Prince Rogers Nelson's entire 1999 CNN interview (La...

Well, at the risk of scaring people away from me, I will risk it.  This day and age, news becomes old news very quickly.  But I seem incapable of expressing how much Prince, his music, his life...and now death...has affected me.  I understand that people start getting tired of hearing about the same thing, but since it's my blog, and even if I end up being the only reader, I want to still share that which inspires me and which I hope might inspire you.

Small clips of this interview were played last Thursday, 4/21/16, on CNN, but the full interview is so worth watching.  Only 36 minutes with no commercials, I hope you will gather strength for your own journey from it.

I love when he's says:

• "I don't worry about too much" and
• how he looked at Stevie Wonder as inspiration for "Stevie's connection to the spirit" and
• how he says he doesn't look back and by not doing so, he says he thinks it helps keep you young, and
• when he talks about his love of living in Spain where people just chill and "regroup and think about life" and how we need to do that in the U.S.

Creativity abounds in quiet moments, that's no joke. (my words not his)

Full Speech: Jim Carrey's Commencement Address at the 2014 MUM Graduatio...

I rediscovered this video, having first seen it about a year ago. It couldn't have come at a more opportune time.

Jim tells the story of his dad working at a job he hated--a job he eventually lost.  The "playing it safe route" had no guarantee, Jim decided, so he might as well do something he loved. "You can fail at what you don't want so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love." --Jim Carrey.

He follows "The Church of Freedom From Concern.

I've been going through some doubts recently. Am I on the right path? Where is my audience? How can I be true to myself, sometimes making darker pieces that don't seem to be commercial, but which I feel compelled to make? How do you watch others gallop ahead, discover the things you knew first, years ago? When you say, I knew that, I did that, you then appear disingenuous? I promise you, I don't think of these things all the time, but I would be lying if I said sometimes those feelings aren't triggered.

And then I happen to see this video again and Jim says, "Your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world." "Relax, and dream up a good life." And it reaffirms that I am on the right path, my path. I want it sped up, of course. I want some sign that I'm supposed to take this fork and not that fork in the road, but I guess I just have to continue to "Put One Foot in Front of the Other" as the Winter Warlock sings in "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town." (I've posted that clip before in the last few years, just have to every once in awhile remind myself!)

Back to Jim Carrey and more of my favorite quotes of his:

"...Letting the universe know what you want and working toward it while letting go of how it comes to pass. Your job is not to figure out the how (this totally sounds like "The Secret") it's going to happen for you, but to open the door in your head and when the door opens in real life, just walk through it. And don't worry if you miss your cue, there's always doors opening."

"I am just making a conscious choice to perceive challenges as something beneficial so I can deal with them in the most productive way."

Really, listen for yourself. I think I'm going to every day for awhile!

Day 5 of 30 - T.S. Eliot

This painting is for Monday, January 5th.  I have another painting project I'm working on tomorrow so I'm putting this one out a day early.  Besides that, I really am obligated to do so, because as the Flavorwire website declared, today marks the anniversary of his death.

In addition, today also brings the U.S. arrival of the new season of Downton Abbey, and I can feel everyone's anticipation, most of all, my über-Anglophile mother's!  She had already admonished me, "Don't call after 8 p.m., in fact, don't call at all; I'll be watching the reruns leading up to the new show."  Well, in case you are unfamiliar, T.S. was American-born, but moved to England when he was 25 and became a naturalized British citizen at 39, so I figure this continental transfer of talent should be honored as well.

Look at that Flavorwire article if you have the chance.  It's called, "20 T.S. Eliot Quotes for Better Living and Creative Inspiration," by Alison Nastasi.  Here are a few of my favorites:

“The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.”

“Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity.”

“Poetry may make us from time to time a little more aware of the deeper, unnamed feelings which form the substratum of our being, to which we rarely penetrate; for our lives are mostly a constant evasion of ourselves.”

(I think you can exchange the word "art" or "literature" for "Poetry" as well.  That's the true value and beauty of the arts--you know, the stuff that society and undergrads say is pointless and unnecessary in succeeding in life...SOB!)

Below is my younger (circa mid-life) version, of the great poet.

9 1/2" x 12"

Cardboard, acrylic, ink, charcoal, oil pastel

Hmm.  This portrait is staring at me now.  I feel like he is peering into me, making me realize his import of literary contribution.

