Flirt

Just finished another piece. I LOVE the words on her MIND.


adore
witty
happy
charm
flirt
clever
giggle
silly
home 
family
fresh 
adore
joy
sassy
dream
divine
quirky
yum
hope
smart
sweet
tiny
bliss
fab
hip
true
always
play
wonder
reach
guess
juicy
share
quick
very
wow
wise
lucky
friend
strong
sweet
laugh
live
love
smile
grow


Flirt

42 Dreams

I just finished this tonight. 42 Dreams

Inspirational Story

I just read this in an Eckhart Tolle newsletter and had to share it! This is for all the parents and teachers out there. Enjoy.

Inspirational Story 

It is the little things that are really the big things. 


This year I have been teaching kindergarten students.(5 & 6 yrs ) We start off each morning with a visualization so that we can find the still place that is inside ourselves. When we find that place we can get rid of all the silly stuff that has come in from the playground etc and make room for all the great learning to find its place and settle into our minds.

Throughout the day I ring my special 'peace bell' and we have a minute of peace. Usually this is when the class is off task and getting out of sorts. It also gives me a chance to stop still and gather myself rather than losing my patience. Id rather that than feeling ugly, anger is an ugly thing in the classroom.

When we have our minute of peace, I say 'freeze and breathe'. For a minute we breath in and out slowly. At the end i ask them to cup there ears ''Can you hear that? Can you feel that?' I ask them. 'Its beautiful isn't it?' I say. The children agree. Then the best part, I love to remind them, 'that's who you really are, beautiful, still, calm and full of love and happiness. You know you can go there anytime, anyplace'.

Perhaps it sounds a bit ideal. They go on to make a racket again in a short time. But my learning is to accept that too as a teacher.

After a year of Mondays only on this class it is lovely to see that children are starting to stop and breathe on their own now, when they come to floor for lessons, standing in line etc and they say 'look at me I'm taking my breaths'.

Imagine everyday having this in kindy and right through their schooling , wouldn't the world be a calmer, more relaxed place to be?

Namaste,

Julie Pappas 

Small Works Considered

She Loves

A Letter to Her

I Will Express it

General Rules of Gender

Out of Life

To Do List

All

Make It So

Here is a preview to my work that can been seen at Arts on Douglas Gallery in the Small Works Considered show. Each piece is mixed media collage and is 8" x 8". The opening is December 3rd from 4 to 7pm and the show runs until December 31. I will be at the opening and I hope to see you there!

Time To Think

This is a question for you Moms out there. Remember when they were babies...the sleep deprivation...the relentlessness...when completing a thought, never mind a sentence was a small miracle? Well I guess I had forgotten it this morning because after 2-1/2 hours of painting, I had to stop and I got angry thinking "I don't even have time to think!" Well, after I asked myself that first question, I did remember that things have changed...a lot. The demands that come with raising a 4 and 6 year old are at times still relentless (and I mean relentless with the utmost affection.) BUT, and there is a but, is DOES get easier. Different and easier. Today I had 2-1/2 hours to think. I do believe in miracles.
Time To Think

Dwell

What a great word, dwell. Emily Dickinson wrote "I dwell in possibility." This is the mantra of an artist. The belief that if you can remain aware, any emotions, good or bad, can be channeled through a person and molded into an image, a song or a sentence that inspires. I had a roller coaster ride of emotions this week and I am so grateful to have been able to focus it and and release it onto these 4 panels of wood. I've said it a hundred times, "Any day in the studio is a great day". This is my therapy. This is for me. Esther Hicks-Abraham says that when we talk about creators, we are talking about the creating of your state of being. I hope to always linger in the idea that art in all its forms has the potential to fill me, to heal me, and to save me. I dwell in that possibility. Dwell

Reach

New 6" x 6" little pieces; Open, Reach, and Yes Bloom.

Not Too Late

It has been brought up before, but I believe it's worth repeating. Should a 90 year old try to learn to play the piano? I say yes! Because by the time that 90 year old learns how to play, they will be EXACTLY the same age if they hadn't. It's NOT TOO LATE. It's never too late. It's not about mastering piano or conquering concert halls. It's about PRACTICE. Doing it. Loving it. Being in the moment with it. 


My dear friend is teaching her Mother (who has Alzheimer's) how to paint. Every lesson starts anew. But she says that its bringing pure joy to a frustrated woman who is forgetting her children's names. You are an amazing daughter Kathleen! (See her great work here: http://kathleenbrodeurfineart.com)  If they can do it, we can do it. Go try something new today!

