A POETIC NEW YEAR

As Christmas slides away I begin to ponder the coming new year. Hard to believe it will be 2016 in just a few days. Just the start of a new year and a fresh new sequence of 365 days ahead can prompt a string of creative ideas that I know I can barely keep up with. Despite being retired it seems I am extremely busy.

I look forward to the coming year because of my retirement and because Christmas was rather depressing as none of our family was around to enjoy. So we look forward to a couple of trips to see family in the coming year. We also look forward to time for creating art. Yesterday I played around with this art journal page.

artists create from emotional truth

Using gelatos for the background and decorative napkins for the flowers as well as a Donna Downey stencil I played around with a color scheme I've always liked.

I like the saying--artists create from emotional truth--because it seems that when I am creating art I am expressing my creative truth. I am most "me" when writing poetry or playing in my art journal and this year I hope to focus more on trying to combine those two creative avenues. I want to add more of my on poems to my art and develop a particular artistic style that is unique to me and recognizable as my work.

I've signed up for a few online art classes and some poetry classes. I also need to create art for the poems I have and start submitting my manuscript. 

I am very excited about the coming year, the freedom from a full time job and a chance to direct my creative ambitions in a more focused way.

I hope you all have a creative and inspiring 2016!

PEACE ON EARTH

In this holiday season I see a lot of dichotomous images and sounds. Shoppers scurrying from store to store lugging tote bags laden with festive gifts. Store windows are festooned with bright lights and tinsel. Children are singing carols and making lists; checking them twice. There is an atmosphere of joy and gaiety in the air. And yet . . .

It's hard to feel gay what with all the death and destruction spreading throughout the world. Mass shootings, homeless men and women hunkered against buildings along New York City streets while those around them, dressed in the latest haute couture, race from Broadway theatre to exclusive restaurants to dine, while others go hungry. 

I'm not meaning to bring everyone down, I'm simply saying let's make the most of this season. Share what you have and be grateful for the little things. It doesn't matter how well you eat-but that you eat. You don't need a mansion--just a roof over your head and some heat. You don't need designer clothes--just something warm and some shoes for your feet. And let's never forget those who don't even have that and perhaps share a little from your own overflowing bags.

Yes, let's be joyous and merry. But let's not forget. 

And so my wish for everyone this season, and always, is peace on earth and that you all have family around you and good health. 

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

SING YOUR OWN SONG

The mocking bird is a very aggressive and territorial bird. He protects his nest from other birds and from people and is vigilant--or vigilante--when there are eggs in the nest or when he is teaching his young to fly.

Around 3:00 am in the summer months when the bedroom windows are opened I can hear him singing. You can pick out his repertoire of bird calls, usually in the same order each time he puffs up his feathered chest and begins to sing.

But the mocking bird is a thief as well as an aggressive protector. He doesn't have a song of his own, but mimicks the songs of other birds producing a melody copied from robins, blue jays, sparrows and wrens.

I say don't be a mocking bird. You need to create your own song and sing it as loudly as you can. Don't follow the crowd, or the fads, or most popular social group. Don't do what others do. Create your own song and your own destiny. Create your own life. 

Be you!!! Do what you love!!! Love who you are!!!