'space' Illustration Friday June 22/2012

Inspired by the Illustration Friday word: space, and the quote:
"For the wise man looks into space and he knows there is no limited dimensions"     - Lao Tzu

This quote reminded me of how it feels to come awake, as though one's mind has to be gathered from beyond the edge of dark, from among the molecules of scent drifting from a night-blooming jasmine, from scattered memories and unformed possibilities - truly when we sleep, our inner selves know no limited dimensions.

As I painted I thought of a dream where I flew.  Standing at first at the edge of our lawn, I realized with a jolt that there was no hedge in my way - so I must be dreaming!  If I am dreaming, I can fly!  I stretched out my dream arms and leaned forward until I floated off the lawn, over the houses and streets in my neighbourhood thinking to myself: of course, this is what the roof looks like, so THAT is what is behind this hedge... until my little son, awake already, flung himself on my back, and I became too heavy to fly. 

Getting there - Sketchbook page

http://antostudio.com/sketchbook.html

Getting there - sketchbook page and musings added to the weekly sketchbook log on my website. 

School

As the bustle of the school year gears up toward its grand, heated finale of forgotten shoes, overflowing knapsacks and armfuls of artwork heading homeward the mind skips backward to September; the last lazy days of summer to be savoured, crammed full of friends and late nights; the fresh school clothes waiting to be put on, lunchbags as yet unsquashed, unsmelly, thermoses still in their places.

I love the first morning, walking and gathering neighbourhood kids like a snowball until at the last corner we are a gaggle of parents and kids catching up - from last week, last night or all of summer in a few steps - before jumping in and joining the crowd in the playground.

"Hurry" Ilustration Friday June 1, 2012

Inspired by the Illustration Friday quote:

"All things will be clear and distinct to the man who does not hurry.  Haste is blind and improvident".  - Titus Livius

Reminds me of the kinds of things we would hear as kids - sayings from my mother's and grandmother's childhoods.  One year we asked as many people as we knew to tell us the ones they knew.  I managed to gather about two hundred.  My older sister got well over a thousand.  And the one that comes to mind on this topic translates something like this:
"Haste leaves a trail of dribble"

In my own life it reminds me of watching people with their eyes closed, minds wrapped in something else as they sit on the subway during the morning and evening rush-hours.  As though they had shelved their inner selves while they waited to arrive somewhere, start to consciousness again.  As for myself, if I was so busy playing in my mind the conversation I would have when I arrived, or anticipating the vacation I was planning, what was I missing that I was rushing by on that train?

So I try to take note.  Breathe deeply.  Whatever is outside the window right as I go by is my life right now.