RedBubble

“This is the path I have chosen, no matter what circumstances may come, no matter how hard it is, no matter what I feel inside, I must stay on the path.”

http://dalberti.redbubble.com/sets/92851/works/3897696-2-foggy-path

This shot reflects what I feel in my photography.

One of my works in my portfolio by the way …lol…if i could do a link i would …........

I totally agree. This is the last photo I took of my parents before my dad died in February this year. I’m sure to anybody else it’s just a snapshot but to me it completely portrays the love they held for each other throughout their lives together and – although it hurts to look at it because I miss him so much – it also brings me great comfort and helps me to realise that he will always be with me.

Your words have certainly resonated with me. Through my art, I am begining to accept myself, to like myself and to freely express who I am, and what I have been through.

This image was such a personal one to do,,,,I have had 16 Knee operations, and live now with severe osteoarthritis,,,, at times it is difficult to get out of bed, and times I have had to crawl to the bathroom…. my art is allowing me to explore my pain, and accept probably for the first time of who I am, where I have been, and where I am heading!

I owe this little mare so very much…............to many lessons to list her, please read her story.

Old poems, saved from my childhood, and brought forward through time—hand-written, copied onto an old computer to be printed out, and then re-typed into my current computer over the past few years. They are not to be shared with the world, but they are a reminder that words have been essential nutrition to me all my life, and that it’s okay to just write.

We will never get over losing “Grizzy.” Someone suggested I fix the green in his eyes, but it reminded me of how his beautiful eyes glowed at me from the dark. He was always watching…always kind…always gentle…

art is integrated into our lives, without experiences good or bad,it would be hard to create anything, as it is from our emotions that we express our art. Like a bit of joy from a flower given

Self portraits are certainly very expressive. I have seen many self-portraits which are cropped to focus on the eyes. Mine, on the other hand, crop out the top half of the face. there are many ways to communicate visually. I don’t often do self-portraits, though my most succesful ones I think are ones that are personal to me.

Both of these pertain to death…

...so special to hear from your perspective Pilgrim…. I see what you mean, that we can only capture a fleeting moment, a feeling, a memory, a set of emotions….not the full picture….and somehow, the capturing of it seems to lessen the magnitude of the experience….

the last 22 or so drawings for me have been drawing from the depths of my own life experiences, and it’s been the most enjoyable and painful period …. I am catching glimpses of my childhood and using them in my art to bolster me and give me strength to face the future. It is as though I’ve opened the lid of a deep well, and i draw from it each time I make a new drawing. I am looking for clues, for healing, for loving moments, for tender touches.

I often say, I paint what I wish for…. and in doing so, I have been able to change the outcome of my future. Not only have I experienced the wanting and the heartache of loss, but also the warmth of the fire, as I’ve sat with my mother, for hours and hours, her recounting stories and experiences which I have no memories of…..

My art of late apparently shows so many snippets of my past, which i cannot consciously remember, I am hearing from my mother, that these things I draw did indeed occur, did happen, and I did see them, have them in my life, etc…

Some things I do recall, but it’s in drawing from the well, that it all comes together, and I am reminded that there were some wonderful times in my childhood to be celebrating… although there were some very sad times, which for the large part of my time on earth have obscured and shadowed the sweeter things.

Through exploring my childhood in my drawings, I have learned more and more about who I am, and able to come to a greater appreciation of myself and let go of some of the self loathing I’ve had, which children so often take on, when things go wrong earlier on in life.

I loved reading your tender story about your beautiful horse, it was so so sad, and so vulnerable a moment. Here is my artwork called Sunday it says so much about me that when I look at it, it’s like an autobiography.

Just scrolling through my portfolio, and realised there’d be too many images and too many stories…but thanks for sharing, Martin!

I completely agree with your sentiment… I think almost all of my work is ‘just for me’ and I’m so grateful to have the time and the place and the means to do it, plus redbubble which is like a mirror and a sounding board, a safe place and an audience… and so much more. ( :

make ART not war !!!!

I work was inspired by the poem we read on my sister-in-law grave, who passed away about 0ne month ago.
Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

A poem written by Mary Elizabeth Frye

I am not here
#

I used to be terrified of Self Portaits, but then discovered that I get a wonderful sense of peace & healing from creating something that is about the inner me.
This one is particularly special to me, & signified an acceptance of one of my most painful experiences.

