Earth Poem: An ode to the beauty and the suffering

Earth Poem: An ode to the beauty and the suffering

MINDFUL MININATURE

Earth Poem: An ode to the beauty and the suffering

Which Earth do you choose to believe in? Which Earth do feed belief into?⁠

I used to believe in only the green, lush and growing Earth, but having painted both, I ‘m coming to understand that we cannot deny the dying Earth amid the living Earth.

I’m still trying to find a way to hold space for this duality in my heart – continue doing and believing and creating towards the beauty and overcoming, but holding with peace that there must always be suffering.⁠ Each new encounter with death reminds me of this.

I wrote an Earth Poem recently to try to speak into these feelings.

Dear person whose name I do not know,⁠
in this community in which we grow,⁠

Dear maker in-spite of all your inflictions,⁠
being creative amidst these restrictions,⁠

Dear giver despite burdened limitations,⁠
feeding, sheltering and providing sanitations,⁠

Dear birds that fly away at dawn and return at dusk,⁠
urging me to discover the things I must,⁠

Dear afraid and hungry, doing the best you can,⁠
along cynics and sceptics, also doing the best they can,⁠

Dear glorious breath I get to draw every day,⁠
Dear ache, dear pain that feels here to stay,⁠

This Earth, will pulse on, no matter what,⁠
She too does the best she can with what she’s got.⁠

There is always sun while there’s moon,⁠
somewhere nourishing rain, yet somewhere monsoon⁠

We’re not in this together in exactly the same way,⁠
But together we are,⁠
There’s no other way.⁠

~ EarthDay 2020⁠
.⁠

To view more paintings inspired by our living planet check out the full 365 gallery.

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Top 8 take-aways from being interviewed by Crush magazine

Top 8 take-aways from being interviewed by Crush magazine

MINDFUL MININATURE

8 creative insights I only uncovered after being interviewed

I recently did an interview with the lovely folks over at Crush magazine (who by the way create drool worthy recipe shoots) about my miniature painting journey, the 365 challenge and what it means to be creative daily.

I was surprised to discover that being interviewed can open up a lot of clarity about your own process. Questions you never ask yourself reveal aspects of the deeper ‘why’ in your journey that were, up until that moment, even hidden from you.

Here are my eight quick take aways from the interview that taught me something I didn’t know I had learnt through the process of painting daily.

 

1. Everything is far richer and more effortless to create and sustain if we cultivate a symbiosis.

2. Your art doesn’t have to please everyone. There are literally different (brush) strokes for different folks.

3. Making it as an artist will be tough but I would rather climb this mountain than sit behind a desk never having even tried. I have to believe that my hiking boots are made of the right stuff to climb my own mountains. If we have innate talents, then we also have the innate strengths to see those into fruition.

Photography by Ashly Newell

4. Nature is it. It’s the beginning and the end of us. She’s our greatest teacher. A silent and all-knowing one at that, who waits for us to find her.

“As they say – no mud no lotus. So even the lows become highs if you’re accepting of what is.

5. Having a sense of momentum and purpose was powerfully focusing. 

6. A self-belief in what you can accomplish if you do it mindfully and  constantly looking for the learning curve – that’s been invaluable.

7. The people in your life who love and care for you, really do want to support you. They get reward out of helping you achieve your thing.

8.  I know the painting is done when it’s looking back at me. It reaches a place when it suddenly has a little life of its own.

Read the full interview and get the context behind all these insights head on over to Crush Magazine.

Big thank you again to Julie Velosa and her team for the feature.