Everything begins and ends in LOVE

Love this song that Ryan Huston is singing ...."Do what you Love , Love what you do"...

 Its fun to "Do what you Love" ....
Yet not always easy to   "Love what you do"...
Think about Grocery Shopping...Washing ... Getting up on an alarm...Rushing through the morning....Driving for chores....

So shall I always try to do what I love...and try to avoid what I cannot Love to do?  Practically not possible.


Doing What I Love is fairly easy...

So  how to Love what you do. ...
            While doing something I don't really like sometimes I try doing it in the most perfect way .....
Or.... sometimes I put on some music to cheer me up through the mundane task....
Or...sometimes I just think and plan about something interesting  that I will be doing afterwards....
Or.. put all my attention to observing the task at hand so that stops the thought flow about how much I resent doing it.
 Or ...just postpone the task for sometime :) When its me only who has to do it anyways how does it matter if I do it a few hours later...


But the method which works best is when I  put my entire attention on the task at hand and try to do it well....Because its only then that the component of Love creeps in it. 

When Love enters , Resentment automatically leaves.

  Putting a little more Love  into everything takes a little effort but generally ends up making things easier....



Try putting a little more Love 
                            .....in your "Hello" when you pick up the phone
                            .....in your smile when you wave out to an   
                                  acquaintance /friend
                           .......in your voice when you enquire about 
                                  someones well being
                           ....... in your reaction when people around don't 
                                   do what's expected of them
                           ........ in your thoughts about yourself

 ..... and see how that makes  you feel.


 In the End its only about how much LOVE we put in.

Love and Light

These lines by Vincent Van Gogh were  the prompters for the 12th November workshop ... Yes I think I can say that :)

And I am glad I listened to Vincent :)

A beautiful, Cheery, Bright Place ...... Paints and Brushes all over ....... A few Cups of  Tea  ( like anything is ever complete without it !) ...............Music to set the mood ......

And a bunch of really enthusiastic artists --  Yes, it was a very Arty Day' :)


Do you hear a voice which says something like this ?

Then please do watch this video :)  
And I hope it brings a smile to your face ....

Because at the end of that Arty day....

That was what it was all about !!!!!

 

e 

 

Love and Light.

Finally .... 

Its all boils down to A cup of Tea :)

"When there are way too many odds ; And what you want will just won't be;Then cease the useless tedium ; And brew a cup of tea !

A cup of Tea means many things to me

A cup of Tea --- When sitting with a friend and sharing hopes and fears alike

A cup of tea ------ When meeting family after a long time

A cup of Tea ----- When you need to just sit and think

A cup of tea --- When sometimes you don't know what to do

A cup of Tea ---- When you  are down

A cup of Tea ---- When you are feeling great

And of Course 

A Cup of Tea --- For no Apparent Reason  :)

I am sure all Tea Lovers will agree with me !

 

  

 And having done that I sat down to decide what to paint next keeping in mind the festive spirit of Dipavali..... Something that will symbolize Prosperity and Abundance. ..

Here are the charcoal and acrylic paintings which resulted from that cup of tea ! :)

 

May the Goddess MahaLaxmi shower her choicest Blessings of prosperity and Abundance and Good Health upon you !

Love and Light to you. 

HAPPY DEEPAVALI !

Put a lot of LOVE in it...

You don't always need a plan, Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust and go for it .... and put a whole lot of LOVE into what you do 

                                                ........then just watch what happens. 

 So put a lot of love in it  and watch the magic happen!


Love and Light!

And sometimes ....you just have to pick up the brushes and set up your canvas and start the painting and let each brush stroke lead you ... Because however big or complicated a painting may be it is still done one brush stroke at a time! 

So , as I brooded on the above , I decided to pick up my brushes and set up my canvas and paint from John Pototschnik's painting which I have always loved....

Oil Paints on canvas. Using a mix of Ultramarine blue and Cad yellow for the far away trees...I added some cad orange sometimes for  brownish leaves.