I love to be able to share my thoughts, inner ideas and emotional experiences with the people her. Their input helps me to further understand what has occurred in my life, and allows them to see who I believe I am.
I love to share my thoughts and ideas with myself in writing, as it changes my thought processes, the stress is removed from the situation, and I am able to see the situation from another angle.
here is one of those pieces,
_You listen as your sister weeps
Never really knowing what to do
You were never really good with words

You watch as she gets up, strides across the room
Not sure how to react
You were never really good with emotion

She leaves, you sit still
She begins a new life, you continue with an old one
She speaks, she hopes, she forgives
You do nothing
Now it is your turn to weep_

I also love that so many are brave enough to share their beliefs, personal thoughts and beautiful ideas with us here, it is a stunning environment to be a part of.

this is so strengthening to see this post as a postscript to what must have been a horrific experience for you Martin….. so this is my cathartic image… called ‘To Death Us Do Drug’ ... and it’s about the death by overdose of my youngest sister… along time ago now but it has never left me….having a place like RB to post this image and to be able to share the image and the memory and the pain of her loss has been like a benediction in many ways…. and it has helped immesureably….
.

Many pieces speak straight from my heart and are representative of what I’m feeling. While I cannot settle on just one that I would choose to share, I will settle on just two and not torture you with my rambling thoughts.The first tells of an event in the past that changed me in ways I never thought possible. The second is of the future.

“Remembrance”
Heartbroken at the cost of his decision, I’m still a proud mama.

“Peacock”
Technically not my work, but work that was done by my then 4 year old niece based on my piece Royalty cheers me because of the joy she shares and the hope she represents.

Thank you for the many ways and opportunities to share my heart.

This photo has a very significant meaning to me, I dedicated it and the accompanying poem to my mate who left this life when he was only 19…it hangs on my wall, always reminding me of our friendship.

Great post!!!

Most of my work is other people, different looks and emotions, pride, sadness, reflection and joy but I only have one photo of myself so far- It’s not in focus, and the exposure is way too high, but somehow it’s exactly how I wanted it to be at the time…it’s really the only one that scratches the surface even a little, and this one does a lot- I was scared to put it up …

“Enough”

Allow me to include the images and forgive my blushing at my goof. (Now, here’s hoping I did it correctly this time…)

Remembrance

Peacock

It is difficult for me to choose just one piece in my portfolio to post here, because most of my art is exactly about expressing different aspects of myself. Through my work I display my shame, my depression, my sensuality, my dreams and imaginings (I love to make my magical fantasies come to life through my images and, in that way, actually place myself inside the fantasy), my love of and my belief in the power of music, and the depth of love and need I have for my husband; indeed, the majority of my work is extremely personal.

Since, today, I find myself feeling down on my looks again… I think I’ll post this one:

“We have created our art not only to share with the world but to share with ourselves in some way.” Covers most of my work. There is not just one piece. But these are very special

These two images have special meanings for me as I took the actual photos while staying in New Farm Clinic dealing with depression and anxiety issues.
Click through to read the meanings they portray and the metaphors of life they represent.

What a wonderful thread – from pain and sorrow and sadness and shame and fear and anger… is beautiful art born.

My heart lies exposed in Hope

Thank you to all who have shared their inner world in this thread.
Mieke.

This shot is definitely not as emotive as some of the others – but it reminds me of a visit organised by my family for a Mother’s Day gift (time away from them!) and a fabulous weekend, where I met some of the nicest people I know for the first time. This pair are just a sprinklin’ of the people I caught up with that weekend. Just like on RB I followed these two, exchanged witty banter, and discovered stuff about art I didn’t know!!

Such a beautiful journal. I would say all my work is about me in one way or another and in particular my latest work – all is a projected feeling, emotion or memory and what has surprised me more than anything they are not just mine but many peoples.

I am sorry for the lost of your horse – great pain indeed. I lost my dog last year and could not believe the grief I felt – it took me by surprise completely.

This is a short poem I wrote touching things that I really haven’t talked about since childhood, It was cathartic for me and part of that was having the confidence to share it with this community, I still can’t read it without tears…

I too thank those who share things of great personal depth which ultimately help others to have the confidence to do the same.

