Mouth and Foot Painting

Over the holidays my friend Phyllis sent me a beautiful Christmas card.  The original painting reproduced on the card was created by an artist named Jeff Ladow.  He is a mouth painter meaning that his work is created by holding a brush in his mouth to paint (because he has suffered a disability that prevents him from using his hands.)

The picture is named "Watermill in Wintertime" and I was captured by its contrasts of color mixed with the starkness of the black and white background found in this work.  I can easily imagine the reality of the New England winter scene he takes us into with his work.  I am so impressed with its detail.  I cannot imagine creating the same detail with a brush held in my own mouth.  I felt compelled to share his painting.

I also wanted to learn more.  Some research yielded the "The Mouth and Foot Painting Artists Association (MFPA)" which is located in Atlanta, Georgia.  The association has been in existence since 1956, when it was formed to give a sense of financial security to those who were overcoming a disability by using this alternative method of painting.  There are more details on the association's website which I enjoyed discovering.  

Art intrigues me.  It always has from the time when I was just old enough to hold a brush and do number painting.  Unfortunately, this hobby gets rotated way too far down my to-do-list of beloved activities.  Now I rarely get to play using colored pencils, water colors or pen and ink.  Loves like these remind me of the pure joy of playing.  They are the reward of living long enough to pursue hobbies.  I vow to pick up a paint brush tomorrow, even if it is for only one stroke of color on a white sheet of paper promising infinite possibilities.  

My Furry Best Friend

Our kitty just spent a week at a "Pet Resort" while we attended a business conference.  When we first adopted him from PetSmart, his name was Matt Meowler until we renamed him Snoopy.  He's lived up to the former name (and his partial Siamese heritage) with ongoing, very verbal conversations he's conducted with us since the first day we brought him home.

We renamed him Snoopy however because he likes investigating everything and every day there is a circuit to travel in the house to ascertain that all is well within his world.  He also got the name because we love the Charles Schultz "Snoopy" cartoon character.  (Yes, I know his was a dog!)

For two hours after we all arrived home today, Snoopy "told us" about his week in the resort. Actually, we heard about it all the way home in the car as well.  Then came the hugs, cuddling and "hold-me" routines, as he never let us out of his sight over the course of the entire evening.  Finally, he fell asleep between our knees in one or the other of our two recliners until all three of us headed to our bedroom for the night.

Studies have shown that pets provide both a psychological and physical boost to their owners.  There is an organization that helps seniors get a dog or cat that is called Pets for the Elderly Foundation and they will accept donations for their efforts.  The facts surrounding the benefits of pet ownership are astounding.

I have to ask myself following Snoopy's display of affection and relief at being returned to his familiar surroundings, "How could anyone say animals don't have feelings?"  I know I probably attribute more to Snoopy than the average scientist would give him credit for when it comes to feelings, but I swear I heard and felt his attachment to us and our world last night.

I also swear he can smile.    

Because I'm Happy

Today at breakfast in a Waffle House, I saw a man who reached out to me from a framed picture (he is in the left picture hung on the wall in the photo below with the broad smile.)  Probably taken years ago, the picture seems to reveal the earlier years of this establishment.  Do the same or similar pictures grace every location of this restaurant chain as part of a mandated corporate decor?  Was this a staged photo or a moment of delight captured forever?  I prefer his smile to be the latter.

I find myself wondering about him.  Where did he work?  Why is he so happy?  I wish I could sit with him and talk over a cup of coffee in one of the restaurant's booths asking these questions.  I want to share in the moment that created his glorious smile.

Smiling is such an easy thing.  Often when I am walking in a store, through a mall or along a street I smile at people for no particular reason other than to enjoy their surprise which is often followed by a hesitant smile of their own.  This is my minute contribution to the universe as I pass through life.  It is my attempt to create a moment of happiness in another human being's life.  I do this without expectation of a reward.  But in the process, I have found happiness and the song "Because I'm Happy" by Pharrell Williams begins playing in my mind.

It just so happens this song is also the ring tone on my cell phone.  

Red Hat That Doesn't Go

A poem written in 1961 called "Warning" by Jenny Joseph is one that most people would recognize upon hearing it start out with the words, "When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple with a red hat that doesn't go..."

I've quoted this line many times since discovering it.  It is my go-to-mantra when I give myself permission to be whomever I wish to be-even if for only the briefest of moments.

In 1997, Sue Ellen Cooper gave a friend a birthday gift of Jenny's poem and a vintage red hat.  Sue Ellen went on to found the Red Hat Society.  Today there are over 40,000 chapters in the United States alone consisting of women over the age of 55 who are dedicated to still having fun.

I recently met a woman I admire greatly.  Whenever I see her, she is always wearing a fabulous scarf. With a gorgeous, silk, work-of-art scarf draped about her shoulders, she exudes a beautiful aura of femininity that draws me to consider what beauty I can create within my own world.

And now I frequently also find myself wearing a scarf.

Perspective

Life is often like looking down a long hallway.  Unless you get everything lined up, you can lose your perspective.  There have been times (many times) in my life when I have been so busy trying to focus way down the hall in an attempt to predict where I was going, that I missed what was right in front of me. 

I wanted to know and control what was at the end of the hall so desperately, I did not experience (nor enjoy sometimes) what was just two steps ahead of me in the present.  Remaining in the present is one of the hardest tasks I have attempted  to master in life (mostly without success.) Looking back over my life, I wonder how different my experience might have been if I had not concentrated solely on reaching the end of the hall.  Were there good rooms I've missed along the way?  I will never know. But certainly I can start noticing the two feet in front of me before life's hallways no longer stretch out before me.

Watercolor Inspiration

I wanted to paint this view the moment I saw its palette of colors.  My eyes gathered in the building and lake's colors and the urge to create the same scene in watercolor washed over me.  Interrupting a walk after lunch along a sidewalk skirting this lake in the foreground, I could not help but notice how the softness of the light under cloudy skies drew out the color of the buildings.

I inhaled a breath of the cool air surrounding me and felt connected to the scene as imagination drew me into a world not unlike a drive past Napoli thirty five years ago.  In my mind, I have returned to the magic of Italy in an instant.