Mostly worked by blocking in dark patches  first and then added lighter hues and finally highlighting..so working in layers gives a depth to the scene.

Will be fun to go down that path and turn left and see where it takes me...I guess I have found my old dirt road ...:)

Love & Light

 

Flowers inspired by Jenkins!

Back after a gap but hope to stay this time :)

Been painting flowers and who better to learn from than the great Gary Jenkins.
So I have done a couple of studies which I would like to share with you. Will try to tell you in few steps how i completed the paintings..

These are oil on canvas with acrylic being used for the back ground ( Got no patience to wait for the back ground to dry...:)

For the above painting I gave the background as below using a wash of Burnt Sienna. Used some sap green and yellow ochre as well. Its easy to just take your colour tube and put some colour directly from the tube ... you know a dot of burnt sienna where you want burnt sienna, a dot of sap green where you want sap green...and so on....
then blend it all ..wiping your brush in between so as not to get a muddy colour.

 

 The colours used in the above painting are Burnt Sienna, Titanium White,Sap Green, Cad Red, Cad Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Turquoise, Ultramarine Blue.

"Mixing Sap Green with Ultramarine Blue gives a nice deep green for making dark leaves"

Give out a secret Blessing Today..

His weary eyes looked up as he asked for a Miracle..

There was a quick snap and a star fell into his lap.

A passing angel heard him..

And thus he was blessed!

Universe has given each one of us the Power to Bless ... through Prayer.

But most of the time we use this power to bless ourselves or people dear to us...

Ever tried using this power to bless complete strangers ? ...

Lets Give out a secret Blessing today..

So when you go out for a walk today take a bunch of blessings along and silently drop them near any stranger who walks past you


All you have to do is smile inside and whisper anything simple like..
....This is going to be the Best day of your life!
....Happy news awaits you at home!

.....Whatever you are wishing for is now coming true!
....All your problems will find a solution today!
....Whatever's bothering you will be set right today!
....May an Angel walk beside you today!

                                                                                                 ....Think of something more ?...Do let me know too :))
    

Everyone could do with a blessing or two
In that we are all the same,
Everyone has fears and grief.. and those demons
Which they find hard to tame.
The stranger on the road is no different from us
He too wants love,peace and rest,
So when you walk past him..
Just smile inside
and use your Power to Bless!


May you be my 'Passing Angel' today......:)

Love and Light

Pleasure is derived from external things ...but JOY arises from within.

I think JOY is a boomerang...Everytime I send it out it circles its way back to me.

 

The more I give out the more I get!  

The eternal fountain of  JOY lies within us ... We just have to turn it on.






The JOY you brought to someone yesterday is making its way back to you today!






A Warm Hug, A sincere handshake...
A Compliment, A smile ..is all it takes...
To make a damn good joyous deal
Your name I may forget tomorrow...
But not how you made me feel !

Bouncing off some JOY at someone today ?....

Who will it be.....?  :)

Love & Light 

Well so the 21 day PMA - Positive mental Attitude program is going super! 

Thinking about , Talking about , Feeling about only the things we want in our life , for 21 days!

To look for only the positive in everything ! (for 21 days :))

And while we are at it ,  we can think of one Beautiful Thing to start our day with . 

My Beautiful Thing  (MBT) for today is "Ä Walk in the Mountains" 

That's what I thought about while having tea at 5 am! And the moment I did that a smile came on my face....and my mind ( so as not to be outsmarted...)   led me on to a teashop tucked away in the hilly curve....then opening out on to a glorious view of the Mighty Devdars standing in all their majesty.... to a monastery down in the valley..........

A sunrise...
A Walk in the Mountains...
Reading a book with a cup of tea.....
Walking on the beach with the sun setting...
A Baby's Smile....

There are a thousand things which can make us sad  and a thousand things which can make us smile.....

Which one of these thousand will you pick today ..?

So what's your MBT for today ?

Love and Light !