This shot is definitely not as emotive as some of the others – but it reminds me of a visit organised by my family for a Mother’s Day gift (time away from them!) and a fabulous weekend, where I met some of the nicest people I know for the first time. This pair are just a sprinklin’ of the people I caught up with that weekend. Just like on RB I followed these two, exchanged witty banter, and discovered stuff about art I didn’t know!!

I have been trying to tell more, but by nature I am a bit hesitant to be personal and to talk about my feelings. I don’t mind talking about me but if I have to go any deeper, I get awkward. So as a result, most of my work deals in estrangement and detachment. I guess that’s personal.

My Daughter – Katie Boo

It’s not for sale and I had it unpublished for a bit. I’ve been trying out some digital painting and liked how it turned out, nice and messy (which is quite apt given she’s a little whirlwind at the moment).

And I also love a self portrait

These two works by no mean sum up the diversity of what I like to do, but they summarize the emotions and vulnerablities I have been experiencing in my life … and I like them

Not all, but many of my images are about expressing and dealing with my opinions, feelings, emotions, ideas at the time of producing them. I personally think that it’s really what is all about or should be what is all about :)

Thank you for your comment on the image I posted here… probably I chose THIS image because it is the ‘latest’ one, but the story is one and the same… just looked at from different spaces in time and place… i have actually made much of this ‘story’ public now on RB – I wa fortunate enough to be asked to do an interview as ‘featured artist’ in the group “photo manipulators’... the ‘story has more words added to it there…
K x

my daughters in a secret moment shared

In our terrified rush to get back to unsustainable economic growth, and consider no alternatives, I fear that we are missing the obvious. This photo symbolises for me the fact that like the Easter Islanders of long ago, we my destroy everything in pursuit of the unobtainable.

Certainly the old adage “We grow too soon old, and too late smart” applies here. Bill

So much of what’s been posed here has made me cry that I had to go away and come back again. I guess that’s what it’s all about: feeling.

I’ve been drawing goofy cartoons for decades; they were fun, sometimes funny but never until this# image did I FEEL so much.
(I hope that link works.)
Torture…gah. I don’t know anything about it personally and have never fully addressed it in my mind and heart. It was always “out there” somewhere. Not in my world, though. A few months ago we heard so many news stories about torture that I wanted to SAYSOMETHING. You know?
Long story short: I coudn’t DRAW anything at first. I couldn’t make my hand move the pen. Not because I couldn’t see images in my mind, but because I couldn’t really LOOK at them. I forced myself to draw this one, and in spite of the fact that it’s an uncomplicated little drawing, it took me a couple of weeks. And the entire time I drew and edited…and each time I looked at it to post it…and EVEN TODAY, I feel shame when I see it. Visceral shame. For her…for all of us. I realized that much of our inaction about torture is that: shame. We can’t face it. And I think that’s why I drew her so apart, so closed up, so turned away. She’s feeling that shame. We can’t see them...I don’t know if THEY feel shame. I hope so.

I’ve never drawn anything before or since that’s left me feeling so helpless.

Anyway, thank you for this post. It truly puts things in perspective.

In case the link didn’t work:

Here

This was my mare. She had to be put to sleep because of a stupid accident, that should have never happened. It took me a long while to get over it. But she will always be remembered and loved.

OK, one more time:

I understand your need to share the story of Josephine, and also why you feel that the telling somehow diminishes her sacrifice. But sharing pain is one way we have to survive it, to lessen its harmful effects on us, and it also serves to allow others to empathize, which also is a good thing for us to do. It’s healthy. I have posted some pieces that show parts of my pain and have been told that people like my happy pieces better. Well, fine. I can do happy. But you have to recognize your pain and honor it before you can move on. When something you care deeply for is taken from you, it leaves a hole in your heart. But life goes on, and little Angelo, with his new mum, will brighten your days for a long time to come. Thank you for sharing your story.

Ditto Ginny and most other replies.
Sorry for the loss of your horse.
I took up my photography again because i wanted to share the amazing things that i am fortunate enough to see. I have fortunately suffered enough loss to know that every second is precious and there can sometimes be no chance to make things right before someone or something close to you deceases. So the only way is to be in a state of grace/positive karma. Whether a person has a soul or not is yet to be answered, but the survivor has a conscience. To make things right with your conscience if you have erred in the past, i live by ‘No Mistakes. Only Lessons Learned.” As long as you don’t allow history to repeat itslef, then you know you will have done your best.

