Love Lives Here

when words evade me

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice-
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations, though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen branches and stones.
but little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do-
determined to save
the only life you could save.
                                                   The Journey by Mary Oliver

autumn ramblings 11

this is a post i wrote weeks ago. since then much has changed. there has been very little time to create. someday i will get back to it with a renewed energy. for now i will share this.

 rolling through these days trying to get some sense of Christmas approaching ~ feeling discomfort at times.

and so I continue to create.

to this stage in time there was very little creating with this piece. I had acquired the original very dark pastel creation probably from my daughter. I believe she got it many years ago from a visiting pastel artist at her school. I had found it rolled up in the basement in a piece of craft paper. hastily one evening as I was preparing for a visitor I hung it on a wall in one of my basement creative spaces. then I realized how dark the piece was, how very abstract. not really what I wanted hanging on my walls. besides, there were so many possibilities. and so I began. the above pictured is with a number of layers of white chalk added.

another evening I chose to grab a piece of charcoal and sketch this face. the portrait was created using a reference from Misty Mawn's Open Studio class. I find my art being greatly influenced by her teachings even after eleven months. truly I have not had nearly as much time in this past year to be creating as what I had hoped. but the lessons will remain with me. and a great dream I have would be to one day participate in Misty's class in Orvieto. a dream ~ but I do believe that dreams can come true. as a dear friend strongly believes "If you can dream it ~ you can do it."  Walt Disney

so with pieces of charcoal flying as the piece was hung on the wall ~ the lovely lady appeared. 

I gave the piece more depth and feeling with darker lines. now she appears on my wall, yet another piece totally inspired by Misty, but with very much my own twist.