In the midst of the havoc and chaos that is a huge part of this worldly experience, I find that I need to carve out a place of calmness in my life. I function better when the immediate world around me is quiet and at ease. I do many things to bring that calmness and peace into my life: time set aside to read out of a good book, a daily soak in a warm tub, quiet music--or no music--in the background, mood lighting, fresh smells, a cup of herbal tea or hot cocoa in the winter or a glass of chipped ice with diet Coke (or lemonade, or water) in the summer.
A few weeks ago, Steve and I attended an art showing for this wonderful
artist, and we fell in love with his color palette and thematic art subjects. A lot of his paintings have a "point of light" paired with a sun arc, quotes of calmness and reflection, a compass rose, trees, maps, and musical notes. They really give off a feeling a peace and introspection. He first treats his canvas with plaster and "crackles" it, and then paints from photographs that he has taken and manipulated until the composition has the right "feel" to it, and then he starts to paint.
We expressed interest in some of his pieces, and he very generously invited us to come to his home and choose whatever we wanted to take home to see how they worked in our space.
It was hard to choose, but we narrowed it down to these three pieces:
Now I can view a beautiful sunset over the ocean or peaking through the trees even on the dreariest of days.