This picture is one of my very first, but this was the reason i took up photography again.

this IS me

Oh, what moving stories are here. I think this is why I love being part of this community.

Prior to joining RB, I had been involved in a lovely and dynamic small forum where we competed each week to produce a photoshopped image from a given ‘start image’. It was great fun. But since joining this community I have just loved the freedom to create whatever pops into my head, with no restraints at all. The positive support, friendship and stimulation I have received have been second to none. I will always be grateful for this.

‘Going Home’ was the most detailed and poignant work I have ever done, and was a tribute to an old friend who died last year. I want to post it here, as I too feel that here, in this community, I have ‘come home’ too.

xx
Anna

as a photographer for years, I have tried to set myself goals. For many years my family told me I was a great artist and I should show my work, sell my work. Never really feeling good at anything, it has taken me a while to appreciate myself as an artist. This first shot was taken at the Denver Aquarium a few years back..it is my signature piece (KatagramStudios) and I am so proud of this King. the other was my first great shot of the moon. I push myself to get better..give myself goals and cross them off when I succeed..my list is long and very few have been crossed off.

Too many injustices and heart-breaking events in the world these days. Capturing a moment to take it with you as Pilgrim said, is to remember for those who will not or simply can’t.

Whoops – did not get the link right – see my entry above!

for me, it’s my first entry on RB that speaks volume to me. And it is no wonder why a lot of people say that they don’t get it because it really speaks to me only. Some people I know can describe me as calm, others would describe me as the complete opposite. I am two extremes. Sometimes I have to stop myself and ask “who are you?”

What a great post. I think you are right about capturing moments as best we can with our art. I think that we create WAAAY more for ourselves than most will admit to. I think a lot of people have chosen to create what other people like, what other people will buy, but the best artists, I think, create from deep within and a piece of them shows through in everything they do. I know, personally, I pour my entire soul into each and every one of my paintings.

This is not my favorite piece of work, however, it is the first original I ever sold and the begining of a new artistic path for me. This is the first time I broke down the barriers and just let myself go, I let the brush guide my soul…more in the description

‘The Dreaming Tree’
!!:http://www.redbubble.com/people/lynsye818/art/1212714-3-the-dreaming-tree

I also have some older poems that, like you said, are a mirror of my old self and re-reading them reminds me of who I was, who I am now, and who I will be as a result of decisions. It reminds me that even the worst times are worth remembering because those times often teach you the best lessons in life.
Is It Love?

Woops…..
‘The Dreaming Tree’

after reading and seeing everything here that truly impacts people and the words they say with it… i felt like a little link just couldnt do. a flame inside a frame to me is my most personal piece. Yes its very long but i think its a message that has only become more relevant as time passes especially being on a site surrounded by artists.

The poem is a personal journey of mine bout writing and living in general and how its easy to get stuck inside a frame, to be repetitive with our work, words, and lives because we are safe being comfortable.

I think reading this poem is important for every artist whether it be writer or photographer, because it not only questions, but gives a real, tangible, solution of how to break the frame that surrounds us.

I hope you will give it a read
much love
shoaib

I have a lovely neighbors cat that will visit from time to time, he has a big heart and shares himself with many neighbors. He is a fleeting moment in time in my life. So I have taken liberties to capture him in photo’s when he comes. That way I will never lose him.
Tango my special visitor.

Your words hit home. I use my art as therapy. The self portrait work stems a lot, from permanent injuries, I have from a car accident, to my back , neck and hip resulting in arthritis & degenerating discs among other issues. In retrospect it’s rather funny to me as because of my condition I actually have a conflict with the camera in doing self -portrait work or being photographed. I have used it as therapy for chronic pain and other emotional healing. This photo is apart of my journey:

Golden sunlight from the balcony … I’d taken this shot casually in the evening a few days ago… I was feeling a bit low, depressed & the evening seemed so lonely to me …

A lonely evening!

I was a little scared of SPs, so i did a more mysterious one, where by face is obscured. The mirror, however, adds to the sense that I am looking for identity and self…I am a very heppy person but my art portrays a darker, sadder, more moody side. What do you think?

