Some playtime.....

Make Time To Play
"If we fail to nourish our souls, they wither, and without soul, life ceases to have meaning.... The creative process shrivels in the absence of continual dialogue with the soul. And creativity is what makes life worth living."-- Marion Woodman

Spent the afternoon playing in Gloria's book. She is on Safari. Also made a sample board for Wellington's and I think I might have the color!!!!
I'm feeling much better.

Oh, what a happy guy! 

Uncle Pat's birthday party

We spent Sunday with family. Susan, Karen and Peter gave a surprize party for Uncle Pat. It was so great to get together with family. They pulled it off as he was surprized and of course Uncle Pat also had to have a turn with a flat person. Uncle Joe had Mai-Liis, Uncle Pat got Deepa.....who will be next???

Uncle Pat with flat Deepa 

Uncle Pat's birthday party 

Deepa in Central Park 

stained glass at the Met 

Some unexpected surprizes

We went into the city to see some exhibits uptown. One was a surrealist exhibit at the National Academy of Design. I had never been there and never even heard of it. It's next to the Guggenhiem which was closed. It was a great exhibit and discovered Charles Rain. I had wanted to go into SoHo, but it was getting late. Instead we went into the Met to the Max Ernst exhibit which went passed all my expectations. He did so much work and his later work is incredible.
But the most bizzare thing happened at Grand Central. There was a craft show there and of course I had to go through to see it.
As I am looking up, I see a sign that is familiar. Hey, I painted that! It was a sign that Joy had asked me to paint..Amy Z . It felt kind of weird seeing it. I looked around for "Amy" and when I finally figured who she was, I told her I had painted the sign for her. Her confused look and shaking her head and saying no I didn't......and I knew Joy had done it again. I stepped up quickly enough to say Yes, Joy was the one who asked me to do it.
Caught in a lie. She said everyone believes Joy has been doing all this work, Signs and other artwork I have been doing and she has been taking credit for.
Not sure how this is going to play out, but I think I need to cut this whole thing loose and let her deal with the mess and the lies she has created. I'm curious to see the chair and if she changed my name on it or the message I wrote underneath it for her kids.

Our vacation plans fell through and of course I look at it with an attitude that it happens for a reason.....not sure what it is exactly. I know I would have been stressed in getting everything together to go and also getting ready for the party Sat. I have a ton of stuff to do and would have found it hard to pack for it. That I know.
Instead I made a list. It turned out to be a long one, but not so complicated....well, some of it isn't. Like going for an oil change, picking up stuff from the store, time consuming stuff....Then there is the ambitious stuff like cleaning the blinds or just throwing them out!

I'm still figuring out what to do in the bar at Welllingtons. I did a sample board and then painted the kitchen sink cabinet with the extra paint. I used the burnt sienna and added some bronze to it. Looks kinda cool. When I went to Linen & Things for shower curtain and hooks, I saw some dishes that I may go back for. The colors go great in the kitchen.
Funny, my horoscope focuses on decorating this month and also watching my mouth. It has come up more than once about watching what I say. Fore warned is fore armed. Now if only I can remember it when i do open my mouth...
Jumping around on websites and blogs... I found this:

by Marianne Williamsonfrom A Return To Love: Reflections onthe Principles of A Course in Miracles
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

There are times when so much comes my way and I feel I won't be able to pull it off. I start out so insecure, but when it goes well, it is like a bolt of energy. A high that feels so good. Success feels great! It's the after effect though.....Like crashing from a sugar high. I have a hard time dealing with that.

Off to work some more on that list......

inside the artdolls 

2 sisters 

inside the dolls...spring flowers! 

2 buddies hanging out 

Art dolls in Art class

We made these dolls from boxes I got from A.I.Friedman's. I love this class. 1st and 2nd graders. The girls are so mellow and really get into their work. I originally set the theme for them to be Spring dolls. I thought they did a great job creating these.

John and his "stoned" friend 

sweet magnolia blossom blooming.. 

close up of totem 

Deepa in the garden 

beautiful blue sky 

Never really saw these before today 

modern totem  

One good thing about Pepsi

It was one of those "10" days. Absolutely beautiful out. We went to Pepsico's Sculpture gardens, taking flat Gloria and flat Deepa. Taking pictures there with these flatpeople made me look at things differently. Actually, I could say I've been looking at a lot of things differently lately. Especially color! Because I was focused on the pink/orange, it seemed that I found it around me all the time. Anyway, I never really saw the totem poles before and the metal "totem"poles, I looked at with new eyes. Some pictures I took with the intention to paint them. I haven't painted on canvas in awhile.

