Harmony Travels with Compassion

Harmony Travels with Compassion

This angel was ready just in time for election day!  How fitting!  I can't count how many times I have said it.  For the longest time it was a joke at the office.  One thing that Rodney King and I have in common, is that I am always wondering "Why can't we all just get along?"  I mean it seems simple enough, I am nice to you, and you are nice to me.  It is something we were taught as children, but seem to forget as we get older.  Play nice, share, take turns...  all the common courtesies that we seem to forget when we get in our cars, and drive to the local Target or Walmart.  "Get the hell out of my way!" "Move your cart bimbo!"  "Do I look like I have all day?" It is something that we loose touch with when we log on to facebook, and someone has a different political view, religious outlook, or personal life style.  We are so self focused that we think we know how other people should live, love, and vote.  We think that because we care about something, then everyone else should, and if they don't, well, they must just be going to hell in a hand basket!  This is where we go wrong.  People are not going to change their point of view just because we tell them they are wrong and we are right.  They are NOT just going to get along.  Yet, that is what we all want...  to get along... I don't know of anyone that WANTS to disagree, or wants to fight.  Yet, we do.   How can we achieve this harmony that we all so desperately want?  That is why this sweet angel has came!  She came to let us know that to achieve harmony, we must have compassion.  We may not agree with the person next door, or they may just plain be rude or unnerving.  This is where we need to look at this person, and see ourselves in this person.  See how we are like this person, and how this person is like us.  We need to remember a time, when perhaps we may have behaved as this person does, or when we would think like this person does.  Envision a situation that may cause us to think like this person thinks, or act like this person acts.  We must have compassion.  


Wikipedia defines compassion as a virtue in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy (for the suffering of others) are regarded as a part of love itself, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism - foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and person-hood.  If only, we would take a moment to see how we are connected before we jumped to conclusions we might just be able to achieve harmony, if only for a little while.  


This angel has peacock feathers, most people think of peacocks as representing pride and virtue, however In Hinduism the Peacock is associated with Lakshmi who is a deity representing benevolence, patience, kindness, compassion and good luck.  It is an emblem of love, compassion, and kind-heartedness.  The goldfish represents many things in the Chinese culture.  It represents, wealth, and it also represents the harmony of family.  In this painting it specifically represents the harmony of our global family.  This angel is called Compassion, and she travels with her pet goldfish Harmony, in order to show us that getting along is possible, if we just have a heart.

A Productive Weekend

This weekend I managed to paint 3 paintings!  One on Saturday when Ana was playing with a friend, and two on Monday (okay, not technically the weekend, but I am between jobs, so, I extended my weekend).  The First painting is a new concept, and the second and third paintings are re-dos of paintings I have already done, but wanted to improve on.

Peace Brings Prosperity

Peace brings Prosperity -  Everyone knows that an owl represents wisdom, but every now and then it represents prosperity.  Every one wishes prosperity for those that they love.  The best way to bring prosperity is to be at peace with who you are, and with what those around you are.   Be at peace, and know that we are all connected, and prosperity will follow.

Grace Grows Gratitude -  My friend Becky, whom I love very much fell in love with the original Grace Grows Gratitude Painting.  I wanted to donate this painting to the Vine Silent Auction, so I repainted this one, and will let Becky pick which one she likes best...  Hmmm...  I am really loving Grace, I may have to paint another one for myself.

Whisper in the Wind II -I simply wanted to do a close up on the original, because the bottles were so small in the original.

Grace Grows Gratitude II

Whistle in the Wind II

Hope brings Healing

Hope Brings Healing

This is another angel that literally appeared on the canvas as I was filling the background.  I was sitting in my dining room listening to Wayne Dyer's "Change Your Thinking - Change Your Life" , when she just literally popped out of my canvas.  "Hope brings Healing" has been a theme that I have wanted to paint for some time, and when this angel came to fruition, I knew that she had to be Hope.  The Apple Blossom is a symbol of hope, so naturally I decided to pair Hope up with her flower.  That flower will one day grow to be an apple, and we all know what they say!  "An Apple a day keeps the doctor away!"  

We all have times of despair.  Whether it be sickness, rejection, or loss of a loved one. In situations like these we always have at least two options.  We can dwell on our misery, thus going into a deeper darker place, or we can hope for a better future, lifting ourselves out of our despair and bringing ourselves to a better place.  Healing our mind and even our bodies, and bringing joy and encouragement to others.