Not Too Late

The Line of Life

The Line of Life


"What we know as life is but existence,
A waiting place, a haven by the sea,
A little space amid immeasured distance,
A glimpse, a vista, of that life to be."
-Cheiro       The Line of Life

Mind

A work of art is above all an adventure of the mind. Found this great quote by Eugene Ionesco and had to collage it! We are attracted to people and situations that mirror our energy and awareness, but art can really pull us past the conscious zone and take us on a voyage into the unexplored. Make some time to get lost in art this week! Make some, look at some and by all means enjoy it. Mind

Abundance

Some of my collages I love too much to put a face or figure onto. This is one of them. Each panel has its own composition and then each panel is arranged into a final composition. Abundance

This is Your Life

Occasionally I experience disaster during the artistic process. This painting started out with extremely bright colors  that I loved! Then something happen to my clear coat and the entire painting dried white. I cried. Then I got out a few tissues, the sand paper and painted my little 4 year King all over again. Saved. Is it a better painting now? I'm still debating. But story line here is not lost on me. We all wish to be the Kings and Queens of our playgrounds and then sometimes things go not according to our plan. Grieve a little, brush it off or in this case, sand it off, and start over. This Is Your Life


I just realized after posting this, that today is Sept 11. I hope that the families and friends of all the people that were effected that day 10 years ago, can start over too. This IS your life.

Imagine

Since Nate and Nick have been born, I have wanted to paint them. I have drawn them numerous times but I have spent more time staring at their precious faces than painting them. And to be fair, I've spent more time being a mother to them than an artist by about 99 to 1. So now that I have gotten around to it, I wanted to paint for them. So here you have it Nate, "you can do most anything" and "for the extras that add so much to life."  Imagine

Lived As Play

Life must be lived as play. Read somewhere that Plato of all people was quoted as saying that. I wonder if he spent his days building sand castles or drawing his children. I hope he did- for his sake.  Lived As Play

Comfortable Being

I remember reading somewhere that Picasso said he would keep working on paintings even years after he originally thought they were finished. Paintings can be the silent flat children of artists, so as we grow, so do they. Our work and not just our careers are a continuing work in progress.


Comfortable Being originally got its name because of the ease and relaxation of her pose. But as I stared at the painting in my studio, I realized that comfortable was the one thing I was not when I looked at her. Time to keep working. Now that I have completely redrawn and repainted her face, I can say that I am now comfortable being renewed.


Comfortable Being

Artistic Medium of Summer

All stay-at-home mothers are performance artists. Children are our mediums....especially in the everyone-staying-at-home days of summer. School will be starting soon and once again I'll be able to concentrate on my own paintings. In the meantime, I'll be working with my two greatest creations.

Give Back!!

I have created a foundation through https://www.giveback.org/onehundreddays.aspx?refid=37631 called the Imagine Learn Create Foundation (ILC). My foundation's goals are to help promote awareness and raise funds for charities that educate children with the arts. The education of my boys and my continuing growth as an artist are always present in my mind. I am inspired to take action by all the recent cuts in education funding in Florida which have angered and frustrated me. I believe that the education of ALL children is crucial to our future and I believe that the arts can help us all envision and create better lives for us all. Donate if you can! (Its tax deductible!) If you can't, start your own foundation! Give Back!!


Maya

Show Them

I want to

show them it’s ok:

to be a seeker

to be scared

to question

to not have the answers

to rewrite

to start over

Show Them

Good Fortune Be With You

Good Fortune Be With You is a continuation on the theme of Raising the World. Both of these pieces are being considered for placement at the South Lake Hospital in Clermont, Florida and I wanted to include inspirational words and ideas to inspire the patients, their families and the staff that help these people. I want these two pieces to be about healing.

Once again, I am using phrases in the work to complement the contemplative nature of the piece. The words on it are small, giving the person in front of the painting a visual experience both near and far from the piece. Since the painting is 5’ x 4’ and my camera can not catch these words clearly, I am using this format (for you web viewers) to dictate the words. Small cards and scraps read;

“Good Fortune Be With You”

“How Foolish I was to travel without”

“X Gratitude

X Joy

X Love”

“Laugh everyday with Joy”

“Live everyday with Curiosity”

“Love everyday with Passion”

“Be everything you dream to be”

“Make the most of your life”

“Dance like no one is watching”

Good Fortune Be With You is 5’ x 4’ charcoal, acrylic, fabric and paper collage on 4 wood panels.

Good Fortune Be With You

Raising the World

I wish I could write as comfortably as I can draw. Since I believe that practice is what makes you better I continue to blog about my work and have started using more words in the paintings. I borrow and edit quotes, phrases and lyrics from words that inspire me. I can only express my gratitude to these authors by saying that I stand on the shoulders of giants.

My new painting Raising the World has these phrases collaged onto them;

“The most beautiful action in the world is to love- Bertha Von Suttner”, “Remind Me of what I Love” and a Baking Powder Ad that reads, “Best on Earth-A Gift with Each Can-Miles Baking Powder-Raising the World.” I just love the ad with the can raising the Earth. Using these words gave me a moment of clarity. Love and art are the baking powder of our world! You could say that our basic needs, food, shelter, safety, security, constitute the main ingredients in our lives. Art and self actualization and above all else, LOVE, help us ‘rise’ to the occasion of our best lives and become more of ourselves.

Raising the World is 5’ x 4’ charcoal, acrylic, fabric and paper collage on 4 wood panels.

Raising The World