I have been getting into “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle and also the amazing Jill Bolte Taylor who survived a stroke but lived to tell us just what it feels like and how she “got her groove back” again. I found her really inspiring!
And then a friend sent me “Tips for a Better Life“ It seems to me that we are on a roller looking to improve our lot and get away from the buzz of life running us. It got me to thinking what a joy it is that I live here in South Africa. I can quite easily shut out the world for a while and get the inner me replenished. All the spots I’ve chosen for the Painting Holidays are just such places. Take a look at my videos by clicking the tab above and see for yourself. Then join us we’d love to show you what we mean. You will feel a different person when you return home I promise you that. In the meantime try these tips from my friend…
Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile . It is the ultimate anti-depressant.
Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.
Buy a DVR and tape your late night shows and get more sleep .
When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, ‘My purpose is to … today.’
Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy .
Play more games and read more books than you did in 2007.
Make time to practice prayer. It provides us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
Dream more while you are awake.
Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.
Try to make at least three people smile each day.
Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.
Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn . Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
Smile and laugh more . It will keep the energy vampires away.
Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
Frame every so-called disaster with these words: ‘In five years, will this matter?’
Forgive everyone for everything. What other people think of you is none of your business.
However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will.
Stay in touch.
Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
The best is yet to come.
No matter how you feel , get up, dress up and show up.
Do the right thing!
Call your family often. (Or email them to death!!!) Hey I’m thinkun of ya! =)
Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.
Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
Enjoy the ride. Remember this is not Disney World and you certainly don’t want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.
I’m giving it a try but then again I have a head start hey, seeing as I’m here and you’re there he! he!
Well today was a beautiful sunny hot spring day here in Durban so I chilled in my deckchair and read the Sunday newspapers. Then I browsed around on the internet looking at art as I like to do and I came across this incredible drawing done in 1884 with a single stroke of the pen. No idea who did it but what amazing skill and patience.
It’s a lovely sunny Saturday morning so we decided to take our breakfast coffee outside on the veranda. We were sitting quite happily contemplating nature and pleasant sunshine when we heard the dog start with her whining. Actually we think she talks. Anyway it’s a sure sign that the monkeys are passing through our garden so we all start looking in the trees.
The front runners were there having a nice munch on something in the tree, and slowly slowly more begin t arrive and wander over our gate high up on the branches making their way down through the strelitzia negras into the neighbours where the dogs go demented!
We watched for about half an hour as they trickled through and just when we thought they had all gone the nursery arrived. There must have been about 12 babies leap-frogging over each other eager not to get left behind. One not so bright couldn’t decide how to get across the gate which caused a bit of traffic congestion until one bright spark ran up the tree and over the gate through the trees quickly followed by his siblings and eventually the slow dude.
Now the big monkeys are barking outside my window, probably wishing I wasn’t in here so they could come on in and have a wander through to pick up any fruit I might have been lax enough to leave out. Fred, my husband, did just that a couple of weeks ago. That day Fred came into the lounge just in time to see a monkey pinch an apple he had left on the dining room table. Monkey saw Fred run over the table, jumped over the sleeping hound at the door (who was certainly not on guard at that moment), up onto the fence and up into the trees where he sat and ate his apple quite unperturbed at the enraged man beneath him. It then proceeded to spit out his pips before nonchalantly joining his mates.
Well today I went to the airport to collect my brother, sister-in-law and their little daughter.
They have just returned from Switzerland and the Uk where they had weather that was best viewed from inside a warm house although they did have the odd pleasant day when they enjoyed walking and seeing the sights.
Here we too have had some rather unseasonal stuff. Just last week at my house we had a cold rainy couple of days and we enjoyed a huddle round the fire but down on the South Coast they had some terrible rain which lead to flooding! Not fun.
Now why would I tell you about the bad weather when my business is all about bringing folk here to paint? Honesty really, and also to show that even though it has been bad for some, all the lodges we use are absolutely 100% A-OK, plus the weather is right back on track for winter again 13C tonight and the day has been a fantastic, sunny, blue skies, 24C. Check it out here.