This Angel is Hope, and she has come to bring healing.

Peace be with You

Peace be with You

I am about to give you a little more information about me on a spiritual level, than you probably want to know.  I was raised in a half catholic half evangelical christian home.  Needless to say the direction that I received was quite mixed.  I was told by my mother that I could not pray to anything but God and Jesus, and I would go to my Catholic school praying "Hail Jesus, full of Christ!"  I learned about the Father, the Son, and The Holy Spirit, and I thought that "Peace be with You" was just something you said to greet your fellow worshipers at the church.  When my parents divorced, I spent half of my Sundays kneeling and crossing myself, and half of my Sundays watching people get healed and speaking in tongues (still quite a scary concept to me).  I embraced both sides of this Christian Spectrum as I kept myself safely distant from both sides as well.  Both of my parents were very devout Christians, they just had very different ways of expressing their devotion.  In their own minds they were right, and the other was to put it nicely, a little crazy (sorry Mom and Dad).  I grew up just thinking that surely neither of my wonderful well meaning parents were going to hell.  This painting is entitled "Peace be with You." It is a painting about the Holy Spirit.  Something that I grew up a little scared of and confused about.  On one hand, I thought it was something I had to have in order to get to heaven.  If I were to by accident blaspheme the Holy Spirit, I would for sure go to Hell.  On the other hand, I thought the Holy spirit was God and Jesus rolled into one.  He was my left and right shoulder when I would cross myself in mass.  Absolutely and totally Conflicted.

In my older age, I have been able to reconcile the two.  First of all, I would like to believe that God honors all those that honor him.  Whether they be protestant, catholic, Muslim, or Jew.  I no longer see the Holy Spirit as a ticket to the pearly gates, but my comforter and my guide.  The holy spirit is the one that gives me that feeling of comfort when I am at my lowest.  It is the one that holds me after I have gone through a divorce, or have had a miscarriage.  The holy spirit is the one that tells me to bite my tongue rather than to verbally rip someone apart (I wish he would assist me some more in this area).  The Holy Spirit, to me is not something to fear, but something to hold on to.  It is something that is there for you when no one else can.  The Holy Spirit, to me, is peace.  So when I say "Peace be with You."  I do not intend it as a greeting, but I intend it as a sincere wish that the Holy Spirit will bring you comfort during your storms, and guidance throughout your life.... that all will be well with your soul.

Whistle in the Wind

Whistle in the Wind

For some time now, I have been fascinated by glass.  I have dabbled some in stained glass, and fused glass.  I simply like it.  I especially love the concept of bottle trees.  They just seem poetic to me.  Whenever I see one on a movie, or along side the road on our way to Mississippi, or Cold Water Tennessee, I just start to daydream.  Did they drink all of the contents of those bottles?  Do they love to sit outside and watch the light dance off of the bottles?  What about the sound?  Do the bottles play beautiful clinkity clankity sounds?  Do they whistle in the wind?  Bottle trees just seem peaceful to me.  Sort of like sitting on the back patio on a fall night with a glass of wine listening to the leaves blowing in the wind. Total, absolute peace.  It is said that years and years ago people used to think that the bottles captured evil spirits.  Mainly because of the sound that the bottle would make when the wind blew over the mouth of the bottle. That is why people started hanging bottles on their trees, in order to capture the evil spirits, and keep them away from their homes.  The concept of bottles capturing evil spirits goes even further back to the times when people believed in genies and magic lanterns!  

Fragrant Dreams

Fragrant Dreams

I have always dreamed of having a little girl.  Those who know me well, know that it has been a long and painful road for me.  My husband and I Adopted our daughter in October of 2006.  She was not born from my body, but from my heart. I have no doubt what-so-ever that this was the daughter that God intended for us.  I have know doubts or regrets for any of the stepping stones that led us to our girl.  Only joy for the present, and sweet dreams for a happy and prosporous future for our child.

I Came to Make You Smile

I Came to Make You Smile

One of my besties came to paint with me this week.  When she was younger, she used to collect clowns. So in anticipation of her visit, I decided that I must paint a clown!  Knowing that everyone has those moments that they just don't feel like participating in the daily grind, I decided to make my clown a part of my angel series.  Whenever we feel down and out, we need to call on our inner clown to make ourselves smile, even if we don't feel like it.