As always, all of my images are available as fine art giclee prints, signed/numbered and shipped with a Certificate of Authenticity.  You can order these directly from me through my portfolio.

Enjoy!

Yet beauty never changes. And neither does Love.  Which brings me to the piece below, emailed to me by one if my very favorite people. Enjoy!

Installing Love

Tech Support: Yes, how can I help you?

Customer:  Well, after much consideration, I’ve decided to install Love. Can you guide me through the process?

Tech Support:  Sure, I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?

Customer:  Well, I’m not very technical, but I think I am ready. What do I do first?

Tech Support:  The first step is to open your heart. Have you located your heart?

Customer:  Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they’re running?

Tech Support:  What programs are running?

Customer:  Let’s see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge, and Resentment running right now.

Tech Support:  No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory, but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off?

Customer:  I don’t know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?

Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.

Customer:  Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?

Tech Support:  Yes but remember you only have the base program. You need to be running Love when you connect with other Hearts, and then upgrades are exchanged automatically.

Customer:  Oops! I have an error message already. It says, “Error—Program must run on internal components.” What should I do?

Tech Support:  Don’t worry. It means that the Love program hasn’t been run yet on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others

Customer:  So, what should I do?

Tech Support:  Pull down Self-Acceptance, then click on the following files: Forgive Self; Realize Your Worth, and Acknowledge Your Limitations.

Customer:  Okay, done.

Tech Support: Excellent. You are getting good at this!

Customer:  Thanks.

Tech Support:  Now copy these files to the “My Heart” directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure the old programs are gone for good.

Customer:  Got it. Hey! My Heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on the monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over my Heart. Is this normal?

Tech Support:  Sometimes. For others it takes a while, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is freeware. Be sure to share it and its various modules with everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.

Customer:  I will. Thanks so much for your help!

Author unknown

‘A lover’s lessons’ by m.c.reardon

A man’s true heart is private, not gregarious.

There’s angst and anger, discomfort and generosity,  sorrow…and quiet joy.  Both a child’s heart and the heart of a fierce warrior reside within a man’s chest, full of sacred truths and ancient spells.

For the magic elixir of a man’s true heart is his tenderness, that which brings a woman to tears in joyful gratitude, making the world stop, just for a little while and sigh in perfect communion, as the stars whirl overhead in sparkling satisfaction…

After being extremely focused on meeting a few deadlines at the beginning of this year, I have had to spiral inward, regain some sense of balance and begin to work again on those projects that have no definite deadline, those that I feel have been neglecting.  My journey brings me to the above quote by Rilke, one of my artistic mentors, who reminds me that all who seriously pursue their creative work struggle with achieving a much treasured but extremely elusive “state of concentration”.

There are so many reasons to not do the creative work, that for the moment, has no specific or inescapable deadline.  So many distractions (including my border collie who is currently using his nose to push my hand off the keyboard).  So much busywork.  Plenty of small insignificant details to worry the day away until the day is done and the fleeting spirit of creativity has given up and left the building.

For me personally, I struggle every day to just clear the decks and do the work without deadlines, allowing the pressure within me to finally ease into it, to express itself, maintaining hope in my heart that when this piece is finally completed, it will manifest its own currently unseen opportunity for display, publication or sale as many of my previous works have done before.  But still, there are a few potential pitfalls:

1) Deprivation by not allowing the creative self the time to work on these kinds of projects.  Dangers exist for ultimate starvation of the self to the point that no more work comes forth, the spring no longer flows or the jumps in ability and creative epiphanies offered in the act of ‘just creating’ are lost forever.

2) Fear that the final work will not be wanted or accepted by anyone, that it was a complete waste of time and goes absolutely nowhere but into an endlessly obscure closet where it gathers dust and is forgotten.

3) Outer circumstances change, so much so that the work becomes so incredibly different that the creative self is stymied, stuck, unsure of what step to take next.  This uncertainty becomes quicksand which finally pulls the piece into its quagmire and it is lost until the end of time.

The bright side of all of this is that sometimes, there is a very good reason for a piece to still stand incomplete.  It is asking for time to percolate or ‘cook’ as a good friend once said to me.  Or it means that it needs to wait out a current cycle of change before it can reveal the next stage of its own beauty, as another friend explained as to the reason why a breathtaking piece she created for me took so long to complete.  My own experience proves the same in that a novel I’ve been working on had to percolate for many years as I gathered research and let it simmer to the point that now I am sure that it is time to finish it…once and for all.

So what remains is the need for one to learn to trust the moods of the creative self, since its need for action or inaction may hold a much needed pearl of wisdom or it may offer a new perspective that greatly enhances the overall impact of the work.  Trusting what you and your creative self see for the piece takes a lifetime of practice, but with practice comes knowledge, structure and a level of creative ability that could never be previously imagined.The bottom line?  Just make yourself work when you’re stuck and you are painfully aware of it.  For 5 minutes, for an hour, for an afternoon.  Trust that the creative work will reveal where the thread lies that you must follow…if you only stop and listen.

I am starting off the year in high spirits as Gango Editions accepted 16 of my latest images just before the holidays started.  I expect that many of these will be featured at the West Coast Art and Frame Show in Las Vegas on January 30-February 1, 2012.  These should be up and running in Gango’s online catalog soon.  I will be sure to post a hot link here when it is ready.  In the meantime, here’s a sneak preview of what is to come!

Here’s a handful of new work for you to enjoy.  Have a peaceful holiday season….

Found a Rumi poem today that speaks to my creative spirit.  Hope you like it.

“There is nourishment like bread that feeds one part of your life and nourishment like light for another.

There are many rules about restraint with the former, but only one rule for the latter.   Never be satisfied.

Eat and drink the soul substance as a wick does with the oil it soaks in.  Give light to the company.”

Peace to you during the holiday season….m.c.reardon

As you may already know, I am a fine art photographer that offers custom, signed and numbered prints on fine art papers, as well as, poster prints from the international art catalog Gango Editions.  I am offering a 20% discount off of my published price list for any of my fine art prints to all of my blog readers until December 31st, 2011.  Just mention that you read this on my blog when you contact me to place your order by email or by phone.

As much as I still love the general holiday menu and feast, now it is a day on which I practice intentional gratitude—a time of pause, to reflect upon the gifts given over the last twelve months, to share the harvest with my loved ones.  And this year, as in every other year, I recognize that there is much to be thankful for…even if I didn’t achieve all of the goals I have been working so hard for…yet.

It’s not just the basics I am grateful for: a dry warm house on a wet cold stormy day, wood for the fire, health insurance and the blessings of income.  I am also grateful for supportive friendships and healed relationships, creative inspiration that gives way to creative work that inspires and heals the viewer, synchronicity: finding the people, tools, colors, words, visual and verbal compositions that I need at the right time in the right place, the lessons of letting go and practicing gentle self love and finally, the bounty of Nature–homegrown onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, grapes, apples, squashes, greens and beans and the sound of the wind dancing in the pine trees, bees buzzing and the warm sun on my face in the summertime.

As Thanksgiving approaches, I would like to say THANK YOU to those who have helped me with my creative vision/work and I offer this video by Louie Schwartzberg, award winning cinematographer, to bring joy into your life today.  A lovely reminder that regardless of the economy, politics, civil disobedience and general unrest, there is much to be thankful for…every day.  Wishing you many wonderful surprises this holiday season.  –m.c.reardon