10 THINGS ARTISTS SHOULD BE THANKFUL FOR

Work in progress by Ross Laurie. Visit a very interesting Tumblr blog here.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Sylvia White shares her list of the 10 things artists should be thankful for. I have pinned the list on my noticeboard!

Box of Pencils by photographer and stylist, Heather Bullard. See Heather's blog here.

1. I am thankful that I am not one of the majority of people in this world that
wakes up every morning, goes to a job they hate, just to come home and do it all
over again.

2. I am thankful that when I am away from my studio, my ideas come with me, they
keep me company everywhere I go.

3. I am thankful for this passion that gives me so much joy (and angst) but mostly
joy.

4. I am thankful that when I have left this earth, I will leave something meaningful
behind.

5. I am thankful that I have a mind that can not sleep, I will never be bored.

6. I am thankful that there is a part of my life that nobody can control, except
me.

7. I am thankful that no one in the world can ever take this gift from me.

8. I am thankful that I am brave, it takes courage to pursue my gift.

9. I am thankful that I am never satisfied, it forces me to move forward and grow.

10. I am thankful I discovered this list!


Paint brushes on browndresswithwhitedots Tumblr Blog, here.

Hats off to those artists who have to juggle their day jobs with their art .

Studio of Jimmy Rix. See Jimmy's work here.

Read articles by Sylvia White, the founder and director of Contemporary Artists' Services, here.

JOURNALS AND INSPIRING QUOTATIONS

Artist Book by Margo Klass. Click here to see Margo's website

I've been collecting inspiring quotations since my school days, often scribbling them down on scraps of paper and later writing them out neatly into my quote journal. There's something very empowering about the words of others especially when they mirror one's own thoughts. So often I just can't put into words what I am feeling and when I find a quotation that expresses these thoughts clearly, it's very satisfying.

Leatherbound journals by Teo Studio. See Teo's Etsy shop here.

Journal by Teo Studio. See Etsy Shop here.

Emerson began writing a journal at about 15 and in it he wrote his thoughts, experiences and quotes from the books that impressed him.

"Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
__ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Another journal by Teo Studio. See Teo's blog here.

I have found beautiful handmade journals and artist books on the web, all of which would make wonderful quote "bibles".

Miniature Journal by Teo Studio

If you feel like sharing your favourite quotes I would love to read them.

Leather notebooks and journals by Scaramanga. See more here.

One of my many favourite quotes is by Nigerian writer, Ben Okri ......

"We plan our lives according to a dream that came to us in our childhood, and we find that life alters our plans. And yet, at the end, from a rare height, we also see that our dream was our fate. It's just that providence had other ideas as to how we would get there. Destiny plans a different route, or turns the dream around, as if it were a riddle, and fulfills the dream in ways we couldn't have expected."

Journal by Bridgette Guerzon Mills. See more at amonobooks here.

Journals by Bridgette Guerzon Mills at amanobooks.


Journal by Luthien Thye. See more at Luthien's blog, here.

Artist book by Kathleen Amt. See Kathleen's Flickr photo stream here.

Embroidered Notebooks by Heather Shaw. See Heather's Etsy Shop here.

Journals by Elizabeth Bunsen. See blog here and shop here.

HOLES AND PERFORATIONS IN ART

Voodoo Me by Anne Lindblom. See Anne's Flickr photo stream here.

Holes ...... punched and pierced,

Mixed media piece by Karl Fred Dharmen.

perforated and burned ...... as surface decoration .....

Artist Book by Robbin Ami Silverberg. See Robbin's website here.

as recesses to put things in ....

Little Treasures. Mixed media piece by Catharina Sonn Kaaren. See Catharina's Flickr photo stream here.

Holes that are drilled, hammered and carved......

Dreamers Book by Anthony Caro

or molded meticulously by hand ...

Astonishing sculpture by Eva Hild. Have a look at Eva's website here.

to let the light in or out......

Sculpture by Noguchi

Pigeon holes... cubby holes ......

Secrets by Stephanie Craig. See Stephanie's Flickr photo stream here.

Air holes .......

Norie Hatakeyama. Photo taken by Tim Johnson. See Tim's Flickr photo stream here.

And holes to look through.

Sculpture by Henry Moore . Photo by Barbara Rich. See Barbara's Flickr photo stream here.

HAPPINESS IS .............

Bouquets of old spoons from the scrap yard,

Containers filled with pencils...

I LOVE pencils!

Art books... particularly African Art books,



Piles of sketchbooks filled with ideas,

Monkeys that peep .....

Sundays on the The Midlands Meander (an art route through KwaZulu Natal) .....

