tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69156377444533107482024-03-13T08:56:21.014-04:00Heart Speaks to HeartUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-84781875407191437652024-02-14T11:53:00.007-05:002024-02-14T11:53:00.130-05:00Ash Wednesday
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Originally posted March 1, 2017, on Peace and Pekoe
Today is Ash Wednesday. In a little while, I will go to Mass and
receive ashes on my forehead, a reminder of mortality and my own
weakness.
It occurs to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-26047272232875129532024-02-13T11:44:00.011-05:002024-02-13T11:44:00.285-05:00Fat Tuesday and the Good of Created Things
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( This post was originally published on Peace and Pekoe on February 28, 2017)
It says something interesting about Catholic culture that Pancake
Tuesday and Shrove Tuesday sit comfortably alongside each otherUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-8173153195860360662023-05-19T23:34:00.001-04:002023-05-19T23:34:20.832-04:00Pretty happy with this. Going to leave it be and look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow!
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-43028083519725405392023-05-19T17:33:00.001-04:002023-05-19T17:33:58.736-04:00Layering in some colour and more light values.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-52269472012277581652023-05-19T15:34:00.001-04:002023-05-19T15:34:39.704-04:00
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-62524242985985927822023-05-17T16:33:00.001-04:002023-05-17T16:33:33.704-04:00I decided to turn it into a painting. Putting in a first layer of colour.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-64205669426202416492023-05-16T21:34:00.001-04:002023-05-16T21:34:21.626-04:00Working up a sketch from another favourite photo.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-54867852746261816032023-05-05T13:33:00.001-04:002023-05-05T13:33:26.082-04:00Finished and matted!
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-13472348843333452012023-05-04T21:33:00.001-04:002023-05-04T21:33:58.360-04:00I'll see how it looks in natural light tomorrow morning, but I think this is pretty much finished.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-22273895829821555222023-05-03T21:33:00.001-04:002023-05-03T21:33:36.889-04:00My favorite thing about this painting is the simple colour palette. I have four tubes of paint out--and in retrospect, I think I could have skipped using the turquoise on the siding.
So far, I've used only a smidge of white (to match shade while correcting errors), and no black at all. I'd like it to pop a little more, which I think means I need to do more opaque and semi-opaque layers to contrast with the underlying blue...What do you think?
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-52604938560493786272023-05-03T20:33:00.001-04:002023-05-03T20:33:24.619-04:00Adding a carmine glaze.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-83763152844714492112023-05-03T17:33:00.001-04:002023-05-03T17:33:16.028-04:00Glazing in warm tones.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-62243992162571450472023-05-03T11:33:00.001-04:002023-05-03T11:33:35.151-04:00WIP based on another favourite photo.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-2466260540852606412023-03-08T14:33:00.001-05:002023-03-08T14:33:39.977-05:00Gui turns 18 today! My raspberry custard filling escaped its buttercream dam, making the whole rather sloppy, but I think it works overall with the whole "disembodied eyeball" look.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-38182071277664391472023-03-08T11:40:00.001-05:002023-03-08T11:40:00.222-05:00Well Said - Our Fear of Emptiness
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"We are afraid of emptiness. Spinoza speaks about our "horror vacui," our horrendous fear of vacancy. We like to occupy-fill up-every empty time and space. We want to be occupied. And if we are not occupied we easily become preoccupied; that is, we fill the empty spaces before we have even reached them. We fill them with our worries, saying, "But what if ..."&Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-67892822416450301092023-03-01T13:33:00.001-05:002023-03-01T13:33:39.784-05:00"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. "A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. "It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through." -Ira Glass
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-13375258552493725662023-02-28T11:33:00.001-05:002023-02-28T11:33:17.783-05:00My current WIP. I'm working from an old photo print, so I dredged up memories from my single highschool art class 30-odd years ago and set up a transfer grid. I sketched the grid and outlines on cardstock paper in charcoal, sprayed it with a casein-based fixative, then went over it with a base layer of tinted gesso. I've done several paintings now on gessoed cardstock, and while I have no idea how well they'll hold up over time, I'm really appreciating the way this "canvas" is allowing me to play with acrylics while making use of the materials I already own. It also gives me a lot of control over the "tooth" of the surface and lends itself to easy framing.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-52367193754941456682023-02-24T14:20:00.002-05:002023-02-24T14:20:50.515-05:00A Lent of Tiny Thorns
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(Originally posted at The Personalist Project in February 2017)All our life is sown with tiny thorns that produce in our hearts a
thousand involuntary movements of hatred, envy, fear, impatience, a
thousand little fleeting disappointments, a thousand slight worries, a
thousand disturbances that momentarily alter our peace of soul. For
example, a word Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-48182085278228949012023-02-23T15:33:00.001-05:002023-02-23T15:33:16.852-05:00Finished! I'm dubbing this my "small lives" series. All five paintings are matted and packed for the art exchange tomorrow. :-)
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-41801013159555151562023-02-21T16:50:00.001-05:002023-02-21T16:50:47.580-05:00Another "Small Lives" painting
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-33408090715628197462019-04-17T23:06:00.000-04:002019-04-18T14:20:06.792-04:00Particular Hearts, Universal Bones
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He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands.
Until he relearns these things, he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man.&Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-55671303036704006752019-04-15T08:55:00.001-04:002019-04-15T08:55:01.522-04:00Well SaidFrom Henri Nouwen:Just as God cannot be “caught” or “comprehended” in any specific idea, concept, opinion, or conviction, he cannot be defined by any specific feeling or emotion either. God cannot be identified with a good affectionate feeling toward our neighbor, or with a sweet emotion of the heart or with ecstasies, movements of the body, or handling of snakes. God is not just our good Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-66488629801268061562019-03-13T18:10:00.000-04:002019-03-13T19:15:56.934-04:00Cabin Fever TherapyFlu is making its way through our household, disrupting our March Break plans and, after 6 days of being home with sick kids, inspiring heightened levels of when-will-spring-come cabin fever.
Yesterday was a sort of undifferentiated blur of chores, meals, and deep sighs from the most ill child, a sort of "groan[ing] too deep for words."
Today, I had to inform the kids that our planned trip to seeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-62639294170375781892019-03-11T16:15:00.000-04:002019-03-11T16:15:31.241-04:00Seven Quick Takes - Blogging Around
I've been enjoying reading everyone else's blogging so much, I've yet to finish any of the half dozen posts in my drafts folder. So instead, here's a taste of what I've been reading.
1.
One of my favorite news pieces this week. Believe it or not, this headline is not from The Onion.
Man angry his photo was used to show all hipsters look alike--then learns it wasn't him
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915637744453310748.post-5290081789697749932019-03-09T13:44:00.001-05:002019-03-09T13:45:28.375-05:00Well Said: "we are addicted to contempt"From Arthur Brooks, "A Culture of Contempt":"As satisfying as it can feel to hear that your foes are irredeemable, stupid and deviant, remember: When you find yourself hating something, someone is making money or winning elections or getting more famous and powerful. Unless a leader is actually teaching you something you didn’t know or expanding your worldview and moral outlook, you are being Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1