Tag: Hope

Better Together — Out of the Ashes

It is DAY ONE here at Out of the Ashes, a brand new collaboration in it’s infancy stage, and we welcome you to come and follow us along. Life is full of “new beginnings,” and many of our contributors have been there—oftentimes more than once. With our combined talent, creativity, knowledge and experience we hope […]

Better Together — Out of the Ashes

The new site is up! Thank you to all of you who have offered to collaborate—I will be in touch to coordinate your contributions very soon! It’s not as quick and easy as I would like, but that is life, eh?!

I hope that my followers will check out the new site, and follow it as well. It’s still a baby, but I hope to see it grow to maturity. I won’t make a habit of sharing every post, just enough to get things rolling.

The Stranger

Be kind to the stranger,

The one you don’t recognize.

An untold story simmers deep,

Beneath her burning eyes.

Lend an ear to the stranger,

Hear how her heart has bled,

Offer comfort, give her strength,

As she travels the path ahead.

I have to say that the reason I worked on this portrait today was that I’m finally losing it. I think we all have our breaking point, and I may have hit mine today. Things got a little crazy. I swear a lot of it has to do with all of the negativity that is encircling me lately. It seems like everyone wants to make a point, everyone wants to be right, and everyone is so angry. I can feel my body tensing up more and more every day as I listen to, and read, so many words. I know that light is right ahead, ready to shine, but it’s just not close enough.

Anyway, enough about me. I thought the art and poetry would help change my mood, by putting some of my focus outward—thinking about what other people go through. My portrait really is of a stranger, and it got me to thinking about how we all see each other, and how we treat each other.

I’d love to share more right now but it’s late—so I’ll be back tomorrow. I haven’t been out much because I can’t breath in those damn masks, but it may be time to revisit the New Lifestyle, New Me project very soon. And I still have a short story to finish! That’s something to look forward to!

So, that’s about all for now. Until next time… Peace & Love to you ALL.

Word of the Day Challenge: Untold

Ragtag Saturday: The Path Ahead

Winds of Change

The sky is ablaze,

Logic is lost in anger,

Winds of change are here.

I needed to work on some art, and post some words today. Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge: Anger & Logic sort of landed right in front of me at the right moment.

I’m doing a lot of praying over here. Black lives matter indeed, and that is not a new idea to me. Seeing the hatred and anger that I’ve seen lately, on the other hand, simply brings me to tears. I’m just heartbroken. I’m trying to stay off of social media because I see nothing but daggers being thrown around in there. I hope my Haiku says something good. It’s a bit ambiguous, but change is coming.

Anyway, I pray that resolutions come swiftly and peacefully, and that great progress is made. Life is good, and God is so, so great. We are all a part of His wonderful tapestry, woven out of magnificent colors, so let’s celebrate our diversity with love.

The Jubilant Journey

This Alphabet Game is great because it prompts me to explore words. Words link to other words and—as I follow the trail—ideas literally spell themselves out. I thought it would be fun to share my journey through the letter “J” today.

While exploring Joy—the first “J” word that came to mind—I found that one of its synonyms is rejoicing. Rejoicing is defined as: Great joy; jubilation.

There’s a word you don’t see every day—Jubilation: a feeling of great happiness and triumph. Aha! That really caught my eye. I love the word triumph. Triumph: a complete victory or success achieved especially after great difficulties, making the result particularly satisfying.

Maybe I’m filled with so much happiness and joy because of jubilation; I’m forever celebrating the victory that I’m living in. After great difficulties, the result is particularly satisfying—to say the least.

But… it’s not just the joy of past victories; it’s also the hope of those to come. New trials bring opportunities to experience new triumphs, and failures pave the way to success. It all circles back to our state of mind; our thinking—and we have the power to choose how we will think.

What a jubilant journey indeed!

Our life is what our thoughts make it.

Marcus Aurelius

The featured photo is being recycled from an old series. Homework is starting to trickle in, and it takes precedence over the creation of new images. That’s okay… I think this one works perfect! Joy is there, it’s just chilling in the shade until I’m finished with my work.

Thank you for reading. I hope you’re having a joyous weekend, full of jubilation!

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. —Isaiah 43:18-19

Dreamers of Dreams

D is for Dreams

Everyone knows what dreams are, but I wanted to find a more personal way to describe them. Not the dreams we have when we’re asleep; the dreams we dream when we’re awake. I poked around google and found exactly what I was searching for:

A synonym for dream is HOPE.

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Birds of a Feather

—Feathers of Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul— and sings the tune without the words— and never stops— at all.

Emily Dickinson

This image is something I’ve been itching to do for days now. Every bird photograph I’ve taken has some sort of detail in it that I love. Eyes, beaks, legs, wings… even some claws. I see so many different angles to approach.

So… tonight I worked on feathers. It’s an extreme zoom, so I hope it doesn’t get stretched and pixelated, but—other than that—it’s exactly what I was hoping for; lots and lots of feathers. Maybe this is a test. I’m trying to decide if this is something I want to perfect; to make a print. Would love to hear your feedback, as always.

That is all for now. Goodnight!

I’ve had some issues with images shrinking down to nothing in the mobile reader. I don’t know if anyone else has experienced this, but if it ends up being a microscopic thumbnail… HERE is a link to the full size. I don’t know, maybe it’s just my phone. 🙂