“The Complaint of the Present Times is the General Complaint of All Times.” – Anonymous
As the election comes closer, don’t forget that the complaints you hear now are the complaints people have had forever. And the promises we hear are the promises we have heard forever. It might be about the economy, it might be about the war, it might be about negative advertising, but whatever it is, it is your responsibility to look past it to the heart of things. In other words, vote for ideas, vote for direction, vote for the candidate, not just his or her campaign promises.
Sometimes I didn’t have a quote, just a drawing I made up for the girls. It actually was good practice to try and draw the same drawing 3 times in a row. They always turned out slightly different, no matter how hard I tried to make them alike (I never tried very hard actually).
Sometimes I didn’t have a quote, just an idea for a drawing that I would put in their lunches. This one is something I have repeated in various manifestations for quite some time.
The reaching hand from above (and often from below) obviously can indicate God but it just as easily can indicate nature, the unknown, spirits, the mechanism of the universe or something else. All I mean by it when I use it is that there are influences and ideas and thoughts and experiences that are not within our control and we should be open to them, let them in and see what we can learn from them.
One of my art heroes has always been Henri Matisse because of his ability to draw expression with the minimal of line. I was attempting that with this napkin. I am not sure why I drew it on the particular day I did long ago, but I hope I didn’t scare my daughters when they found it in their lunch later that day!
While I am not an absolute believer in the idea that ‘it’s all small stuff’ so we shouldn’t worry about anything, I do believe we worry a great deal about stuff that really doesn’t make that big a difference.
I often wonder why that is. Why do we obsess about how clean a floor is, when we know that one little bit of dust isn’t going to hurt us or anyone? Why do we worry about our sons and daughters hair or clothing style as if that is the same as character? Why are some so afraid of going somewhere or doing something we haven’t done before that they are paralyzed into inaction? Where did that fear originate? Who told us long ago to fear that? Who gave us the message that we would fail? Who told us that we should avoid failure at all cost?
I have a number of complaints about my upbringing and some of the stuff my parents did or did not do. But one thing I am very grateful for is that neither of them ever gave me the message of fear about life and what happens in it.
I guess it just comes down to faith. I don’t mean faith in God, I mean faith that it will all work out. That losing a job will mean something new and different and a new opportunity. That moving to a new location will mean new land, new friends, new nature, new buildings and new activities. That moving on from a relationship will mean new relationships, new growth, new feelings.
So, as the song says ‘Don’t worry, be happy’. It will work out as it is supposed to.
It must have been baseball playoff time since I drew the baseballs. I probably was giving my daughters’ carrots for lunch that day, that explains those, and the boat? Who knows, I suppose I started with that actually and then saw it as a mouth and added the carrot and balls. I don’t always understand the process that gets me to my art!
“If God Made Us In His Image, We Have Certainly Returned The Compliment.” Voltaire
Usually this quote is used as a negative statement about God and man. But read the story below and perhaps you will feel that just sometimes the image God creates of us and we create of God reflects well on us both.
I received a wonderful email yesterday from a delightful woman in Chicago. She is doing some advanced academic work in Theology and wanted permission to use 5 of my napkin drawings in her work and in presentations regarding peace building in Africa. I was happy to make the connection and give permission.
A number of wonderful things about it. She is in graduate school but offered to pay for the rights to use the images. Think of how many profit making enterprises don’t have the courtesy to ask permission to use an image much less offer to pay. I took her up on the willingness to pay since I believe they are worth the money and she will feel more freedom to use them as she sees fit in her work. She was telling me my work had value and was willing to prove it in a concrete way by paying me money that could help me in ways a mere complement could not.
The other wonderful thing is that she is using them in a serious thesis regarding peace building in the world and later in presentations regarding that same thing in Africa, where peace building is a hard road for all. It really made my day to know that.
They are just silly drawings on napkins, but good ideas well stated are powerful and transformative no matter where they are found.
“If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.” – Virginia Woolf
I don’t know if I believe this. I think many people can deceive themselves quite thoroughly about their real persona while at the same time having a laser focus on the truth about another person. They don’t make for the most trustworthy people in the world, but they can exist.
“Nothing is sillier than silly laughter” – Catullus
There is nothing better for the soul than this type of silly laughter!
It is cathartic and transformative, both for one’s feelings and one’s body. I wish I had more silly laughter actually. Watching the VP debate last night with my family (daughter and Son in law were over) allowed for some good laughs though!
This quote is a variation of many others I have heard over the years. I believe it whole-heartedly. Those who are prepared, who learn and practice and pay attention, are the ones that know how to take advantage of the ‘luck’ that drops in their laps.
I know this from hard experience where I either was not prepared, or worse than that, was prepared but didn’t grab the opportunity as strongly as I should have. And I didn’t follow up that ‘luck’ with hard work to move forward. It happened in my art career many times.
Of course that is in retrospect. When I think back to all the work I did do, day in and day out, I think ‘shoot, how much more could I have done?’ But the truth is I know I actually could have done more once a door opened for me. But circumstances and my own laziness or fear or distractions kept me from working full bore on it.
It is a lesson I have learned now and try to avoid. It isn’t easy to keep so focused you take advantage of EVERY bit of ‘luck’ but I certainly do better at it now than I use to I think.
