Lockdown = time to do things you've been meaning to do!!!

One day we might be aged crones (and bloke-crones! or whatever the term is!!) and the little ones will ask "what did you do in the time of the plague, dear crone?"

In reply, I shall hoist my half of Guinness and launch into my story!!

Well I did carry on with piano/painting/sewing/scrabble on line .....
but I was really happy about Death Cleaning!!!! I love getting rid of STUFF!
and it takes time!  It's something easily put off when "normal life" is operating.

I had a huge pile of International Artist magazines, which, of course could not be simply just thrown out!!  Against all one's principles!
So I found an artist neighbor to pass them on to but first re-read them all and came up with all kinds of nuggets!  gold !

For example an article  about the joy that comes from making art...for its own sake...not thinking about sales/challenges/workshops/social events connected with it.

While success is one thing, happiness is another.  Studies show that most  young people think that happiness is the result of getting rich and/or famous!!  ha!!! us old crones know better....it actually comes more from creative activities and from relationships.  However, creativity does require work - it's not just filling in colors....but solid internal work.  And then you realise that///

"Internal work - How to use your mind, how to motivate your actions - is far more important than external work because it is this that determines whether what you do becomes the cause of happiness or the cause of suffering".  (Lama Zopz Rinpoche)

And internal work leads to all kinds of discoveries that can be used  to make life and art better and more rewarding.

Creating art based on landscapes and nature - and we have had an amazing spring here in Georgia - brings one more in touch with it, deeper into the beauty and the complexity. 
And once you've spent time gazing, everything gets richer - the colors are brighter, or more subtle, the values really stand out, you enjoy the contrast between soft and hard edge...you really SEE!

Happy Lockdown!!
And, if you have been...thanks for reading.
Please comment!!!
Elizabeth