This time of year
demands a monster.
Doesn't it?
Definitely!
Monster provided.
End of story.
Until next time....

Life is Like....

...sorry Forrest, your mamma told you wrong. Life is not like a box of chocolates. Life is more like a box of pastels. Not a nice, pretty, new box either but a mixed, reused-box of broken, blunted colors. There's lots to choose from in that box, there's some truly gorgeous colors under the grey dust of many yesterdays, but you'll have to be able to see past the grime to find the heart-color of every stick. Some of those sticks are dark to the core, but with them, with that very darkness, you can make the lighter and more joyous colors rise above and shine their brightest.

There will come a time when no matter how much you dig through the box, the right color won't be found ready-made for your use... that is when you will have to take a risk. You'll either have to mix your own or change how you think, and just like which sticks of colors you decide to use, it is your choice how to proceed. You can seek advise from those who have painted before, or you can just strike out on your own and learn from your own experience.

Every day you're given that jumbled box of pigments and a piece of paper to explore; whether it's pristine and new, or a page of work left unfinished and incomplete from a previous day. It is of little consequence which you choose, just that you do choose, and do the work. You learn and create with every stroke.

Remember this though, Forrest; to paint and paint well, you are going to have to get your hands dirty. Don't worry, it's just part of the process.

On a small scrap of paper....
Remembering the owls
I've seen this summer.

A Portrait of a Queen

"that memory or dream thing I do
that for me comes nearer reality than
my objective kind of work"
- Georgia O'Keeffe

(click on pencil drawing to see %100)

Monster Musing
(click for larger view)
Monsters have taught me to let go of that which I hold too dear. That which I try to save, only traps me into a well known web. To get beyond attachment is the only freedom. Monsters have taught me there are no choices, only alternatives. Alternatives all lead to the same place, the framework of experience is the only difference.
Monsters have taught me the power of fear. The pain of fear is greater than that which is feared. To run is to be hunted and haunted, to stand and fight is to be respected... to stand and not fight is self control.
Monsters have taught me to see the world with eyes that question everything. Monsters have taught me not to have expectations. Beliefs are not facts, just viewpoints, not truth. Truths are harder to achieve than beliefs. People believe what they want to believe. Monsters have taught me to look and look again, hopefully, unflinching.
What have you learned from monsters?