Sunday Meditation - Crayola Bombs to You! Seascapes and Birds

“Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A Beauty Bomb..." Robert Fulghum
"And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air -- explode softly -- and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination." Robert Fulghum

I love this quote and thought it appropriate for the U.S. 4th of July celebrations. I prefer visualizing crayola bombs, happiness bombs, rather than the typical song about the rockets red glare and the real bombs bursting in air. Now don't get me wrong, I do love my freedom and also think people should be entitled to liberty no matter where they are. Maybe this is an artist's way of viewing the world, perhaps those of us who share our work are sending out little parachutes of happiness. Little parachutes of happiness are so needed to counter some of the war machine that continues to ravage some countries or squash individual freedoms, counter those that start unjust wars, and abandon human compassion... I suppose my writing today reflects the holiday and reading about N.Korea launching test missiles...

Painting Seascapes and Birds
Meanwhile, here are a couple of the dozen or more paintings that I have been working on for my upcoming art show in two weeks. This will be my first show that is not watercolors - instead, I've challenged myself to do an all acrylic or mixed media show. Acrylic has been a challenge as it has such different properties than watercolor, I love the thicker texture I can achieve, but I miss the washy looseness of the watercolors. And I haven't obtained an extender product yet, so I am painting very fast indeed, so that I can still get some blending done before the paint dries. The top one is 16x20 and I may call it "The Heron Sentinel" and the one below is 8x10 and is "Seascape #1". I may share others that have even more intense colors.Crayola Artist
I selected this interesting You Tube video - "Homage to Dan Marco - Master Crayon Artist" from Glen Welker, all art copyright the artist. Wonderful paintings of Native Americans set to soothing flute music. So this is an homage to the first Americans whose ancestors and descendants would have yet a different perspective on our collective history and independence.