“Around us, life bursts with miracles–a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere. Each human being is a multiplicity of miracles. Eyes that see thousands of colors, shapes, and forms; ears that hear a bee flying or a thunderclap; a brain that ponders a speck of dust as easily as the entire cosmos; a heart that beats in rhythm with the heartbeat of all beings…
When we are tired and feel discouraged by life’s daily struggles, we may not notice these miracles, but they are always there.”
— Thich Nhat Hahn
“In our daily life we are seldom free from our feelings, emotions, wrong perceptions, and mental formations. We’re like a leaf floating on the ocean, with the waves pushing us back and forth. We don’t have sovereignty over the situation; we allow ourselves to be pulled away by our feelings and perceptions.”
“For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.”
This is a detail of something I am working on for a friend. Sorry, I am not able to share the actual piece without permission. It is out of my usual style. He wants something that is more impressionistic. Impressionists wanted to record the actual impression the world makes on us.
I am a detail oriented kind of gal. It is difficult not to quit in the middle. Creating art in the style of someone else is a good exercise – you’ll discover that some of it may fit but others may not. You may love the colors you chose but dislike the process. Or love the medium but dislike the subject. None of these things ever need to be definitive. It’s hard not to take it personal.