A friend of mine recently called me this, "The Finder of Hearts". I remember the day it started, it was many years ago. Since then it has been a family discovery, I now have many "Found Hearts",  documented. Once you start you will see them everywhere. And the best thing of all? My wonderful friends and followers send me pictures of the hearts they find. Do you see hearts?

I guess a colour palette is more often than not synonymous with an artist. I love bright colour, which I think comes through in my paintings, but I also love different types of colour palettes, however I really struggle to use them. 

I possibly may have broader potential with my paintings however my colour "security blanket" may be holding me back. It isn't a matter of "letting go and detaching with love" as I wrote about in a previous post. I can quite easily throw different colours at my canvas in very care free ways, I just don't keep them. 

I suppose if we cast back to the "Masters" they too had comfort colours. Monet with his soft greens, blues and violets. Picasso with his primary colours and Frida Kahlo with her earthy muted tones popping with bright red.  So I'll go back to my turquoise, magenta and pinks and try orange, brown and reds another day. 

I love getting to paint "small". It is not by choice, if I could I would paint on a large scale every day. However this size also has it's purpose in life. For me it is a great size to do demo's on for my students and, for the buyer there is always that small spot somewhere in the house that could use a burst of colour. I have called it "Beginnings", as it has the start of some new motifs that I would like to use more often in my paintings. And a beautiful person in my life had a dream about new beginnings the other night and I think that is something to always look forward too. Are you about to journey into a new beginning? I would love to hear about it. 
SHOP

For a lot of us, detaching ourselves from a situation or person that isn't working for us, can be quite fraught. The same can be said about an artist creating a painting that isn't working. If we can come from a place of detaching with love,  the situation can be quite remedial (all be it scary). Coming from love, we are not so hard on ourselves. If we detach with kindness from what is not working on the canvas or in our life, we can then step back and not be afraid of changing it, rather than trying to control it. The spirit of detaching with love gives us choices on what will evolve rather than tackling it with anxiety or being fearful of making a mistake. Letting go is hard but done kindly can be valuable. 

The above pictures show two paintings at three different stages. A blossoming of the paintings took over once I could detached myself from trying to control the outcome.

I have loved making my "Aloha" series on wood panels. I created them last year using original, vintage Hawaiian music sheets and images. Each one was hand made with love, water colour, sealed and then polished with bees wax varnish. It was wonderful to see how many people loved them and I am so grateful that there is a little bit of "Aloha" out there in peoples homes. I won't be making these anymore and this is the last one. It can be purchased for $30 by leaving a message either in the comments below or click the mail icon.

"You know what’s wrong with you, Miss whoever you are? You’re chicken, you’ve got no guts. You’re afraid to stick out your chin and say “Ok life’s a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other because that’s the only chance any body’s got for real happiness. You call yourself a free spirit a wild thing and you’re terrified somebody’s going to stick you in a cage. Well baby you’re already in that cage, you built it yourself and it’s not bounded on the west by Tulip, Texas or on the east by Somaliland it’s where ever you go, because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.” 
- Paul Varjak (Fred)

This is an art work I made for a Black & White exhibition (that I never entered). It now belongs to a beautiful lady in my life. I never quite realised, at the time of falling in love with the above quote out of Breakfast at Tiffany's, that it was about the importance of showing your vulnerabilities to someone you trust to maintain connection.

Have to foster Gratitude as much as possible. Thank you to my lovely customers, who not only purchase and support my art life but send me photos of their treasures. I am loving this shot of my designs in their new home.