10.04.06

Inspiration and Feet. (???)

Posted in Inspired, Works In Progress at 1:22 pm by April

Okay, so I couldn’t think of a good title… 

It’s been months since I’ve felt this excited and inspired, and I have no idea whatsoever where it came from. I literally just realized out of nowhere that I really wanted to paint. All of a sudden I have a ton of creative energy. Nice. Just in time, too. I have a ton of things to get done this month. I’m not going to question it too much, though… might screw it up.

Okay… I get a daily email horoscope just for fun and I just checked my email and this is what it said:

“Now is the time to start making your dreams come true. When action-oriented Mars is trine (exactly 120 degrees) with imaginative Neptune, like it is during this period, it is a strong positive influence that can feel like a booster shot of energy.

Timing is everything. If you have ideas, thoughts, visions or dreams you’ve only fantasized about, now is an excellent time to turn those mental images into a down-to-earth plan of action.”

Weird.

Coincidence? Probably. But you’ve got to admit that it’s a little crazy that I was just thinking that and then I read the email…

Anyway, yesterday I started this painting, another completely off the wall thing, but I’m really feeling it for some reason. I’ve been doing practically nothing but abstract lately, and I just wanted to paint something. Maybe subconsciously I’m telling myself to take a break! Ha! Not today. Well, it isn’t finished, and it certainly doesn’t hang with anything else I’ve done, but what the hell.

 

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07.26.06

A Lesson in the Leaves

Posted in Inspired at 7:25 am by April

Last night I was a little cold (no big surprise for me, I’m always cold), so I stepped out on the balcony to get some fresh air and warm up for a minute. It was perfect outside: warm with a nice cool wind. And it was quiet. Not a peep. I couldn’t hear the traffic. I didn’t hear any neighbors being obnoxious. No sirens. Even the noisy neighbors upstairs were silent. It was nice. I decided to stay outside for little while and enjoy the evening.

As I sat, I watched a little tree just in front of the balcony whip around in the wind. It wasn’t that windy, but since it’s not a very big tree, it doesn’t take much to move it. I sat for probably ten minutes watching this tree bend ninety degrees in wind, its leaves flipping uncontrollably. It suddenly became amazing to me that those little leaves, attached by such tiny little seemingly fragile stems, can hang on for dear life during the most destructive of storms. They get pulled, twisted, bent, and generally beat all to hell, but the next day, there they are. Soaking up the sunshine.

Pretty incredible, actually. Leaves aren’t strong. You can walk right up to one and rip it in half. So, how can they weather the storm? They’re flexible. When the wind blows, the leaves never try to stand rigid and fight, they simply move with it. They twist and bend and flip, and although it looks like they’re flying out of control, they hang in there. They never let go. The wind always moves on.

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