Life Is Not About Waiting for the Storm to Pass Its About Learning to Dance in the Rain

This has always been my favourite quote .. it's usually a favorite with those people who've gone through a lot or had to endure many struggles in life . Because when you go through what I've gone through, you live in the darkness for awhile , not even being able to  find your bearings you're so swept up in it. You almost drown in the tidal wave of grief . But all of a sudden one day ,  tiny spark of light breaks through the darkness .....and you reach for it , for that small spark of joy that comes with it. You realize that there can be joy while dancing in the rain.  You truly begin to live the little moments and appreciate them because the pain has been so overwhelming. And a small moment of joy can bring such bliss.

My husbands sudden passing was my first storm .....and the storm lasted for five years as we lost many more people dear to us . The stresses and heartache of carrying on without him and raising three kids on a single income were huge. But so was the Soul growth. I am not the same person I was and can actually say I now live life and each moment more fully. His death taught me a reverence for life and the sacredness of it. I no longer take anything for granted and realize how precious it is, Along with my friends and family.

Finally, this year I was ready to fully live and embrace life again. This was an art journal page I did in January.

  

To me this page was a reflection of how I had gotten through the loss of my sweetheart and many other huge struggles. I was beginning to put the storm behibd me. But I didn't  see the new storm on the horizon. One month after this I was suddenly diagnosed with  leukemia  . Really ?? Have I not gone through enough ? Apparently not.  

By this time tho , I think I have  finally learned how to ride the storm from the centre of the cyclone. ..the calmest part. Deep inside of you;  you will find peace. Going  wirhin and connecting with the Divine  calms your deepesr fears. 

So there I shall resr as I go in to the hospital today for more chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. 

On The Easel in the Dead of Winter: Summer Dahlias

 A week after Christmas and I'm painting summer dahlias. Right now this is a work in progress and will take a few more sessions to finish this. I am taking part in a gallery Show at Granville Island Hotel next fall . Knowing how busy I am, I thought I had better start adding a few paintings to my portfolio. Flowers inspire me every time ! I spent a beautiful afternoon at this Dahlia farm this summer and have some lovely subject matter. Dahlias definitely aren't the easiest to paint . For some reason, with me, the inspiration always comes first. I get so excited about how beautiful something is that I dive in. About an hour into the painting I ralize what I've taken on lol. Hopefully I will be be able to pull this one off  😉

Oprah Winfrey " The Life You Want Weekend" Conference

 What an amazing Empowering weekend with Oprah. Went to her  Life You Want Weekend"  To say it was uplifting is putting it mildly.  So many women there, so many stages of life . Some just wanting a girls weekend, some needing hope after a life crisis. Oprah's words and guest touched upon it all. The beginning of The conference truly set the tone. The whole arena was dark . Out of the dark came Oprah's voice saying" We are the stars, our bodies are built with the same DNA as the stars. Simultanesouly the huge screen flashed on with a picture of the stars and the galaxies and at the same time the bracelets on our wrist started flashing like starlight. A truly inspirational start ! After several speakers , the just of it was to keep on taking those baby steps toward your dream life and living your true, authentic life. When we finally reach our goal our lives will be even more joyful and magical than we can imagine because we have aligned with our soul.

Global Talent Search Update

Well the final results are in for the Global Talent Contest. Fifty finalists have been posted to this blog : http://lillarogers.com/global-talent-search-semi-finalists-revealed/?inf_contact_key=abae7ed4e252b38ab4db091587351b651d48308ee40b2ad9c5882487387c82bd

I wasn't one of those finalist but since I sent in an incomplete piece lol I didn't expect that I  would be chosen so I wasn't really that surprised. I was, however, blown away by the amazing talent of all the artists that sent their submissions in:.   The artwork was truly outstanding so it would have been really hard to have chosen.

Lilla Rogers is a well known art agent that is the Creme de la creme to sign on with. The prize was pretty hefty ...signing on with her for two years, a trip to England and so on. What artist wouldn't want that ??

But what strikes me as the hubub of this contest begins to quiet down, is reading some of these amazing artists, almost apologetic comments that they weren't chosen. Or apologies that their artwork maybe wasn't quite the right style to be chosen.The caliber and quality of the work submitted was absolutely amazing ! Each artists having talents and distinct styles in their own right. No apologies are needed for not being chosen. Everyone's artwork was truly special and unique to them.