Your Journal….and all these personal stories…...have just Overwhelmed me…and I’m sitting here with tears as I am writing this…. I Know, whether we Do Self-Portraits…or create an image, either Dark, Beautiufl….Sexy or Sad…...or a Writer writes any piece…..about any given subject…..WE always leave a piece of ourselves in our work….........so OUR Art…Words are US and always will be Personal….......and at the end we just hope that someone can see or relate to it on a personal level as well !!!
And I truly believe there is NOT SUCH thing as Bad ART or Poem…...as long as it was done from the HEART !
Cuz…..there is NO Ugly or Beautiful Person….Only Humans with the same beating HEART!

After years of hardship and struggle the thing that always saved me was my art. Abused as a child, orphanages, and fear of trusting anyone, and the list goes on ..the solid part of my life was always my creativity. Now finally at ease with my life situation I was struck down with MS and double vision..but I continue to paint and with excruciating detail the things that I love..I have always painted only for myself..it’s the one thing I allow myself..freedom from creating for financial reward..and it is my art that gives me strength and when I am painting nothing else exists..just me and my art..no pain, no outside considerations..and if this is selfish..I am guilty!!
Art was given to mankind as a therapy for the soul..for the viewer as well as the creator!!!

500,000 people drive over the Manhattan Bridge every morning and see this: the poorest section of Chinatown with Wall Street in the background. It’s got to move you. :(

Yes, each apartment has an airconditioner but very few apartments have glass in the windows.

Exellent discussion.
Art must start with the selfish intent to communicate one’s own deepest emotive and realtive evocation of surrounding environment. Even if that communication is merely self affirming.
It is the catylist for connecting on levels too deep for words alone.

There are so many poignant stories of lives, love and loss here… and some had brought tears to my eyes.

My story is of our very first dog whom we lost in 2007 at such a young age of 8 years. Royal, our beloved German Shephard, had developed a horrible disease called Degenerative Myelopathy. It was the most horrible thing to see Royal go through… losing his balance, dragging his back feet until they bled. The decision to let him go to heaven was terrifying. I still cry to this day for his loss. His beautiful eyes, his early morning nose poking in our faces telling us to get up, his bucking bronco routine with his teady bear. Such wonderful memories.. We have several of his pictures (which we took thousands of him) around the home office. His beautiful face is a wallpaper on my computer. Royal is my daily inspiration, my reality check… and that life is short so one should enjoy it as well as respect it.

I create artwork because I love to. Colour, cute things bring joy to me. My favourite work is This is my Earth Too. Animals are a part of our life, no matter whether they are wild or tame. We need to take care of them and their environment.

Oh, how I dearly miss Royal.

What a great journal…

Pilgrim, I am so very sorry to hear of the loss of your beloved mare – losing something is never easy, although you do have something to look forward to in the growth & development of Josephine’s foal. It seems sometimes that all life is just that: death & birth; destruction & restoration; the old passes, the new begins – may your ‘new beginnings’ involve the blessings of healing with fond memories and dawning hopes. memac

I’m sorry for your loss, Pilgrim. Thank you for this page!

Hi, Midzing. I was right there with you for 7 years. I’m grateful to be on the other side of it now. You will soon pass through it, too.

I don’t know how to post a photo, but this is its web address:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/piacere/art/2293583-4-blueberries

sorry for your loss. I recently destroyed two paintings because they reminded me everyday of what I lost earlier this year. They also reminded me of the person im not anymore when i did those paintings. If that counts as a special painting im not sure.

This brings back memories of life before my husband decided to have a mid life crisis. It was taken on our last holiday together as a family – Autumn Storm

Finding RedBubble and focusing on my photography has been a lifesaver for me.

Writing for me is sharing part of who I am.
It is fiction but sometimes elements of your self get inserted willing and sometimes unknowingly in the work created.
Losing someone or something loved often causes you to sit tight with your grief until you feel it is the right time to express it. I posted a 4000 word story on RB 2 years ago (since removed) that was cathartic for me, but it was some 8 years after the fact.

She was only 15 was in the prime of her life. But I guess God needed her more. Thank you for caring. How is the little one doing?

