Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Inkdigo ~ Project One for the New Semester

Inkdigo by Julia M. DJune


Inkdigo by Julia M. D'June

My next watercolor goal is to take Advanced Watercolor, however this course is only offered in the spring semester. I decided that I would take Beginning Watercolor again this fall semester, to stay practiced and actively engaged in a creative pursuit.  

Project one (I did not count the eggs & lines this time) is the indigo assignment, and the parameters included the use of only indigo paint, and the gradient is to be light to dark with no light next to light or dark next to dark of the same gray scale. 

Last fall semester's Dragon Flyer.

Ready. Set. Go. On to the next assignment, reflections and the use of masking to achieve clean lines. 


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Tuesday, September 22, 2020

When You Find a Good Read Worth Sharing

 

Life is filled with discoveries and more times than not when one person finds something worth sharing then the net has been cast and the universal gift of sharing begins.

While reading a few of the other blogs I follow I came across this gem published in The Guardian - Oliver Burkeman's last column: the eight secrets to a (fairly) fulfilled life

The below excerpt is the one that resonated the most with me today...

"The future will never provide the reassurance you seek from it. As the ancient Greek and Roman Stoics understood, much of our suffering arises from attempting to control what is not in our control. And the main thing we try but fail to control – the seasoned worriers among us, anyway – is the future. We want to know, from our vantage point in the present, that things will be OK later on. But we never can. (This is why it’s wrong to say we live in especially uncertain times. The future is always uncertain; it’s just that we’re currently very aware of it.)

It’s freeing to grasp that no amount of fretting will ever alter this truth. It’s still useful to make plans. But do that with the awareness that a plan is only ever a present-moment statement of intent, not a lasso thrown around the future to bring it under control. The spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti said his secret was simple: “I don’t mind what happens.” That needn’t mean not trying to make life better, for yourself or others. It just means not living each day anxiously braced to see if things work out as you hoped."

The article is well worth the time you will spend reading. Have an excellent day my friends, and continued good health to you and yours.

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Thursday, September 17, 2020

Frayed at the Edges

 


Frayed at the edges seems to be the thought that rolls through my heart as I gaze out the window and see that the leaves have turned yellow seemingly overnight. All of a sudden the summer has been spent and here we are, sitting, working, watching. And wondering.

Wondering where in the world did summer go? What did we do with our time?

This past summer seems like an early morning dream, you know the ones where you are fast asleep enjoying the sweetness of slumber and a peaceful dream, only to wake, take a breath of morning air and the dream vanishes with your exhale.

Now that I have exhaled, and summers pleasant memories seem to be an apparition, I will take a deep breath of the crisp fall air, and just be present.

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