Crocus

Crocus. A 6"x4" postcard watercolour and ink painting. This is the third picture in a series of flower pictures for my Spring 2006 collection.

When you have come to the edge of all the light you have And step into the darkness of the unknown Believe that one of the two will happen to you Either you'll find something solid to stand on Or you'll be taught how to fly!"
-- Richard Bach

Happiness is a journey

for a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin -- real life. but there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be serve, a debt to be paid. at last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. this perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. happiness is the way. so treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one. happiness is a journey, not a destination.... --souza

Compassion

Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too. -- Frederick Buechner

Persistence

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. --Calvin Coolidge

Spring Bells

Spring Bells. A 6"x4" postcard watercolour and ink painting. This is the second picture in a series of flower pictures for my Spring 2006 collection. Buy it now for $20 USD.

Pretty in Pink

Pretty in Pink. A 6"x4" postcard watercolour and ink painting. This is the first of a series of flower pictures for my Spring 2006 collection. Buy it now for $20 USD.

All Beginnings

All beginnings are somewhat strange; but we must have patience, and, little by little, we shall find things, which at first were obscure, becoming clear. -- Vincent De Paul (1580 - 1660), French missionary

Creativity

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
-- Scott Adams

Alive

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you. -- David Whyte

I Unpetalled You

I unpetalled you, like a rose to see your soul, and I didn't see it. But everything around -- horizons of lands and of seas --, everything, out to the infinite, was filled with a fragrance, enormous and alive. -- Juan Ramon Jimenez, translated by Stephen Mitchell

Beauty

As I sit here looking out my window At the rain falling down At the simplicity of life And the things we hold dear I think of missed opportunites All of my mistakes All the unrepented sins And all the people I've lost The rain says so many things That some people cannot see They dull it out through the years And close their eyes to the beauty
--Matthew D.Ward

A Smile of Love

There is a smile of love,
And there is a smile of deceit,
And there is a smile of smiles
In which these two smiles meet;
And there is a frown of hate,
And there is a frown of disdain,
And there is a frown of frowns
Which you strive to forget in vain,
For it sticks in the heart's deep core,
And it sticks in the deep back bone,
And no smile that ever was smil'd,
But only one smile alone
That betwixt the cradle and grave
It only once smil'd can be,
But when it once is smil'd,
There's an end to all misery.
-- William Blake

What we don't let out traps us

What we don't let out traps us. We think, No one else feels this way, I must be crazy. So we don't say anything. And we become enveloped by a deep loneliness, not knowing where our feelings come from or what to do with them. Why do I feel this way? Last week, I was on top of the world and now my feelings don't make sense. Voicing it, getting it out and letting other people hear it, helps to dissipate it. The fears and self-criticisms begin to leak. And we begin to heal. In the same way, if we feel deeply about something and voice it, then we're made whole by standing up for ourselves and what we believe. -- Sabrina Ward Harrison

True to Yourself

Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible, but the mark of a fake messiah. -- Richard Bach

The Simplest Question

The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change. -- Richard Bach

to be nobody but yourself

to be nobody-but-myself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make me everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting -- ee cummings

To live in the present

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.
-- Buddha

Hope

Never deprive someone of hope - it may be all they have.
-- Unknown.

When all seems lost...

When all seems lost
And the world is against you
Don't look in despair
At what you haven't done.
When your life seems like
A never ending struggle Don't give up hope
On what you have yet accomplished.
But instead look into yourself with
Pride of what you have accomplished.
All hope isn't lost.

-- 1996

Humility

Humility is our connection with our own fundamental Being, which has certain qualities:
Acceptance of what is, rather than complaints of 'poor me' or 'why me?'
Openness, rather than preoccupation with 'me'
Gratefulness, rather than resentment for what has happened to 'me'
Generosity, rather than possessiveness
Modesty, rather than the self-importance of 'me'
Forgiveness, rather than blame of others of ourselves
Trust, rather than insecurity and doubt.

--Kabir Helminski in 'The Knowing Heart'

A person who risks is free

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out for another is risk involvement. To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas, your dreams, before a crowd Is to risk their loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To hope is to risk despair. To try is to risk failure. But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is To risk nothing. The person who risks nothing dies nothing, Has nothing and is nothing. They say they avoid suffering and sorrow, But they cannot learn, Feel, change, grow, love, feel. Chained by their attitudes, they are slaves. They have forfeited their freedom. Only a person who risks is free. -- Leo F. Buscalia

Beauty

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy. --Anne Frank

The Journey

One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice-- though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. "Mend my life!" each voice cried. But you didn't stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible. It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do-- determined to save the only life you could save.

-- Mary Oliver, "The Journey"