Browsing through country shops,

Being amazed by creatures made from wire and beads,

Stopping somewhere for tea .... lunch ..... and tea again

Beautiful scenery.... snow ..... fresh air in rural Natal

Happiness is spending time with my family (yep, that's my brother in the top right corner above ...... Lets see if he reads my blog :-)

All photos are mine except for The Dlaminis above from Zulu-Lulu Trading on the Midlands Meander.

SO MUCH HAPPINESS by Naomi Shihab Nye

It is difficult to know what to do

with so

much happiness.

With sadness there is something

to rub

against,

A wound to tend with lotion and cloth.

When the world falls in around you,

you

have pieces to pick up,

Something to hold in your hands,

like

ticket stubs or change.

But happiness floats.

It doesn't need you to hold it down.

It doesn't need anything.

Happiness lands on the roof

of the next

house,

singing,

And disappears when it wants to.

You are happy either way.

Even the fact that you once lived

in a

peaceful

tree

house

And now live over a quarry of noise

and

dust

Cannot make you unhappy.

Everything has a life of its own,

It too could wake up filled with possibilities

Of coffee cake and ripe peaches,

And love even the floor

which needs to

be swept,

The soiled linens and scratched records…..

Since there is no place large enough

To contain so much happiness,

You shrug, you raise your hands,

and it

flows out of

you

Into everything you touch.

You are not

responsible.

You take no credit,

as the night sky

takes no credit

For the moon, but continues to hold it,

and to share it,

And in that way, be known.

- Naomi Shihab Nye

SELF EXCAVATION ..... AND DIGBY

Somewhere along the line I gave up reading books ..... hand held books, that is .... and I allowed that gap of time to be taken up with reading on the internet. Now with all the power failures we are experiencing I am spending less time on the computer and more time finishing the half-read books on my bedside table. I'm also renewing my love for poetry...... Reading a poem here and there in the lamp light before falling asleep.

When Digby arrived he brought with him a little gift the breeders failed to mention. Besides the hernia and tummy upsets he had a ringworm infestation that had to be nipped in the bud before it got out of control.

Thus began the daily treatment baths and re-baths, washing and drying of doggy bedding, extra scrubbing of everything that could be scrubbed (with a little help from Digby) and extra hoovering and lifting of heavy things.

I bet you know where this is going! Of course I put my back out ...... and had no option but to slow down and read books that would soothe my feelings of overwhelm.

With the reading of inspiring books has come a phase of self excavation. These phases come in waves throughout my life and each time I excavate a little more. The excavation theme has overflowed into my carvings .... something that has surprised me.

I've since come to the conclusion that annoying happenings like power failures, water cuts and ringworms are not simply lessons in patience but they can also be positive catalysts for renewal and change .

Sighhhh ..... Well I have to think that or get completely bogged down with bitter feelings toward shady dog breeders and inefficient service providers ;-)

"There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic" - Anais Nin

WATER THERAPY

Rain. Fiberglass sculpture by Nazar Bilyk. See more of Nazar's work here.

I love to be near water though I rarely swim. I would much rather walk in the shallows, soothed by the wavelets lapping at my ankles .....

Robert Rauschenberg. I found this image on Tumblr.

... or paddle knee deep in rock pools searching for pebbles and cowries that have been trapped there on the out going tide.

Jen Bradford. See more details of her work on Flickr, here.

I can't resist mountain streams whether I'm wading in them or sitting on a rock staring into the water.

Baleen by Andrew Wyeth. There are many more images here.

There is a stream on the other side of our garden wall and though I can't see it unless I'm at the wall peering over I can always hear it. It is the music I listen to while I carve or when I'm falling asleep at night.

Detail from The River Map Scrolls by Lorna Crane. I love this piece! Read blog post about The River Map Scrolls here.

Water from the River by Lorna Crane. See Lorna's website here.


WATER by Pablo Neruda
Everything on the earth bristled, the bramble

pricked and the green thread
nibbled away, the petal fell, falling
until the only flower was the falling itself.
Water is another matter,
has no direction but its own bright grace,
runs through all imaginable colors,
takes limpid lessons
from stone,
and in those functionings plays out
the unrealized ambitions of the foam.

Water Overflowing by Linda Nardelli. This piece takes me straight to the beach shallows. See Linda's website here.

Oh if only ! Water Swing (in Dalyan, Turkey) by Emma Holland. Flickr photo stream here.

Shallows by Hanna Kay. See more of Hanna's work here.

Tryptic by Stuart King.

Beach Walk by Cindy Tonkin. Acrylic and collage. See more of Cindy's work here.

Kathryn Frund at the Chase Gallery. See more of Kathryn's work here.

Corroboration by Anthony J. White. Oil on Linen. See website here.