Spreading those secret wings + giveaway

We cry that we are weak although
We will not stir our secret wings;
The world is dark - because we are
Blind to the starriness of things.

We pluck our rainbow-tinted plumes
And with their heaven-born beauty try
To fledge nocturnal shafts, and then
Complain ‘Alas! we cannot fly!’

We mutter ‘All is dust’ or else
With mocking words accost the wise:
‘Show us the Sun which shines beyond
The Veil’ - and then we close our eyes.

To powers above and powers beneath
In quest of Truth men sue for aid,
Who stand athwart the Light and fear
The shadow that themselves have made.

Oh cry no more that you are weak
But stir and spread your secret wings,
And say ‘The world is bright, because
We glimpse the starriness of things.’

Soar with your rainbow plumes and reach
That near-far land where all are one,
Where Beauty’s face is aye unveiled
And every star shall be a sun.

Poem 'Secret Wings' by Sangharakshita. Thank you dearest Janet for sharing this. May the next couple of months in NZ be a treasured experience for you. Images - 1 via We Heart It 2 & 4 via Digital Bus Stop 3 by Someday Evermore 5 by KT Bugs 6 by Andy Prokhr and Cult via Jane-Art

I've been doing some tidying up and have put together a giveaway of interesting art 'stuff'. Some originals, some prints, cards, magazines. A real mystery bag. If you'd like to be in the draw for this loot, just leave a comment and I'll draw the winner next week, say 4 May. For a second entry just become a 'follower'. If you leave a separate comment for each entry it'll make it easier to draw a winner. Have a lovely week. May you soar.

And the winner is....comment number 5..Kylie C...I'll be in touch. Thanks everybody for takin the time to enter.

Some inspiration for that easter table...

1. D’Arcy Norman 2. A Perfect Setting 3. Dining Delight 4. Party of Tew 5. Chic Provence[with quote added]

Visitors...

When I moved here to Toowoomba a couple of months ago, this little wallaby came to visit. The first time I saw her, she was stretched out on the grass, looking like a piece of toffee, hence the name 'Taffy'. Taffy did enjoy nibbling on pumpkin seed bread.

Over the course of a few weeks I noticed Taffy becoming more rotund. Was the little feeding I was doing too much? Was I creating an obese native creature?

Then out popped a little head. 'Pumpkin' had shown herself (or himself, who knows?).

My first YouTube upload! I promise they'll get better...

A few accessories for frollicking with marsupials - dress from Lyptis, baby pod from Sunset Crochet, ears from Bang Bang Crash

Would you like this dance...it could take a while...

A quick post…this song just won’t get out of my head…you know what it’s like…usually they hang around for a few days…but this one’s been creeping in for a couple of weeks now....demanding attention. So, for all those who love - gay or straight, romantic or non romantic, sexual or non - this is for you…

Lollin about and snoozin off too often...need one of these...

1.Deville III Illuminated Chair 2.Disco Chair 3.Bubble Chair Revisited 4.Bright Woods Collection
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do. Wasting time is merely an occupation then, and a most exhausting one. Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen. [Jerome K Jerome]

White Flowers for Japan

Into White

[written by Pamela Terry in response to the disaster in Japan. Read more of Pamela's always insightful thoughts at The House of Edward]

We thought the snows of winter had completely disappeared, but we were wrong.
As we dreamt around the fire, wrapped up tightly in our thoughts, the snowflakes were gathered up from their wet melted state by the bushels and boatloads, the hampers and crates. For weeks and a day Mother Nature turned them over in her celadon hands, commissioning the angels to wash them clean, to flute their edges like bridal gown silk. Now thusly refashioned, all over town, the white snows of winter have reappeared on the pear trees, copious, fluffy and clean, the passementerie of angels, the first sign of Spring.

And I, who always send flowers of white to honour the dead, have heard the great empty silence from far over the oceans as thousands of souls rose up through white clouds.
So I plant white allyssum in planters and windowboxes.
They spill over the stone.
Their fragrance floats on the afternoon air.
With a delicate beauty, they are flowers brave enough to weather all the cold yet to come - each blossom a prayer, each petal a remembrance.

I thought when I was old enough I would understand more, thought the candles on my birthday cake would signify a wisdom denied to the young.
But there are mysteries more enormous and questions more complex than I could ever have imagined when placing my hope in the breadth of my years.
So I plant and I pray, and hold hands with the earth.
As the world turns into white.


Both drawings above from Art & Ghosts.

by Natsuo Ikegami at Chana Bean. Support other artists of Japan here.


We do break like china don't we. We cry. We grieve - for the thousands a of lives shortened; for those left behind in shock and grief; for the transient nature of our existence. Sometimes the pain comes from a feeling of helplessness. There are things we can do. We can all send Metta (loving kindness) across the miles to those who are suffering. If we're financially able, we can donate to appeals such as the Red Cross.We can plant our own white flowers.

Highbrow? Lowbrow? No, it's Monobrow!

Paula Goodbar’s photographic series ‘Homage to Frida’ is exquisite. For around $20 Paula offers 8 x 10 in signed photographic prints here.

Australian Designer Collette Dinnigan with Frida Kahlo as inspiration unveiled her latest collection this week in Paris. ‘Portrait of a Woman’ showcases a kaleidoscope of textures, a richness of silhouettes reminiscent of eras past and prints that encapsulate a uniquely sophisticated turn.

And speaking of monobrows, if you’re in Queensland don’t miss Evangeline Cachinero’s exhibition ‘Highbrow art? Is it Lowbrow art ? No, it's Monobrow!’ showing at the Noosa Regional Gallery from 18 March to 24 April.

Evangeline is a clever little chick utilising social media to encourage participation in the show. Read more about her Twitter project here and check out her YouTube video below.

One of Renee's fav clips......a year has passed and we remember this precious girl and her gifts to us......

Her head was full of flowers and yet....

1. Jeff Koons 2. Creative Cellar 3. Tiger Head Designs 4. Clay Flower 22
Vintage head vases incorporated into digital prints and mounted on panel box by Brent Rodgers at Two Little Fruits

Her head was full of flowers
and yet she craved for more.
Sometimes though,
when she forgot to think,
a softness slipped in,
a nothingness,
she exhaled
and felt content.

Working on doing nothing

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.

For once on the face of the earth
let's not speak in any language,
let's stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines,
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victory with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.

Now I'll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

Lifesize figurative paintings by David Jon Kassan, poem by Pablo Neruda, film from Marcia Ong