  Facebook and social media is such a plus for artists to connect  and share with each other. But with all this instant social media nowadays I feel like it can sometimes have a lot of artists jumping for the carrot trying to produce artwork to what they deem is "marketable art" .  Don't get me wrong, there is a fine balance between producing art that you love and art that the public will buy. One that we all struggle with and hopefully will all find our place with.

But first and foremost, we are artists. We have an innate need to follow our soul and create something, first as an expression of our soul and second as an inspiration to others. That is the reason we create art. It is an outward expression of ourselves to the world. Which is why sometimes so many of us artists have such a hard time putting our work out there because it is so deeply personal.

In this self expression, we must be ultimately true to ourselves. It is in that deep need to create and shine our light through our creativity, where the true beauty lies...however it comes out. That is what truly shines when we complete a project that we have put our whole heart and soul into it. What I loved most about the comments on Facebook when artists started their piece  for the Global Talent Contest or submitted it was how inspired they were. This is the place we need to  keep creating  our art from.

So none of us artists need to make any apologies for why we think our artwork or style  wasn't suitable. If we were following  our inner artist, we will all shine in our own right.

For myself, I am making the transition from a teaching career too a career out of my artwork. While I am still teaching, I was totally thrilled to connect with so many artists in this contest  and to share our hopes and fears. It is a gift to me to be able to  make art everyday and eventually make a career of it. If we all keep on "keep on" ing" I truly feel that that goal is within reach....as long as we continue to follow the nudgings of our inner artist.

I'll leave you with this inspirational writing....I love to do this . Just put my pen down to paper and seeing what comes out . And this is what came out : Enjoy !

Tiny leaves unfurl and stretch towards the light in harmony with the other vines and plants of the forest. They do not worry whether anyone around them is more beautiful for they know they are pure source as they reach toward the sun to unite with the biggest source of all. And in doing so, they can not help but radiate their inner light which is the essence of their true beauty.

Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search

Somehow I summoned enough courage to enter in Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search. The theme was Terrariums. I was immediately inspired. I let my ideas simmer for about a week then started painting.The painting itself flowed very freely...it wasn't til the last day that everything went wrong lol. There was some very deep meaning behind my painting: Magical Secret.  I wanted to create a secret garden-like scene that was filled with childlike wonder. Look closely and you can see a tiny little fairy nestled in the tail of a peacock.

The meaning behind Magical Secret  was thrifold (if that's a word) Firstly, if we all learn to connect to our Soul and live that way ...life can be Magical. But you have to discover that secret by finding your inner self first. Secondly, the tiny little treasure chest with the nest and little heart in it held a lot of significance.....personal and Global. The Magical Secret to Life is pure and simple: Live with love in your hearts and  keep your childlike wonder. Sounds trite but the world really needs to move toward this simple concept to make the changes it needs. 

And finally, the most special meaning to the tiny treasure chest is deeply personal but comforting. I lost the love of my life, soulmate and Daddy to my kids five years ago. This year, on the day before what would have been our 23rd anniversary an acquaintance came up to me and handed me a tiny little painting of two birds. In amongst the trees was a tiny little nest with a heart in it. As she gave it to me she said " Do you have a special birthday or anniversary coming up ? Well, this is from your husband and he is the one who told me to paint the little heart in the nest." She does happen to have some very special spiritual gifts but she had no idea that it was our anniversary the next day ! So, this painting with the wee  little heart in the tiny little nest is dedicated with much love to my sweetheart Alain. The little heart symbolizes the immense love we shared , which is what helps me to move on in life and pursue my dreams of creating a career out of my art.

Technically, the original painting is much better. It was too large to scan so I had to take a picture of it which definitely lessened the quality of it.Unfortunately, since I was down to the crunch, it came out quite distorted but I didn't have time to straighten it out.(I got sick  the last few days before submitting ) Plus I didn't have time  to paint on Secret the way I would have liked. So I had to submit artwork that is definitely a lower quality than my usual standards. But, oh well, lesson learned. Life just got in the way at the last minute. Altho I don't think I stand even a small chance of moving on to the next level, it was an awesome experience. And now I have a whimsical painting that is dear to my heart.

On the Wings Of Love Greeting Card Line Slide Show

Click here for a slide show of some of my cards: On the Wings Of Love Greeting Card Line

My Website Is Up !

Check it out ! It has my Greeting Card Line and my paintings. Now I have to get serious ! Between my day job as a teacher and my kids' insane sports schedule, this took a lot of extra work and is long overdue but well worth it. Here's the link: http://www.onthewingsoflove.ca/page/page/8342730.htm