I added words to the bottom. 

Doreen in la la land. Can I stay here please?? 

juggling peace is a balancing act 

my sign in page 

Sr. Maryetta's book 

Color Erratica books

I took some pictures of the pink/orange book and also the pink/green book. Before I put them up on the yahoo site, I want to see how they look. I mailed the green/pink book. The book belongs to Sr. Maryetta and figured I would be a bit inspirational.
I still have the other book. I thought I was mailing it this morning and painting tomorrow, but I had to paint today, so that means it's in the mail on Monday. And that means it could possible be added to....or not. Sometimes, I just need to let it go. Besides, I really need to get the sign for Rye Neck school done.

APRIL 15

So I am thinking this morning....if there really is such a thing as Heaven and Hell, I know what Hell would be like. I would have to spend my time doing taxes!!! My taxes and everyone else's too. I imagined what it would be like if someone said, "ok, your new job is to fill out these tax forms...and DON'T MAKE A MISTAKE!!!!!"
HELL!
Ok, I will be good. (just in case)
April 15, 2005
oh, and my Heaven....to create whenever I wish in a big glorious studio with unlimited supplies

P.S. In my mailbox today from www.thedailyguru.com was this:

Friday 15th Of April 2005 "Only when we can love hell will we find heaven."-- Unknown (mmmmm, so if I love doing my taxes, does that mean I get the studio!!!)
People often view the spiritual path as a search for the light. In truth, spirituality asks us to bring light and darkness together in wholeness. And in fact, this is the only possible solution. In our world of duality, any effort to focus all attention on the light only serves to increase the power of the darkness. Our aim is not to deny or reject anything but to embrace it all.
"When you are able to contain both the light and dark together, that is a very enlightening state. It means that you no longer have to choose one experience over another. You do not have to choose love OR hate, blame OR forgiveness, sadness OR joy, anger OR openheartedness. You are no longer polarized; no particular feeling boxes you in and keeps you from the light of true self. You then have access to the full range of human experiences you came into this life to embrace."-- Martia Nelson

My little epiphany

Last night as I was working on the pink/green book, I had one of those "aha" moments. Self-realization moment! If the book had been mine, I would have pushed it aside.....Later for this.
But it's not and I made a commitment and it needs to go out Friday. I sat staring at it, not sure where I wanted to go with it. Before class, I spread some paint on it for a background and looking at it, I saw a hill. Someone needed to be on the hill. Is she going up, down, sitting? Do I draw her? and what if I screw up and I don't like it. ok, so I would just paint it, but then I wouldn't have what's there now. But my epiphany was really...oh, so this is why I am doing this..so I get used to finishing things.....Completion is an issue with me. I have so many unfinished work laying around. Almost everything here is incomplete. Left.
I start off with such inspiration and then if it's not finished quickly enough, it's left and I am on to other things. I used to blame it on "time", but that's not it. It's more of looking for that perfect thing, a quote, a picture, a color, whatever..... if I only had this perfect ending!!!
So last night I realize I may not have the perfect ending...I just need to finish it as best I can. I have to make a DECISION. YES! Choose. So I sketched some things and came up with something totally different. She's not going to go up the hill, or down the hill or even sit. She's going to fly....She's going to take a leap of faith and fly. Lesson: just keep at it and it'll take care of itself. I just have to stay with it longer and finish. My lesson will be with at least 5 projects each month for almost a year. Maybe by then, it'll become a habit. I could only hope.

John with Barbara Harris of the Toys 

Elvis wooing the crowd 

Ada with flat Gloria 

Regressing

Sat. night we had a 50's and 60's flashback...an event to raise money for Tsunami victims for Unicef. It turned out to be a very successful event. Kudo's to Ada for putting this whole thing together. It was fun dressing and decorating for it. I made some signs and pulled out my peace earrings and hippie beads. I didn't have my flat person yet from the flatself group which was quite disappointing but I did have Gloria from HMMgroup and dressed her as a hippie. I later was pissed off at myself for not putting her in the picture with John and Barbara Harris from the Toys. or Elvis..oh well...I think I am just tired and need a break. I have been working for about three weeks straight.
Today I play in some RR books. It's a beautiful day and I'll go grab a bit of that sun first.

one wall that is finished. Yellow behind is the base color.