The Bradford Lot!

The Extended Bradford Lot!

So, it has been Easter.  I’ve done very little on the art front since it has been school holidays and I have had my little gremlins to tend to.  It has been a welcome break to not have to rush all the time and it has been a real pleasure to spend time with friends whom we have not seen for a while.  It will probably be the last time we see some of our Yorkshire friends before our move to Derbyshire/Notts, although we still don’t have a date yet, and still don’t know where we are going!  If all goes smoothly it will come into fruition probably within the next month.  Over the holiday period I have been reading Eckhart Tolle again, ‘A New Earth’.  I am also following the classes he put together with Oprah Winfrey on-line.  There is a quote in his book from the philosophical speaker J. Krishnamurti who announced near the end of his life that he had a secret, which he said was “I don’t mind what happens”.  He was talking about out-comes and our attachments to them, and in being attached to specific outcomes we generate ill-feeling in our bodies and in the world at large.  Eckhart brings it to our attention that when we can accept a situation, ill-feeling subsides (on an inner and outer level), and out of that space miracles can happen.  I am following his advice, and I feel a lot better for it.  More peaceful inside throughout a time most people would be expecting stress.  I am remarkably chilled out now actually!!  Ha hahah!  Even though the kids are running riot downstairs while supposed be cleaning out the pet hamster!  I guess I had better go see where they are up to.  Easter Blessings everyone!

Here is the piece I mentioned before.  The one I started months ago.  It’s on Birch Plywood and I’ve burned the design into the wood using a pyrography too.  It’s weird how you can leave something for so long and then come back to it with new eyes.  I made such a mess of this that as a last ditch attempt to save it I painted black over the whole thing and literally re-worked the entire piece again.  I’m glad I did!  I really got in to it and then seemed to get results quite quickly, which I enjoyed.  I’m happy with the dramatic effect.  The quote (and inspiration for the painting) is taken from Khalil Gibran’s ‘The Prophet’.  I love this book!  I love how it can be dipped in and out of at any point in the book and always provides an insight which somehow seems relevant.  The book was given by a good friend to Jamie and I as a gift when we had our Commitment Ceremony in 2005.On a different note, we’ve had snow here today in Yorkshire.  Very pretty!!  Most of the local schools were closed, ours included so we went down to the reservoir to sledge.  What fun!!! We found most of the kids from school to be there!   There’s even more snow forecast for tonight.  Yay!!  I don’t think my kids have ever seen so much of it in their lives!  It’s lovely!

Snow-Board-Princess