One for my own tree that I shared here in December. The other, also on a 2-inch by 2-inch canvas, I sent to the person with whom I will always connect hearts. She seems to have her own key for finding them in nature, and I wanted to celebrate that.


When I was reorganizing my paint and canvas shelf, I found these little wooden ornaments. The next time I’m in the mood to paint, maybe I’ll make more ornaments to send out next Christmas, even though most people seem to have theme trees or fancier trees than I put up. Like that one kid who sits in the back of the class, my crafty little ornaments may not fit in.

I personally like receiving gifts someone’s taken the time to craft or create. I was surprised and delighted recently to get another angel to join the one a friend sent me in December.

The new one came from Mark, and she’s stunning. I’ve only been waiting for a red-themed week to share her. From Catherine Stock’s A Christmas Angel Collection, she’s derivative of “Eccelesia,” a gospel miniature from Salzburg or Passau, late 12th century.

I wanted to give an idea of how shimmery she is. (I like shiny things!)

Thank you so much, Mark, not only for the angel, but for the time and energy you put into coloring her. Thank you also for this coloring book with pages based on historical people and art from the Tudor period. I’ll really enjoy its coloring pages.

Mindful Monday


I love the color of this box. I like the design carved into the top with its feather motif.

I even love the bottom of the box, which emphasizes its strong red pattern in the wood stain.

What lives inside the box: heart-shaped cutouts. Most of them have what I call “Angel Affirmations.” I think the feather design is the reason this is the box I chose to store them.

The instructions tucked inside describe how I used these Angel Affirmations, and the first line explains why I chose to share this on Mindful Monday.

Think of only today…
Light a cone of sandalwood incense…
Center yourself with deep breathing…
Surround yourself with white light…
Take any heart and apply it to today’s situation…
Trust yourself…

Here are the words from the one I pulled. Maybe it will mean something to you today.

To match the mood, here’s some of the metaphysical music I was listening to while I wrote at the end of last week:

Tommy Greer’s ‘Angel’s Kiss’ 1995; Steven Halpern’s ‘Gifts of the Angels’ 1994
Steven Halpern’s ‘Chakra Suite’ 2001; Dean Evenson’s ‘Forest Rain’ 1993; Nature Quest’s ‘Andrew Lloyd Webber: Naturally’ 1995; Erik Berglund’s ‘Harp Of The Healing Light’ 1999

Sunday Sundries & Question No. 8

Things that are red.

Clockwise from lower left: Red Beatles car. Push-puppet elephant mascot in a red jersey with an ‘A’ for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Red Stratocaster guitar at 1:6 scale. A red “Woody” wagon with a surfboard atop. A red pickup truck with a surfboard atop. A dirty red truck in honor of one I borrowed and drove for a while in the mid 1980s. An English Breakfast London bus tea tin. A red bud vase I made during our pottery section in high school art class. Two little red ceramic chickens I painted for Jeff which were later returned to me. Piccadilly’s ‘3000 Questions About Me’ book.

I’m intending to share a few things featuring the color red in the coming days. From the 3000 Questions About Me book, 2167. If you could afford a personal driver to drive you everywhere, would you get one?

I’ve always said if I were wealthy, the one lifestyle change I’d definitely make is to have a full-time chauffeur. So that’s a resounding YES answer to the question. They could drive me in a red truck, a red Woody, a red Beatles car, or a red London bus for all I care. I only ask that speed not be excessive and they don’t tailgate, taunt, or incite other drivers, a terrible idea in Texas.

“Climb the stairs to the moon.”

This black and white page is from Jenny Lawson’s You Are Here book and titled “Climb the stairs to the moon”:

With a touch of color added. (I share the text that’s around the tree roots below the photo.)

If I cannot see the sun
I’ll follow the stars.
If I cannot see the stars
I’ll follow the moon.
If I cannot see the moon
I’ll make my own.
–Jenny Lawson

Sunday Sundries

This week’s theme: Things that are black or black and white.

A pyramid with hieroglyphics; a raven on a skull, evoking Poe; a crow and a raven on either side of a cranberry/amaretto candle (gift of Debby–a nice scent to create to), atop two of my favorite books, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ and ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’; coffee mug with ‘LOVE’ that includes a paw print; quartz crystal ball with black tourmaline inclusions; and the ‘300 MORE Writing Prompts’ book.

Taking a prompt from the book, here’s what I wrote this morning.

New Year’s good tidings


Though Blue Cheetah is not a fan of new year’s resolutions, he does have some wisdom to offer for the coming year. He strongly recommends you GO WILD the way he does. Here are his suggestions, applicable to the season and where you are.

  • Inhale winter air. It has a clean scent like no other and can clear your mind.
  • Get your paws in soft grass. No socks, no shoes, just moments of bliss.
  • Feast your eyes on the grandest mountaintop you can find. You don’t have to climb it–unless you want to.
  • Get drenched in a rainstorm. Your hair will dry. Your clothes will dry.
  • Bask in warm sun at the beach. (Don’t overdo it.)
  • Lean against its trunk and tell a tree your deepest secret. It will never betray you.
  • Cast a line into a lake without a hook to catch only a calm rhythm.


Blue Cheetah was brought to you by this coloring book along with 28 shades of blue pencils and 10 different blue gel pens. And by me, wishing you all the best in 2025.

Shake it up

My last snow-themed post of the week came from this coloring book and officially brings Christmas week to a close. Christmas itself hasn’t been stressful, which isn’t always the case. I managed to get everything done even though I left most of it until December. NOT Christmas things have been more stressful, but that’s just part of life. All the friends and family we communicated with in one format or another help keep things happy. We have so many and so much to be grateful for.

I hope this guy gives you a smile and serves as a reminder that shaking things up can sometimes be a good thing, and regardless, they settle down in time. I don’t know why his tree looks yellow. It’s green on the page.

ETA: I had a couple of fruit stickers I wanted to add to the page of fruit stickers in Wreck This Journal, and after I did that, I began flipping through the pages until I came to the one for “Rubbings.” It had a single entry on it (“Cowboy”), and I thought of my leather bracelet sitting just across the room on my bookshelf. So I did a rubbing of that, which seems right on this date.