JUST PASSING TIME ACEO

Time has a problem and a bad reputation. People blame a lack of it their failures but don't like an excess of time either.
If they only had the time to spend with their family...exercise... go back to school. If they only hadn't been so pressed for time they would never had chosen that job...that car.... that husband. Having lots extra time is seen as something that will get you into trouble... Too much time to fill is seen as a retired man who gets on every one's nerves... Too much time between where you are and what you want is seen as excruciating...

People talk in time... My biological clock is ticking. No time like the present. Time stands still for no one.... Idle hands are the devil's playground... A watched pot never boils. And on and on... I suppose there are sayings about time where slowing down and enjoying time is shown as a good thing - For example - Take time to smell the daisy's. But to be honest that one always reeks of 1960's Flower Children and doesn't really ring true to most people. I think they can see the value of it but not the practical application.

But the truth is time is a constant... it's your impatience that's the variable. And it's up to you to see the golden value in your time - to capture all your seconds and than file them away as memories. If you sit back and think about time, it's given you a lot. The passing of time gives you all the good things - all your good experience. Your joys. Your quiet moments between the fray.

Perhaps Memory's gift is gratitude but Time's gift is patience. If you take the two in tandem you can truly be a happy person.

STOP THE MADNESS! ACEO

AVAILABLE HERE

I watch and listen to other people a lot. I hear them ramping themselves up... dramatizing... catastrophising...
Stop the madness! Calm down your words and your life will follow... Take the words like devistating... destroying... horrifying.... out of your vocabulary. Your life will be better for it. In managing my mania Ive had to make an effort to watch my thoughts. Manic thoughts have wings that take me places I don't want to go. But watching my thoughts has been surprisingly effective even when I'm not manic.
To move a car you just need to get one wheel going and the others will start to turn...soon the whole car is turning. Your thoughts, your mood...your whole like is like that. If you concentrate on how bad things are soon your car is moving down a road you don't want to go. If you concentrate on the positive your car will take you there.
It's a remarkably effective tool for getting good parking spaces too! I call it parking space karma :)

This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image. I used several paper and I love the effect with the mostly black and white photograph. There were alot of collage papers on this card and the photograph does'nt lay completely flat. Sometimes that happens when I use many papers under a photo. If this will bother you and you will see it as a flaw please don't bid!

Chairs to infinity at sunrise

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I took this photograph in Capy May, New Jersey. These were the chairs on the balcony at the Grand Hotel... There was something about this photograph I've always liked.

There is something beautiful in those chairs. I can imagine myself sitting there resting, gazing over the railing... and it's quiet. Even though there are so many balconys and so many chairs no one is outside. No one takes time to stop and sit anymore... to just look at what's there.

I think about my life and I don't take much time to stop and sit either. There is always a call to make... a phone to answer... a bill to pay.

I must have missed so many beautiful sunrises just sleeping when I wasn't really tired...

ACEO 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches on heavy mat board. The card was done in two steps. First a background collage was done to compliment the picture and than the photograph was attached. I used several acrylic mediums, the last one glossy.

Fences

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I was looking at my photographs the other day and realized I had a lot of shots of fences. At first I thought it was odd. Why would I have taken so many pictures of barriers? Things blocking my path? Objects that stopped me on my path?

I started to work with the pictures and realized that I loved the images and found them beautiful. If the fences hadn't been there I would have continued on my way - walked ahead and never noticed the scene beyond.

Fences - barriers in your life - can be blockades. Places that you stop and feel you can't go forward but maybe there is another way to see them.

The things that stop you give you a frame of reference. They show you where you are now... They show you what's in the future... They shift you.

Stopping to assess your life is never a bad thing. Knowing what could be a ahead is important... Figuring a way to get past a hurdle is growth. Maybe the fences in your life are as important and the open paths. Maybe stopping to see where you are and figuring out how to move ahead is a gift.

Maybe fences are the picture frames of our lives. A pause, a still picture, a place to refect back on how far we've come and to see what's beyond...

ACEO 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch done on heavy mat board. The background collage uses several art papers and acrylic fixitives. The photograph was placed on top of the collage and the entire card was sealed with a glossy acrylic medium.

Black sands

Not for sale
I'm happy with this painting. It's one of the first I'm really very happy with. The subject makes me happy and I'm also happy with how it came out.

What doesn't thrill me is my problems photographing the artwork. That is a work in progress....

6 " x 6" acrylic on masonite

A detail close up of the clouds












... and shore line....

I've been looking a lot at the daily painting sites. I think I may have to start listing in order to continue my own daily painting obsession. Perhaps the paintings aren't ready but I can always go back to selling photography and ACEO's

Finding joy...

I see too many people lacking a real sense of playfulness. They walk around with half-full glasses and sad faces waiting for something big to happen to make them feel happy. They have it backwards.











Happy is in the small things that give you joy everyday. The little things that make you smile...The sweet and charming things...The funny things... Tender things... The things you look at and smile.













I'm always looking for little things - fun things that will make my day a bit happier. I found out about cell phone charms a few years ago. They cost very little and something about seeing a bunch of them twirling from my phone makes me happy. I bought some yesterday from my favorite place to get them - Strapya. It's a gift, you know? To find something that makes you happy for a few dollars.

Strapya Goodies Found Here

Joy!

Look for your joy in the glass being half full... Its the simple things in life that you can count on to always be there.

The fun things are all over to be found... The things that only cost a few dollars... the things that your 'too old' for... Find the joy in life like a child would - with sparkle and abandon.