Friday, January 06, 2012

Carpe Diem - more thoughts on 'the moment'

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 Following yesterday's post asking you to join me in my goal to live fully in each moment, today's "The Daily Om" presented a timely look at "Thoughts" - 
  Our thoughts are powerful forces in the creation of our experience of life. You may be able to recall a time when frustration that was based on a misunderstanding completely evaporated when your understanding changed. This is because our interpretation defines our experience, and it can change in an instant. Our only true reality is the present moment, so rather than merely accepting that life is happening to us, we can harness the power of our thoughts to actively create a positive reality. For example, we can choose to appreciate beauty around us rather than focusing on traffic or look for admirable qualities in the people we deal with rather than focusing on the negative. By choosing how to interpret and define each moment with your thoughts, you truly create your reality. 

Throughout the day, we can monitor our thoughts to catch ourselves in the middle of investing our energy elsewhere—such as into belief in limitations—and instead pull our focus back to the infinite possibilities of the present. Taking a deep breath will help us center our thoughts on being in our bodies right now. Regular meditation allows us to gain mastery over our minds so that we can still our thoughts to focus on the pureness of being. If we mentally dwell on the past or the future, we may miss the experience of living in the present moment. Setting and visualizing goals is wonderful, but we can bring our thoughts into our current experience by taking steps to create them now. 

Our minds are powerful tools that we can harness to create our reality. Through them we move the unformed energy of the universe into form, which gives us direction for our words and actions. Each thought is like a stone dropped into a lake, sending ripples out into our world to affect all they touch. We can choose our focus and how we invest our energy, which gives us the power to design our lives to be whatever we choose in each and every moment. 
 

"Carpe Diem"
digital collage - 6 x 6 inches
Copyright 2012 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved
Image Credits - from my own photographs, Tumble Fish Studio (wave)
 and Holliewood Studios (fish)



For pure amusement's sake,   here's a selection of photos of the above work in progress.  It began with  a photo I took of the ocean last week (in the middle) during our holiday trip to Victoria, BC





And another capture of it  'in process'






On the opposite side from the original photograph, the 'scene' looked like this -


Gonzales Hill - Victoria, B.C. Canada

Free Library of Congress JPG and PNG to Start 2012 on a Fun Note!

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 Happy New Year!  I'm starting 2012 hell bent on focusing in on fun, sharing, outside of the box thinking and being mindful of the possibility for joy that exists if we stay tuned to the moment!  I hope you'll join me and share your enthusiasm, thoughts and feelings, waking each morning with the chance to perceive the day asking one critically important question:  How Good Can You Stand It?


 FREE DOWNLOAD JPG FILE
To download, double click on the image, then right click SAVE AS

 FREE DOWNLOAD PNG FILE
(same instructions apply as above)


Will you join me?    It's  100% free!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Second Glances - more insomnia

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Second Glance - Digital Illustration 8 x 8 inches
Copyright 2011 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved
Image Credits thanks to Finecrafted Designs,
Art by January, Tumble Fish Studio, Lorie Davison and
Holliewood Studios
 

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

....couldn't sleep

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inSOMNIa - digital collage
Copyright 2011 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved
Image Credits - Holliewood Studios "Birds and The Bees" 
plus other images from the public domain

Monday, December 19, 2011

The pressure is on

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to get this finished before Dec 24.  I am feeling it - even though it is all self-imposed.  I keep trying out different excuses in my mind as I paint, reasons to delay it so I don't have to hurry through.  Being a beginner at painting is really rearing it's ugly head and I haven't any techniques to draw upon apart from some of the You Tube videos I've watched.  If anyone out there has taken an on-line acrylic painting course (preferably portraits as opposed to landscape) I would love to hear from you!  I am also open to any suggestions!
Arrrgggggg....I think I need to take a chill pill.  I swear I've worn out my husband asking him to tell me what's right and wrong.  Damn insecurity.   If I were the type of person to be more gentle on myself, I'd give myself a pat on the back for getting over the dreaded fear of a paint brush that has plagued me for 3 decades.  Oh, I know, everything WILL be OK.  :0) 

Day 13 - work in progress
Study of Richard Phillip's "Scout" - 40x30 inches acrylic on wrapped canvas
Copyright 2011 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved
Progress Snapshots

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Min's Christmas Cut

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Min, Mini and Mindi (just don't call her late for supper) is our 6 year old Yorkshire Terrier. She weighs about 6 pounds - a good size for her breed.  She has never had her hair cut quite so short, so when I see her, it's a double take!  Especially how much bigger her ears look!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Swan Correspondence - digital meanderings

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Swan I - digital illustration
Copyright 2011 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved
Image Credits - Tumble Fish Studio, Holliewood Studios




Swan II digital illustration 
Copyright 2011 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved 
Image Credits: Holliewood Studios and Finecrafted Designs

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

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"Dear God, Please send to me the spirit of Your peace. Then send, dear Lord, the spirit of peace from me to all the world. "                                                                                        - Marianne Williamson



Peace - digital illustration
Copyright 2011 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved
Image Credits - Tumble Fish Studio and Holliewood Studios

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Oh My Gothic 4 x 4 Squares - Month 8

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Working ahead of schedule on one of the collaborative projects I participate in, for January, it was my turn to create something for Leslie. She'd requested among other objects, eyes, vintage, clocks  and maps as some of her favorite images. 

I snapped several macro shots as well as added this new fabric collage to the ones I've completed and sent forward so far.

Thanks for your comments and visit - with two weeks to go before December 25th I'm sure everyone reading has a long list of things to do right now!











4x4 Fabric "Crazy Collage" - for Leslie January 2012
Most images from Tumble Fish Studio and map circles from Tangie Baxter




June to January 4 x 4's

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Work in Progress - Sunlight and Textures

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 Update 2 Day 11 - still working on the face......




Today the sunlight really captured the textures of an acrylic painting  I  have been working on  as a Christmas gift for my daughter Jill.  It is a study of a painting by Robert Phillips called "Scout" (see last photo below).  My daughter saw it on the set of  "Gossip Girls" and asked me if I would paint it for her.

I am about 60% done and am working on it for an hour or so a day, hoping that amount of time will allow me to finish it in time for December 25th.






















 Work in Progress - Study of Richard Phillip's painting "Scout" 
 40 x 30 inches acrylic on wrapped canvas
Copyright TwoDressesStudio 2011
All Rights Reserved




Above are photos of the work-in-progress, from top left down and then up again. Similar to looking at your work in a mirror, it's helpful to see a photograph for me to determine where I'm going wrong...or right.  I'm continually surprised at how the photographs change depending on the time of day, whether or not I've used a flash, sunshine as well as incandescent lighting in the evening shots.


Here's the photograph I am working from (it's also shown above as the last lower photo on the right in the series above as a reference) - 

Original - "Scout" -Richard Phillips


 Photo from the set of Gossip Girls - Original Painting "Scout" by Richard  Phillips