Back towards the beginning of this blog on 1/9/13, I did a little painting in honor of T.S. Eliot's famous poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."  Here's the painting below, referencing the line, "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons."  Click here, if you want to read that post--I must have been feeling very philosophical that day. (-;  Come to think of it, this post is fairly long, too.  T.S. Eliot must cause me to wax poetic   (-;.

One final thing, I was also listening to the smooth grooves of India Arie.  I love her singing so much. Check out this YouTube link to get lost in her voice: India Arie.

Day 31. Inspiration - Fleeting - Part 3

Finally, I can't tell you the number of times I've thought, I don't need to write that down.  I'll never forget that idea or those words or what this sketch means.

Not long ago I went to sleep thinking about some brilliant idea. Well, it really didn't seem brilliant, but it was a good idea for a painting.  I briefly thought about getting up and writing it down, but I was sooooooo tired.  I went to sleep and fleshed the idea out more fully in my dreams.  About 2 a.m., I woke up, and I had a nudging, this one more insistent than the first that said, "get up and write it down."  But the idea was so easy to remember--I tested myself, do I still remember it?  Yes, I totally do!  It's so easy, so simple, no way I could forget it.  I slept fitfully, because I kept waking up, assuring myself of my sufficient memory recall, and falling back to sleep.

Well, you can see where this is going more clearly than the fate of two frisky teenagers in an abandoned woods in a "Friday 13th" sequel.  I woke up in the morning, and I thought, what was it?  I couldn't remember AT ALL.  Nothing.  Later, while taking a bath, often the place where warm water and mindless thinking bring forth a light bulb moment, I almost, almost grasped a detail.  It was right within my reach....what....was....it?  And then, it was gone.  Floating off into a sadly beautiful, amorphous, shimmery cloud with all the other inspirational thoughts I had let slip away with passing time and lack of a notepad.

Day 30. Inspiration - Flying - Part 2 $25

Sometimes inspiration comes from hearing and seeing it whizzing by me.  Why, sometimes so many ideas are flying around, it's like a heavy blinking of lightning bugs on a summer night.

My friends no longer even bat an eye when during conversations, some idea hits me from what we are discussing, and I furious grab any nearby piece of paper to write it down.  I've filled up hundreds of post-it notes and numerous little notebooks with quirky sayings and quick sketches.  My biggest problem is finding them later--or worse yet--having them, but having no clue what they mean!  Finally, peeps, I work at a college.  You'd be amazed at what I overhear.  It's all good for artistic inspiration, though!

Day 29. Inspiration - Bubbling - Part 1 SOLD

Sometimes inspiration comes bubbling out like when you used to get a black cow or a purple cow (root beer or grape soda, respectively, combined with ice cream).  You'd get to the very bottom and start blowing into your straw and create an avalanche of beautiful bubbles that would always get you in trouble if your mom was around.  Sometimes (I want to say in Spanish, "A veces") there's so many ideas inside of me, I can't get them down fast enough.

Day 5."The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" SOLD

A few days ago, I watched an incredible documentary. It was Lucy Walker's, "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" about the 9.0 tsunami that hit Japan on 3/11/11.  Walker was preparing to make a film about Japan's ephemeral cherry blossom season, but ended up making something completely different after the devasting natural disaster killed thousands of people.

One month after the waves hit, the appearance of the beloved blossoms, beautiful and enduring amidst a land ragged with ruin and destruction, gave the Japanese hope to survive.  Here are some of the film's touching quotes:

"It's beautiful, because the life of the flowers is short.  Even when the flowers fall, we love it.  That's the heart of a Japanese person."

"Flowers dying is not a sad thing."

"If you give up, it's all over."

"The plants are hanging in there, so we humans had better do it, too."

I remember one man saying you can see your feelings reflected in the cherry blossoms.  If you are melancholy, they will appear melancholy; if you are happy, they will appear happy.  The cherry blossoms are like the way we view life then, no? The documentary was only about 45 minutes long, but it was heart-wrenchingly filled with beauty, emotion, and inspirational Japanese culture.

As I watched the film, I remembered looking at hundreds of pictures on the internet when the tsunami had occurred, and at one frame in particular.  It was of two women searching through heaps of debris where their houses had once stood.  Finally, one found a yellow teacup that was still intact and held it up high above her head with a huge smile on her face.  You would have thought she had found a chunk of gold.  To her, this small memory of normal life, whole and unharmed, gave her this immense joy.  How precious are small things to the heart--how important are the cherry blossoms to the stricken soul.