Birthday Wishes

I only have half an hour until my birthday! No need to mention the number....my kids will all tell you I am older than everything. Despite my advanced age, I'm still having difficulty coming up with this year's birthday wish.

Birthday wishes are serious things...they set the tone for the whole year. After the past couple of years and various stalls, trials and mayhem...I feel the need to take this coming year very serious. Some of the need for seriousness may be due to Hurricane Irene arriving here in New England on my birthday. (The irony being Irene is the name my mother goes by)

Some of it comes from the feeling I have been drifting along the past couple of years and enough is enough. And yet....

I am hoping inspiration comes in my sleep tonight. I don't want to waste this year's wish on the trivial. I want it to have weight and meaning to it...beyond just me. So here is a pre-birthday wish...let me choose wisely.

And to Mackenzie and Hailey...thank you girls for my flowers, my cupcake and Tink ring. And most of all, thank you for being my faerygoddaughters...I love you! And thanks to the Roomie for the sparklies. I needed some new ones.

Knowing when to stop....

Here it is...the first painting I've completed in over two years. And as is so often the case with creating art, there is a lesson to be learned. You have to know when to stop.

I knew this piece needed only one more layer to it. Once it was on though, I started to fiddle with bits here and there. In doing so, I started to undo what I had already accomplished. So for once, I stopped.

Is this piece exactly as I pictured it in my mind? Well, no...there are elements of painting that are somewhat beyond my control. Am I please with what I've made. Yes...and I hope it brings pleasure to the person it is to be gifted. It is not perfect, but it is enough.

As I ponder this, I'm realizing there are many places in my life where I need to know when to stop. Stop trying to get the results I want and accept the gift of what is. Stop trying to be what other people expect...stop doing things because I "should" rather than because I really want to.
Easier said than done in life. Certainly easier than when I was standing at my easel tonight. Now that I have this knowledge though, how can I do anything else?

Work in Progress

One of the reasons I tell my faery godchildren not to make holes in the time/space continuum is because I often fall through them. Hence why it has been 8 months since I last blogged. Or did anything creative really...

I finally realized how very stagnant my life has become. Nothing new, no taking chances, no creativity...nada. I'm not sure if it is a result of the depression or the cause of it...not that it really matters. If I go down that road I'll be even more stuck. With my birthday right around the corner, it is a opportune time to start to shake some things up.

So here I am...blogging again. And painting. The piece picture here is a work in progress. It has taken many days of sketching, blocking parts out and layers of paint. It still needs at least one more session before I leave it to dry for framing. I'm using it as a sign for myself...one step at a time.

But first, time to clean out the old...fitting for the time of year, especially with Mercury retrograde. If anyone needs books or clothes, let me know. Tomorrow I start on the closets.

PS. Let me know what you think of the painting...it is a present for a dear one!