!! Memories the mind has many and pictures that go with them recalled in an instant,if only sometimes we could print them,

I have a beautiful photo of Jasmine, the first joey I ever cared for (I’m a wildlife carer). It is from her very first day out on the grass from her “pouch” and she’s so beautiful, unfortunately she died from natural causes before she could be released so the picture is special to me, a mixture of happy and very sad. I’ve never put my carer photos up, I keep them all to myself.

I thought I would share what for some is happens far to often….anxiety attacks can be a debilitating curse to us ..having a friend who can listen so often will help calm that inner monster

As an abstract painter my art is an exploration into my thoughts and feelings and/or an expression of how an experience was felt rather than seen. So even when i’ve been physically ‘at a loss for words’ there’s a way of working things out.

This is an enlightening journal with a glimpse into so many souls.
Most of my art is motivated by an reaction to something happening in my life, at times wonderous, often mundane, at times heartbreaking.
I have this image on my desk and during dark times I can’t help but smile when I look at it and during happy days it reminds me of the purity and joy in the simple things, like a new dawning.
Hope the little one is doing well;)

the image I have chosen is one that my Mother took years ago, and that I have redone recently. It is of my sister and I running down the beach toward Mum – what I love about this photo is my sisters graceful posture (she is the bigger one) and the tenacity in mine. I love that my Mother could impart thses qualities in us, and foster them so beautifully despite what must have been her never ending grief each time she realised once again that there were only two of us instead of three – my other sister became chronically ill after birth and despite doctors predictions of 18 months of life, died at age 12 …for me the photo is as much about who isn’t in it as much as it is about who is …

A recent project I did with my sister Sarah is probably the thing I’m most proud of. It wasn’t my best picture, or anythign that is so unique that everybody loves it. But it was something special for the both of us that meant so much for what we both were going through with our lives. We had lost a lot of loved ones and several members of our family are still not doing well. So we worked together to help one another. Here is my favorite from the series.

About driving over the bridge into Manhattan and seeing/not seeing the choas of Chinatown..I saw it for 27 years and t drove me to live on a beautiful green island paradise!! Samos, Greece
My own slice of heaven!! The Big Apple is wormy and decayed by humans and their pollutants!! Escape from NYC!! Best move I ever made!!!

I remember the horses…
Misty Morning

Thank you for your truth and story. I truly believe nearly all the art I create is for me and that it is in the creating of it, it can reveal some truth to me, as well as a kind of form of cathartic healing taking place, as the process is such a wonderful chanel for us to express. I painted my son Adam just after he died, and it really helped me to express my feelings but also create something from the grief, that I felt was good. I find it quite difficult at times to put these things into words, so this is also why I love to use paint, colour, shape and form. I tried to put the picture here, but it didn’t work, still have my ‘L’s on with the computer.

I have for so long wanted to write a tribute to my mother. I havent yet penned it but the thoughts ideas, memories, emmotions are there in my head. Just havent been able to ‘get it out’ there yet. One day it will come i suppose..when i am ready. I some how feel though..putting it out there will remove the memory for me. Perhaps it will ease the carriage of pain that i hold, The inner gut wrenching feel when i think about her loss. I dont think i am ready to let that go yet.

I never forget the time and memories of photographing the Tents of Hope conforance in Sacramento a year ago. a friend asked me to come and photograph it..
The Tents of hope was for the people of Dufar who were being killed by their own people
this image was in the press democate newspaper website. titled the Flower Holder..
for the tents of hope.. It made me feel good to attend this and learn about Dufar..

This photo has a special place in me ..it is a symbol of hope and fortitude; and yet it is the memory of a friendship that has lost strength, but still remains dear to me.

Having just read your journal ..I’d like to say just how sorry I am to hear about the loss of your horse.
I hope the foal is thriving..?

What a journal – it makes us to open our souls indeed…
We’re living as expats in the Netherlands, in a street of rental houses where nobody knows anybody, even those living next door… We moved here just before our first child was born and didn’t have any time to build a social network, and first 15 months of my daughter’s life we were just sitting together at home without any contacts to the outer world. Then, a group of women started with having weekly coffee mornings, to meet each other, to share experiences, arts, pieces of our lives, to prevent us of being (or feeling) alone… It means a lot for me. Now I volunteer for the VrouwKindCentrum to help to make it nice place for anybody who wants to come and share… I’ve made the two pictures below on the International Women’s Day celebration this year; they are part of my series symbolizing everything the Center means to me/us.

