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

On the Wings of Love Greeting Card Line ........ My Newest Development

So, this is my baby. In between working fulltime as a teacher and taking my kids to ball 6 days a week, this has been my main focus.  I have spent every extra minute and ounce of energy developing this line of divinely inspired greeting cards.  The messages are designed to inspire, uplift, encourage and support through all life's moments.

I am very happy with the results and am just getting them in to stores. Website will be up soon too!

Enjoy !

So Excited About My Art Studio

Woo hoo, I no longer have to work in my dining room . I had turned it into my studio of sorts and it was actually quite pretty but storage was always an issue.... where to put all my canvases, books etc. ?

An armoire had been turned into my art cupboard but that was quickly overflowing.

Then life had a way of quite forcefully pushing me in the right direction. My tenants moved out and the local bylaw officers came and told me me that I wasn't allowed to rent it anyway.

So after some humming and hawing I decided to turn it into my art studio, which had been the original plan when we had built our new house.

I'm totally loving working in there  ....  the energy is beautiful but I do have the pressure now of making up the rent money from my studio. Since my sweetheart is no longer with us, I lost an income.

I'll be teaching painting Wednesday and Saturday mornings and holding workshops in there.

A few steps closer to my dream job !

Inner Sparkle

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love. ♥

Check out  Inner Sparkle on Facebook ...lovin it !

........no matter how bad things are, try to notice all the love you do have in your life this week....the more you notice it , the more  that comes into your life.

Inspirational Message

I leave you with this little inspiration for the weekend, directly from above . It seems like so many of my friends are now waking up to creating the life they want...they know they have a path but aren't sure which one to take.

In my journey of self exploration in the past two years , I have read many inspirational, self help and metaphysical books . And the one resounding theme in many of them ....is find your passion and follow your heart.

So take baby steps , find out what it is that fills your soul and ignites your light . Finding and working from that energy and that place of joy will start you on your path and lead yo to the next step.

Heres a painting I entered for a Hay House Affirmation Card Contest . Love the affirmation from Hay House .  I just added the painting . It was one of the ones chosen for second place.

Texture Tuesday

This weeks photo was done with much sadness as a tribute to one of my daughters close friends who lost her life on Sunday morning ..........  another casualty to drunk drivers .  Her best friend is also in a coma due to this tragedy .  I wrote the poem to try and capture her beauty and gentleness.

Forever in our hearts Crystal .

To see some amazing work visit Texture Tuesday at  Kim Klassen's

Life Book

I'm taking part in this yearlong journey at Willowing and Artist Friends
For the whole year , two different artist teach different techniques that we use to make pages of our own Life Book. What a cool way to record Your Story"
I'm really excited about all the different artists' various styles. Being a traditional oil painter, I am feeling quite a pull to branch out into the mult media techniques.

My first exercise was a bit of a bust though .....as I was quite time challenged and didnt really have time to experiment hopefully that will come later.... Plus I'm soooo used to painting it was totally a stretch to get back to just drawing. So I basically just got it done.

The excercise was to find Goddesses who's qualities you were drawn to. Goddess' who's qualities were somewhat contrasted . I chose Kwan Yin with commpassion, love and enlightment , and Isis ........still feminine and compassionate ..but  more assertive  in her feminine power , a leader.

 Totally looking forward to seeing how my style evolves as I learn the different techniques.

Have a blessed day !

Current Work In Progress

So here's the beginning of what I've been working on :

And , here it is at about 3/4's of the way done:

It's coming along ....just an hour or so more  to add the skaters , work on the snow, and the finishing details !

Texture Tuesday Simplicity

Just loving Texture Tuesday with Kim Klassen . Sooooo cool what you can do with your photos .Its still very basic what I cna do ....but here's this week's entry using her Simplicity texture at 100 % on Grain Merge (the top one )   and  on Saturation on the bottom one. 

The frames are provide by this talented lady Linneas 

I can hardly wait til I can do more   but I I have to make sure I keep painting ....so easy to get distracted when your an artist lol !

Enjoy and have a blessed day !

Texture Tuesday

This is the second time I've participated in Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday

I'm really enjoying it but am definitely photography challenged ...much more comfortable with a paintbrush !  Some of the entries are amazing !  But I really want to learn how to add textures and digital work to my paintings, so,

 persevere, I will !

I haven't got the soft blended look I'd like , I'm sure it will take alot of trial and error. Anyway, the entry had to be have something to do with a story and inlcude on of Kim's textures.

The above one has the 123 texture at dodge 29 %

and the next one has the same texture with value .

Which one do you like better ?

Inspirational Message

Enjoy these words of inspiration , however they work for you . I plan on adding angel messages weekly to my blog to inspire, uplift, or support so please check back.

This message is particularly meaningful to me . After being at the lowest point in my life after my sweetheart passed, it was a devestating struggle to get myself back in the land of the living again. I know that I acted very robotic like and made sure I took care of my kids needs ....but to really get back into life  and feel some joy was a huge challenge. I couldnt go to  grief support groups because I couldnt be with people.....way too fragile. I went to a grief counselor but I ended up counselling her.

No, my growth and healing began by exploring myself and what perceptions I had about life, life after death, God, Angelic help .......the whole shebang .

Although it is a never ending journey and I still continue to work through much grief, laughter has come back into my life again and  I did find the answers I needed ....and a whole lot more surprises within myself too ! Sometimes I think its like going down Alice in Wonderland's rabbit hole ......

Texture Tuesday

I've just stumbled upon "Texture Tuesdays "  with Kim Klassen ...........yes some of us are a little slower than others (wink, wink )

Anyway, this is my first little project using a warm sunny texture that she provided us with.  Although it's a far cry from what I'd like to be able to do , I had lots of fun playing around........but I  got absolutely nothing else done tonight. 

You can get totally carried away playing around in Photoshop and have no idea where the time went !

Enjoy !

Bre

NB: Whoops .....just figured out I must have brought up the wrong Texture Tuesday ( Lord knows how : )   Oh well, I'll get it right next week !

What's Your Word ?

Geri at My Heart Art  http://www.myheartartbygeri.com/2011/12/whats-your-word-for-2012.html   has a wonderful challenge going on for the New Year. What's your word for  2012 ?

She's chosen the word BALANCE which is definitely a major goal for me this year after everything that I've been through in the last two years.

But my word for 2012 is   LOVE .   As my journey has unfolded that is the one thing that is abundantly clear to me ,  that I am soooooo blessed to  have LOVE all around me....from my kids, from my friends from my colleagues......and from the angels  ; )  

 And I am a true believer in  the more you give love the more you receive.

So, the above painting is one that I did that reflects my word for 2012 and beyond. ....with love .... all things are possible.

Enjoy !

Divine Inspiration

So, what comes first , the inspiration for the painting itself or the words ?  For me,  that depends on the type of painting it is. For any of my landscapes or portraits, the inspiration almost always comes from a picture or vision that sparks my inner light. 

 But for any of my work , that I refer to as "Divinely Inspired, the inspiration almost always comes to me in the form of a message. Some other day I'll go go into more detail about how I  began receiving these messages ................yes, I love to paint, but a poet, I am  not : )

So it is without a doubt, that I know these messages are not from me.   They gave me comfort in a time of great despair when I needed it . And now it feeds my soul to be able to paint them.

The one above has touched many people, including myself........it started from these beautiful words :

Let your pain drift upon the wings of an angel and mingle with the light of God.

They then made their way into this painting:

I truly hope these angel inspired words give anyone who is suffering in any way, as much comfort as they do me.