Uniquely me

I’ve been a fan of the late Dr Wayne Dyer for decades and, through him, have learned to enjoy the Tao te Ching. I have a few quotes from the Tao on the wall above my desk that I read when I’m feeling stressed or overwhelmed. They help ground and settle me.

We’re currently in lockdown due to COVID-19 and it’s unsettling. I’m going to make an art journal about the whole experience because art is how I process the work but, in the meantime, I’m using my art journals to help me feel balanced and calm in the chaos.

This is one of my favourite lines from the Tao and one of the quotes I have at work. I think it’s important we value our own unique place in the world. As I sometimes say to my staff when customers are being a bit ‘special’ – there’s infinite variety in the human condition!

This page is a lot brighter than this scan shows – we have a new scanner and I’m struggling to get the settings right.

 

Being challenged

I enjoy participating in a couple art challenge groups; they ensure I make art regularly (who am I kidding? I would anyway). This week’s quote is from Lao Tzu, so I ended up doing a second page with one of the quotes from the Tao te Ching that I have on the wall above my desk.

The page with the circles was done with watercolour pencils on a gesso background, acrylic paint through stencils, and detailed with a Posca pen. The challenge included using pencils, and making marks with spots and dots. Challenge accepted 😉

The other page is Distress Paints, then metallic DecoArt paints through stencils, and finally blue Golden acrylic  through a StencilGirl stencil (thanks Lynne W!).

Arting out the feelings

There’s a lot happening at the moment around Tony’s health, and it’s a time of considerable change for us. I’m not posting the details yet, for family reasons. One of the things that helps me rebalance myself and manage the feelings is my art journals. I pour the words out, often unreadable, and it helps me think things through. When things are tough there’s often a theme comes through and that’s the case at the moment. Two themes are strong; the first is change, and the second is the comfort I find in the Tao te Ching (thanks Dr Wayne Dyer).