I appreciate the way you viewed and expressed your grief.
I, myself, find my creative outlets a form of relaxation as well as an emotional release many a time. For me, creating certain works is very personal to me only… and is for no other reason than for following my intuition and letting my emotional feelings have a release at the time.
Music does it for me a lot. Good music can bring out such incredible emotion within me.. I find it quite profound at times. And many a time that music will inspire me to want to create something to reflect the feelings I felt while listening to it.
Those personal reasons I have for creating are the reasons why I think Red Bubble is such an important place… more important that’s for sure than merely a gallery. It’s a place for people to express themselves, to find themselves, to have fun, to be inspired, to be confronted… to basically, be human. Before Red Bubble.. .I did not find enough of the inspiration and the motivation I needed. Thank you for being one of those that was the brainchild for this wonderful place…. you helped so many, probably more than you’ll ever know.

The sharing of your grief has brought out so many stories and I have been in tears reading so many of them. At the same time I have been amazed at the strength and courage they have revealed.
It has prompted me to write the day my heart broke when our eldest son Wayne died from a brain tumour five years last July. Without the strength of my loving husband I wouldn’t have come this far. Our family were shattered and all are gaining strength as time passes, Wayne left a beautiful wife, four wonderful children between ten and fifteen. The eldest boy has struggled more openly but the children had such a hands on Dad it has been devastating for them all. The tumour first made itself known eight years before his death and with radical radio therapy (five points into the brain) one day a week for 6 weeks made us wonder how he would survive a normal life. He did and after a year of recovery on drugs he hated to take a P.E.T. scan led all to believe it had been irradiated. Wayne was able to enjoy another 6 good years with his growing children but when the benign tumour re-occurred it was a rapid growth and decline to his health. We had 7 months of watching him deteriorate until he could no longer speak, write, lift his right arm and drag his right leg. He was a very clever boy and had gained honors in micro biology at University. He had a very good job, his employers looked after him right until the end which enabled his wife and family to be secure.
He loved fishing we used to take the children from a very early age when we lived near the coast, he and his eldest son often came with us on a fishing holiday and it made it hard for us to enjoy fishing again but we are healing slowly. It is my husbands favourite pastime.
My doctor urged me to take a course on Cognitive thought and unwillingly I did. It helped me a great deal but it has taken time and only now going back to my painting and photography has given me many happy things to keep my mind occupied. When I am happy it helps my husband and the rest of the family.
Red Bubble has brought out the sunshine in my life again. Wayne always used to encourage me with my photography and did his best to prompt me into buying better cameras and a computer. My husband and I have always made sure that we always strove to stay out of debt and that has given us a contented and less stressful life together. We have photos of him and his family in every room. He is with us at all times but I still shed a tear when I am dusting them and get melancholy thoughts about WHY he had to go.
I offer my condolences to you on the loss of your lovely mare and hope the healing has started for you. I lost my best horse the Nov. before Wayne left us here and at the time I thought was the worst thing that had happened to me.
I believe now that we are all meant to grieve so that we can appreciate all that is good in life. The loss of parents is hard but nothing like loosing a beloved child. I don’t know how to link a photo of Wayne but I have put him in My Bubble.

a simple moment of fully and completly connecting eye to eye and heart to heart with another human being, without any words, and even more so when there is a camera between the subjects….just a little love

oops

I have been reading these again. There is just a truly remarkable depth, humanity and love in these works. You have deeply touched me (Pilgrim)

I am just off to bed, but I will be returning to read all of these. The first few I read were very powerful. Thank you, community, for opening up.

For me, it would be the paintings I did back in the 90’s and the one I did, after many years of not touching brush nor canvas, in 2005, called “Willow.”

I can’t really explain why I have not released these for sale, ever. It’s not lack of confidence. It’s the sense that I was and am still figuring myself out. I have a lot of pain inside me, buried, and even now, I’m still processing it through my art.

One painting can take me months-and sometimes years-to complete. The words are not there, but the images speak volumes. I will eventually photograph some of my old work and share it here and elsewhere.