Wouldn’t it be brilliant to have this memory for detail?
I’d never need a camera again when on a painting holiday I’d have it all stored upstairs for whenever I wanted to do a landscape drawing or watercolour paintng.
How can these 3 things have anything
At all to do with each other?
For many years as a teacher I was involved in helping my school recycle our waste. It started as a small idea with newspaper collection and landed up with such mountains of paper and plastic goods coming to the school to be recycled that we had to have a parent committee to transport it to the recycling plant. We made a fair bit of money this way and were able to use it to grow our school gardens. Being a young school we had few resources for suchlike. More importantly though it gave the children a recycling ethic which has followed them into adulthood and one day those children will be business advisers and will be able to sway decisions on the type of products used in industry.
We were in on the very early, initial stages of today’s
international green movement . The rest of the world took a while to see things the way we did as we are actually living in the “Third World”.
Anyway what has this got to do with you or art? Well today I watched a little video all done with pencil drawn animation. Simple, clear and with a powerful message in a fantastic visual form. Everyone can associate with “The Story of Stuff”. A fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. “The Story of Stuff” (www.storyofstuff.com), exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
The story’s success is ART. The message I got was that I can do something to help.
Not only can I be a part of the recycling chain but as artists we can all paint something that can make an impact on the lives of others and maybe change the way someone else sees and interacts with the world.
All very grand and idealistic you say, mmm maybe but already my company is saving some Stuff, every time a holidaying-artist finishes a tour with us they can choose to leave their unwanted paints and brushes for us to distribute to rural schools thus enabling some youngsters to express themselves in a way that at the moment is denied them as paint is way down on the school’s priorities list. We also support a charity The Greater Good South Africa (www.myggsa.co.za)a charity that is empowering people to make goods from unwanted Stuff and turn it into saleable goods again.
Why not come along and join us on an
Art Holiday knowing you can make a small difference on someone’s life even while you have a great time.
Help real sustainability.
Make your mark in paint!
Last year I had the happy experience of meeting with a Zimbabwean now living in South Africa, Nicky Chovuchovu. We had an immediate bond as I grew up in Zim too. He now lives in Durban and as far as I’m concerned paints awesome pictures of everyday urban life.
One of the top places to see a terrific range and styles of paintings in South Africa is at Art in The Parkin Pietermaritzburg. Being just down the road from where I live it really is my favourite art show, and I’m so excited as it starts next week. Nicky prefers to paint in acrylics with bright splashes of colour. He gets wonderful movement into his paintings without loosing his sense of African-ism.
His paintings cover topics like:
“Durban by bus” which definitely gets the whole atmosphere of the balancing act of bus travel in Africa.
“Farmers Inspection” allows us a look at rural living which is still quite subsistence and usually done by the ladies too.
“Home at last” follows the ladies daily rural task of carrying water on their heads, I love this as I just admire them so, I’ve tried it and it’s impossible!
“Ladies Platting Hair“ is something you can see on almost any corner or under any tree, Nicky however chose a suburban garden for this hair plaiting session (it takes hours!)
“Push Skorokoro” it is quite possible that you might see a bus being pushed by the travellers and Nicky gets the mood so well.
“Skippy” is my all time favourite of kids skipping in a park. Maybe it’s because I used to teach young children but it always makes me smile.
There are loads more lovely paintings of scenes in Africa as Nicky sees them “Slow Business” “Zulu Love Letter” “Night Out” “SiyaHamba Manje” and “Vuka vuka for Sell”
He says he was influenced by the Fauvist Movement and I feel with a certain amount of tongue in cheek he signs himself, “chovu2″
Nicky and I have become good friends and I am the proud owner of one of his paintings which hangs in my dining room bringing a smile to my face every day.
Who will I meet this year? Well I’ll be looking out for Nicky’s latest works of art but I’ll let you know who else I bump into. In the meantime take a look at some of Nicky’s paintings here or better still Come on a painting holiday to South Africa and I’ll introduce you to Nicky in person!
